Movies To Watch Before Nope

Jordan Peele has proven himself to be a director with a lot to say. Not only can he make an audience scream in fear but also have them leave thinking about societal issues that affect all of us. His previous two films Get Out and Us showed a true passion for horrific scenarios that leave us wanting more. With his new movie Nope, it looks like he may be working in a new horror sub-genre that has everyone excited. Alien invasions. At least that is what he is leading us to believe with the trailers that have been released for the film so far. It could all be a diversion. He does love a plot twist. To get ready, let’s take a look at some movies to watch before Nope.

War Of The Worlds (1953)

A meteorite falls from the sky near a small California town. As people go to its landing site, they begin to find that it’s actually just the beginning of a full scare invasion by creatures from Mars. Their ships are indestructible and nothing humankind can seemingly do will stop them. This is a fun alien invasion film from the 1950s when these types of films were very popular. It’s easy to see the similarities to the minimal plot that we know of for Nope. A small town in California seems to have to deal with aliens. Check. We’ll have to see how close the plots become after Nope finally arrives in theaters.

Sweetheart (2019)

A young girl finds herself stranded on an island. While during the day she has to find food and create a shelter to survive, at night a creature comes out of the ocean to attack whatever it finds on the island. She has to fight back against this evil force if she is going to survive. From what we’ve seen in the trailers for Nope, there are going to be some atmospheric scenes taking place at night. This would be a good companion piece for ramped-up tension when the sun goes down.

Signs (2002)

A family locks themselves up in their farmhouse when the world begins reporting that aliens and UFOs begin appearing all over the world. Their house ends up under attack as aliens try to make their way in. This film from M. Night Shyamalan is a tense thriller dealing with a family trying to defend themselves from an outside force. The tone of the trailers for Nope seems very similar to this movie. A great tense film that doesn’t get the credit it deserves because of a few missteps in the final act. Everything before that will have the audience ready to scream at any second. This is a movie you should watch before Nope to get ready for the alien invasion.

Space Is The Place (1974)

Sun Ra is a space-aged prophet from Earth. He has traveled into space and found a planet that would be perfect for him to bring his people to. When he returns to Earth he puts on a concert to tell the people of the world of his plans and encourages them to come with him. Of course, the satanic Overseer tries to stop him at all costs. This psychedelic film from the 70s is a weird lesson in space-aged civil rights and coexistence.

Tremors (1990)

A small desert town discovers that there are creatures living under the ground that can surface to eat you at any time. They have to find a way to fight back after they have been cut off from the outside world. Led by Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward this creature feature is a lot of fun and has a rural desert setting that will probably seem very familiar once Nope begins to roll on big screens. Peele does like to add in some levity and comedic moments in his film. While Tremors is most a comedy with monsters thrown in it’s not hard to see why the two films could compliment each other very well. In this film, the danger comes from below rather than from above. For sure a movie to watch before Nope.

Black Box (2020)

This sci-fi thriller seems like it would be a good fit with shows like Black Mirror or even the Jordan Peele produced resurrection of The Twilight Zone. Nolan begins undergoing experimental therapy after he loses his memory in a car accident that killed his wife. He has a young daughter and hopes to go back to the way he was before the accident, so he can properly take care of her. As he begins jumping into his forgotten memories, something else shows up inside his mind. It tries to stop him from moving forward and remembering his former life. The movie is really tense and is produced by Blumhouse who produced Peele’s first two films.

Attack The Block (2011)

This alien invasion movie is a blast and a lot of fun. It feels in the same vein as Shaun Of The Dead or Hot Fuzz and that’s not just because it also has Nick Frost in a role. Aliens begin to invade but a gang of kids tries to keep them from overtaking their apartment complex in South London. The design of the creatures is great to look at and John Boyega leads the cast perfectly. This may end up being more light-hearted than Nope, but the action in this film is not to be missed.

The Brother From Another Planet (1984)

A mute alien ends up in New York and tries to blend in with the rest of humanity to hide from the two bounty hunters that are stalking him. He has the power to fix just about any machine and even heal himself and others with a touch of his hands. While this title may sound like a leftover of the exploitation era in the 70s, this is actually a poignant tale about the immigrant experience in America. It looks at how others are treated when they don’t speak the same language and look different than everyone around them. A perfect allegory that sadly is still relevant almost 40 years later. Make this a movie to watch before Nope.

Fire In The Sky (1993)

The trailers for Nope have led us to believe that the possible aliens in the film are not very friendly. This would blend perfectly with Fire In The Sky. This alleged true story recounts how Travis Walton was abducted by aliens, experimented on, and returned to his home a week later. At first, he has no memories of what happened while he was gone but as the memories begin to surface, he has to relive the horrific encounter. The scenes in this film of his time aboard the alien spaceship are nightmare-inducing and made some viewers forget about lovable alien movies like E.T.

Independence Day (1996)

If you’re talking about aliens invading Earth then you can’t forget about the biggest special effects feast of all time with Independence Day. Aliens not only arrive on Earth, but they came to destroy anything and everything. Luckily we have Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum to save us. While it seems a little hokey now, this was a big deal blockbuster when it showed up in theaters. Any movies that were in their way were destroyed at the box office and it helped push Will Smith to superstardom overnight. It’s all around just a fun action movie.

What movies will you be watching before Nope? Let us know in the comments.