Biography
Daniel Thomas "Dan" O'Bannon (September 30, 1946 – December 17, 2009) was an American screenwriter and director of science fiction and horror films. He is best known for his work on "Alien" (1979), "The Return of the Living Dead" (1985) and "Total Recall" (1990).
Known For
Complete Filmography

The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault
2025
as Self
THE AGFA MYSTERY MIXTAPE VAULT is a 2-disc, 500-minute odyssey that collects eight feature-length VHS mixtapes from the crackpots at AGFA—including tw...

Alien: Romulus
2024
Characters
While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in ...

AGFA MYSTERY MIXTAPE #1
2020
as Self
Unleashed from the video vaults of the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), AGFA MYSTERY MIXTAPE #1 is a brand new compilation of the most electrifying...

Alien: Specimen
2019
Characters
During the night shift in a colony greenhouse, a botanist does her best to contain suspicious soil samples that have alarmed her sensitive lab dog.

Alien: Ore
2019
Characters
When her shift uncovers the death of a fellow miner under mysterious circumstances, a hard-working miner of a planet mining colony is forced to choose...

Alien: Containment
2019
Characters
Aboard a small escape pod, four survivors try to discover what caused the destruction of their spaceship.

Alien: Alone
2019
Characters
An abandoned crew member aboard a derelict chemical hauler is trying to keep her ship and herself alive. After discovering hidden cargo, she risks it ...

Alien: Night Shift
2019
Characters
When a missing space trucker is discovered hungover and disoriented, his co-worker suggests a nightcap as a remedy. Near closing time, they are reluct...

Alien: Harvest
2019
Characters
The surviving crew of a damaged space harvester has a motion sensor as their only navigation tool leading them to safety, while a creature in the shad...

Memory: The Origins of Alien
2019
as Self (archival footage)
The untold origin story behind Ridley Scott's Alien - rooted in Greek and Egyptian mythologies, underground comics, the art of Francis Bacon, and the ...

Alien: Covenant
2017
Characters
The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise but ...
Shock Value: The Movie — How Dan O’Bannon and Some USC Outsiders Helped Invent Modern Horror
2014
Writer
Image Archive archivist Dino Everett assembled a feature-length compilation of SCA student works from the late ’60s and ’70s. The compilation feature...

Jodorowsky's Dune
2013
as Self (voice) (archive footage)
Shot in France, England, Switzerland and the United States, this documentary covers director Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Holy Mountain, Santa Sangr...

Total Recall
2012
Screenstory
Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for implanted memories of being a spy. When the procedure...

Prometheus
2012
Characters
A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they ...

More Brains! A Return to the Living Dead
2011
as Himself
Retrospective documentary about the making of the horror cult classic "The Return of the Living Dead."

Let There Be Light: The Odyssey of Dark Star
2010
as Himself (Archival Footage)
Exploring the controversial story behind John Carpenter (Halloween & The Thing) and writer Dan O Bannon's (Alien & Return of the Living Dead) from fir...

Aliens vs Predator: Requiem
2007
Characters
After a horrifying PredAlien crash-lands near a small Colorado town, killing everyone it encounters and producing countless Alien offspring, a lone Pr...

Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001
2007
as Self
This documentary about "2001: A Space Odyssey" looks at some of the things that seemed fanciful in 1968, which don't seem quite as much anymore.

In Search of Moebius
2007
as Himself
Documentary about Frenchman Jean Giraud, one of the most influential comic strip illustrators and authors of all time and also one of the genre's best...

Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures
2007
as Self
French artist and author Jean Giraud is one of the most famous and influential comic strip illustrators and authors of all time. He achieved his great...
Ride with the Angels: Making 'Blue Thunder'
2006
as Self
Making of 'Blue Thunder'

AVP: Alien vs. Predator
2004
Characters, Screenstory
When scientists discover something near Antarctica that appears to be a buried Pyramid, they send a research team out to investigate. Little do they k...

The Beast Within: Making Alien
2003
as Self
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Alien,” the terrifying classic about a spaceship crew trapped with a hideous monster that's hunting them on...

