The aliens kind of looked like giant oil derricks and made a really creepy noise.
The Great Martian War of 1913, maybe? But that was a TV miniseries.
I was thinking derricks because they were extracting resources as they marauded. (I think)
Re watching Half Life videos I might be getting them mixed up with Striders. But they were definitely reminiscent of derricks.
Isn’t this War of the Worlds?
Kronos?
My first thought too.
Kronos was one of my favorite SF movies from the 1950s, largely because it’s so offbeat and weird. It’s not “aliens”, just a single large alien robot that steals electric power from generating stations. It’s visually impressive as hell, the work of the same team that gave us Forbidden Planet You wouldn’t think that what’s basically two big boxes separated by a central pillar, with a half-dome and two antennae on top and four legs (three square shafts and one rotating round one) would be visually impressive, but it was. Especially in its death throes.
Brad Bird was obviously impressed by the film. The basic concept of The Iron Giant is the same, and the first appearance of TIG at sea is influenced by the first appearance of Kronos. Also, in The Incredibles, not only is “Kronos” the password to Syndrome’s computer file on the project, the Omnibot is also a giant black metal robot made of simple shapes (a sphere, in that case) that flies down into a city (apparently from space) and starts destroying things.
I have to admit, if the OP isn’t thinking of Kronos it’s not clear what it is. But Kronos was kinda derrick-like, first appeared in the water, and made a weird noise when it moved from place to place.
I nominate Kronos as the cheesiest SF movie ever. The design and idea is definitely similar, but that’s not it. Imagine something like this but better special effects and creepier. I’m starting to wonder if I dreamt it.
With all due respect, there are LOTS of sf movies that are infinitely cheesier.
Were the aliens themselves like oil derricks, or were they robots or transports, liked the Martian tripods in War of the Worlds?
Were you thinking of the Giant Invading Crystals from The Monolith Monsters?
The Tripods were the first thing I thought of. The ones in Jeff Wayne’s version made a creepy noise fairly faithful to the book: “Ulla ulla ulla”