Alien franchise - best to worst

Aliens
Alien
Alien 3/Covenant
Prometheus
Resurrection

Alien
Aliens
Prometheus
Alien: Covenant
Alien: Resurrection
Alien 3

(Wow, yours and mine happens to the same!)

Alien
Aliens
Alien³
Alien: Resurrection
Alien vs. Predator
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem
Prometheus
Alien: Covenant

Alien - The original, and by far the best

Alien³ (Directors Cut) - Did it's best bring the horror back to the franchise and undo some of the stuff introduced by James Cameron

Prometheus - Ridley Scott returns to start to explain the xenomorph, introducing the Engineers. That seems to be forgotten sometimes

Alien: Covenant - Not the movie Scott wanted to make, but was pressured into including the alien before he was ready., effectively skipping a movie. Watch the Ninth Circle (Chaos) fan edit if you can, it ties in with Prometheus much better than the theatrical edition

Aliens - A superb movie, but not when including it in the Alien franchise. This should have been a stand-alone movie with it's own creature. It adds too much to the original concept of the Alien and takes far too much away from it. It loses the horror element, and is instead, basically a vietnam-esque action movie, using the xenomorph from Alien to carry it.

Alien: Resurrection - A good start, but that horrid hybrid ruins what could have been a decent movie.


The AvP movies are not, and should never be included in this franchise, in my opinion at least... AvP was a stupid movie Fox made to money grab from their two most successful (only?) sci-fi horror franchises, and Requiem was an horrendous movie. Neither should have been made IMHO

Alien
Prometheus
Aliens
Alien: Covenant
Alien vs. Predator
Alien³
Alien: Resurrection
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem

Alien
Aliens - I didn't care too much for this one at first, but over the years it has grown on me.
Prometheus
Alien: Resurrection - I honestly liked this movie. Don't get all the hate.
Alien vs Predator - See above
Alien 3 - not bad, but not great.
Alien: Covenant - Entertaining, but not the sequel I had hoped for
Alien vs Predator 2: Literally unwatchable. Half the time it's so dark I can't make out what's going on. Props for brutally murdering a child, though - not many movies dare to do that.

Aliens - one of the greatest sequels ever made, and it moves the story forward in a logical manner. Cameron remained true to the mythos created in Alien, then expanded on it. I saw it in ‘86 and it scared me. It still scares me all these years later.

Alien - great movie and certainly iconic. I like the slow pace and creeping dread, but still prefer the sequel (by a hair).

Alien: Prometheus - it pains me to put this in third place, but that actually says a lot about the rest of the franchise. I’m not a CGI fan, but this movie does look great. Scott introduces some intriguing points, but the story just really goes nowhere. You wait and wait, but then nothing. I equate it to some hippies dropping acid and believing they’re spouting mountains of wisdom. However, when seen sober, that wisdom turns out to be gibberish.

Alien 3 - the Director’s Cut is the preferred version, but that only makes it better than the theatrical release; it doesn’t turn it into a masterpiece. My biggest complaints are 1) it’s not scary, and 2) the story is going backwards. We’ve seen one xenomorph, then we saw a bunch. Now we’re back to one. Plus, I defy anyone to give a damn about any of the peripheral characters as they’re running around, being chased by the xenomorph. One more major complaint: Once we realize Ripley is impregnated, all suspense is out the window. No fear of attack means no suspense.

Alien: Covenant - I enjoyed it, but it’s not a great Alien movie. More acid dropping hippy stuff.

Alien: Resurrection - Ugh. Unlikable characters, dumb storyline, and almost zero suspense. The franchise was way off the rails by this point. I’ll never forget the howling laughter in the theater that greeted the xenomorph hybrid baby. ‘Nuff said.

Aliens (Theatrical or Special Edition, love them both equally)
Alien Isolation (yes, it is part of the canon, and Creative Assembly did an incredible job)
Alien (Incredible atmosphere & immersion throughout)
Alien3 (Assembly Cut preferred over Theatrical)
Alien Covenant (Fantastic music and great first half, also Walter is awesome)
Prometheus (Not bad, but the crew was really idiotic, and David being a psychopath from the start is a little silly, Vickers....)
Alien Resurrection (Nice set design but crazy far in the future story makes it difficult to connect with the originals)
Aliens Colonial Marines (yes, it is part of the canon and Gearbox fracked this one up bigtime)