ALMOST 50 years ago, Ridley Scott changed the face of horror and science fiction in cinema when his film Alien violently burst out of Hollywood’s chest. Since then, an entire franchise has spawned around the film to create an enduring mythology.
On Aug 15, Alien: Romulus will be released in Malaysian cinemas. The seventh film of the franchise, it will be helmed by Fede Alvarez. As he will inevitably turn Romulus into a blood-soaked gorefest in space, here are all the films in the 45-year-old franchise, ranked from best to worst.
Alien
A spaceship called Nostromo lands on a moon named LV-426 after detecting a distress signal. A crew member is attacked by an unknown lifeform that attaches to his face. Not long afterwards, he dies in the now legendary chest-bursting scene as the remaining crew members including Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) attempt to survive against a dangerous new passenger on their ship.
In its bare simplicity, the film that started it all holds the top spot in the franchise. Alien is a classic piece of cinema that introduced the Xenomorph, an enduring icon of primordial horror designed by H.R. Giger and pop culture and cinema’s first action heroine with Weaver’s Ripley.
