14 Most Terrifying Moments From Alien Films

Carter Burke by name, berk by nature. The reprehensible representative from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation was your archetypal company man, to such a desperately and cowardly extent he locked a sleeping Ripley and Newt in the medical laboratory with two loose facehuggers.

His dastardly plan? To get the pair impregnated with alien embryos and therefore act as the perfect means to bypass the strict quarantine laws for the return journey to Earth. If ever there was anyone more deserving of being turned to dog meat then it's Burke.

Since arachnophobia is one of the most common phobias in the world, you could imagine David taking inspiration from that, given his hatred of humanity when genetically engineering the facehuggers we all know and, er, love. However, whilst spiders are more scared of us, facehuggers aren't scared full stop.

We all sense what's coming when Ripley spots her gun is outside the med lab; notices, to her horror, the empty cylindrical tubes on the floor; doesn't get the desperately urgent help required after waving frantically to the security camera, thanks to Burke; and tries smashing the window to no avail. But then Ripley activates the fire sprinkler alerting the marines.

Beforehand we had only seen facehuggers leap out of the eggs or wriggling around in containers. This time they scuttle around deviously, and strangle Ripley with those frightening bony fingers with menacing intent to impregnate. Fortunately Hicks, Hudson and Co. arrive just in the nick of time to blast them to smithereens.