While every installment in the Alien franchise is insanely dark and twisted, there is one storyline set after Alien Resurrection that is the darkest.
The fourth film in the Alien saga, Alien Resurrection, was believed to be the last installment in the series (chronologically speaking), though little do many fans know, there is a sequel to that story that has been completely forgotten–and it’s the darkest Alien story of them all.
Alien Resurrection is set two-hundred years after the events of Alien 3, making it the series’ most distinguished outlier–and in more ways than one. While the first three installments of the Alien saga follow a fairly consecutive chain of events featuring the series’ main character, Ellen Ripley–from her first contact with the Xenomorphs, to conquering the Xenomorphs, to being killed by the Xenomorphs–Alien Resurrection takes the series in a shocking new direction. This film introduces the idea of cloning, gene-splicing, and general genetic manipulation of not just Ellen Ripley (who is reborn as the superhuman clone, Ripley8), but of the Xenomorphs themselves. Every alien creature in this movie was derived from a clone of the one in Ripley’s chest from Alien 3, making them little more than a copy of a copy of the original monster. This turned the Xenomorphs into something of a ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’, which only highlighted the overall theme of the franchise that humanity is the real monster. While this movie was a dark addition to the series, it at least ended on a hopeful note with Ripley8 and her found-family returning to Earth to seemingly pave new lives for themselves–but the sequel crushes those hopes entirely.
In the four-part miniseries Aliens vs Predator vs The Terminator by Mark Schultz and Mel Rubi, readers are thrown into a world set almost immediately following the events of Alien Resurrection. The Earth is a rundown cesspool of dilapidated infrastructure and poverty, and Ripley8 is homeless and alone. However, in the opening pages, it is revealed that one of Ripley8’s friends from the movie, a synthetic named Call, was looking for her as the revolutionary android had a mission that only Ripley8 could pull off. According to Call, there was a space station working on experiments similar to the ones that created Ripley8, and they had Xenomorph DNA in their possession as well. When Ripley8 finally agrees to help and their team infiltrates the station and uncovers what is going on, they learn that they’re not just going up against Xenomorphs and mad human scientists, but also Predators and Terminators.
Alien Resurrection’s Sequel Increases the Threat Level Exponentially
Not only does this series start by draining the little shreds of hope that were left following the most disturbing movie in the franchise by making Ripley8 alone, showing the world in horrible condition, and revealing that their efforts in stopping humanity's experimentation on Xenomorphs from the last story was pointless, but this sequel also included Predators and Terminators. The established despair would have been enough to make this sequel the darkest of the franchise, but the fact that the protagonists have to deal with Xenomorphs, Predators, and Terminators while navigating this hopeless world just makes the situation even worse.
Separately, the Xenomorphs, Predators, and Terminators are nearly impossible to kill and always result in massive human casualties within each installment of their respective franchises, so the fact that the heroes of Alien Resurrection have to deal with all three while existing in a world that is barely worth living in is not only demoralizing, but is also insanely dark–perhaps, even the darkest tale in the Alien saga.
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