The definitive ranking of ‘Alien’ movies
“In space, no one can hear you scream” was the tagline for 1979’s Alien, though over the course of four decades, audiences have encountered plenty of sounds.
The sci-fi horror franchise has given us a great action hero in Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley, who hasn’t been seen in an Alien project since the 1990s; a string of androids, the most recent being Michael Fassbender as David; the Weyland-Yutani Corp., which seems to care more about cosmic beasts more than its employees; and the Xenomorph that’s become the iconic villain of the series.
That slavering, snarling extraterrestrial is unleashed yet again in Alien: Covenant, which boasts brainy sci-fi themes and gory ultra-violence. But how does the new film stack up to the old-school scares from decades past? Here’s the definitive ranking of all the Alien films so far. (We’re not including the Alien vs. Predator films because they’re kind of their own franchise and honestly pretty terrible.)
1 ALIEN (1979)
Director Ridley Scott’s original is not only the best Alien but one of the top sci-fi films ever. Space truckers answer a distress call and have to fight for their lives while a Xenomorph hunts them down one by one. Even after decades of visual- effects spectacle, the sight of the alien blasting out of John Hurt’s chest is still completely terrifying and totally awesome.
2 ALIENS (1986)
Dripping with action-movie machismo, James Cameron’s sequel wakes up Ripley after 50 years of hypersleep and takes her back to where her crew first encountered alien life. Now, it’s a terraforming colony where Ripley teams with space marines to take on extraterrestrial antagonists. Worth it just for Ripley becoming a feminist folk hero taking on the alien queen for all the galactic marbles.
3 PROMETHEUS (2012)
The most divisive movie among fans, the prequel was a surprise of sorts, gradually revealing ties to the franchise.
4 ALIEN: COVENANT (2017)
The newest film mashes up the headiness of Prometheus with the chaotic terror of earlier movies. A ship carrying the future of the human race makes an ill-fated stop on a paradise planet and all hell breaks loose. The creatures are cool but Fassbender is straight up Oscarcaliber in dual android roles.
5 ALIEN 3 (1992)
Ripley gets stranded on a planet with an all-male penal colony. It’s a bit of a disappointment when it comes to alien escapades: There aren’t many Xenomorphs and the CGI is definitely lacking.
6 ALIEN: RESURRECTION
(1997) Focuses on science experiments run amok and the military’s decision to clone Ripley 200 years after she sacrificed herself. While not big on plot, Res
urrection features a bevy of creatures the crew has to face, and a humanoid monstrosity that shares a surprisingly touching moment before getting sucked out of a spaceship.