What is the iRankMovies score for Alien?

Name: Alien
Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: horror, science-fiction
Released: 1979
Duration: 1 h 57 min
Rating: 8.5

Alien has an iRankMovies score of 87.5/100, based on a weighted combination of IMDb (×3.0), Rotten Tomatoes (×2.0), Metacritic (×1.5), and TMDb (×1.0).

Alien (1979)

In space no one can hear you scream.

Release:1979

Runtime:1h 57m

Country:United States

Director:Ridley Scott

Language:English

Genre

HorrorScience Fiction

See the best horror movies →

Keywords

AndroidSpacecraftSpace MarineBiologydystopiaCountdownSpace SuitBeheading

iRank88

Alien rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb8.5/10· 1.1M votes

Rotten Tomatoes93%

Metacritic89%

TMDb8.171/10· 16K votes

With 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 8.5/10 on IMDb and 89/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been very positive.

About Alien

During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed.

Cast of Alien

Tom Skerritt
as Dallas
Sigourney Weaver
as Ripley
Veronica Cartwright
as Lambert
Harry Dean Stanton
as Brett
John Hurt
as Kane
Ian Holm
as Ash
Yaphet Kotto
as Parker
Bolaji Badejo
as Alien
Helen Horton
as Mother (voice)

Alien facts

Budget: $11M
Box office: $104.9M
Collection: Alien Collection

Our take on Alien

Ridley Scott's 1979 landmark traps the crew of a commercial spaceship with a perfect predator after a distress call goes horribly wrong. Slow, dread-soaked and impeccably designed, it fused science fiction with pure horror and gave us one of cinema's great survivors in Ripley. If its claustrophobic terror gripped you, seek out sci-fi horror and survival thrillers where an isolated crew is hunted in the dark.

Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026Methodology Data sources

Audience opinions

What the audience liked

•Ridley Scott constructs cosmic horror through biology and android tension mastery
•Alien concept revolutionizes science-fiction horror with practical beheading effects
•Countdown pacing and cosmos setting amplify existential dread throughout runtime

What the audience disliked

•Pacing drags during establishment sequences before horror intensifies considerably
•Female protagonist largely passive until final act despite strong characterization

Saga: Alien Collection