Remember that movie where a bunch of parasites took over the world?

April 25, 2007 12:16 PM

I'm looking for titles of any movies [besides Alien] that feature parasites attacking pets, humans or other animals. I can't recall any names but I definitely recall seeing hilarious ones from the 50's as a kid. Bonus for ones that are old [but still rentable from Netflix], cheesy and gross [in a somewhat humorous way]
posted by special-k to media & arts (47 answers total)

The Blob
posted by LoriFLA at 12:19 PM on April 25, 2007

Slither is a newish movie (on DVD) that is alien parasitic focused and pretty funny/cheesey
posted by estronaut at 12:22 PM on April 25, 2007

The Thing! It impersonates dogs AND people!
posted by Greg Nog at 12:23 PM on April 25, 2007

The Puppet Masters.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers. (1956 or 1978, take your pick.)
posted by CMichaelCook at 12:23 PM on April 25, 2007

I have vague recollections of this episode of star trek. It would probably qualify as cheesy and gross, though it scared the hell out of me when I was a kid.
posted by quadog at 12:24 PM on April 25, 2007

The Thing
posted by mkultra at 12:24 PM on April 25, 2007

The Puppet Masters is another movie with the same theme with Donald Sutherland in it, I haven't seen the movie but the book was pretty good, there are several similarly titled movies about demonic toys so read the description before requesting them on netflix
posted by estronaut at 12:26 PM on April 25, 2007

LoriFLA: How could I forget the blob! I just found the trailer here Gotta watch that again.
posted by special-k at 12:26 PM on April 25, 2007

DOH! sorry for the double puppet masters thing
posted by estronaut at 12:27 PM on April 25, 2007

Cujo
posted by jaimev at 12:30 PM on April 25, 2007

Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Dreamcatcher.
posted by gsteff at 12:32 PM on April 25, 2007

Slither.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:33 PM on April 25, 2007

Them.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/. Nuclear tests go horribly awry, and hilarity ensues- I mean, giant ants invade Middle America.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 12:36 PM on April 25, 2007

"the tingler"

seriously maximum cheese factor.
posted by domino at 12:37 PM on April 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

Spaceballs (although it is making fun of Alien)
Star Trek II (Khan puts parasites in the ears of Starfleet officers)
posted by cftarnas at 12:37 PM on April 25, 2007

Well, Alien etc of course...

There must be hundreds of sci-fi flicks in the genre, about someTHING taking over or transforming someone. Species (the first one anyway) was mildly entertaining. While perhaps not exactly a "parasite" theme, the film Lifeforce (about people being taken over by aliens and kind of turned into zombie.. sort of) has a cheese factor of 11, stars Patrick Stewart, and the female lead spends the entire film wandering around full frontal naked and I dont think utters a single word. Great stuff.
posted by elendil71 at 12:44 PM on April 25, 2007

Howzabout Parasite?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:47 PM on April 25, 2007

Cronenberg's "Rabid" and "They Came From Within"
posted by Gungho at 12:55 PM on April 25, 2007

Cant get enough... of The Stuff!
posted by Failure31 at 12:58 PM on April 25, 2007

Baby Blood? Also, we cannot forget Brain Damage.
posted by adipocere at 12:58 PM on April 25, 2007

Sorry, just saw the "funny bit". I suppose any of the "I was a Teenaged..." would fit the bill.
posted by Gungho at 1:03 PM on April 25, 2007

Them

Ants != Parasites

I conidered Rabid, too, but I don't think that qualifies as parasites, either- it's more of a disease/plague. Total agreement on Shivers (They Came From Within), though.
posted by mkultra at 1:03 PM on April 25, 2007

I can't remember if day of the triffids involved parasites but you could check into it.

I recommend the thing too. Great flick.

Dreamcatchers...I saw that on opening night, and it is single-handedly the worst sci-fi movie I have ever seen. See it at your own peril. Dudditz!!!!! :(
posted by cashman at 1:06 PM on April 25, 2007

In the Day of the Triffids (book version, at least) they're not parasites, they're just bad-ass plants that don't like us...
posted by BT at 1:24 PM on April 25, 2007

In Rabid the disease is passed by some sort of parasite that attacks through the armpit.
posted by Gungho at 1:27 PM on April 25, 2007

Some of these (The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers) aren't parasites, they are creatures which kill you and impersonate you. The xenomorphs in Alien are parasites (for part of their lifecycle, at least), because they live inside humans while gestating.

Triffids aren't parasites either, just big carnivorous plants .
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:37 PM on April 25, 2007

Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. Khaaaan!
Beastmaster blatantly ripped off the little brain-slugs from that movie, and is super-cheesy.
There were, oh, about 100 episodes of ST:TNG where characters were infested by some kind of mind-controlling parasite. Here's a good one.
posted by adamrice at 1:37 PM on April 25, 2007

1998 The Faculty
posted by UnclePlayground at 1:55 PM on April 25, 2007

Night of The Creeps - ultra-cheesy 80's schlock about brain worms that turn you into a zombie until your head gets filled with similar worms and explodes.

