Don’t ever let anyone tell you different. First there is Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott. Then there is Aliens (1986), directed by James Cameron. The first is one of the scariest horror films ever made. The second is my favorite high-tech sci-fi action adventure ever.

We do not discuss the films which followed. They are not real. They are not canon. They are not worthy. Let us never speak of them again.

What a great opportunity it was for Sigourney Weaver, whose previous credits were quite paltry, to land the plum role of Ripley in the first film!
Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to see both movies in a double feature at the American Cinematech at the Egyptian. My friend and I agreed that, seeing them together, it makes it even more obvious that Aliens is easily the better film. But they are both classics, and deserve to be remembered together without the taint of the drecky franchise films which followed them.