A fundamental question of the franchise - horror element, scary beast

[SiL]

I remember that Daniel Radcliffe flick Woman In Black had every single horror cliché ever, and you could see them coming - but still ended up being remarkably effective.

My first memory of that film was listening to my brothers and father screaming from down the hall as they watched it.

10/10 did not disappoint.

Also it's not like Alien isn't full of its own horror cliches -- cat in the closet, splitting up, sticking your face where it don't belong. Still remarkably effective.

[426Buddy]

Quite remarkably

[saltypistol]

I feel it is verging on impossible for the Xeno itself to be even remotely scary when it comes to film. We know too much. About its creation, how it thinks, how it moves, everything. The mystery is gone. Ridley Scott and any future director desperately need to make use of the "less is more" approach to filmmaking.

[SiL]

That stuff was never what made it scary, though. The fact it was brutally murdering people is what made it scary.

It could have all the mystery in the world; sit it politely in a corner sniffing flowers and most people aren't going to be terrible worried.

[Local Trouble]

I actually think Cameron made them scarier when he clarified that they don't just kill you on the spot if they have a better use for you.

[SiL]

That's in the first movie too though.

[Local Trouble]

It's implied in the first movie.  Cameron actually showed it.

[SiL]

What's Jonesy, chopped liver?

I'd say even in the theatrical it's obvious Dallas wasn't killed immediately.

[Local Trouble]

Come to think of it, how large must an organism be to serve as a viable host?  Are cats too small?  If so, I imagine they're not perceived as a threat either.

I agree about Dallas, but a great many of us simply didn't know what the alien did to him.  It was left up to our imaginations.  We hadn't read the novelization so his fate was left mysterious.  For all we knew, the alien broke his neck and dragged him away for dinner.

Hence, the sight of all those colonists frozen in their twisted and terrified death poses was pretty shocking and scary to me when I was 11.

[Kradan]

What's Jonesy, chopped liver?

I'd say even in the theatrical it's obvious Dallas wasn't killed immediately.

I haven't watched theatrical in a long time. Can you clarify how is it obvious ?

[SiL]

"We found this laying there. No blood, no Dallas, nothing."

Every other death: blood, gore, mayhem.

[Local Trouble]

Maybe Dallas didn't have time to bleed.

[SiL]

At least he had time to duck into the vents.

[Kradan]

"We found this laying there. No blood, no Dallas, nothing."

Every other death: blood, gore, mayhem.

Huh. I always took that line as a way to enhance the "mystery" of Alien, not necessarily implication that Alien is gonna use him for re-production. I mean, like movie saying "it leaves nothing of you". But, I guess, you're right

[Huggs]

Retro-Technihorror with a dash of nihilism.

Garnished with psychosexual love beans.


The perfect blend.