Parasitic and Parasitoid Alien Species in Science Fiction Movies

Parasitic and parasitoid alien species have been infecting the silver screen for quite some time now.

When they land on the Earth, they do not announce their presence with bells and whistles. No, sir! They come in the dead of night and sneak in through the back door. They don't want just our planet for themselves, as do regular alien invaders, they want the whole package deal: the Earth and the humans.

Mostly they need our bodies, mostly. Our brains generally don't concern them - they have their own brains, thank you very much. Of course, there are always exceptions.

Parasitic alien species are intelligent, dangerous, powerful and relentless. They can fly a space ship, control our thoughts or read our minds. Some of them can rearrange a city every night if they want to. They sneak up on their victims, literally, pounce onto their backs or into their mouths or crawl into their ears.

Some of them are nastier than the others. These types of aliens use every trick their ingeniously creative physiology can pull off. Surely one of the neatest is "human goes in the bathroom, and an alien comes out".

However, parting with them is always a trial. Especially if we deal with parasitoid alien species. They leave no survivors. After they have used our bodies - for gestation, transportation, or some other nefarious purpose - they just rip through our ever so fragile tissues out to freedom, and never look back. Hello world! Here we come!

So if parasitic alien species are so clever and wily and unforgiving, how can we get rid of them, you may ask.

Garlic, antibiotics and staying in bed wouldn't help a bit. Ultimate colon cleanser wouldn't do any good, either. In some cases diuretics will do the job. Sometimes the smallest among our puny earth's parasites will lend a helping hand, so to speak, and beat the mighty alien Goliath. But usually, to win against these types of aliens, our heroes need something with much more juice: flame throwers for starters, follow up with heavy artillery and throw in a couple of nukes, and everything else in between.

Whatever the shape, mode of attack, or life cycle they exhibit the parasite and parasitoid alien species never fail to elicit fear in us. It is the fear of being controlled. We humans fear that someday something will take over our bodies, thoughts and emotions. Or take over our friends, relatives and spouses.

It is also the fear of losing control that the science fiction movies with parasitic/parasitoid types of aliens underscore. Silly us, some might say. But just think how many times you were walking down the street and suddenly felt a craving for, say, fast food or coffee. Did you manage to resist or did you rush to the nearest fast food parlor?

Not to be worried. That Margerita or latte won't kill you (at least, that's what I keep telling myself). It is the NOT being able to resist part that's dangerous. The not being in control that gets us in trouble every time.

And the movies about parasitic and parasitoid alien species keep reminding us of that. That's probably why the all too familiar "ooh, got you under my skin" feeling we get every time we encounter these guys on screen.

However, I would advise caution if you suddenly felt a craving for the guests in the restaurant.

Here is ESFM's list of parasitic....

• The Alien Intruder from the movie The Faculty
• Parasitic Alien Invaders from the movie The Puppet Masters
• The Strangers from the movie Dark City
• Parasitic Alien Creature from the movie The Hidden

... and parasitoid aliens:

• Alien Life Form from the movie Slither
• Parasitoid Alien from the movie Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
• Xenomorph from the Alien Series (Alien, Aliens, Alien3 and Alien: Resurrection)
• Aliens from the movie Dreamcatcher

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