Monster hidden is pretty good. Midnight Mass wasn't scary scary, but not seeing the monster at rhe first few episodes was just perfect. Then they showed the monster and it was meh.
Cloverfield sucked and the monster was silly. Jason and Myers managed to pull off the same fear in anticipation while being out in the open. Both styles make you question every corner turned. ALIEN is great but Jodorowsky's DUNE had to fail, Ridley Scott was nearly fired, Ripley's character was nearly killed off, the budget was doubled and still wasn't enough. Without the ALIEN, it would've been just another forgotten monster film. The father of Biomechanics and the Necronomicon had to give us his unearthly monster and biomechanical Derelict ship.
not the best exampes, but birdbox is better than a quiet place precisely because the monsters aren't seen, although it seem like it makes for a longer story in general when the monsters are shown to the viewer
@whynottalklikeapirat I would think what happens after the bang is more reffered to as horror, as the first thought in aftermath of a 'terrific' event can still terrify, but more likely leaves a horrified sense before they think "what happened?"
My Dad still talks about how shocking it was for Tom Skerritt's character Dallas to die. He was the only really known actor in the movie and a lot of people went because they recognized him. Nobody expected him to die and it really makes that jump scare even more effective. Nowadays killing off a main character or well-known actor isn't unheard of, but you just didn't do that back then. You're watching him in these vents and it's scary but you still feel an element of safety. "Surely they won't kill off Tom Skerritt..." It makes the jumpscare (and the rest of the film) very unpredictable.
>Tom Skerritt >Completely ignores John Hurt, the actual biggest name in that movie at the time, who was killed off first specifically because he was the biggest star they had and it would be shocking
No need to be a dick about it. He coulda said Hurt and I remembered the conversation wrong. Either way, both were famous and both were killed off because of that shock factor.@@Duothimir
OMG I had a similar experience with the movie Life (I recommend watching it before reading but whatever) I only recognised Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal and went "oh I guess they'll be the main characters!" nope. Those bitches were dead IMMEDIATLY
@@Duothimir I mean, it could also entirely depend on one's viewpoint. Skerritt is an American actor, so someone whose knowledge of film is primarily Hollywood-based rather than British films would possibly be more likely to latch onto him as "the big name actor" than Hurt. Especially since Skerritt featured in things like M*A*S*H, which would probably have been fairly well-known in general. Meanwhile the list of films prior to Alien that we see Hurt in are primarily British dramas, with only Midnight Express (and providing the voice of Aragorn in Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings animated film) standing out as something you can guarantee an American viewer would have seen.
The scene in the air vents is just a masterclass in suspense. The music, the lighting, the claustrophobia, that haunting beep then Lambert's screaming, I shit myself EVERY TIME.
Except for the cringiest pose ever thrown by the Alien. Even 7 year old me facepalmed as hard as it gets on the sheer stupidity and destruction of suspension of disbelief.
I think you're right - Alien works so well because you DON'T see the Alien. I went to see it on the big screen for the 30th anniversary (and having seen it several times on the small screen). It's SUCH a different experience. It was perhaps the tensest I've ever been in my life. Alien is a classic and I think it stands up well, it's a story about ordinary people overtaken by extraordinary events. I think what's missing is the shout out to the man in the Alien suit who helped make the creature into something real. Still, great and thought provoking piece.
axually, the story is about an entity that dehumanizes man. 'xenomorph' means "foreign, alien form" that strange form is, in Ash's words "unclouded by consciousness, delusions of morality". in other words, dudes who rule the system wants us to live like robots, psychos, without discernment of good and evil. the same theme is explored in Blade Runner, where a dude claims he "builds replicants", but he dehumanizes humans.
It keeps the tension always high because it never gives you an out by giving it screen time. You never know where it's going to show up next, which keeps the tension high and constantly coiling.
