Movies

[Veldrynus]

Alien is a classic, because it created probably the best, kick-ass, fictional monster in the film history. The design of the xenomorph is simply fantastic. In the same time it's frightening, but also one of the most beautiful creatures ever imagined by men.

[Kalah]

Indeed; one thing is its originality. The other is the camera work. I'm sure Vel the movie buff will agree that the director (Ridley Scott, baby!) did some stellar work on that. The lighting, the pans, the angles, it all works. The script is also quite nicely polished, and the acting ain't half bad either. The sum total experience is that even a guy like me, who isn't into horror, monsters or scary stuff at all, got sucked into it when I first saw it. It was easy to imagine the fear of having an alien lurk about that ship - imagining being trapped all alone inside a metal hulk in space, unable to know when or where the horrific end was going to come. Even after the thing got spaced and barbecued by the engines, I felt something lurking behind me, as if it hadn't quite been killed yet.

The other movies were just simplistic. The more you get to see of the alien, the more manifest it gets, the less scary it gets, and it just makes me think: "oh, great, nice job making it look scary, folks. A little less drool and tentacles next time, m'kay?" Something that's known just isn't as scary as that thing you're not quite sure what is. The less tangible the threat, the more your imagination gets to work with. Also, that whole "it's never over, you can never escape, it will always return" thing got repetitive.

[Jonas]

Remember when I saw alien for the firs time. It was at the cinema back then when it was up. I went there with a friend who had already seen it once and I still get the feeling when i think about the end of the film.

Ripley had left the mother-ship and after all these tense moments that had been goin on I asked my friend - It's ok now isn't it, she'll make it? - Yea, my friend said, relax she's ok and she's goin' back to earth.

I felt a relief and then, when I was as most unaware what would come, out of the shady parts of the cabin that terrible mouth opens up . I promise, I jumped one and a half meter up in the air! And I don't easily get scared by horror movies.

My friend had fun though.

[Asheera]

That "thinking that it's over at the end of the movie and then something bad happens one more time" thingy is simply so overused that it doesn't scare me at all, because I expect something like that to happen, and if it doesn't, I get disappointed

[Borsuc]

Alien wasn't scary at all
Then again if it was one of the first horror movies you watched (and I mean real horror, not splatter/gorefest), that's more understandable.

[darknessfood]

For that time, it was pretty scary. I just thought it was an interesting, really great movie !

[parcaleste]

That "thinking that it's over at the end of the movie and then something bad happens one more time" thingy is simply so overused...

Was not, back in the days.

Alien wasn't scary at all
Then again if it was one of the first horror movies you watched (and I mean real horror, not splatter/gorefest), that's more understandable.

Man, depend how long ago have you watched it for the first time. In the 80-es (and even 90-es!), this was one SCARY sh|t. I was much, MUCH scared from ALIEN, than from (let's say) "the Ring". Besides, all of it's sequels worked out (yeah, even "Resurrection" was not that bad at all). I am not mentioning the AVP series, because they are different story. First one was nice sci-fi, second one was with a short budget, but still was cool. I liked the way the Predalien's reproduction abilities were explained/showed. Creepy stuff.
Whatever, my all time favorite movie is ALIENS. I remember watching it on VHS for like three times a day when it came out, and now I am still watching it from time to time. Not to mention the awesomeness of the soundtrack(s). *wordless*

As for the LoftR, I find it insulting for the book. Just a pompous movie project, pink and puffy. I'll stop here, for not to insult anybody.

[ThunderTitan]

Alien = creepy space monster film!

Aliens = monster killing action film!

Both are good for what they are... as are the effects... no matter what some sHINYheads might think... truth is that their special effect will look like crap in a few years, while those in Alien will still be as ok as they are now because instead of relying on the "WOW it's higher resolution/pixel count" they actually tried to make it look real...

[Jonas]

because instead of relying on the "WOW it's higher resolution/pixel count" they actually tried to make it look real...

Good point!

Today I see Alien more like a drama than a horror movie because of its long scenes. Actually if you compare it to a "modern" horror movie it appears slow.

[Jolly Joker]

About Alien...
It's a bit more than even Kalah mentioned.
It's an "expectation" movie that works best when you don't know the alien, obviously, so after you know the Alien, it's not the same anymore, and only then will you really apprciate camera, lighting, "ship atmosphere" and of course the cleverly constructed story with Ash as a special present for the audience and the twist that a mystery has to be solved in addition to keping the alien in check.

I admit to finding Pitch Black comparable (and don't hit me for it). It has a wealth of good ideas and works basically the same way. With Pitch Black, optics (did someone say lighting?) are rather important as well, and I'd be interested in how others would compare those 2.

