Spoilers Alien: Questions

[pukunui]

OK yeah I liked Aliens a lot more. Yeah, it’s still dated, but it holds up better in my opinion (except maybe the crappy marines’ dialogue).

I read about Alien 3. I think I’ll give that one a miss.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I guess the other thing is I just don't find old horror movies scary in the slightest. The first time I watched Jaws, the only time I felt any tension was during a scene when the shark never actually showed up. Watching Alien, I'm too distracted by the datedness of it to feel any tension or scariness. Not even the odd jump scare, like the cat.

This is entirely personal point of view so if that is how you feel. I encounter this idea a lot on movie podcasts and in reviews, that older horror movies aren't as scary. The Exorcist is sometimes held up as an example of this (where it was extremely scary when it came out but some people feel it has less impact today). Personally I don't think this is true, I think it comes down to personal taste. I often find newer movies less scary. It isn't because they aren't scary, it is because the style of filmmaking doesn't have the same impact on me. This isn't 100 percent true all the time. There are newer horror movies I have found quite effective. I think a lot of it comes down to what gets you to immerse in a film. Like I said earlier, Nosferatu is still the scariest horror movie in my experience and that was made many decades before I was born. That said not all horror movies are meant to be equally scary. A lot of universal horror was more atmospheric than frightening. This is how I tend to react to more modern horror movies, they feel very atmospheric but don't scare me like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre did, Exorcist III did or Black Christmas did. Sometimes newer horror will land well though for me. It depends on the film. I tend to be put off by CGI (I would take a well crafted movie around a guy in a monster suit over CGI monsters that were outsourced to a small studio any day). If CGI is done well on the other hand it can be quite effective.

 

[Bedrockgames]

OK yeah I liked Aliens a lot more. Yeah, it’s still dated, but it holds up better in my opinion (except maybe the crappy marines’ dialogue).

I read about Alien 3. I think I’ll give that one a miss.

My impression is most people prefer Aliens to Alien (though they also generally regard both as good films). I think both films are incredible. I do tend to prefer Alien but that is simply because it is less of an action film and more of a horror film (and it is a movie I want to watch again and again, whereas I often want to space out viewings of Aliens)

I feel the somewhat same way about Terminator and Terminator 2, except my opinion is a little more harsh towards the latter. The first film, in my view is a perfect movie. The second film is a great Arnold summer block buster, but I don't understand why people hold it up over the first. The effects are certainly better, the budget is clearly bigger. It is a huge action film. And I love a great Arnold movie. But even though it is the same director, I feel like the first one has a better vision and more craft to it than the second. The second has a much more clunky flow in my opinion and one of the most annoying main characters in the history of movies. There is a lot I would change about part 2, but I wouldn't change anything about part 1

 

[Ryujin]

My impression is most people prefer Aliens to Alien (though they also generally regard both as good films). I think both films are incredible. I do tend to prefer Alien but that is simply because it is less of an action film and more of a horror film (and it is a movie I want to watch again and again, whereas I often want to space out viewings of Aliens)

I feel the somewhat same way about Terminator and Terminator 2, except my opinion is a little more harsh towards the latter. The first film, in my view is a perfect movie. The second film is a great Arnold summer block buster, but I don't understand why people hold it up over the first. The effects are certainly better, the budget is clearly bigger. It is a huge action film. And I love a great Arnold movie. But even though it is the same director, I feel like the first one has a better vision and more craft to it than the second. The second has a much more clunky flow in my opinion and one of the most annoying main characters in the history of movies. There is a lot I would change about part 2, but I wouldn't change anything about part 1

And I'm the opposite. I'm not really a horror fan so, for me, "Aliens" is the better film than "Alien." I tend to prefer suspense to horror and Body Horror is right out for me. I tend to laugh at Jump-Scare Horror. Gore for gore's sake just puts me off and nauseates me, rather than scaring me.

 

[Bedrockgames]

And I'm the opposite. I'm not really a horror fan so, for me, "Aliens" is the better film than "Alien." I tend to prefer suspense to horror and Body Horror is right out for me. I tend to laugh at Jump-Scare Horror. Gore for gore's sake just puts me off and nauseates me, rather than scaring me.

I love body horror and think of Alien as one of the very top body horror films (I think Dan O'Bannon taking it from his own experience with Crohns really gave it that extra level of impact----it is also a brilliant way to imagine the horror of crohns disease). But I totally get it. If horror isn't your thing, and especially if horror or gore aren't, then Aliens is going to be a more appealing movie.

Jump Scares I am often immune to. I don't think they are problem on their own. They can be done in a way that is genuinely scary or sets you up for a bigger scare, but they are an easy technique for movies to fall back on and do in uninspired ways. However a really well done jump scare is a thing of beauty. The jump scare in Exorcist III in the decapitation scene is an example of a jump scare that is actually effective IMO

 

[Ryujin]

I love body horror and think of Alien as one of the very top body horror films (I think Dan O'Bannon taking it from his own experience with Crohns really gave it that extra level of impact----it is also a brilliant way to imagine the horror of crohns disease). But I totally get it. If horror isn't your thing, and especially if horror or gore aren't, then Aliens is going to be a more appealing movie.

Jump Scares I am often immune to. I don't think they are problem on their own. They can be done in a way that is genuinely scary or sets you up for a bigger scare, but they are an easy technique for movies to fall back on and do in uninspired ways. However a really well done jump scare is a thing of beauty. The jump scare in Exorcist III in the decapitation scene is an example of a jump scare that is actually effective IMO

One that got me, probably because it was on a 20 foot tall theatre screen at the time (1979), was the cat jumping on the windowsill in "The Amityville Horror." And that was a nothingburger setup.

 

[pukunui]

I would say the only horror movie that genuinely got to me (and I don’t mean it scared me; it just made me feel weird for a while afterward) was Event Horizon.

I find body horror and gore morbidly fascinating but they doesn’t scare me. Meanwhile, I cannot watch real-life surgeries, like open heart and brain ops. They just make me too nauseous.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

OK yeah I liked Aliens a lot more. Yeah, it’s still dated, but it holds up better in my opinion (except maybe the crappy marines’ dialogue)

Do not watch the special edition stuff with Newt's family before the xenos emerge. Horribly dated and very early 1980s cheese. (I think the mom even wears a sweatband.)

 

[pukunui]

Do not watch the special edition stuff with Newt's family before the xenos emerge. Horribly dated and very early 1980s cheese. (I think the mom even wears a sweatband.)

OK. Disney+ only has the theatrical releases of the Alien films. I suppose I could find deleted scenes and such on YouTube but I won’t go looking.

 

[Older Beholder]

I would say the only horror movie that genuinely got to me (and I don’t mean it scared me; it just made me feel weird for a while afterward) was Event Horizon.

Yeah, Event Horizon really freaked me out when I watched it at the cinema.