She was terrific, they all were. What I still love is how their performances make each character feel very genuine and natural, whilst also being distinct and representative of different things. Dallas is the calm figure of authority. Kane is the explorer. Ash is the corporate overseer. Brett is the apathetic, worn down blue collar worker. Parker on the other hand is the passionate voice of the working man. Ripley, of course is the unexpected heroine. .....and then Lambert, imo, plays the role of the audience, on first seeing this film, utterly terrified and struggling to cope with the horror that is facing them. 7 fantastic performances, and each worthy of awards. 8 if you count Bolaji Badejo as the Alien itself.
She was breaking down as many would in that situation. Another reason the ensembles of the first two movies felt so real; there's always a Lambert or Hudson in the group losing it while everything falls apart
@@LordofMovies91 I haven’t seen that film in 30 years or so. I wasn’t really aware that she was in it. I will give it another view for sure. Thanks! 👍🏻
The sound of Lambert's death may be the most horrifying use of audio I've ever heard in a movie. On repeated viewings it seems more and more artificial and unrealistic, but the first time I heard it, it was utterly terrifying.
When he says "her death is heard, it's probably more frightening hearing it than seeing it." it immediately made me think of Lethal Company, and how even though its such a simple game one of the more terrifying aspects is when you are playing with others, and generally all of you are at first goofing off and having a good time until the monsters and accidents pick you off one by one, hearing people scream and then abruptly get silenced either in the distanced or through the walkies only adds that much more tension to an already eerie situation.
Tremors did the same to an extent. Every little piece we think “Ah, there’s the monster” and then, that was just a tiny part of it, so we’re left thinking “So how did THAT happen then?” And even AFTER the full reveal, the entire premise of “even if you know what it looks like, you can’t see it coming anyway” added a whole other level of scary
The newest Puss In Boots movie surprisingly shows this in a fantastic way. The villain is a construct of death that just lingers the whole movie, often times just giving a faint whistle in the background that makes the hair on your arms crawl. It’s a kids movie, but I love when movies like that really flesh into an aspect of movie production so intensely that anyone can appreciate it.
Funny that the antagonist in a children's animated comedy film is probably the most terrifying, menacing villain that I've seen in a decade. That film doesn't get nearly as much credit as it deserves.
@@Jibriltzfr, one of, if not the best animated movie of all time. It was so refreshing for me when it came out because most recent movies that have come out have just been utter garbage, and i was starting to think there was something wrong with me, but when i saw that movie it gave me hope that movies can still be amazing. I think it’s so funny how the characters that are on screen for the least amount of time, are the most memorable characters of the whole film.
"Alien is...painfully slow by comparison...". No sir, Alien is exquisitely paced. As Ridley said, that pace is deliberate and brings the viewer into the reality he's trying to sell. I wouldn't change a second of it. If anything, the newer movies are too fast and don't allow viewers to settle in but that's another conversation, one about familiarity.
both, both is good. I honestly deeply respect the change of direction Aliens took, because, ultimately, trying to do the same thing again would have almost certainly fallen flat. The change of direction gives Aliens a fighting chance at holding its own as a movie.
One of the best horror game I ever played is "Prey", it has its basic monster to be able to mimic anything nearby. This make the game super fun and scary as most of the horror are in my mind, I have no idea which object is real and which is fake, and that make the tension high and the whole game really really great
Oh hell yeah, one of my top 5 favourite games ! While everyone cites mimic as being the scariest enemies, I'm personally more frightened by poltergeists
I agree that hiding the monster is always beneficial. I also think Alien works as well as it does because it is such a slow build. It takes so long for anything to happen, and that makes an audience nervous, jumping at things that don't deserve it, looking for some clue, focusing too hard, and BAM! Beautiful filmmaking
Also, the film starts out with such a weirdly casual air of the crew waking up and going about business as normal, that from minute one you're waiting for the other shoe to drop. That's part of what makes the scene with the chestburster so horrific when it does happen, is that things are so perfectly normal. You could almost presume that things were just fine, that everything was okay and back to normal now that the facehugger was dead, and then _THAT_ happens. There's a whole lot of by-the-numbers "we're just doing our job" feel to so much of the early part of the film, such that you know something really horrific must be waiting in the wings, but you're still not expecting that to go down right in the middle of _dinner!_
I felt the same about "The Thin Red Line", when there is like half an hour just catching runaways, and then an entire invasion onto an abandoned beach, and suddenly a bullet whips out from the fog, and you don´t even know where it came from, never mind spotting the shooter. That was absolutely terrifying, because you were already biting your nails after 40+ minutes of suspense
@@capndallas4918 It´s about how war crushes the soul and the suspense of boredom under constant threat is part of it. Also, I don´t mind if there were 2 shots in the foggy bamboo. doesn´t matter. there was nothing, and then there was a shot. and then another one, but I am not talking about the second shot.
