14 Most Terrifying Moments From Alien Films

In what amounts to your classic game of hide and seek, albeit in the vacuum of space with an acid-drooling killer aboard your escape shuttle, the alien startles Ripley by reaching out with an arm from a nifty hiding place, causing Ripley to recoil and hide herself. Although you have to question why didn't the alien just spring out and end the game once and for all, which of course was Ridley Scott's initial plan.

Soon, we're all reciting "You Are My Lucky Star" along with Ripley to try to calm the nerves as the alien is about to launch the bitey-bitey inner jaw at her. Fortunately, she manages to open the airlock just in the nick of time, naturally, forcing the alien flying towards the brutal nothingness beyond. Ripley then fires a grappling hook at the alien but the door shuts on top of the gun.

However you just can't keep a good Xenomorph down. The tough son of a bitch refuses to give up and begins to climb inside one of the engines, which Ripley realises and activates them. She watches in a mixture of relief and exhaustion as the alien is at long last defeated.

Don't worry Ripley, only six weeks until you reach the frontier and you've got plenty of time to get some well-earned rest... 57 years to be exact. Incidentally, surely Jones is easily the most traumatised cat in film history after what he went through.