Everyone loves a horror classic and Ridley Scott's 'Alien' is certainly that. So much so that it has stood the test of time and faces yet another eagerly anticipated sequel later this year entitled 'Alien: Covenant', which stars James Franco who opens up about why this franchise is so special.

James Franco at the premiere for 'The Art of Elysium'James Franco at the premiere for 'The Art of Elysium'

'Sci-fi/Horror is its own particular thing and I think 'Alien' is one of the movies that really defined that genre', says James, who plays the captain, Jacob Branson, in the film. Indeed, horror has become quite the well-used theme in a lot of modern sci-fi movies such as 'Species', 'Resident Evil', 'Dark Skies' and many others, but nothing stands out quite so much as 'Alien'.

While there is a sense of a typical creature feature in the film franchise, there's something timeless about these particular monsters that, nearly 40 years after the first movie, remains quite terrifying. Despite the fact that plenty of other horrors lose their shock factor after a while.

Watch the trailer for 'Alien: Covenant' here

'Sometimes with horor movies you'll have these villains or monsters that are fantastical and if I think back to the horror movies that were made when I was watching 'Alien', Freddy Krueger and Jason and maybe other horror villains, you look at the them now and you think 'Well, that's kind of silly'', James continues. 'But because there's this sci-fi background to the monsters in these films, they in a way can feel more realistic.'

'There's such a seriousness to the protagonist in each film that when they're up against these villains, they're taking it so seriously that the audience is forced to take it seriously', he adds.

Meanwhile, James Franco has a lot of other movies coming up including the Baker brothers' sci-fi 'Kin' and the dystopian thriller 'Future World' which he co-directed with Bruce Thierry Cheung. 

'Alien: Covenant' will be released on May 19th 2017.