The first time I saw this movie as a kid, I definitely thought it was slow. Now, watching it with matured eyes, I have a different level of appreciation with Ridley's craftsmanship.
when i was a kid(i was 8 and i truly loved to watch horror movies even a Doom movie in that age, maybe i was too young for them but i still enjoyed them and never regret that i saw em) i actually watched every episode of Alien and also eventually Predators with my grandpa and i really enjoyed them, they were really fun and i truly loved the anticipation it had i didnt think of it as a slow film in my personal opinion, i truly loved every second of it it was overall so beautiful even after 10 years its still on my list of Best Movies ever seen
When was this? Your comment makes you sound like a member of the short attention span generation. Yeah, if you grew up with your entertainment consisting of a bunch of shots no longer than 2 seconds, it would seem "boring". I saw it in the theater during its initial release when I was 13 or 14, and was riveted.
@@kristopherloviska9042 im not sure whether ur talking to me or not But i didnt watch shorts, youtube or any stuff back then Back then i was fishing with my grandpa, went to farms and such, he taught me alot In the end of the day, we always downloaded a movie from a PC and watched it together Golden times, i miss them
There's a film I saw a trailer for recently called The Last Voyage of the Demeter, and the first half was amazing they built up the monster by showing what it had done and the legend behind it. Then the second half of the trailer happened, which showed off the full monster every second it could and killed almost any tension they had built
That is why Alien's trailer is, for me, the perfect trailer. Shows confusion, tension, mystery. In the end you want to know wth was that and you have seen 0 from the creature itself.
What makes the Demeter segment so good in the original Dracula novel is that you never see Dracula. You only get accounts from the captain’s ship log as he watches his crew slowly go crazy as they get picked off one by one. He has no idea what’s going on. He probably doesn’t even know what a vampire is, but his crew are still dying, and the segment’s eldritch, existential dread is peak literature. In my mind, a perfect adaptation of that segment would’ve probably been a cross between Alien and The Lighthouse.
I think The Descent (2005) nails hiding the monster well too. The movie was set underground so shadows and silhouettes from a distance worked well for the terror.
I couldn't agree more - "hidden" is way scarier. I remember being terrified by the Amityville Horror when it was out (the late 70's, I think ) because my imagination produced far more terror than any descriptive prose or illustration. Alien is the same - the hints and glimpses let your mind run rampant and that lets us give ourselves the scare and thrill we're after.
I first saw Alien when it was on tv in the early 80s, I remember everyone loving it, there was no talk about it being slow or boring. I think it is close to perfect.
Fun Fact: At the premiere of the movie, religious zealots set fire to a model of the Xenomorph that was displayed outside, believing it to be the work of the devil.
@@ito2789 in afganistan the religion of peace broke every single temple and statue of Buddhism the country used to worship that religion, those were beautiful statues and i agree with you losers will always exist
If i remember correctly, Terry said that even him couldn't put the finger on what made the movie so good and scary. For me Alien is a masterclass in multiple areas and it is what happens when everyone involved focus on the same objective (the horror). In a lot of other movies in the genre i get the sensation that the light is too plastic, or that the editor is in a hurry, or that the sound design is taken over by the score and etc... That goes to show that if even ONE element is not on target with the vibe that the movie needs the whole thing can fall apart. (Note: there is no right or wrong in horror, i think you can make any vibe work, but is the director and producers job to communicate that well enough so no one get it wrong and if someone gets it wrong it need to be changed, check the history behind the score made by Jerry Goldsmith and how it was used).
