Although all theAlienmovies have their unique ups and downs, a look back on the series uncovers a few uncomfortable truths. WatchingtheAlienseries in chronological orderis an interesting experience. The franchise starts exceedingly strong with director Ridley Scott’sAlien, a space-set slasher that remains terrifying even 45 years later. James Cameron’sAliensis equally iconic, but that sequel is where the uncomplicated praise ends. While the upcomingFX seriesAlien: Earthremains exciting, every subsequent movie in the series is defined by its problems as much as its moments of genius.
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1990’sAlien 3is infamously dark and grim, but a few moments still manage to shine in director David Fincher’s hopeless vision. 1997’sAlien: Resurrectionwasn’t met with as much disdain asAlien 3but, upon a re-watch, Ripley’s last adventure is her least tonally cohesive outing. 2004’sAlien Vs Predator is far from perfect, but it also isn’t as bad as many reviews suggested.Aliens Vs Predators: Requiemis unambiguously terrible, while 2012’sPrometheusis both interestingly ambitious and annoyingly overstuffed. Meanwhile,Alien: CovenantandAlien: Romulusbring their own highs and lows to the table.
10The Alien Franchise Never Got Scarier Than Ridley Scott’s Original Movie
1979’s Alien Is Still The Franchise’s Most Tense and Suspenseful Movie
1979’sAlienis a masterclass in suspense filmmaking, so much so that it is hard to recall just how subtle the original movie is. It might seem absurd to call a movie famous for its “Chestburster" sequence “Subtle,” but the first half ofAlien’s deliberately paced two-hour runtime is devoted to nothing but buildup. Scott’s patience results in a movie that is truly scary, something the series never managed in its later outings. There are plenty of jumps and gruesome moments later on but, for allAlien 3’s hopelessness, it isAlienalone that truly gets under the viewer’s skin.
Alienis the scariest movie in the franchiseand evenAlien: Romulus’s horrific deathscouldn’t change this. Much of the horror comes from the main characters, a group of ordinary working-class stiffs who have no way of defeating the monstrous evil they are up against. However, credit must also go to HR Giger’s endlessly influential design work. The world ofAlienlooks like a nightmare to live inside, and Ripley’s ordeal feels pitilessly real in comparison to her later, more far fetched adventures. Thus, although the sequels brought a lot of their own qualities, none of them ever outdidAlien’s fear factor.
9The Alien Series Never Needed To Explain The Xenomorph
The Xenomorph’s Original Appearance Proves Mystery Made It Scarier
A huge part of what made the eponymous alien so scary in the original movie was its unexplained presence.The Xenomorph was at its scariest when viewers knew almost nothing about it, but the franchise forgot this fact somewhere along the way while writing endless sequels and prequels.Prometheus’ Xenomorph origin story was the worstoffender here, andAlien: Earthshow runner Noah Hawley was right to tell KCRW’sThe Businesspodcast that he wasn’t interested in the Xenomorph’s backstory as a bioweapon invented “Half an hour ago.” However, another, more unambiguously beloved movie made this mistake much earlier than Scott’s divisive prequel.
8Aliens’ Best Monster Reveal Complicated The Franchise’s Villain
The Alien Mother Started A Cycle Of Over-Explanation
There is no denying the fact thatAliens’ Alien Queen is as effective a creature design as the original Xenomorphand an ingenious way to up the ante after the original movie. Once director James Cameron multiplied the number of Xenomorphs that were attacking Ripley this time around and gave her some serious firepower to defend herself, the sequel always needed a bigger, more substantial villain. The Alien Queen works in this regard. However, she also brings up a lot of questions about how the Xenomorph life cycle works, and it is subsequent attempts to answer these that drag the series down.
7James Cameron’s Aliens Threw The Alien Franchise (And It Never Recovered)
Cameron’s Injection Of Action Ruled But Also Redefined The Franchise’s Tone
While Cameron’sAliensworks as a standalone movie, the Alien Queen’s covoluted impact on the series proves that its influence hasn’t been entirely positive. The same can be said for Cameron’s addition of action into the mix.Aliens’ action-forward tone is a clever departure from the claustrophobic pure horror ofAlien, turning a survival horror story into something more bombastic. However, the sequels never knew what to do with this change. Revert toAlien’s quiet, lone-location horror, and you end up with a humorless affair likeAlien 3, but lean into the wilder aspects ofAliensand you risk defanging the monster’s threat.
6Alien 3’s Biggest Problem Was Ripley
Alien 3 Might Have Worked Without Its Famous Heroine
Thetortured production ofAlien 3has been well documented, but the sequel’s biggest problem was one that all of its many drafts shared. The grim, self-contained story of the prison ship’s inhabitants struggling and ultimately failing to defeat the Xenomorph might have worked if it wasn’t a direct followup to the fun, thrilling adventures ofAliens.IfAlien 3didn’t star Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, it might have been a solid space-set horror movie, and the decision to utilize only one Xenomorph as the villain might have functioned fine. However, this wasn’t the route the filmmakers took, and the rest is history.
