Nearly forty years after it first appeared on our screens to terrify audiences, the Alien monster from the eponymous sci-fi / horror franchise has been named as the scariest movie creature ever.

A poll of over 2,000 votes from among readers of the British TV listings magazine The Radio Times put designer H. R. Giger’s creation at the top of the list. The monster first appeared when it burst through John Hurt’s chest in the titular 1979 movie, and went on to be the star of three more Alien movies plus a handful of spin-offs, franchise crossovers and a prequel.

Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver was the star of all four of the 'Alien' movies

The Alien was named ahead of the stop-motion animated skeleton army from the classical epic Jason and the Argonauts in second place, and ‘The Thing’ from the 1982 sci-fi movie of the same name in third.

In fourth place was Freddy Krueger’s dream-penetrating psychopath from A Nightmare On Elm Street, and in fifth was Jaws from the suspenseful 1975 movie.

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It was a list dominated by older names, with a lack of relatively new creations. Only ‘Pale Man’, which feeds on children and fairies in 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth, and the Dementor monsters from the 2001-2011 Harry Potter series, are post-millennium creations in the top ten.

Perhaps this is evidence that modern movie special effects don’t leave enough to the imagination to be sufficiently scary; or, perhaps it’s simply a reflection of the average age of the Radio Times’ readership.

The poll comes a few weeks after director Neil Blomkamp, who has experience with horror and sci-fi with the likes of District 9 and Elysium, was announced as the director of a fifth Alien movie, which will also be produced with the help of Ridley Scott who directed the 1979 original.

Below is the Top 10 in full:

1. Alien - Alien
2. Skeleton Army - Jason And The Argonauts
3. The Thing - The Thing
4. Freddy Kruger - A Nightmare On Elm Street
5. Jaws - Jaws
6. Dracula - Dracula
7. Godzilla - Godzilla
8. Pale Man - Pan's Labyrinth
9. Dementor - Harry Potter
10. Chucky - Child's Play

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