The Real Horror of the Alien Franchise Is Its Inability to Evolve
The Alien franchise suffers from some kind of arrested development syndrome. Alien was so great that later entries just copy and retell the same tale over and over again. Granted, Aliens and Alien 3 actually progressed the story, which is probably why they're so well regarded especially Aliens. But Prometheus, Covenant, and Romulus all keep telling the same story as the original, just reskinned. It's like counting 1, 2, 3, 1, 1, 1. They're stuck.
I get it, commercial pressures, chasing a proven formula. The effects are great, the craft is solid. But it's the same story. There's no sense of evolution or real progression. Every Alien film is essentially the same movie: disposable crew, derelict location, duplicitous android, corporate conspiracy, one resourceful woman surrounded by idiots, a facehugger, a unique but familiar xenomorph variant, and a corridor sprint to a ship amid a destruction countdown. The only thing that changes is the budget and the coat of paint.
Forty-five years of the same recipe, and people keep ordering it. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of it. I wanna move on and actually see more of this universe, not be stuck in a forever Groundhog Day.