Ranking Every Alien Movie: Celebrating 40 Years of Aliens (1986)
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Jack Ransom - July 18, 2026
Few science fiction franchises have left a mark on cinema quite like Alien. Beginning with Ridley Scott's ground-breaking 1979 masterpiece before James Cameron raised the stakes with Aliens in 1986, the series has continually reinvented itself across horror, action and philosophical science fiction. Along the way, audiences have witnessed unforgettable encounters with the Xenomorph, the evolution of Ellen Ripley into one of cinema's greatest heroes, and a franchise that has never been afraid to take creative risks.
With Aliens celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2026, there's no better time to revisit every entry in the iconic series. From undisputed classics and underrated gems to the more divisive chapters, we're ranking every Alien film from worst to best based, including Alien vs Predator, on their lasting impact, entertainment value and contribution to one of film's most influential sci-fi sagas. Whether you're a lifelong fan or discovering the franchise after the success of Alien: Romulus, here's how every film stacks up.
9 Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), Dir. Colin Strause & Greg Strause
A boring, cheap, ugly, nasty piece of work that only delivers a couple of fun splattery kills and a decent Predator ship design as positives. The characters are irritating and take up too much of the runtime, the visual style is terrible, the action is largely abysmal and lacks any intensity whatsoever. At least both franchises ‘somewhat’ built up a more positive reception after this disaster.
8 Alien 3 (1992), Dir. David Fincher
An inessential, mostly boring and messy franchise instalment. The Xenomorph’s practical design is impressive, the blood and gore is frequent and Weaver still has her moments. However the plot and attempt at world building is uninteresting, the action is repetitive and generic and the film has no atmosphere or distinction whatsoever. Crazy that Fincher went on to direct the masterful Se7en just three years later.
7 Alien: Resurrection (1997), Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
A mediocre entry in the franchise that has a lot of goofy and bonkers ideas and some blood soaked grin worthy moments. However the story is generic and filled with strange and not very effective choices and it lacks any personality and style of its franchise.
6 AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004), Dir. Paul W.S. Anderson
Neither disastrously bad or thrillingly good, instead it lands smack bang in the average category. A few fan pleasing moments, genuinely great ideas and a couple of solid battles are fun, but the dull characters (despite decent performances), pacing, lack of intensity and messy action choreography let it down.
5 Prometheus (2012), Dir. Ridley Scott
A solid prequel that offers a welcome and unexpected insight into the origins of cinema’s most dangerous extra-terrestrials. The sets and visual effects stand tall, as do the costumes and creature effect work. Whilst the performances are solid, the majority of interest in the characters does leave quite a bit to be desired and there is a lingering sense that there could have been “more” to the film overall. Still, I certainly enjoyed and appreciated this more than the first viewing.
4 Alien: Covenant (2017), Dir. Ridley Scott
Understandably divisive and I still have my problems with it, despite enjoying it more on a rewatch. The technical elements are superb, the mean spirited body horror is gruesome and the performances are committed (with Fassbender stealing the show). However, the forgettable action bombast, certain narrative aspects and some pacing problems hold it back.
3 Alien: Romulus (2024), Dir. Fede Alvarez
A slick, intense, splattery and engaging return to this world (it’s criminal that this was being considered as a streaming dump at one point). Its cutthroat tension, strong lead performances, brutal and practical effect work, grisly big swing final third and spectacular production design overshadow the very familiar plot beats and on-the-nose fan service.
2 Aliens (1986), Dir. James Cameron
An absolute blast and an all-timer sequel. A switch up in tone and genre that feels naturalistic and seamless, Weaver kicks all the ass, the practical effect work is superb and the action is frantic and intense in its bursts. You do feel the length of this Director’s Cut at points, however that certainly doesn’t take away from the thrills.
1 Alien (1979), Dir. Ridley Scott
A lean, mean acid blooded second feature from Ridley Scott that earns its place in pop culture history. Featuring a snarling, ruthless antagonist that has put countless off of the notion of space travel. Sigourney Weaver’s action heroine Ripley is quickly established as a star-turn and the set design and direction help craft a thick and consistently unpredictable atmosphere.
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