This Is Still the Scariest Scene in the Alien Franchise

The Alien franchise has featured its fair share of terrifying moments across its nine movies. Beginning with Ridley Scott’s Alien in 1979, the IP has generated subsequent titles involving the creepy extraterrestrial creatures known as Xenomorphs. The first four films star Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, a scientist who encounters the Xenomorphs on several different missions across the galaxy. Scott’s original Oscar-winning movie sees Ripley and a group of space travelers encounter the life form after responding to a distress call from an unknown vessel. Unbeknownst to the crew, they accidentally invite a dangerous parasite onboard their ship, that ends up breeding a deadly Xenomorph. The ensuing struggle sees only Ripley and the cat Jonesy make it out alive. Predictably, that wouldn’t be the last of the Xenomorphs, as the aliens manage to thrive on another colony in Aliens. More frights arise in the successive Alien movies, cementing the franchise as a landmark of both science fiction and horror.

But for all the movies in the franchise, to date, the very first time characters and audiences witness the birth of a Xenomorph out of a human host is the most horrifying scene. Often referred to as the chestburster scene, this iconic moment in 1979’s Alien remains one of the most iconic and unsettling scenes in any horror movie ever due to its startling and graphic nature.

Why the Chestburster Scene Is the Alien Franchise’s Most Terrifying Moment

The crawling organism known as a facehugger attached itself Kane (John Hurt) while the group was investigating the alien eggs, sending him into a coma. The facehugger was eventually removed, but to no one’s knowledge, it had implanted a Xenomorph egg to grow inside of him. Later, while the crew members enjoy a meal together, Kane starts violently coughing and choking. To everyone’s horror, the newborn Xenomorph suddenly rips through Kane’s chest, killing him and spraying blood and guts all over the place.

The scene’s astonishing and grisly qualities makes it extremely hard to forget. In fact, the chestburster part even more disturbing to watch when already knowing what is going to happen. Kane’s intense struggle before the baby alien breaks free is painful to observe. Moreover, the looks on Ripley, Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), Ash (Ian Holm) and Parker’s (Yaphet Kotto) faces after the Xenomorph lets out a screech and scurries away contribute an air of devastation to the terror. Even 45 years after the release of Alien, the chestburster scene remains a timeless sequence engraved in every viewer’s mind. The scene never fails to bring about the same feelings of shock and revulsion no matter how many times one has watched it.

[RELATED – Alien: Ridley Scott Reveals His Biggest Fear While Making Original Movie]

Why No Other Alien Movie Could Replicate the Horror of the First Film’s Most Shocking Event

None of the more recent Alien titles and spinoffs, including 2012’s Prometheus, 2017’s Alien: Covenant, and 2024’s Alien: Romulus, have succeeded in producing a scene as scary as the original Alien‘s chestburster scene. Of course, this exact event has been replicated a multitude of times throughout the franchise, however, the first instance was horrifying like none other because the viewers were expecting it. Prior to this point in the narrative, viewers don’t even know what the Xenomorph looks like, as they’ve only laid eyes on the facehuggers. The Xenomorph’s gory and astonishing on-screen debut makes it impossible to recreate. A chestburster is arguably the most horrid thing that can happen in the Alien franchise, but viewers have grown somewhat desensitized to its later depictions. The threat you expect is less terrifying, after all

It’s not likely that any upcoming project belonging to the Alien franchise will draw up a scene more ghastly than Alien‘s chestburster sequence. The new prequel TV show Alien: Earth is slated to arrive on Hulu at some point in 2025. A sequel to Alien: Romulus is also in the works, aiming to capitalize on the aforementioned movie’s positive reception. So, although the vast world of Alien has not reached its end, fans of the franchise should not expect to be as frightened as they were while watching a Xenomorph explode through a man’s chest.

Alien is streaming on Peacock.