There Are Some Places In The Universe You Don't Go Alone, Aliens 35th Anniversary Retrospective - AvP Galaxy Podcast #129

Started by Corporal Hicks, Jul 18, 2021, 03:49:53 PM

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There Are Some Places In The Universe You Don't Go Alone, Aliens 35th Anniversary Retrospective - AvP Galaxy Podcast #129 (Read 13,742 times)

Huggs

I don't know. Burke's hair was pretty horrifying.

SiL

Alien 3 didn't manage any of that, either.

But I disagree. There's plenty horrific in ALIENS. I was more bothered by Ferro's death as a kid than any of the deaths in Alien 3. Thinking about what happened to the colony - kids and all - is good nightmare fuel, especially when you realise just how many twisted, rotting skeletons the Marines walk past in the hive.

Local Trouble

Quote from: SiL on Jul 25, 2021, 01:41:43 AM
The lead into the Operations firefight is singularly more nerve wracking and suspenseful than anything Alien 3 managed.

The growing dread and realisation as the Aliens close in, followed by one of the most iconic reveals of the entire franchise, is a masterpiece of suspense.

Quite.

City Hunter Yautja

City Hunter Yautja

#33
Quote from: SiL on Jul 25, 2021, 01:51:02 AM
Alien 3 didn't manage any of that, either.

But I disagree. There's plenty horrific in ALIENS. I was more bothered by Ferro's death as a kid than any of the deaths in Alien 3. Thinking about what happened to the colony - kids and all - is good nightmare fuel, especially when you realise just how many twisted, rotting skeletons the Marines walk past in the hive.

Ah but you are talking about when you were a kid. I am not. I rewatched Alien and Alien3, and they hold up on certain horror moments and elements over the years. I am saying Aliens doesn't. Its a thriller to me, not a true horror film or if I must call it horror, Horror Light.

Cameron wanting to make a war movie first bleeds through.. like acid blood. Kinda like Scott tacking on Alien elements to Prometheus when he wanted to focus exclusively on the Spacejockey, Cameron at times feels like he wanted to make Starship Troopers movie.

SiL

I mention when I was a kid because those were my first impressions. If anything, Aliens has grown in me over the years, where originally I really didn't like it.

There was never anything truly horrific about Alien 3. It was always much more of a thriller. The entire first half plays out more like a drama than a horror movie.

I like the film, but it's very light on horror elements.

City Hunter Yautja

Do you include the Theatrical and Assembly Cut in your Alien 3 analysis?

If we are gonna talk about first impressions, Alien 3 Theatrical scared the shiz out of me, the dog being the host. I then wondered if my dog had a chestburster inside.

I say Alien 3 is more horroresque because the Xeno picks people off one by one in some gruesome scenes. Aliens feels more sanitized, the chestburster scene fell flat on me because the colonist didn't look human enough.

Honestly, Aliens could have been PG-13 with some editing.

Local Trouble

Alien 3 was just boring.  A well-crafted film in many ways, but the story had no suspense.

City Hunter Yautja

Quote from: Local Trouble on Jul 25, 2021, 02:08:23 AM
Alien 3 was just boring.  A well-crafted film in many ways, but the story had no suspense.

Suspense yes, but horror? Did Aliens horrify you like Alien?

SiL

Hudson being pulled screaming under the floor was more horrifying than the faceless prisoner heads exploding. That's some good nightmare fuel right there.

Quote from: City Hunter Yautja on Jul 25, 2021, 02:10:07 AM
Quote from: Local Trouble on Jul 25, 2021, 02:08:23 AM
Alien 3 was just boring.  A well-crafted film in many ways, but the story had no suspense.

Suspense yes, but horror? Did Aliens horrify you like Alien?
Yes. Alien 3 did not. It had neither suspense nor horror. A fine cast and some nice cinematography and some beautiful music, but no horror.

Huggs

The hive scene was solid horror.


Quote from: Local Trouble on Jul 25, 2021, 02:08:23 AM
Alien 3 was just boring.

Pure unadulterated heresy.

SiL

I absolutely agree that the last act loses the horror edge when Ripley goes back to the hive onwards though.

City Hunter Yautja

Horror by definition:

a) an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.

I felt that way about the prison and scenery itself, not to mention the Xeno. Alien did that for me too, the environments made me feel horror (The Derelict, LV-421, Nostromo), not just the Xeno.

Aliens is thrilling, suspenseful, and even action packed, but it did not make me feel ill like Alien and Alien 3 did. Ill as in turned my stomach and made my mind crawl with thoughts.

SiL

Suspense in ALIENS comes from fear. You are afraid the Aliens will get them, you are afraid they will die. If there's no fear of what the Aliens will do to the Marines then there's no suspense.

You can't say the film is suspenseful and then try to say there's no fear.

Immortan Jonesy

Although ALIEN³ was my first Alien movie being aware of having seen it, my parents were watching ALIENS when I was only 5 years old. I was supposed to have been asleep, and they put me right back in bed. I remember seeing this scene, which scared me very much. 👻


City Hunter Yautja

Quote from: SiL on Jul 25, 2021, 02:24:15 AM
Suspense in ALIENS comes from fear. You are afraid the Aliens will get them, you are afraid they will die. If there's no fear of what the Aliens will do to the Marines then there's no suspense.

You can't say the film is suspenseful and then try to say there's no fear.

Well I didn't say there is no fear, but horror combines fear, shock, and disgust.  Yes I am afraid the Xenomorphs will get them, but its nowhere near Kane among the eggs on the Derelict and bursted, nor do we see any real gruesome chestburster become a full formed Xeno in Aliens.

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