Dan O'Bannon: Crafting Fear
2003
Documentary about Dead & Buried.

The Alien Saga
2002
as Self
In 1979, Alien burst onto the scene with a strong female lead in the form of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) battling the ultimate biomechanical creature. T...

Return of the Living Dead: Designing the Dead
2002
as Self

The Alien Legacy
1999
as Self
A behind the scenes look at the making of 'Alien'

Alien Resurrection
1997
Characters
Two hundred years after Lt. Ripley died, a group of scientists clone her, hoping to breed the ultimate weapon. But the new Ripley is full of surprises...

Bleeders
1997
Writer
A man with an unknown disease travels to an island with his girlfriend where his relatives once lived, hoping to find a cure to his illness. Although ...
Area 51: The Alien Interview
1997
as Alien Interviewer
A documentary about aliens and UFOs with re-enactments of alien interviews and video of a supposedly real video of an alien being interviewed by gover...

Screamers
1995
Screenplay
SIRIUS 6B, Year 2078. On a distant mining planet ravaged by a decade of war, scientists have created the perfect weapon: a blade-wielding, self-replic...

Alien³
1992
Characters
After escaping with Newt and Hicks from the alien planet, Ripley crash lands on Fiorina 161, a prison planet and host to a correctional facility. Unfo...

The Resurrected
1991
Director
Charles Dexter Ward, a wealthy scientist, uses an ancient diary and human remains to begin a terrifying and bloody pursuit for immortality.

Total Recall
1990
Screenplay, Screenstory
Construction worker Douglas Quaid's obsession with the planet Mars leads him to visit Recall, a company that manufactures memories. When his memory im...

Aliens
1986
Characters
Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for...

Invaders from Mars
1986
Screenplay
In this remake of the classic 1950s sci-fi tale, a boy tries to stop an invasion of his town by aliens who take over the the minds of his parents, his...

Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors
1986
as Self
Actors, directors and special effects technicians are interviewed at a horror-film convention.

Lifeforce
1985
Screenplay
A space shuttle mission investigating Halley's Comet brings back a malevolent race of space vampires who transform most of London's population into zo...

The Return of the Living Dead
1985
Director, Screenplay
When foreman Frank shows new employee Freddy a secret military experiment in a supply warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky, the two klutzes accidentally ...

Blue Thunder
1983
Screenplay
Los Angeles, California. Officer Murphy, a veteran Metropolitan Police helicopter pilot suffering from severe trauma due to his harsh experiences duri...

Heavy Metal
1981
Original Story, Story
The embodiment of ultimate evil, a glowing orb terrorizes a young girl with bizarre stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror.

Dead & Buried
1981
Screenplay
After a series of gory murders commited by mobs of townspeople against visiting tourists, the corpses appear to be coming back to life and living norm...

Alien
1979
Story, Screenplay
During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew...

Dark Star
1974
as Sgt. Pinback alias Bill Fruge
A group of scientists are sent on a mission to destroy unstable planets. Twenty years into their mission, they have to battle their alien mascot as we...

Dark Star
1974
Special Effects, Screenplay, Editor
A group of scientists are sent on a mission to destroy unstable planets. Twenty years into their mission, they have to battle their alien mascot as we...

Judson's Release
1971
as Breather
Dan O’Bannon stars in one of the first iterations of the classic "the babysitter and the man upstairs" urban legend that would go on to influence such...

Blood Bath
1969
Director, Writer
A disturbed man makes a few terrible decisions that lead to an unexpected bath.

Good Morning, Dan
1968
Set in the future of 2006, an old man forced into a daily routine by an automated system reminisces about his younger years.

Good Morning, Dan
1968
Writer, Editor, Director
Set in the future of 2006, an old man forced into a daily routine by an automated system reminisces about his younger years.
Untitled Alien: Romulus Sequel
N/A
Characters
In a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, Rain and her android companion Andy venture into unknown regions while facing deadly threats and uncovering sin...