All 6 ALIEN Films Ranked (1979-2017)

Last weekend Alien: Covenant was released in theaters. This is he 6th film in the Alien franchise (not counting the 2 AVP films) so I thought it would be a good time to give my ranking. SPOILER ALERT for every film in the franchise.

1. ALIENS (The Directors Cut, dir. James Cameron, 1986)This film is phenomenal. The reason I like ALIENS better than the original is that the characters are so much more fascinating. Now that Ripley is damaged, she is much more interesting and Sigourney Weaver was so good she received an Oscar nomination for her performance. Although ALIENS is more of an action film, it still has its scary moments. The director’s cut may be much longer than the original, running at over two and a half hours, but it is definitely worth it. It contains significantly more character development without losing the audiences interest. The Xenomorphs are creepy; Ripley is badass and there is much more at stake considering she is trying to protect a little girl named Newt as well as herself. A+

2. ALIEN (Theatrical Cut, dir. Ridley Scott, 1979) This film remains a horror and science fiction classic. It's intense, scary and fascinating. The way they introduce the Xenomorphs keeps you glued to the screen from the first face hugger to the final showdown between Ripley and the Alien. The effects were revolutionary at the time and while it is just a bit dated now, it still does the job in making the audience scared. The banter between the crewmembers on the ship is so realistic and gives you such a great sense of their relationships. When the Alien bursts out of one of the crewmember’s chests at dinner, it is totally and utterly shocking. While the story is a bit basic (like most first films in a successful franchise), but it's a masterful introduction to the Alien universe. A

3. PROMETHEUS (Theatrical Cut, dir. Ridley Scott, 2012) This is the first prequel to ALIEN and it is awesome. Michael Fassbender gives a phenomenal performance as the android David who is part of a mission to discover the origins of humanity. While exploring, David and the crew encounter a black liquid that David secretly feeds to one of the crewmembers. After having sex with his wife, the first version of the Alien becomes the result of the most intense C-section scene in cinema. This is one of my favorite scenes in the franchise and I will always remember seeing that scene in the theater because there is nothing like it. Prometheus is another film in the franchise that takes it’s time and lets the audience get to know many of the crewmembers. It makes the audience ask a lot of questions and while it doesn’t necessarily give us all the answers, it does have a satisfying ending, knowing there is more to come. Prometheus may be a bit slow at times but it is thrilling, engrossing, smart and a solid addition to the franchise. A-

4. ALIEN: COVENANT (Theatrical Cut, dir. Ridley Scott, 2017) The newest film in the franchise is definitely a bit slow at the beginning but I think this is a good thing. Like the other good Alien films, the movie takes its time to develop the characters so we really know most of the crew. Eventually the Aliens begin to attack in new, intriguing ways that we haven’t seen before. The shower scene near the end of the film is another great gory moment I vividly remember from the franchise. Covenant suffers from having many of the crewmembers make very dumb decisions. For example when David is telling the captain about the creatures he has created, he puts his head right where David tells him and is attacked by a face hugger these decisions are ones dumb characters make in bad horror movies so to see them in an ALIEN movie was a bit disappointing. The film also did not answer as many questions left by Prometheus as I would've hoped but I guess I will just have to wait for the next film. Overall, Covenant is a lot of fun and although it may not as good as some hoped is still fun, interesting and another solid addition to the franchise. B

5. ALIEN3 (Special Edition/the assembly cut, dir. David Fincher, 1992) I never saw the theatrical cut but I know it's so bad that its director won't talk about it. While the assembly cut is still pretty awful it really helps you see the film’s potential. I really liked many of the ideas from the film. For example, the fact that Ripley is infected with a Xenomorph queen growing inside her and the other Xenomorph won’t kill her because of it. I also liked how she died at the end, sacrificing herself to save humanity from the Xenomorphs. On the other hand, the prison planet, the attempted gang rape Ripley and the killing of two of the main characters from the second film (including Newt) were not good at all. The only good thing that came out of Newts death was that in this film, Ripley has no fear because she has nutmeg else to live for. The death scene at the end of the film is also much better in the theatrical cut because it shows the Alien bursting from Ripley’s chest as she falls. ALIEN3 had a few very solid ideas, scary moments and great special effects but unfortunately the bad outweighs the good. C

6. ALIEN RESURECTION (Special Edition, dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet,1997) This film, unlike most things written by Joss Whedon, is a complete mess. It attempts to bring back a franchise that should have ended with the previous film. The film takes place 200 years after ALIEN3 and once again humanity thinks it is wise to try and study live Xenomorphs. The costumes and story are terrible but sadly that is not the worst part about this film. The Xenomorph at the end of the film is born in a womb and is there fore more human looking. This results in an absolutely awful looking Alien. It's not scary or intriguing or anything. In fact this effects seem to have almost taken a step backwards from ALIEN3. This film has a few fun moments but for the most part is just ridiculous and way too over the top. D

ALIEN stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerrit, and John Hurt

ALIENS stars Sigourney Weaver, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn and Carrie Henn

ALIEN3 stars Sigourney Weaver, Lance Hendrickson, Charles Dance and Charles S. Dutton

ALIEN RESURECTION stars Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder Dominique Pinonand Ron Pearlman

PROMETHEUS stars Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, and Logan Michael-Green

ALIEN COVENANT stars Michael Fassbender, Danny McBride, Katherine Waterson and Billy Crudu