Movies
HORROR 101: The Origins of the Xenomorph
Welcome back to Horror Press’s Horror 101, a series of articles where we explain horror movie legends and their lore. For beginners, the confused, or just those who need a refresher, these articles are for you. Today we delve into an antagonist described as “the perfect organism” with a “structural perfection [that’s] matched only by its hostility”, the Xenomorph from the Alien franchise. An alien species that’s oft imitated but never surpassed by its many pop culture counterparts, H.R. Giger’s iconic design evolved into a creature shrouded in as much mystery as its costume is in KY Jelly.
While the Alien franchise is quite sprawling, we will only look at the mainline Alien films for canonical explanations of all our questions. As much as I’d love to include the stellar Dark Horse comics and the Alien: Isolation game, we’ll have to touch on those another day.
So how did the Xenomorph come to be, and what exactly is it? Let’s find out.
WHAT ARE XENOMORPHS?
Depending on who you ask, they’re either the worst or greatest thing to happen to the galaxy at large. What the android Ash calls “A survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality”, the Xenomorph is driven only by primal instincts to kill and reproduce at high speeds.
The xenomorph is the byproduct of a bioweapon called “the black liquid, ” or, more commonly by fans, the black goo. Through genetic experimentation, the xenomorph was engineered as a killing machine with peak agility and strength. Most xenomorphs stand around 6’10”, and sport an iconic, shiny black exoskeleton that grants them unbelievable durability.
Among its most distinctive features are a lack of eyes, a second set of inner jaws that can punch through reinforced glass and metal, and a bladed tail. Bright green acidic blood, capable of burning through almost anything, makes it borderline impossible to engage at close quarters without harming yourself.
HOW DO XENOMORPHS REPRODUCE?
Its most frightening and iconic quality, however, is its reproductive cycle.
When a living being approaches a xenomorph egg, a spiderlike “face-hugger” leaps out and attaches to living prey to implant an embryo orally. Within a matter of hours, the embryo develops into a self-sufficient juvenile alien that forcibly (and fatally) claws out through the torso of the victim, earning it the nickname “chest-burster”. It then grows into a fully-fledged drone, or a queen that produces more eggs.
Xenomorphs, by their nature are incredibly adaptive parasites, able to gestate in any living mammal that can sustain its egg. These xenomorphs will also take on the traits of their hosts; The Dragon from Alien 3 was spawned from an ox and was uniquely quadrupedal as a result.
WHO CREATED THE XENOMORPHS?
To get to the bottom of that, we need to explain the black goo and who made it!
WHAT IS THE BLACK GOO, AND WHO MADE IT?
Introduced posthumously in Alien, then later fully in Prometheus, the Engineers were an advanced alien species that seeded life on many planets, including the building blocks of human life on Earth. However, when the Engineers were unhappy with their creations, they would deploy a devastating planetary bioweapon to depopulate entire worlds of species that they deemed “mistakes”. This was the black goo.
Its most notable user is David, a malicious android made by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and modeled after founder Peter Weyland. He is also the predecessor of the androids Ash and Bishop from Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3, and a brother model to the android Walter from Alien: Covenant.
David studied the black goo extensively following his encounter with its creators in Prometheus and the subsequent attack on their homeworld (Planet 4) in Alien: Covenant. As per the short film Alien: Advent, his research claims that the black goo was made up of “advanced nano-particles” which he considered biomechanical artificial intelligence. Like a slime mold in motion, the black goo has some senses and intentionally seeks out organic targets; this is most evident in the bombing scene from Alien: Covenant, where it tears through crowds of Engineer civilians.
The black goo AI would model itself after natural evolutionary development, curate the genes most likely to succeed, then accelerate the process by mutating those traits instead of waiting for hundreds of generations to develop them. The resultant mutations would usually be too intense and liquefy their targets from the inside out.
The operative word is usually.
OKAY, THERE, NOW WHO CREATED THE XENOMORPHS?
David recognized the limitless potential of dynamic DNA that could rapidly mutate on command. He began to engineer the black goo with the insects and plant life that survived his attack on Planet 4.
In Alien: Advent David began using selective breeding to steer small amounts of the black goo into making him a species designed to expand across the galaxy, though most early attempts are failures. By the time of Alien: Covenant, he makes the dream a reality, and the first face-hugger eggs are made, resulting in the creation of a fully-fledged xenomorph (dubbed the Neomorph) via a human host. He later stored other eggs in a ship headed for Earth on behalf of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, but their fate is currently unknown.
However, David was not the only one to succeed in this. In Alien and Aliens, a separate vessel piloted by long-dead Engineers had crashed on the exoplanet LV-426, carrying similar fully formed eggs. One surviving egg spurs the events of the first film, while a dormant hive would cause chaos in the second. This would mean the Engineers also managed to create near-identical xenomorphs independent of David’s actions.
In short: The Engineers and David both used the black goo to make parallel versions of the xenomorphs, but there’s no reason why the xenomorphs couldn’t have sprung up on other worlds through the tampering of other species.
