You probably didn't notice, but 2023 was a weirdly quiet yet groundbreaking year for the "little green men" trope. Honestly, most people were busy talking about Barbenheimer or the return of Indiana Jones. But if you were looking for an alien invasion movie 2023 offered, you actually stumbled into a goldmine of experimental storytelling. We didn't get another Independence Day with massive city-sized saucers blowing up the White House. Instead, we got movies about trauma, capitalism, and silence.
Basically, the genre grew up.
The Silent Terror of No One Will Save You
If you want to talk about the standout alien invasion movie 2023 gave us, you have to start with Brian Duffield’s No One Will Save You. It hit Hulu in September and immediately set the internet on fire because of one specific gimmick: it has almost zero dialogue.
Kaitlyn Dever plays Brynn, an isolated young woman who has to defend her childhood home from classic, "Grey" style aliens. It’s a masterclass in visual storytelling. You’ve got these creatures that look like the emoji on your phone—big eyes, spindly limbs—but they are genuinely terrifying because of how they move.
The sound design is the real star here.
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Every creak of a floorboard feels like a gunshot. Duffield chose the "Grey" design specifically because it’s so ingrained in Americana. It’s the "T-Rex" of aliens, as he put it in interviews. By using a design we all know, he didn't have to waste time explaining what they were. We just knew.
But the ending? That's what people got wrong. It wasn't just a home invasion. It was a story about a woman so rejected by her own community that she actually found a sense of belonging with the invaders. It’s dark. It’s twisted. And it’s easily the most talked-about sci-fi flick of the year.
Capitalism vs. The Vuvv
Then there’s Landscape with Invisible Hand. This wasn't a "pew-pew" laser movie. It was a "the aliens took our jobs" movie.
The Vuvv, an alien race that looks like four-legged coffee tables with wet, slapping skin, "invade" Earth via a peaceful bureaucratic takeover. They don't kill us. They just out-compete us. They offer advanced tech that makes almost all human labor obsolete.
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Why this one hit differently:
- The Economy: It’s a stinging satire of how we live now. The main characters, Adam and Chloe, have to broadcast their "romantic relationship" to the aliens for a subscription fee.
- The Visuals: The Vuvv are intentionally weird and un-cinematic. They communicate by rubbing their "hands" together to make scraping sounds.
- The Social Commentary: It mirrors things like gentrification and the gig economy. It’s uncomfortable because it feels like it could happen tomorrow.
Most critics found it a bit uneven, but it’s the kind of movie that sticks in your brain. It asks: what happens if the aliens are just boring, wealthy tourists who think our poverty is "quaint"?
The Classics and the Indies
Not everything was a high-concept experiment. We also saw War of the Worlds: The Attack. Honestly? It was a much smaller, UK-based production that stuck closer to the H.G. Wells roots but moved it to modern-day London. It didn't have the budget of the Spielberg version, but it captured that "meteor in a field" mystery that started the whole genre.
Then you had LOLA. Now, strictly speaking, this is a time-travel movie set in the 1940s, but it flirts with the idea of intercepted signals and "future" knowledge that feels very much in the spirit of alien contact. It was shot on 16mm and 35mm film to look like a lost documentary. It’s brilliant.
Why 2023 Changed the Rules
For a long time, alien movies were about us vs. them. They were about survival.
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But the alien invasion movie 2023 trend was different. These films were about living with the invasion. In No One Will Save You, Brynn finds a weird peace. In Landscape, the humans are just trying to pay rent.
Even the bigger blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (which technically involves alien worlds) felt more grounded in emotional trauma than galactic conquest.
What to watch next
If you missed these, start with No One Will Save You on Hulu. It’s only 93 minutes. Fast. Lean. Mean.
After that, check out Landscape with Invisible Hand. It’s a slower burn, but the social commentary on how we perform our lives for "audiences" is biting.
The era of the mindless popcorn alien flick isn't dead, but 2023 proved that the genre is at its best when it's holding up a mirror to our own messy, human lives.
Actionable Insight: If you're looking for these titles on streaming, No One Will Save You remains a Hulu/Disney+ exclusive in most territories, while Landscape with Invisible Hand can be found on MGM+ or for digital rent. For the best experience with No One Will Save You, use a high-quality pair of headphones—the atmospheric audio is 70% of the storytelling.