For over 40 years, the nightmares of H.R. Giger have successfully been passed on to us via Ridley Scott, Sigourney Weaver and other filmmaking talents. And for over 30 years, “Predator” – starting with one of the best action films of all time — has been joined with “Aliens” to form a combined franchise.
Of course, the “Aliens/Predator” saga has expanded into comics (where the two branches first combined, at Dark Horse), novels, games and short films. But for this list, we’re looking strictly at the big-screen exploits of Ripley, Dutch, the xenomorphs and the Predators. Rankings go from worst to first, and click on each title for a full-length review.
13. “AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator — Requiem” (2007)
The Strause Brothers deliver the saga’s visually darkest film, slightly for worse than for better (although I got used to it). But it also has some good dark humor. The scene where the dad tries to convince his kid that there are no monsters in the yard – only to have the light reveal a xenomorph – is tasty stuff. “AVPR” has the least memorable cast of the series (quick, name one cast member off the top of your head).
Still, the setup is serviceable, as a small-town group of teens and feuding exes must face down the new Pred-alien threat. The face-rape scene is perhaps the series’ best gore moment prior to the chestburster abortion in “Prometheus.” While something has to rank last, there’s plenty to like about “AVPR,” thus proving the flexibility and depth of this franchise.
12. “Predator 2” (1990)
The formerly maligned first “Predator” sequel has been re-evaluated in recent years. It hasn’t magically become a great piece of cinema. But director Stephen Hopkins’ parodic treatment of L.A. drug-war violence in 1990 (unfortunately, the film is confusingly set in 1997, but you can ignore that) now makes it a time capsule of the city’s reputation and the nature of action films at the time.
The city’s residents – except for competent cop Harrigan (Danny Glover) – are sweaty, loud-mouthed and unlikable. Well, Bill Paxton is always welcome, as he completes his “Terminator”-“Aliens”-“Predator” trifecta. Another piece of trivia: The xenomorph skull in the Predator’s trophy room represents the first cinematic crossover of the franchises.
11. “Alien 3” (1992)
Director David Fincher’s famously troubled film has likewise gotten a second look from fans and critics, especially since his “assembly cut” hit DVD in 2003 when he had become a respected filmmaker. It lets the prison-planet setting breathe more by showing the brutal weather. It allows us to wallow and meditate on fate and redemption, rather than being confused.
Plot holes remain, notably everyone’s lack of interest in what had to be a second xenomorph (explaining Ripley’s infection). The tunnel chase is still hard to follow, and the CGI effects are stuck in 1992. The dispatching of Newt and Hicks off-screen will always be a head-scratcher from a commercial perspective. But it does allow “Alien 3” to be what it wants to be: a stylishly bleak exploration of heroism in a future where heroism is dead.
10. “AVP: Alien vs. Predator” (2004)
Considered too fan-servicey by some, this is nonetheless an entertaining piece of I.P. embellishment from director Paul W.S. Anderson, who caps a respectable sci-fi trifecta that includes “Event Horizon” and “Soldier.” It’s fascinating to find out that xenomorphs and Predators have a long history on Earth, dating back to the pyramids.
Lance Henriksen’s return is welcome, as is Sanaa Lathan’s debut. Her Alexa Woods parallels the human hunters who enter into diplomacy with the Predators in the Dark Horse Comics. The Antarctic setting is a blast of cold and fresh air, and – while the xenomorph gestation cycle is inexplicably sped up – “AVP” delivers the promised showdown and answers “Who would win?” (Haters, set aside your “We all lose” jokes.)
9. “The Predator” (2018)
For lazy-afternoon-on-the-couch entertainment, it doesn’t get much better than this fourth proper “Predator” film, written and directed by Shane Black, who acted in the original. This is merely Black’s seventh-best film, but everyone on the set has a blast with the cliché-dodging – including leads Olivia Munn and Boyd Holbrook – and the fun transfers to the audience.
The downside is that the Predators and Pred-dogs are relatively lightweight threats, considering how everyone quips in front of them. Still, the mythology-building (while it probably won’t be expanded upon, since people disliked this film) is interesting, including the notion that Predators desire to study an autistic boy to learn how to improve their own race.
8. “Predators” (2010)
All “Predator” films riff on “The Most Dangerous Game,” but this third proper entry is the most blatant, as the humans chillingly realize “This is a game preserve. And we’re the game.” In a toned-down reaction to the mostly panned “AVP” films of the Naughties, director Nimrod Antal focuses on the human soldiers and tough guys.
They are highlighted by Adrien Brody and Laurence Fishburne, with Topher Grace stepping in as a whiny audience-surrogate spice. When the Predators do show up, it’s more suspenseful than in the other sequels. While there is a reference to the Weyland-Yutani Corp., this foreign-planet installment is the saga’s most standalone film up to 2010, making it an easy entry point.
7. “Prey” (2022)
Director Dan Trachetenberg’s 1700s-set prequel is another installment that reacts to previous films’ bombast by returning to basics. It’s even more grounded than “Predators.” The concept of Comanche warriors going up against Predators (returning to their menacing roots) is one of those “Wouldn’t it be cool if …” ideas that in the old days would never actually be made.
