10 Movie Ripoffs Better Than The Original

Ridley Scott's Alien is undeniably one of the most influential sci-fi films of all time, but screenwriter Dan O'Bannon was himself inspired by a glut of sci-fi films, and none more so than 1958's sci-fi horror It! The Terror from Beyond Space.

Much like Alien, the story follows the crew of a ship who inadvertently stumble across an alien monster which finds its way onboard and starts picking said crew off one-by-one. While Alien is obviously a far more technically sophisticated film, it lifts not only the spine of its story but also much of its atmosphere - namely the smoky, claustrophobic design of the ship - from It!

There is a myriad of other superficial similarities, like the alien also travelling through vents, being scared of fire, and finally getting sucked into the vacuum of space. Alien producer David Giler even stated in an interview that he wouldn't have been surprised if O'Bannon "stole" the idea, while after viewing Alien, It! writer Jerome Bixby referred to himself as "the grandfather of ‘Alien."

But while It! is a solid - if undeniably dated - romp, Alien is one of the most timelessly well-aged sci-fi films ever made, and there's just no competing with that.