10 Horror Franchises Where The First Movie Is NOT The Best

The best instalment: Aliens

The list ends now on another entry which could be contentious, as the Alien Vs. Aliens debate is a long-running one among fans of the franchise. Both are absolutely beloved sci-fi horror classics in which one of cinema's greatest female characters faces off against one of cinema's most terrifying monsters. Alien is a slow, haunting masterwork of paranoia and claustrophobic terror, Aliens is an all-guns-blazing, blow-your-socks-off action masterpiece that deserves to be called one of the most exciting films ever made. 

Both are great films in their own right, and the many subsequent Alien films have failed miserably to live up to them; only 2024's Alien: Romulus is truly worth seeing. Still, for your writer, Aliens is the superior film. 

While Alien is more stripped-down in screenplay terms, Aliens is the film with a bigger heart - it's got a more interesting collection of characters and the relationship between Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and Newt (Carrie Henn, giving one of cinema's best child actor performances) is so heartfelt. Speaking of Ripley, though she's awesome in the original it's here where she really becomes an all-timer cinematic icon. 

It's rare for any horror franchise to have two masterpieces to its name and it's rarer still for the best one not to be the first, but Alien did pull it off. As such, even if it is a mostly terrible franchise aside from these first two films, it deserves so much praise for that.