This is FRESH AIR. The alien film cycle began in 1979 with Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror movie "Alien." It was a huge hit followed by three sequels. There also was a prequel in 2012 called "Prometheus.

The genre best avoided if you're squeamish would have to be horror. Any other kind of movie can be violent (hell, even romance movies, at times), but horror’s the kind of genre where a relatively ...