I'm going to throw Terminator in as well (the original) as an example for another classic. It's somehow telling that Arnie, California's Senator, played his best role their, the casually evil machine without feelings, while Ronald Reagan played his most convincing part as a pretty evil guy in The Killers.

[Asheera]

I agree that Pitch Black is a very good movie. Not only the lighting and the thrilling part of it is good, but also it's interesting to see how Riddick who is basically evil acts in those situations, even turning more good towards the end.

Plus, Vin Diesel is cool

[PhoenixReborn]

Plus, Vin Diesel is cool

Shouldn't that be in the hot guys thread?

[Angelspit]

There's a Pitch Black/Riddick boxset that's very cheap in stores. Reading what you guys have said, I might pick it up someday.

[Borsuc]

Man, depend how long ago have you watched it for the first time. In the 80-es (and even 90-es!), this was one SCARY sh|t. I was much, MUCH scared from ALIEN, than from (let's say) "the Ring".

Let me guess, you watched Alien before The Ring, and you were much younger when you watched Alien... right?

Why do people always speak of it as nostalgia? They give high scores for alien NOW. If a new movie is a ripoff off Alien, they say "go and watch Alien, it's way better than this ****". HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? I'd rather watch the ripoff than the original anyday.

Just because Alien might have been scary for you guys because it was "back in the days" or probably when you were young or saw your first real horror movie, it doesn't mean it still is now "more worth watching" than other flicks/ripoffs. (No, again, I'm not talking about stupid teen-splatters but horror movies).

I can't get the logic. "Hey Alien scared the **** out of me back in the days" -- how do you draw the conclusion from this that it's still "way better" than anything else or that it's more worth watching? NOTE: If you watched The Ring "back then" (ignore technical difficulties) you might have get the same feeling about it. Alien wasn't that good a horror movie even back in the days. It could have been better -- but it was the only one. This doesn't mean it's still the greatest, and by no means the "best possible" at its period -- much better could have been done, especially the music, even back then.

Even ripoffs are more worth watching (even if they are unoriginal) than watching Alien again. And for the record, I'm not even talking about technical stuff.

because instead of relying on the "WOW it's higher resolution/pixel count" they actually tried to make it look real...

I don't care about that, to be honest. It's just a stupid hype. Even upscaling works better than people think if you have a really big TV. (note: DIY upscaling of course, but you need to know some technical stuff )

The music in Alien didn't convey fear or nightmare feelings at all, or dread, compared to let's say, The Descent, The Cave (spooky music, but not exactly horror movie it has some action), Jeepers Creepers, etc... the Alien music was... transparent somehow, didn't even feel much. This could also be called "Horror ambience music" or whatever.

So Alien wasn't such a perfect "piece of art"



@Pitch Black thing: mostly I liked the "decisions" done and the dilemmas, especially at the end of the movie.

[Kalah]

There is one bad thing about Pitch Black... the acting. and of course the massive plot hole concerning the creatures that lie dormant all "day" and come out only at night to feed on the things that are naturally abundant... To quote the enterprising Sam Gamgee: "what to they eat when they can't get hobbit?"

[Asheera]

They eat each other?

Ok but how about the aliens from Alien? How did they survive that long?

[Borsuc]

@Kalah: acting was good.

As for that complaint, it's called Willing Suspension of Disbelief.

[Veldrynus]

That "thinking that it's over at the end of the movie and then something bad happens one more time" thingy is simply so overused that it doesn't scare me at all, because I expect something like that to happen, and if it doesn't, I get disappointed

Twist endings in horror movies became so common in the last time, the only real twist happens, if nothing happens.
The Ring managed to deliver a twist in a very surprising way, by making the first 98% of the film so scary without any monsters and such, that you didn't had the feeling of something missing.

About, Alien not being scarry anymore.

Most of the films suspense was created by unknown nature of the alien combined with the very realistic atmosphere and design of the spaceship. If you already know about the alien, then most of the films scariness is gone. That's basically a spoiler.
However, this is one of those films which hardly age. The alien still looks very realistic, because you can see it's made out of matter, and not pixels.

[Asheera]

Eh, you do know that every recorded video has pixels and not matter, right? So technically, if done right, you could make a 100% realistic movie using the computer only. (it would require tremendous amount of work obviously, and I doubt it will happen anytime soon though)

[Angelspit]

Twist endings in horror movies became so common in the last time, the only real twist happens, if nothing happens.

In some movies, it works even on a second viewing, when you know the surprise is coming. The first Friday the 13th for example (possibly the only interesting scene of the entire movie), Halloween IV (because of Donald Pleasance's reaction) or maybe Carrie. I always have a feeling of (enjoyable!) uneasiness when I know that those scenes are coming.