All the ‘Alien’ movies, ranked

By Elisabeth Vincentelli

Just like the space creature it’s named after, the 45-year-old “Alien” franchise has proved hard to kill: Every time you think the series has been dealt a death blow by a disappointing installment, a new movie rolls around, rekindling fans’ hopes. Following that pattern, here comes “Alien: Romulus” in theaters, seven years after “Alien: Covenant.”

The series (all the older titles are streaming on Hulu) has endured for many reasons. Thematically, it has touched, often in a pioneering way, on many subjects we now confront daily: corporate malfeasance, science gone rogue, artificial intelligence, cloning and the very meaning of life. And it has done so by pitting regular working stiffs against the cryptic title life form, whose motivations boil down to reproducing their own kind, and exterminating everybody and everything else in a viciously gory manner.

Whether you are new to the “Alien”-verse, need a refresher or are looking for a spirited argument, here is a ranking of the seven core movies, on a scale of 1 alien (not too spooky) to 5 aliens (terrifying).

1979

‘Alien’

5 aliens

Few films are so perfect that you can’t imagine changing anything; Ridley Scott’s brilliant second feature, written by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, is one of them. Lured to an isolated moon by a mysterious signal, the crew members of the towing ship Nostromo run into a terrifying life form that decimates them one by one. In just under two hours, the grittily realistic yet eerily poetic “Alien” modernizes cinematic space creatures, reinvents bio-horror and anticipates the contemporary discourse about capitalist greed and artificial intelligence. It also introduces to the science fiction canon the xenomorph (the creature’s biomechanical-looking life stage, a biped with a double set of fangs) and an action heroine for the ages in Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). Even the trailer was amazing. No notes.

1986

‘Aliens’

2 aliens

Written and directed by James Cameron, the first sequel to “Alien” is widely held as either the best or the second best movie in the series. But have you watched it recently? Because “Aliens” has aged badly. After 57 years in hypersleep, Ripley grudgingly agrees to help wipe out a nest of beasties threatening a settlement. “Aliens” bears many of the badges of dishonor of formulaic 1980s action: cartoonishly aggro toughies, a little girl in peril (Carrie Henn), a company tool with an upturned collar (Paul Reiser), a bombastically martial score (by James Horner) and, worst of all, an avalanche of hackneyed would-be catchphrases. Best: the confrontation between the alien queen (a major addition to the canon) and Ripley. Worst: almost everything else.

1992

‘Alien 3’

4 aliens

For many fans, this is the “Alien” maudit: the second sequel to “Alien” was cursed by a chaotic production process, met with a divided reception and disowned by its rookie director, one David Fincher. But time has been generous to this installment, whose number may also refer to three times the bleakness and desperation. The film starts with Ripley crash-landing on a planet that’s been turned into an all-male prison, where many of the inmates have become apocalyptic fundamentalist Christians. A parasitic facehugger, which attaches itself to a host and deposits the embryo that will eventually burst out, quickly grows to full size and spreads havoc on the colony. Featuring Weaver’s best performance in the entire series, “Alien 3” has a haunting grandeur and a core melancholia that are subtly emphasized by Elliot Goldenthal’s imaginative score. This one easily bears repeat watching.

1997

‘Alien Resurrection’

4 aliens

Nobody was clamoring for another “Alien” movie after Fincher’s flop, but we got one anyway: this fascinating mishmash cooked up by screenwriter Joss Whedon and “City of Lost Children” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Like its immediate predecessor, the bonkers “Resurrection” was deemed a failure at the time, but now rewards adventurous viewers. It kicks off 200 years after “Alien 3,” with a clone of Ripley waking up on a research ship. Scientific experiments getting out of control, corporate greed and the growth of AI (introducing an android created by androids) dominate the story, whose baroque atmosphere makes it the one “Alien” film that could be turned into an opera. The scene in which Ripley discovers a roomful of disfigured clones is horrifying on a primal level, and more intimately disturbing than the violence in any of the other films.

2012

‘Prometheus’

2 aliens

Ridley Scott’s return to the “Alien” franchise was a big deal, especially since it would be with a prequel to his own masterpiece. “Prometheus” focuses on the mysterious Engineers race that since the first film has been closely associated with the monsters. As we follow a scientific expedition, the film quickly gets marooned in a kind of pseudo-mysticism that’s somehow pompous and silly at the same time. Still, Michael Fassbender’s suavely threatening performance as this installment’s android and a new gross-out vision of pregnancy — a franchise perennial — make “Prometheus” worth a look.

2017

‘Alien: Covenant’

2 aliens

If “Prometheus” was about searching for the origin of life, its sequel, also directed by Scott, was about finding the origin of death — for what are the implacable xenomorphs if not death incarnate? The problem is that giving death an origin story is pointless: It just is. The plot revolves around a colony vessel that picks up a strange signal and makes a detour to investigate. (What’s up with all those ships thinking they’re the AAA of space?) It’s hard not to get annoyed by characters who constantly make idiotic decisions, and taken together, the two prequels add so many new versions of the lethal creatures that the essence of the “Alien” franchise gets diluted. At least Fassbender is twice the menace playing two androids.

2024

‘Alien: Romulus’

3 aliens

Set after the first film and taking place largely on an abandoned spaceship, “Romulus” suffers from pedestrian acting and a surfeit of fan-service Easter eggs. But the director Fede Álvarez handles the action scenes well, and the elaborate visuals and gut-churning (pun definitely intended) body horror are often inspired — think Georgia O’Keeffe meets David Cronenberg. We’ll have to wait and see how “Romulus” ages, but for now it’s a solid addition to the franchise.