The Hidden - Just one evil parasite vs. one good parasite, but the villain almost becomes the president.

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation - Painful to watch direct-to-video movie with brain bugs turning troopers into leprous agents of their insect overlords.

All these movies are pretty weak, and are only for people who denigrate bad movies while watching them with friends as a hobby.
posted by Crosius at 2:18 PM on April 25, 2007

The "monster" in Rabid was not a parasite, it was a (Hollywood-style) mutation.

The skin graft Rose (Marylin Chambers) receives is made of skin cells "re-primordialized" by some propietary laboratory process invented at the Keloid Institute which grow into the (infection iducing) feeding proboscis for her digestive tract for no well-explained reason.
posted by Crosius at 2:29 PM on April 25, 2007

The X-Files movie (and tv show, for that matter, pre-movie).

Oh, and Return of the Living Dead presents zombification as the result of an infection or parasite of some kind. Same with 28 days later, for that matter. But both are more along the lines of illness and not a sentient being.
posted by Kellydamnit at 2:48 PM on April 25, 2007

The Andromeda Strain. Are viruses also acceptable?
posted by ken_zoan at 3:07 PM on April 25, 2007

This is probably not what you want, but it's really good: Scott Sigler has a free audiobook out called "Infection." It has to do with alien parasites taking over people. However it's not hilarious/cheesy: it's a really good horror story.

(Note that it also contains significant amounts of violence and adult language. This is not something to listen to with your kids.)
posted by JDHarper at 3:14 PM on April 25, 2007

Technically viruses are not living organisms so they can't actually be called parasites. There is some debate on this, however.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:18 PM on April 25, 2007

Do "surgically removed Siamese twin who is not only physically deformed so badly the doctors hesitated to consider him a human" count as parasites?

If so, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, The Basket Case.
posted by phaedon at 3:35 PM on April 25, 2007

Follow-up trailer: What's in the basket?
posted by phaedon at 3:38 PM on April 25, 2007

Ok this is so clearly a better trailer for the same movie that I'm actually posting the third time about something that probably doesn't even fit your description.
posted by phaedon at 3:41 PM on April 25, 2007

Finally found a site that mentions Ticks -- definitely about parasites, definitely cheesy/gross. Not old, though.
posted by churl at 4:29 PM on April 25, 2007

PS (re:Ticks) you don't want the french film by the same name, you want the one where "Teens camping in a northern California retreat are terrorized by mutant insects created by evil, polluting pot farmers, what will throw them into a terrifying fight for their lives."
posted by churl at 4:35 PM on April 25, 2007

phaedon: I still appreciate the effort. I'll probably rent it anyway.
posted by special-k at 5:05 PM on April 25, 2007

To everyone: Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions. I asked this question for two reasons:
a) I study insect parasites and I was looking for a cheesy clip from one of these movies to include in a semi-scientific talk.

b) I also remembered how much fun these movies are to watch. It'll be a nice break from indie/foreign flick overload.

Thanks for the parasite [and non-parasite] suggestions. cheers!

PS: I'm still interested in hearing more suggestions if you've got any.
posted by special-k at 5:11 PM on April 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thanks, I need outlets. Basket Case 2 looks pretty good, and then you get to see some serious ball-dropping in Basket Case 3.
posted by phaedon at 5:35 PM on April 25, 2007

Return of the Aliens: The Deadly Spawn
posted by Lokheed at 6:55 PM on April 25, 2007

Sort of: Stargate, the movie.

(and the TV show)
posted by Salamandrous at 6:56 PM on April 25, 2007

Empire Strikes Back: mynocks chewing on the power cables! The one that fastens its big, ugly sucker on the window seriously freaked me out as a little kid.
posted by EarBucket at 7:52 PM on April 25, 2007

You asked for aged cheese, so how about The Tingler (1959)? Starring — of course — Vincent Price:

After much hard work, a pathologist discovers and captures a creature that lives in every vertebrate and grows when fear grips its host.... When the living being escapes, Dr. Warner and Ollie chase it into a crowded movie theater.

And if the plot summary doesn't grab you, dig that tagline: "Scream for your lives!"
posted by rob511 at 10:49 PM on April 25, 2007

X Files episodes:
Ice (a remake of The Thing but with an actual parasite)
The Host (sewer-living monster impregnates people with parasite worms)
Firewalker (a fungi that lives inside people and eventually kills them, Alien-style)
F. Emasculata (features an insect parasitoid)
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:48 AM on April 26, 2007