“Roswell, New Mexico’s” Amber Midthunder – as a woman warrior who has to prove herself even more so than her male allies – is an able and amiable lead. The hype about this being the second-best “Predator” film, while true, belies the movie’s hunter-and-hunted simplicity. Still, there are nuggets for continuity buffs, as it ties into an obscure “Predator” comic from the Nineties and seemingly unholsters Harrigan’s “Predator 2” gun.
6. “Alien: Covenant” (2017)
In his third go-around in the saga he launched, director Ridley Scott riffs a lot on what came before. Another ragtag group must fight off xenomorphs after responding to a creepy distress call. That said, if someone is gonna riff on “Alien,” it might as well be Scott, because what “Covenant” lacks in originality it makes up for in execution.
Consider the uber-disgusting scene where a proto-alien gets loose in the ship’s medical room and finds its first hapless victim. Meanwhile, android Walter (Michael Fassbender, continuing from his role as David, the good android) provides a face for the epic “creations overtaking their creators” storyline introduced in “Prometheus.” Two more films were supposed to complete a “Prometheus” quadrilogy; it’s a shame that it’s not likely to happen.
5. “Alien Resurrection” (1997)
Time to unleash Apologist Mode. I will admit that putting this fourth “Alien” film at No. 1 in my Best of 1997 reflects youthful enthusiasm more than the film’s quality. But this is a still a seriously entertaining romp. Although writer Joss Whedon ripped director Jean-Pierre Jeunet as much as he ripped the “Buffy” movie director for ruining his screenplay, it doesn’t ring true here.
The actors know how to deliver Whedon’s quips (“I thought you were dead.” “Yeah, I get that a lot.”) in what now looks like an R-rated “Firefly.” While the humans do overshadow the xenomorphs, the creepy-as-hell Newborn (a clone of an alien and Ripley) is the stuff of nightmares. In a great cast that includes Sigourney Weaver (now playing a clone) and Ron Perlman, Winona Ryder stands out as the latest android, Call. She would’ve been worth following into “Alien 5,” but – as with too many instances in this saga – that became a Path Not Taken.
4. “Prometheus” (2012)
Many great directors returned to their classic properties in the 21st century, and if Scott’s revisiting of the “Alien”-verse isn’t the standout achievement, it’s certainly the most ambitious. In this start of a prequel series (which, as noted, has paused after the second part), the director teams with “Lost” scribe Damon Lindelof to load up on Puzzle Box-style mystery. Those “Movie Explained” YouTube videos exist for things like “Prometheus” – but I don’t mean that in a bad way.
I get a sense that everything has an answer, even if we don’t get it within the film. For now, the grand mystery vibe is enough, as a religious scientist (Noomi Rapace, filling a Ripley-shaped hole amid an excellent cast) goes on a spiritual quest reminiscent of “Contact.” Except that the answers are not uplifting, they are horrifying (which is how we want it).
3. “Predator” (1987)
The third “A/P” Universe film wasn’t known as such in 1987, because the crossover hadn’t happened. But we can see it coming. “Predator” is, broadly speaking, an “Alien” ripoff, but because it introduces its own magnificent creature (designed by Stan Winston) and its set of values, it stands toe-to-toe with “Alien.”
This is the elite “blood, bullets and brawn” Eighties actioner, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers and Jesse Ventura as ostensible good guys who have no problem shredding half the tropics with machine guns to take down their target. It’s John McTiernan’s best film (no, I didn’t forget he directed “Die Hard”). While there’s little mythology-building here, and the social commentary is more subtle than in “Predator 2,” everyone (except Arnold, unfortunately) craved further adventures as soon as this one ended.
2. “Alien” (1979)
“Alien” versus “Aliens” will never be resolved, and while it’s fair to say they are tied for No. 1, it’s no fun to actually rank them that way for people clicking through rankings lists. While it doesn’t take my top spot, Scott’s film is flawless, like a beautiful orchestral composition but in the format of a horror movie rather than music. The sequence of Dallas (Tom Skerritt) meeting the alien in the ducts is tense on every viewing. The dinner-table chestburster – enhanced by Veronica Cartwright’s “Oh god!” — is so classic we take it for granted.
There had been gritty space movies before (“Star Wars”), but no crew like that of the Nostromo. There had been a film with this basic plot (“Dark Star,” likewise from co-writer Dan O’Bannon), but not with the scares. There had been monster-horror before this, but H.R. Giger’s designs increase the creep-out factor by 100.
1. “Aliens” (1986)
If you’re a competing “Aliens”/“Predator” film, or a competing film on a James Cameron list, or on a list of action films, or movies with great one-liners, it’s “Game over, man, game over” when you go up against “Aliens.” In a saga that’s always seeking fresh angles, the masterful simplicity of pitting monsters versus Marines, and of genre-hopping decades before the MCU made it cool, can’t be beat. Even with (or maybe because of) practical effects, this horror movie on a regimen of Eighties steroids remains a blast.
Cameron smoothly mixes tones, as Hicks (Michael Biehn) provides military discipline, Hudson (Paxton) loses his nerve with endlessly quotable one-liners, and Ripley is the ultimate protective mother figure to orphaned Newt (Carrie Henn, in the ultimate one-and-done acting career). “Aliens” makes a franchise out of something that seemed to be a one-off (in the age before everything was a franchise). While it can’t be denied that it came out after Scott’s film (the biggest blow against its case for No. 1), it doesn’t rely on its precursor for residual greatness. Before 1986, there wasn’t a scare-actioner like this, and everything since is an imitator.