The Best Alien Movies on Shudder

What it's about: Invisible aliens in a tiny flying saucer come to Earth looking for heroin. They land on top of a New York apartment inhabited by a drug dealer and her female, androgynous, bisexual nymphomaniac lover, a fashion model. The aliens soon find the human pheromones created in the brain during orgasm preferable to heroin, and the model's casual sex partners begin to disappear. This increasingly bizarre scenario is observed by a lonely woman in the building across the street, a German scientist who is following the aliens, and an equally androgynous, drug-addicted male model.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Shudder) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Monsters Nightmares & Shudder) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: When an awkward date on Christmas Eve leads a couple into a strange theater, they're treated to a bizarre and frightening collection of Christmas stories, featuring a wide ensemble of characters doing their best to avoid the horrors of the holidays. From boring office parties and last-minute shopping, to vengeful stalkers and immortal demons, there's plenty out there to fear this holiday season.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Shudder) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A former astronaut helps a government agent and a police detective track the source of mysterious alien pod spores, filled with lethal flesh-dissolving acid, to a South American coffee plantation controlled by alien pod clones.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Shudder), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: The plot concerns an American astronaut, Frank Douglas, who mysteriously disappears from his spacecraft as it parachutes to Earth. The vanished astronaut is apparently replaced by or turned into a large, radioactive, humanoid monster. A team of scientists and military men attempt to capture the monster — and at one point succeed, only to have him escape again. Neither the capture nor the escape are ever shown, simply mentioned by the narrator.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Shudder).