Steven Spielberg's latest has done some very respectable business at the box office, and, even if it's not exactly an indie, continues a recent run of non-IP films (Obsession and Backrooms, specifically) doing extremely well against things like He-Man and a new Star Wars. All of those movies are fun, but it's nice to see some light at the end of the all-franchise, all-the-time tunnel.

Disclosure Day, which is best approached with minimal foreknowledge, is Spielberg's latest take on the impact that the existence of aliens might have on human civilization: War of the Worlds posits that they'd try to destroy us while possibly uniting us, but Disclosure Day feels more in conversation with Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in which human greed and paranoia are the real threats. DD has earned good reviews, though not without a bit of a mixed reception—I, for one, rather loved it. In that spirit, let's visit other movies and streaming shows that lead us deep into the shadowy worlds of alien conspiracies.

Nope (2022)

Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer star as the sibling caretakers of a rural California horse ranch, who find themselves beset by...something? Wildly original, if frequently vexing, the tagline calling it a "neo-Western science fiction horror film" tells you all you need to know, and might maybe be Jordan Peele's best. When the Haywood Farm is beset by an otherworldly entity, the siblings running the place opt to make the best of things by capturing it on film. Spielbergian in its concern with our reaction to the extraordinary, Nope also subverts expectations at pretty much every turn. Stream Nope on Netflix or rent it from Prime Video.

The Vast of Night (2019)

Director Andrew Patterson made a wildly confident debut with this film that takes us back to the 1950s, to a small town in New Mexico on the night of the big basketball game. A young local disc jockey, Everett (Jake Horowitz) and his best friend, local switchboard operator Fay (Sierra McCormick) are caught up in a series of bizarre events that begin when Everett’s show is interrupted by a strange signal. The premise involves any number of UFO-movie cliches, but that's both the point, and not really the point at all: The film has a phenomenal visual flair, and makes the typical alien invasion stakes feel deeply personal for this small town. Stream The Vast of Night on Prime Video.

Adapted from scientist Carl Sagan's (brilliant) only novel, Contact finds Jodie Foster's SETI researcher Dr. Eleanor Arroway tracking an extraterrestrial signal containing a sequence of prime numbers, and tens of thousands of pages of encoded data that's ultimately revealed to be a set of blueprints—but to build what? As the message ignites political and religious firestorms, the movie privileges the importance of science while acknowledging the perspectives of people like Matthew McConaughey's Palmer Joss, a well-meaning faith leader who, nonetheless, clashes with Ellie on the signal's broader meaning. The conflicts between hard fact and faith in the face of scientific revelation resonate with Disclosure Day, as do the questions about whether or not our response to actual aliens would be particularly healthy. Rent Contact from Prime Video.

The X-Files (1993 – 2018)

Still the ne plus ultra of alien conspiracy programming, The X-Files has provided us with decades of blissful paranoia. Of course, after an 11-season series, two movies, a couple of spin-offs, Chris Carter's classic never got to the damn point (we'll probably never know exactly what it was all about), but that's almost beside the point: The questions are almost always more satisfying than the answers; Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny have some all-time great TV chemistry, and we're more than happy to follow them down into the dark. Stream The X-Files on Disney+ and Hulu.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Spielberg doubtless picked up a thing or two from prolific, genre-bending director Robert Wise, who crafted one of the finest science fiction films of the 1950s (or, really, of all time) by (mostly) dodging monsters and space ships in favor of this more thoughtful thriller. Here, an alien visitor (Michael Rennie) arrives on Earth in peace right before being shot by some U.S. military types who want to keep Klaatu's knowledge to themselves. Managing to escape, he decides to walk among us for a bit before delivering a message of hope—alongside some tough love. Rent The Day the Earth Stood Still from Prime Video.

Fire in the Sky (1993)

Only a handful of films post-Fire in the Sky bothered to take the idea of alien abduction seriously; perhaps that’s a fairly inevitable side effect of the rise of a culture in which everything is on tape and newer conspiracy theories have made the UFO cults of yore seem positively quaint. This film, starring D.B. Sweeney, deals with the true-life (just go with it) story of Travis Walton, an Arizona logger who went missing for five days in 1975 following an encounter with a mysterious object and a beam of light—all of which was witnessed by frightened co-workers who fled the scene. The film’s non-fiction lens isn’t going to work for every viewer, but it treats Walton’s described experiences as fact (before embellishing them to make a more interesting movie); though much of the movie deals with the aftereffects of the abduction, the climactic trip inside the space ship is creepily effective. The film lacks Spielberg's larger questions of meaning, but it understands that alien stories are meaningless if they don't speak to individual experiences. Rent Fire in the Sky from Prime Video.

Roswell (1999 – 2002)

Look, alien conspiracies aren't just for middle-aged FBI agents and struggling meteorologists; if you live in Roswell, New Mexico, the freaky's going to hit you by high school—or so this cult favorite series posits. In the pilot, seemingly normal teenager Max Evans (Jason Behr) intervenes when Liz Parker (Shiri Appleby) is shot while working at her parents' cafe. He saves her life, and not in a typical way, leading to the revelation that he's one of four alien/human hybrids who crashed to Earth in 1947. Several of the movies and shows here reference the legendary Roswell crash, but this one catches us up with the aliens a few decades later via an addictive teen soap. Buy Roswell from Apple TV.

Honeymoon (2014)

When it comes to my alien movies, I tend to lean toward "the real problem is people"-type stories, but film history is packed with brilliant horror movies in which extraterrestrials are bad, actually. Leigh Janiak (Fear Street) made her feature directorial debut in this film that combines science fiction with body horror in a story about a young couple (Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway) whose relationship dynamic changes rather dramatically after Bea encounters strange lights in the woods. The Body Snatchers-esque premise isn’t groundbreaking, but the direction is stylish, and the narrative leans into compelling subtextual horror: What if someone you’ve committed your life to suddenly starts acting like a completely different person? Disclosure Day's alien-initiated transformation of its lead character is a cause for wonder at least as much as fear, but Honeymoon is much more about the terror of it all. Rent Honeymoon from Prime Video.

The Boroughs (2026 — )

This new Netflix show finds a talented and thoroughly recognizable cast (Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Denis O'Hare, Clarke Peters, and Geena Davis, among others) confronting a series of freaky mysteries in their seemingly idyllic, but entirely remote, retirement community—the look and feel, involving a charming western-American housing development, is very 1980s Spielberg. Without giving too much away about either The Boroughs or Disclosure Day, there's a web of conspiracy common to both, and freaky mysteries that dovetail in surprisingly similar ways. Think of it as Cocoon meets Close Encounters, but scary. Stream The Boroughs on Netflix.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

This one is so deeply obvious that it almost doesn't need to be mentioned, but it would also feel a little churlish to leave it out: Disclosure Day isn't a remake or sequel to Close Encounters by any means, but it does feel like a continuation of a discussion about aliens that Steven Spielberg began nearly 50 years ago—a conversation that runs through E.T., War of the Worlds, and everyone's least-favorite Indiana Jones movie. As always, he's interested in extraterrestrial life, but more interested in the impact that knowledge of aliens would have on us. A story with an epic scale involving the impending first contact comes down to, for Spielberg and company, blue-collar utility lineman, a three-year-old kid, and a French scientist all trying to figure out what their encounters mean for these (mostly) ordinary, everyday humans faced with the numinous. Stream Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Peacock or rent it from Prime Video.