10 Most Influential Sci-Fi Films Of All Time

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Ridley Scott's Alien marked a turning point in the genre, responsible for establishing a visual styling of the future that would later become the norm in science fiction film. In place of the sleekness that audiences up until that point associated with space travel in sci-fi, Scott presented a dark, gritty, and claustrophobic alternative.

The film had both a long term and immediate impact on both sci-fi and horror. Soon after its release a number of filmmakers attempted to jump on the Alien bandwagon, with movies like Contamination (almost released as Alien 2 until 20th Century Fox lawyers stepped in) cashing in on the famous chestbuster scene by including creatures bursting out of crew members on several occasions.

Alien has inspired more than just cheap knock-offs, however. Scott deliberately employed mumbled dialogue and made his characters hard to hear over the drone of machinery to keep his audience on the edge of their seats, a technique employed by Christopher Nolan in a number of his films, Interstellar in particular.

Scott also paved the way for films like Robert Zemeckis' Contact to cast strong female leads, something that was practically alien to science fiction at that point.