The ‘Alien’ Movies Are On HBO Now–Are You Brave Enough For This Binge?

Whether you need something to hold you over until Annihilation hits theaters later this month, or you need a follow-up (or maybe palette-cleanser) to The Cloverfield Paradox, or you just want to binge one of the wildest franchises in film history, you need to know this: the Alien franchise is now streaming on HBO.

If you’re still here, if that announcement didn’t send you diving for a remote, then let’s talk about Alien and why you need to rewatch it right now (or right after you finish reading this). The quadrilogy that is now available on HBO Now and HBO Go–consisting of 1979’s Alien, 1986’s Aliens, 1992’s Alien 3, and 1997’s Alien: Resurrection–makes for one fascinating franchise. As a true blend of sci-fi and horror, the Alien series takes the aesthetic of films like Star Wars and marries it to the serial nature of horror franchises like A Nightmare on Elm Street. Instead of telling one ongoing saga, each installment in the Alien mythology almost stands alone, with a lone returning player (Sigourney Weaver as the iconic Ellen Ripley) serving as the connective tissue. Well, her and that metallic and phallic acid-spitting alien race known as xenomorphs.

Directed by Ridley Scott, the first film is a pure fusion of sci-fi and horror. Released just two years after Star Wars, Alien shows space travel in a similarly grimy, no-frills manner–except this time around, the extraterrestrial critters are more killer than cute. A group of space truckers are pulled off-course and directed to investigate a ghost ship on a hostile planet, bringing back on board a parasite that murders its host, grows to full-strength, and starts skulking through corridors waiting to pounce on human prey. Weaver’s Ripley takes charge, rallying the crew and uncovering sinister secrets along the way. This is not only Weaver’s star-making role, it was also at the time the boldest example of a female action hero ever presented on film. Alien changed minds as the titular alien chomped down on brains.

The film could easily have been a done-in-one, a lone thrilling, character-driven fright-fest. But James Cameron launched a sequel in 1986 (simply titled Aliens, plural) that many say is as good or better than the original. This time around, Ripley’s been assigned to a group of space marines sent to investigate a disturbance on that very same hostile planet from Alien. Ripley knows what’s up, though, without even having to step foot on the silenced colony: aliens are on the loose. Cameron’s installment leans into action splatter spectacle, as the marines pack way more firepower than the space truckers from the previous film. The film still packs plenty of scares, but Aliens proved that this franchise could also derive tension from gory, straightforward shoot’em up action.

And then there’s Alien 3, a bizarre and off-putting film–although not exactly in a bad way? This time around, Weaver’s been dropped on the hell that is a combination prison planet/foundry… one with a lot of monastic undertones because that was a holdover from one of the dozens of previous attempts at Alien 3‘s script. In some ways, the third installment is even more lo-fi than Alien; Ripley doesn’t have the flamethrowers and mech suit she used in the previous movies. She doesn’t even have reliable allies, as all the men surrounding her are in prison for horrendous crimes like rape and murder. This one’s definitely worth watching for Weaver’s continued ass-kicking (this time with a shaved head!) and seeing then-newcomer David Fincher apply his visionary music video aesthetic to a feature film. It also gave us this image, which is maybe the most iconic one of the entire Alien franchise:

Okay, and then there’s Alien: Resurrection, an absolutely gorgeous film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (the guy who did Amelie, y’all!) and written by nerd god Joss Whedon where the main threat isn’t really the xenomorphs (who we learn can swim!). The real bad guy is irreconcilable creative differences, as Jeunet and Whedon had drastically different approaches, which violently clashed in a frustrating and beautiful manner. Resurrection packs in plenty of new ideas, though, particularly when it comes to it’s dark depiction of Ripley. And whereas the previous movies relied mostly on newcomers and character actors, Resurrection includes committed performances from Winona Ryder and Ron Perlman.

All four of these films amount to a helluva binge, one that runs the gamut of tone, style, and execution. Yes, Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection aren’t as solid as Alien and Aliens, but the latter films make up for their shortcomings by just being fascinating watches and mesmerizing messes. If you need a reminder of just how intense sci-fi can be, there’s no better franchise for that.

Where to stream Alien

Where to stream Aliens

Where to stream Alien 3

Where to stream Alien: Resurrection