Ranking Every Alien Movie: Romulus Included!
- Alien Romulus debuts August 14, starring Cailee Spaney and Isabela Merced.
- Alien 3 is directed by David Fincher, but couldn't save the poorly written movie.
- Prometheus explores the origins of xenomorphs and humanity, deviating from the usual Alien formula.
- Aliens (1986) is a high-octane action movie directed by James Cameron.
- Alien (1979) remains the best, highlighting capitalist exploitation and horror.
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THE ALIEN MOVIES NOW INCLUDING ROMULUS RANKED FROM WORST TO BEST
By Alyssa Mercante
Published Sunday 12:30 PM
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This month, the latest entry in the long-running Alien sci-fi franchise hits theaters.
Alien Romulus, starring Cailee Spaney and Isabela Merced, debuts August 14.
From the trailers and early reactions, it looks like a fantastic entry in the decades-old series.
We all know which Alien films are the absolute best.
Two Streamers Visuals writers debate whether Alien or Aliens reigns supreme.
But not every xenomorph flick has been good.
Some of them have been very, very bad.
Whether it was the questionable crossovers of Alien Vs Predator or the bizarre Alien Covenant, there are some misses in the iconic franchise.
So ahead of the theatrical release of Alien Romulus, we've ranked the Alien films from worst to best.
Click through to see where they all stack up.
9. ALIEN VS PREDATOR: REQUIEM (2007)
The first AvP wasn't a cinematic masterpiece, but it was fun and action-packed.
It gave fans what they wanted: a live-action fight between Xenos and Yautja.
At the end of that movie, we were teased with a possible sequel featuring a Predator-Alien hybrid.
Sadly, that neat stinger is better than all of Requiem.
Requiem is a poorly lit disaster of a movie that is a slog to watch.
The movie is too dark, making it hard to see what's happening.
And the human characters are as memorable as gray paint.
While AvP Requiem includes some decent action scenes featuring the new Predalien hybrid, it's not worth watching.
Instead, save yourself the trouble and just look up the six or so cool moments on YouTube.
Even the creative team behind the ongoing Alien and Predator film franchises have done that.
So you should too.
8. ALIEN VS PREDATOR (2004)
AvP isn't a cinematic masterpiece.
It's fan service pretending to be a movie, designed solely to give fans a live-action fight between Xenos and Yautja.
The fights between the Aliens and Predators are great and feel ripped out of a 90s comic book.
However, AvP is a really solid, well-paced, and fun sci-fi action film.
That's why so many people give this film a pass.
Though its sequel was a hard-to-watch, overly gory mess, AvP is a mostly self-contained adventure.
By the end of AvP, I was invested in a friendship between a large lizard alien and a human woman using Xenomorph parts as weapons.
It's not as good as even the bad Alien sequels, but it's better than you might expect.
7. ALIEN 3 (1992)
Alien 3 is a pretty bad movie, though it is the source of the iconic Alien meme.
Directed by David Fincher, who has an impressive filmography, even he can't save it.
The threequel had to follow the fantastic Aliens and it was bad to boot.
Alien 3 starts off bafflingly with Ripley crash-landing on a prison planet and both Hicks and Newt dying off-camera.
It's bleak, cruel, and badly written, clearly suffering from needless rewrites.
It looks pretty good, but ending with Ripley sacrificing herself is just depressing.
6. ALIEN COVENANT (2017)
Alien Covenant looks good on paper: a sequel to Prometheus starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, and Billy Crudup.
Ridley Scott directed it, so people were hopeful.
There are some shining moments, particularly in Scott's determination to ask existential questions.
Unfortunately, Alien Covenant tries too hard to be both an Alien movie and a Prometheus sequel.
It ends up feeling like neither.
Though it's not a bad movie, it falls flat, especially if you watch it back-to-back with Prometheus.
5. ALIEN RESURRECTION (1997)
Alien Resurrection could have played it safe but chose to be very weird and at times uncomfortable.
It has some genuinely clever moments and ideas.
Standout moments include Xenos using acid blood to escape, Ripley killing a different Ripley clone, and a chestburster being used as a weapon.
And let's not forget Weaver nailing a behind-the-back basketball shot.
The ending is wild and depressing, and the film is arguably not part of the current Alien canon.
But I dig Resurrection for taking risks and trying to create something new.
4. ALIEN ROMULUS (2024)
Alien Romulus is visually stunning with an impressive cast of young actors.
Set after the original film but before Aliens, it tells the story of a derelict outpost drifting towards a Weyland-Yutani mining colony.
The group of teenagers determined to escape their life of indentured servitude adds depth to the story.
Directed by Fede Álvarez, Romulus leans on practical set design, making it feel like it was made in the 70s.
However, too much of Romulus relies on references, including a cringey de-aged version of an iconic character.
When not tripping over Easter eggs, Romulus is a blast and could usher in a new generation of Alien fans.
3. PROMETHEUS (2012)
Prometheus deviates from the tried-and-true Alien formula, which makes it special.
Directed by Scott, it explores the origins of the xenomorphs and humanity.
It's more epic tale than horror film, more fable than action movie.
Prometheus is beautifully shot, well-written, and expertly acted.
It moves you to scribble theories on a notepad, a sign of a good movie.
Plus, any movie that gets Noomi Rapace on the big screen is a banger.
2. ALIENS (1986)
Aliens could have been another slow-burn sci-fi horror flick, but it offers a shot of adrenaline straight to the chest.
Directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, and Bill Paxton, it's high-octane action from the jump.
Brilliant performances and superpowered action propel you through the runtime.
It's the quintessential 80s action movie but so much more.
Aliens holds up incredibly well during a modern rewatch.
1. ALIEN (1979)
The first film in the Alien saga remains the very best.
Directed by Ridley Scott, it foregrounds the mundane reality of the crew's lives as workers exploited by a company.
The alien that stalks the crew is chilling, but the larger theme of capitalist exploitation resonates.
What makes Alien exceptional is the way its characters are embodied naturally by its outstanding cast.
Like Spielberg's Jaws, Alien's strength lies in what remains unseen, left to our imaginations.
The tightly focused humanity and horror of the series' progenitor remain the best the series has ever been.
