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Introducing Crop Circle Cinema, a New Podcast from Rural Remix [1]

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Date: 2025-08-14

I’ve recently narrowed down my existential fears to just three curated categories: the climate crisis, World War III, and artificial intelligence.

Each fear has a different flavor, but they all ultimately boil down to the same thing – the potential collapse of society as we know it! And like most problems we face, there is no one to blame but ourselves.

Are you feeling bad yet? I’m feeling bad. Enter the aliens!

Hopefully not literally – right now that’s probably the last thing we need. But figuratively, aliens have all sorts of uses. Most notably, they provide a new way to look at ourselves, our society, and our problems.

We’ve been making movies that include aliens since the very first sci-film, ‘A Trip to the Moon,’ (1902). Since then, movie aliens have been used to represent and interpret humankind’s ever-shifting anxieties, from the Cold War and the Nuclear Age to colonialism and the pillaging of our natural world.

Movies like ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ (1956), ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ (1977), ‘Signs’ (2002), and ‘Nope’ (2022) span nearly sixty years and address a diverse array of themes. But they have more in common than just their extraterrestrial guest stars. They all take place in rural America.

In the Rural Horror Picture Show, my colleague Susannah Broun and I explored rural representation in horror movies, and what tropes and stereotypes like “killer hillbillies” and “urbanoia” say about Americans’ complex relationship to the countryside. In our new podcast, Crop Circle Cinema, we’re asking why so many movie aliens decide to land in what some would call ‘flyover country,’ and what they’re representing when they do.

Our first episode deals with paranoia. What do aliens reveal about our anxieties around the government, neighbors, strangers, and friends? Who do we believe? And who can we never trust?

In honor of our first episode, here is a roundup of rural alien movies that will have you looking over your shoulder.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Promotional trailer for ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ (1956). (Credit: Allied Artists Pictures Corporation via YouTube)

Based on a 1955 book by Jack Finney, ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ is a story that has been retold in some form in nearly every decade since. The original takes place in the small, fictional town of Santa Mira, California, where Dr. Miles Bennell begins seeing patients who claim that their loved ones are not themselves. Though they look exactly the same, there’s something missing. As this confusion and suspicion spreads around the community, Miles and his girlfriend Becky work to solve the mystery, knowing they could be next.

‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ is available to stream on the Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime.

Independence Day (1996)

Promotional trailer for ‘Independence Day’ (1996). (Credit: 20th Century Fox via YouTube)

‘Independence Day’ will always have a place in my heart as one of the goofier blockbusters ever made. When impenetrable alien spaceships begin destroying cities around the world, the President of the United States (Bill Pullman) leads a team to the remote (and top secret) Area 51 facility to find a way to fight back and save humanity. Explosions and aerial action sequences share screen time with the mismatched buddy antics of Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith, along with a sizable dollop of pro-American propaganda. It’s shiny, it’s fun, and I might go rewatch it right now.

‘Independence Day’ is available to stream on Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime.

Signs (2002)

Set on a farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, ‘Signs’ puts the crop circle in Crop Circle Cinema. Isolated from the rest of the world when aliens invade, two brothers (Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix) fight to protect their family and uncover the secrets of the invaders. In doing so they repair relationships, tackle crises of faith, and rise admirably to every twist and turn thrown at them by director M. Night Shyamalan.

You can watch ‘Signs’ with subscriptions to YouTube TV, AMC+, and the Roku Channel.

The Vast of Night (2019)

Promotional trailer for ‘Vast of Night’ (2019). (Credit: Amazon Prime via YouTube)

A young radio jockey and a teen switchboard operator take the lead in this sci-fi/mystery film set in 1950s New Mexico. After witnessing a series of strange phenomena, protagonists Fay and Everett attempt to discover the truth about the goings on in their small town. Based loosely on the Kecksburg UFO Incident and Foss Lake disappearances, the movie pays loving homage to the technologies, material culture, and Cold War paranoia of the 1950s.

You can watch ‘Vast of Night’ on Amazon Prime.

The Faculty (1998)

Promotional trailer for ‘The Faculty’ (1998). (Credit: Miramax via YouTube)

Part ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers,’ part ‘The Breakfast Club,’ ‘The Faculty’ brings the classic alien invasion story to the fictional Herrington High School. An unlikely group of students is brought together when alien parasites begin taking control of the school’s teachers and students. With a weirdly star-studded cast (seriously, I never thought I would see Elijah Wood, Jon Stewart, and Usher in the same movie) and a distinctly 90s aesthetic, the movie gleefully fulfills my every wish for what a teen movie ought to be.

You can watch ‘The Faculty’ on Peacock, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime.

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