It’s also why I believe the Alien vs. Predator films are canon because the Yautja could have done the same process with their tech.
Let me believe.
I have to believe.
WHY DID DAVID MAKE THE XENOMORPHS?
David’s first encounter with an Engineer in the film Prometheus not only resulted in his head getting ripped off, but also broke his heart too.
Prometheus showed that the Engineer planned on destroying Earth after it was woken up from its slumber. When the failed Prometheus mission dissolved as a result, David became disillusioned. According to Ridley Scott, through having met his maker’s maker, he grew to resent both Engineers and Humans and sought to supplant them as creators. Hence, bombing Planet 4 and the subsequent xenomorph project.
WHY ARE THE XENOMORPHS SO BUGLIKE?
They’re wasps. Like, the bug, not protestants.
Outside of the obvious design inspiration insects serve for these often-hunted bugs, the first successful Xenomorph created by David was derived primarily from the wasps on the untitled Planet 4 that he bombed with the black goo. He called these insects the “shock troops of the genetic assault”, as they developed the features most similar to the face hugger, able to implant new parasitic offspring that would take on traits of the host.
This also explains why the xenomorphs make hives out of every place they dwell in, plastering the walls with organic insulation like a paper wasp would with dead plant material.
HOW DO YOU KILL A XENOMORPH?
Not to insult a fictional android, but David’s perfect galaxy-controlling weapon has a few blind spots.
Xenomorphs may not explicitly be anymore weak to fire than a human would be, but it is undoubtedly the only weapon that they’ll actively avoid contact with. Horror Hall of Famer and protagonist of the first four films, Ellen Ripley, uses a flamethrower against them to great effect. She also incinerates her first alien with the thruster of the Nostromo’s escape shuttle.
And despite how powerful they are on the outside, shots aimed inside the mouth, like Hicks’ messy shotgun blast from Aliens can bypass it. Explosives like the grenades in Alien: Resurrection, or enough gunfire from a pulse rifle can mulch them into green paste. Make sure not to step in said paste. And hey, if all else fails…
We are finally in the midst of Shudder’s 61 days of Halloween! There are so many horror movies to consume and 31 days simply isn’t enough. Use the long Labor Day weekend to kick off your horror movie countdown and add these movies to your Shudder queue. Here is a list of what I would recommend checking out to ease into the Halloween spirit right before going into full blown premature trick-or-treating mode.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
The Yeti (2026)
A large creature has captured people in a remote Alaskan town in the 1940s. The sheriff has put together a search-and-rescue monster hunting party to bring back the captives. It sounds like the premise of a Cold Iron Studios co-op video game in the same vein as Aliens: Fireteam Elite. The stylization from co-directors Gene Gallerano & William Pisciotta in the trailer makes me think they have cooked up a story that blends action, horror, and wilderness survival. Sign me up, sheriff!
Leave (2022)
Hunter was found as a baby abandoned in a cemetery wrapped in a cloth covered with satanic symbols. She has been searching for answers her whole life about where she came from. Her journey to find her parents takes her down a mysterious path, and she is being warned by something from the beyond to leave this mystery alone. Can she trust who this investigation is leading her towards? It’s a mysterious, supernatural, culty film that will give you chills.
Penny Lane is Dead (2026)
One crazy night in Australia with perhaps a dash of revenge. Shudder’s latest original looks to be packed with blood and violence in this story of girls just trying to have fun until the crazy cousin drugs the party and invites dangerous people to play. The trailer promises lots of body horror (trigger warning, there may be SA or threat of it). I’m not saying it will be Evil Dead level, but there’s definitely something in the Aussie water with Lee Cronin pumping out his gory deadites and mummy films, and now Mia Kate Russel with this one.
The Others (2001)
This is a PSA to the younger readers of Horror Press; stop what you’re doing and watch Nicole Kidman go 100 miles per hour in this classic ghost story with a twist. Dreary weather, massive estate, confusing corridors, creepy house servants you don’t know if you can trust, and sad British kids. The ending is an all-timer and spoilers should be avoided at all costs. It has exactly what you need to get right into the cozy, spooky mood for 61-days of Halloween.
Dark Harvest (2023)
If The Hunger Games and The Purge had a baby and raised it during Oktoberfest. Teenage boys are tasked with hunting and killing the entity known as Sawtooth Jack on Halloween night, or it could mean certain peril for their town. Of the movies I have listed here that I have not seen, this is going to be at the top of my watchlist. Teens fighting for survival on Halloween night and the battle setting is in a cornfield?! Say less. I am there with my Sam Adams seasonal in hand. Another perfect movie to cannonball me right into the Halloween spirit.
This list has been carefully curated to watch in a specific order to gear up for a Halloween marathon. Start with the wintry monster movie, move on to a macabre supernatural thriller, followed by a ramp-up in blood and gore, to then be lulled into a spooky, bump-in-the-night classic, all to end on a ritualistic hunt taking place on Halloween night. This is just getting things started for the first 30-days. Looking forward to sharing the next list to get you through October.
