For four and a half decades and counting, the Alien franchise has been a Hollywood mainstay and a source of continuous inspiration for movies in general - and for good reason. Ridley Scott tapped into a particular type of primordial fear with the 1979 original, combining interstellar sci-fi and invasive body horror to create a film that’s nothing short of iconic thanks to two of cinema’s greatest heroes and villains, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and the terrifying Xenomorph.

While Ripley’s story came to an end after four films with 1997’s Alien: Resurrection, the franchise has lived on in a variety of ways. Comic books, crossovers with the Predator universe, prequels, and a genuinely great survival video game have all kept things going, and now, after a seven-year silence, the series has returned to the big screen once again with Alien: Romulus.
Check out our full review of the new movie

With solid reviews and a strong box office haul thus far, it seems likely that all things Alien are here to stay, destined to terrify new generations for years to come. With the release of Romulus, we’re going back through the entire film series, both Alien vs. Predator movies included, to determine the very worst and the very best of the franchise.

‘Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem’ (2007)
Directed by Greg & Colin Strause

We should just go ahead and get this out of the way: The AvP movies are definitely the low point of the franchise, but whereas the first one at least has novelty on its side, this crossover sequel is just plain…bad. Picking up immediately after the events of its predecessor, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem features a seemingly unstoppable Xenomorph / Predator hybrid (Tom Woodruff Jr.) that crash lands in Colorado and, alongside several regular Xenomorphs, wreaks havoc on a nearby town while squaring off with a veteran Predator named Wolf (Ian Whyte). Look, this is good old-fashioned guys in elaborate rubber suits duking it out for the camera, and Requiem at least sports some cool designs for the variety of monsters. Plus, it’s the aliens finally on Earth attacking regular people! If only we could see any of it! This movie is plagued by either nonexistent or purposefully pitch black lighting, obscuring any action that might’ve been fun to watch since there’s not much in the way of story or characters to care about. 

‘Alien vs. Predator’ (2004)
Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

As the long-time director of the Resident Evil series, Paul W.S. Anderson was a pretty good pick for this movie monster boxing match. It’s loud and clear that he’s having a blast behind the camera ensuring that all the blood, guts, and explosions are delivered upon with maximum effort for what should be a maximalist movie. In Alien vs. Predator, a group of scientists led by an experienced guide named Lex (Sanaa Lathan) are investigating an ancient pyramid in the Arctic when they suddenly find themselves caught in the middle of an extraterrestrial deathmatch. You get exactly what you expect from a movie like this, although it never really feels like quite enough. You’re left wanting more fight scenes and maybe even more silliness out of this early 2000s relic, but what’s there is certainly fun enough.

‘Alien: Resurrection’ (1997)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

This strange and sensual finale to the Ellen Ripley quadrilogy is unfortunately the saga’s weakest, though it certainly has some great and memorable points. Set a couple of centuries after (spoiler alert!) Ripley takes her own life at the end of Alien 3, she gets cloned by the military for a convoluted scheme involving xenomorphs and mercenaries onboard a spaceship heading for Earth. The evil scientists in this movie are amazingly incompetent and their plan is nonsensical, plus Resurrection is just plain weird half of the time and not in a cool way, but this fourth entry in the franchise isn’t really all that bad. It’s fun to see Weaver play her iconic role in a different, edgier way this final time around, and the supporting cast that includes Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, and Brad Dourif definitely help bolster the film’s quality and star power. It’s also hard to say whether there’s any death in the series quite as wild as the final one in this movie - let’s just say it involves the vacuum of space.

‘Alien: Covenant’ (2017)
Directed by Ridley Scott

The second part of Scott’s prequel series feels like the victim of behind-the-scenes elements, such as the mixed reception to Prometheus five years prior and Noomi Rapace not returning as Elizabeth Shaw like originally planned. But Covenant makes the best with what it has, mixing classic Alien horror with a continuation of the fascinating ideas that started with Prometheus about creation and the extended lore of the franchise’s universe. The story follows the crew of a colony ship loaded with thousands of people in stasis who run afoul of everyone’s favorite scary aliens, as well as a mysterious android named David. The moment that the shit hits the fan in Covenant is some of the very best chaos the franchise has ever offered, and Michael Fassbender pulling double duty as both David and the colonist’s onboard synthetic Walter is a definite highlight. But the rest of the characters end up being terribly dull in comparison to the supporting casts of the other films, and wasting Danny McBride in that way is just a step too far.

