The Best Alien Movie Since 1986 Came Out In 2017 & Had Nothing To Do With The Franchise

While the sequels of the Alien franchise have been hit or miss, the spiritual successor to Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece actually came out in 2017 and was completely unrelated to the long-running sci-fi horror series. Both Ridley Scott’s original Alien and James Cameron’s sequel Aliens were celebrated by fans and critics alike, but every sequel since has failed to live up to the lofty standards of the two original films. The movie that has come closest to recapturing the spirit of Alien was an original film that was released the same year as the franchise’s best sequel, Alien: Covenant.

Alien was celebrated for its bleak, slow-burning horror narrative, which blended claustrophobia and isolation with an all-time creature design to create a true classic of the sci-fi and horror genres. While Aliens captured the same tone and terror as the original, the sequels, prequels, and disappointing Alien vs. Predator crossover series have never achieved the same level of legitimate horror and tension. The closest that a movie from the trapped-in-space subgenre has come was an ensemble movie set in the very near future.

Life (2017) Is The Perfect Spiritual Successor To Alien

Life reinvigorated the “trapped in space” genre of sci-fi horror.

2017’s Life flew somewhat under the radar, although it was a box office success given its relatively modest $58 million budget. The ensemble movie features a star-studded cast that includes Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson, and is set in the relatively near future. The premise is relatively straightforward: a group of astronauts on the International Space Station discovers extraterrestrial life in a soil sample from Mars, which quickly evolves into a menacing and monstrous threat to everyone on board.

Much like Alien, the movie focuses on building tension with a hunter/prey dynamic between the alien, nicknamed “Calvin”, and the astronauts. Like the xenomorph, Calvin picks off the astronauts one-by-one, and seemingly can’t be killed by conventional means. Just as Alien did with the space tug Nostromo, Life uses the close quarters of the International Space Station as an additional, claustrophobic source of terror. These elements create a very similar experience to the 1979 classic, but with a relatable modern setting, making it the true spiritual successor to Alien.

Life Recaptured What The Alien Movies Were Missing

The 2017 movie restored the claustrophobic terror without being burdened by mythology.

The Alien franchise has its roots in two of the best sci-fi and horror movies ever made, but that has actually acted as a burden at times. Each Alien movie has to account for the now-extensive history of the xenomorph, which has hindered the cohesion of each individual movie’s story. With so much information about the xenomorph’s biology and abilities now known, it makes it hard to create new and exciting body horror scares. Ultimately, the mythology of the franchise has removed the horror from what is supposed to be a sci-fi horror series.

Life, on the other hand, has no such issues. As Calvin is an entirely unknown organism, his evolution keeps the audience guessing. Calvin’s attacks hit on much of the surprising body horror that made Alien so gruesomely spine-chilling, which is another aspect that has been missing from the Alien franchise’s bevy of sequels. Life combines the claustrophobic terror that comes with a space slasher with a unique creature design, making it the sequel to Alien that has been missing in recent years.