Anyone who follows legendary horror author Stephen King on social media or reads the back of books knows one thing. It’s harder to find something that King hasn’t blurbed than something that he has. The dude is a voracious consumer of genre media, and he finds a lot to love. It’s an admirable quality. But, speaking as someone who saw American Ultra after he praised it, you can’t always trust his recommendations. Today, I’ll cut some of the wheat from the chaff and break down the best modern horror movies he’s recommended.
Three notes: First, I have decided to define “modern” as “2001 or later.” Second, King practices good social media hygiene and has deleted many of his old posts. A lot of them are archived elsewhere. However, it’s more or less impossible to make a truly comprehensive list of his recommendations. I’ve synthesized multiple different sources and done my best to truly encapsulate the breadth of his recommendations. Third, I have not included any adaptations of his own work. He may be outspoken about the ones he doesn’t like, but he’s still obviously biased in that department.
#10 Snakes on a Plane (2006)
To quote King himself (defending putting 2012 among his top 2009 movies), “no filmgoing diet is complete without some cheese.” Snakes on a Plane is a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin movie, delivering high-flying serpentine thrills. However, it’s also a remarkably faithful resurrection of the atmosphere of old 1970s airplane thrillers.
#9 Final Destination 5 (2011)
In his Best of 2011 entry on Final Destination 5, King called it “the best since the first,” and he’s absolutely right. While the sequels probably peaked with the highway prologue in Final Destination 2, the fifth installment is pound-for-pound the most thrilling entry. Between the bridge collapse, the laser eye surgery, and the nail-biting sequence where a screw falls pointy-side-up on a balance beam, there’s no denying there’s real power here. And that’s not even mentioning the fun final twist!
#8 A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)
In a since-deleted Tweet, King called Day One “the rare ‘big Hollywood film’ that is both intimate and textured.” It’s true. A Quiet Place: Day One is a mini miracle of horror filmmaking. An IP-drenched prequel to a duology of good-not-great post-apocalyptic popcorn blockbusters shouldn’t be this genuinely stirring. Plus, relative newcomer Joseph Quinn holds his own against the awe-inspiring Lupita Nyong’o, resulting in an all-timer two-hander.
#7 The Strangers (2008)
After watching The Strangers, King took to Entertainment Weekly to pontificate about what makes good horror. If you inspire someone who literally wrote the book on horror to think about it more, you’ve done something right. Bryan Bertino’s home invasion movie is one of the grimmest movies of the 2000s, but its desperate existential dread is terrifying and perfectly in line with King’s best works.
#6 Splice (2009)
King included Splice on his Top 10 list for 2010, particularly praising the “talented actors… who take the material seriously.” How did this grotesque genetic-experimentation horror movie directed by the guy who made Cube land Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley? Who knows. But they breathe life into some already super solid material. What Brody in particular gets up to feels even more twisted because it’s the guy from The Pianist doing it.
#5 Smile (2022)
In a since-deleted Tweet, King called Smile a “good, scary horror film.” He added that “the real surprise is Sosie Bacon as Rose. What a hell of a performance.” Bacon really was a revelation, but so was debut director Parker Finn. His control over tone and pacing leads to some of the best scare sequences of the 2020s.
#4 The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024)
King’s not fucking around about the New Zealand horror film The Rule of Jenny Pen. It’s one of just two horror movies on his New York Times ballot for the best of the 21st century. The underseen movie is a real corker, too. It follows a judge (Geoffrey Rush) recovering in a care home after a stroke. However, his relaxation is ruined by a sadistic retiree (John Lithgow) who is obsessed with his baby doll puppet. Lithgow’s performance is stunning, and his thrillingly dark energy commands the screen every second he’s in front of the camera.
#3 Barbarian (2022)
In a since-deleted reply to a fan’s Tweet about Barbarian, King said “Yeah, that movie blew me away. It was crazy! Crazy GOOD!” This movie contributed what is perhaps the definitive scary basement in horror, which is no small feat. That’s all thanks to director Zach Cregger’s control over onscreen darkness (one of his many skills). The man must be a shadowmancer of some kind.
#2 Train to Busan (2016)
Train to Busan is the only other horror movie on King’s NYT ballot. It has received a lot of international recognition over the years. Perhaps more than any other non-Parasite movie from South Korea. That’s because it’s flipping amazing. Its crackling energy makes it one of the scariest fast-zombie movies in history. But it also marries that with a compelling father-daughter story. There’s really nothing Train to Busan can’t do.
#1 The Descent (2005)
King put The Descent on his 2006 best-of list, calling it “the best horror movie of the year.” Forget that. It’s one of the top horror movies of the century so far. It’s a bloody good monster movie nestled into a skin-crawlingly claustrophobic spelunking movie.
Honorable Mentions:
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) – I’ve never seen it, so I can’t in good faith recommend it
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) – A masterpiece, but it’s not really “horror”
Obsession (2026) – We gotta let this one sit, in order to avoid recency bias