5Alien Vs Predator’s PG-13 Rating Was A Mistake
Alien Vs Predator Was Too Sanitized To Satisfy
1997’sAlien: Resurrectionhad some fun high points, but was too messy and unfocused to leave an overall positive impression. However, its reputation was bolstered when the next movie in the series earned the worst reviews of the franchise so far. 2004’sAlien Vs Predatorwas endlessly anticipated, and the cinematic showdown between two of the titans of sci-if horror seemed like a match made in heaven. However,the inexplicable decision to makeAlien Vs Predatora PG-13 movie killed the spinoffbefore it had a chance to succeed. Both franchises were always R-rated, making this a truly inexplicable failure.
Alien Vs Predatorwasa failure primarily because its family-friendly rating abandoned the style of both franchises.
What made this so frustrating was the fact thatAlien Vs Predatorisn’t the worstPredatorsequel and the movie might have had potential with a gorier, less sanitized story. Director Paul WS Anderson brings style to the movie’s latter half, the Antarctic setting is suitably remote and creepy, and the battles between the two titular monsters work fine when they finally happen. Unfortunately, plodding pacing, combined with a complete lack of scares, shocks, or memorable deaths, makesAlien Vs Predatora failure primarily because its family-friendly rating abandoned the style of both franchises.
4Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem Was The Worst Movie In The Series
The Alien Vs Predator Sequel Got Almost Nothing Right
SinceAlien Vs Predator’s PG-13 rating did so much damage, it would seem likeAliens Vs Predator: Requiem’s far gorier story would automatically be an improvement. However,this 2007 sequel is the worst movie in theAlienfranchise by farthanks to its predictable plot, mean-spirited writing, inexplicably dark lighting, and lack of imagination. Setting Xenomorphs free in a small town sounds like a recipe for terror, butAliens Vs Predator: Requiemfails to find any memorable moments in this story despite having two of the genre’s greatest monsters at its disposal.
3It Really Is Too Late For Alien Vs Predator 3
Alien Vs Predator Just Isn’t An Exciting Title Anymore
Thanks to the failure ofAliens Vs Predator: Requiem,it is hard to imagine a world whereAliens Vs Predator 3would be an exciting idea. Both 2022’sPredatorprequelPreyand 2024’sAlien: Romulusmanaged to reboot their respective franchises with self-contained standalone stories that were well received, but this still wasn’t enough to erase the problems of bothAliens Vs Predator: Requiemand its 2004 predecessor from the collective cultural memory. Now, it istoo late forAliens Vs Predator 3thanks to these earlier failures, and no sequel plans can change this.
2Prometheus’s Lore Dragged Down A Solid Alien Prequel
Ridley Scott’s 2012 Movie Tried To Do Too Much
Prometheuspromised to finally make sense of theAlienseries, but ironically, the movie’s attempts to untangle the franchise’s knotty canon were its least interesting moments. IfPrometheuswere not part of the Alien franchise, it could have been fun to see the ever-ambitious Ridley Scott tackle big questions about life, creation, and humanity via a space-set story. However,Prometheuswas never quite certain whether it wanted to be a thoughtful, philosophical sci-fi likeAd AstraorInterstellar, or a gory, gruesome genre piece. As a result, the finished film never quite satisfies in either mode.
1Alien: Romulus’s Limited Ambition Was A Good Thing
Fede Alvarez’s Standalone Horror Was Dragged Down By Franchise Links
AfterPrometheusgot too ambitious for its own good,Alien: Romuluswas a return to form for the series. However, this latest outing also exposed a fatal flaw in the franchise formula.Alien: Romuluswas at its weakest when the movie tried to revisit earlier outings, quotingAliensin one cringeworthy scene and bringing back the late Ian Holm’s Ash for another lengthy sequence. This smacked of desperate fan service and felt, much likePrometheus’s unnecessary lore, like an attempt to make sense of the franchise’s overarching story when an alien-centric horror story never needed this sort of plotting in the first place.
Alien: Romulusis currently available to stream on Prime Video, AppleTV, and Fandango at Home.
The original movie hints at some disturbing goings-on in Weyland-Yutani andAliensably built on this by revealing the corporation’s shady side in more detail. However, projects likeAlien: RomulusandPrometheusfall when they get too reverential and treat the original movies like the franchise’s Rosetta Stone.Alien: Romulusis at its most enjoyable when the movie worries less about its place in the series and more about entertaining the audience, centering effective set-pieces over endless Easter eggs and unecessary links. Going forward, theAlienmovies need to forget their past if they are to have a more watchable future.
