Alien (1979)

Alien parents guide

What we could confirm fits an R: intense fear and several jump scares.

Scare

Terrifying

Our top level for fear.

Jump scares

Several

More than a couple of sudden jolts.

Gore

Graphic gore

Blood and wounds shown clearly.

Violence

Strong violence

Violence is frequent or intense.

Sex and nudity

None flagged

It is rated R, so treat our zero as unconfirmed.

Language

Moderate

Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Alien scary?

Yes. Alien is one of the scariest titles in the CouchRot catalog.

How gory is Alien?

Graphic gore and strong violence. If graphic gore is a dealbreaker, skip it.

What is Alien rated, and is it OK for kids?

It is an R, with intense fear, several jump scares and strong violence. Keep it for adults.

What is Alien about?

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 and crew

More like Alien

• The Thing (1982)Terrifying · extreme gore · strong violence · emotionally heavyAn Antarctic research team faces a shape-shifting alien, creating a chilling atmosphere of paranoia and suspense.
• Psycho (1960)Properly scary · light gore · strong violence · emotionally heavyA woman on the run finds a chilling, atmospheric motel where dread steadily builds to a shocking twist.
• Alien: Covenant (2017)Properly scary · graphic gore · strong violence · emotionally heavyA bleak, gritty search for paradise turns into a chilling fight for survival on a dark, dangerous world.
• The Fly (1986)Properly scary · extreme gore · strong violence · emotionally devastatingA brilliant scientist's breakthrough in teleportation fuses man and insect, transforming his body with grotesque, tragic results.
• Alien: Romulus (2024)Terrifying · graphic gore · brutal violence · emotionally heavyYoung space colonizers face the universe's most terrifying life form in a relentless, gritty, and chilling ordeal.
• Dawn of the Dead (1978)Properly scary · extreme gore · brutal violence · emotionally heavySurvivors navigate a zombie apocalypse in a shopping mall, blending gritty horror with darkly comic social commentary.
• Night of the Living Dead (1968)Properly scary · graphic gore · strong violence · emotionally heavyStrangers barricade themselves in a farmhouse, facing relentless flesh-eating ghouls and bleak, chilling suspense.
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)Properly scary · graphic gore · strong violence · emotionally devastatingA brilliant, imprisoned psychopath offers chilling insights into a serial killer's mind, if a young agent dares to listen.

Alien is on our Halloween, Scariest, Space, AI and robots and Aliens lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

• “scary but not gory”
• “a horror movie that's actually scary”
• “a fun halloween movie, not too scary”

Lists with the same feel: Late night.