‘Alien 3’ (1992)
Directed by David Fincher

It’s a real shame that David Fincher has gone so far as to disavow this movie on record and join the angry mob against it, as this third movie in the Alien series has plenty of style and interesting ideas to make up for its shortcomings. Picking up right after the events of Aliens, Ripley’s desperate efforts in her previous adventure turn out to be all for naught as she crash lands on a new hellhole called Fury 161 and is the sole survivor. The planet she’s found herself stranded on this time around just so happens to be a facility made to house violent male inmates; but the movie is less concerned with that thorny potential and more focused on (what else?) an alien that hitched a ride with Ripley and is making its way through the prison. This movie’s biggest mistake is killing off Charles Dance only halfway through as he’s easily the most engaging part of it, but it’s at least in tune with the film’s dingy and hopeless mood throughout. It’s as bleak as the franchise has ever really gotten, and along with some enjoyable xenomorph POV chase scenes and some truly gnarly kills, Alien 3 deserves a bit of a reappraisal.

‘Alien: Romulus’ (2024)
Directed by Fede Álvarez

The series’ most recent tale of outer space terror comes from the man behind the 2013 iteration of Evil Dead, so you at least knew that the visceral blood-soaked action was gonna pack a punch. Set between the events of the original two movies, Alien: Romulus follows an ill-fated group of young orphans who attempt to scavenge a derelict space station in order to escape to a better life offworld. They unwittingly awaken the poorly contained aliens onboard, turning their desperate bid for freedom into an even more desperate fight for survival. Romulus delivers all of the hits that one might expect from the Alien franchise in exciting ways, almost feeling like a theme park ride as it hops from set piece to set piece. Unfortunately the film’s downfall is the way it milks the franchise’s legacy; everything from questionable AI necromancy to cringy callback lines and beyond. The saving grace of Romulus is the character of Andy (David Jonsson) and his relationship with his sister Rain (Cailee Spaeny). The two of them and the emotion they’re able to deliver is some of the very best stuff to come out of the 45 year-old franchise.

‘Prometheus’ (2012)
Directed by Ridley Scott

Over thirty years after giving birth to this seminal cinematic series and being the cause of millions of nightmares across the globe, Ridley Scott finally returned to the universe of Alien with plans for an ambitious prequel. Prometheus, set several decades before Ellen Ripley would ever tangle with xenomorphs, follows a group of scientists and explorers on an expedition into deep space in search of the origins of human life. Their sense of hope and discovery quickly turns to existential dread and horror as they get answers - but not any that they like. Scott brings his signature brand of grandiose scale to this big movie with even bigger ideas, and it helps make Prometheus the most fascinating of the entire Alien bunch. While Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) is undoubtedly a great leading woman, the film’s real secret weapon is David (Michael Fassbender), an android seeking some answers of his own. If Prometheus is the franchise’s most interesting story, then David is easily its most interesting character, and he commands every single scene he’s in. If only the movie itself wasn’t brought down by its own loftiness, giving audiences a mixed bag of greatness and frustration in equal parts. It could’ve been a masterpiece.

‘Aliens’ (1986)
Directed by James Cameron

Seven years after Ridley Scott’s original groundbreaking vision of extraterrestrial terror, the equally legendary James Cameron followed suit by switching things up into full-blown sci-fi action. This first sequel sees Ripley waking up from several decades in cryosleep after surviving the disaster of the Nostromo, only to be thrown back into the lion’s den along with an unlucky group of Colonial Marines to face off with the alien menace once again. Much like its predecessor, it can’t really be overstated just how much Aliens has and continues to influence entertainment and culture at large today. Cameron is someone that Hollywood has come to rely on for truly satisfying blockbusters, and he cut his teeth with Aliens. It has a legacy all its own, and was obviously integral for the franchise becoming what it is today. This is one of those movies that lives up to its hype - if you haven’t seen it before, you’d better get on that.

‘Alien’ (1979)
Directed by Ridley Scott