Do you think Alien is scary?

[Guest 85555]

Personally i found Alien and Aliens both scary in their own way. The original was more of a classic horror kind of fear. But both really creeped me out. If you didn't find the original scary, then you didn't find it scary. But the general feeling i get is people thought it was a frightening film.

 

[Guest 85555]

I think Jhalen's observation is spot on: the first sequel, while enjoyable, is not truly a horror flick. Rather, it's an action film that happens to be set in the same universe as Alien.

I think aliens was more survival horror, which if i am being honest, i found more scary than the first (though i think the first was a better horror movie if that makes sense).

 

[Jester David]

The first Alien is incredibly scary. Especially if you walk into it blind.

They spent the first quarter of the movie just establishing the characters. Unless you know Ripley lives it's really a situation where anyone could live or die. There's a lot of creepiness and isolation. Something bad happens to one of the characters then everything's okay. But then, twist, it's really not. They have no weapons, there's nowhere to escape to, and no help is coming. Oh, and the xenomorph is not the only problem.

One of the best things about having children is being able to introduce them to cinema like this. Alien is one of those movies I'm excited to watch with my son in like eight or nine years when it won't traumatize him for life.

 

[billd91]

One of the best things about having children is being able to introduce them to cinema like this. Alien is one of those movies I'm excited to watch with my son in like eight or nine years when it won't traumatize him for life.

My son is 9 but I'm going to wait a little bit longer before I introduce Alien or Aliens to him.

 

[Jester David]

My son is 9 but I'm going to wait a little bit longer before I introduce Alien or Aliens to him.

Depends on the child. I'm thinking 12 would be fine as a mean age. But some might be able to handle it at 10 and others might need to be 14. (My own son is 3.)

The bigger question is when to introduce them to Star Wars. Heck, you could have an entire thread about what age to introduce geekspawn to classic movies (and the order), and when to make the transition from cartoons to live action.

 

[Jet Shield]

My youngest girl first watched Alien and Aliens with me at age 6. Of course, she was also the only girl-child at the time that I knew of who thought zombies were cooler than... well... just about anything.



I have strange children. I wonder what that says about me.

 

[jonesy]

What scares someone is so based on personality and/or personal experience that any age guidelines end up being rough sketches.

The scariest thing for me in movies was Vigo the painting from Ghostbusters 2. Not the guy when he came out of it, but when he was in it.

The scariest thing I have ever seen on screen was Bob in Twin Peaks.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The kid-eating tree in Poltergeist- for my money, one of the scariest PG movies ever.