The environment is absolutely the star of the show in Alien. It heightens all the tension by being what is shown for the whole length of screen time, feeling very uncomfortable and alien in itself.
I watched alien when I was a kid, and it scared me so much I never wanted to see it again. When I finally did, several years later, it became my favorite horror film… and still is
",I read it, and I thought it was absolutely terrible." The documentaries and interviews in the "Alien Quadrillogy" DVD set were top notch! I loved that everybody was able to be honest about their feelings on the project. You could tell that these guys did not like each other and that Dan O'Bannon was still upset with the changes made to his story.
I see the "hiding the monster" approach to horror as having earlier roots than Jaws. If you watch Rosemary's Baby, little of the actual horror in that movie is shown onscreen. You only see Satan in quick flashes during the assault scene. And at the end, you don't see the baby. You just hear Rosemary ask "What have you done to his eyes?" Whatever we imagine is far worse than what Polanski could have shown us. There are more examples of this kind of subtlety and restraint throughout the movie.
The tension really starts about 20 minutes in when they find the space ship. And this also came out in 79, when people were more patient. It wouldn’t work in 2024
The scariest villain in my personal opinion isn't a monster, it actually not even in a book, movie, or television series. The scariest monster in any media that I've encountered is a game called 'Darkwood', and the monster in that game isn't a "Thing" it's the Forrest itself that you are trapped in. It is trying to kill you, or at the very least stop you from progressing further into the Forrest. Every morning is a fight for survival, every night terrifying anticipation of what's in the darkness, ready to hunt you down. I've had moments where I have to put the controller down and come back to it after a few days to a week I was so shaken and scared to keep going. The Forrest in Darkwood is truly the most terrifying villain I've ever encountered, and they do such and amazing job building the anticipation and tension.
For me, Alien 1979 final cut will always be an amazing return to the series whenever I pick up new content on the lore. After watching Prometheus for the first time I came back to this movie with a fresh perspective and it instantly felt like a chilling callback to that classic horror/unknown feeling. To actually have some insight that suggests the already old movie was actually a baby compared to it's parents lore was insane. To get that juicy scene of the Engineer sitting behind it's unfathomable technology and having no clue just how long it was actually there for, who they were, or for why, until literally several decades after the original film released was just a perfectly engineered formula for success. Only a Ridley Scott film can pull that off for me.
Fans complain about Prometheus, but I loved it and it fits perfectly within the Alien films. Any complaints about it could also be applied to the first Alien movie I think.
I had no idea this was Ridley's second movie. Really his first major one. I thought he had been a seasoned director when he made this. It's a masterpiece.
Hiding the monster until the big reveal done correctly. But let’s also appreciate that they actually had a monster to reveal- the design is fantastic. A monster movie with an underwhelming reveal at the end is still disappointing
The Boogie Man is another good example that was recently released. Since it was based off of a Steven King book, id expect nothing less than amazing horror.
Alien did something simple and yet so very underutilized... It established the mundane before introducing the extraordinary. The film showed us believable, relatable humans behaving reasonably in a calm environment. That calm felt like a fragile thing that audiences expected to shatter at any moment. The divergence from normality was drip-fed, building tension until it eventually burst to the forefront. Best film in the franchise and one of the best horror films to date.
That first alien reveal of Signs (2002) was truly horrifying than any monster I had ever seen. I think it has something to do with being similar enough to us while being different enough than us.
Alien is my all-time favorite movie. Absolutely gorgeous cinematography, sound and art design. Slow paced but huge focus on tension building rather than overdone and predictable jump scares. A simple plot with great revelations. Also some breathtaking sequences, like my favorite of Ripley running back and forth between the bridge and the shuttle with the self-destruct sequence counting down. The shot at 6:21 of Ripley's finger nails bristling in the light and then focusing on her face of abject terror coming up the ladder, knowing the Alien could be anywhere, is burned into my brain. Every time I watch it, I find more reasons to love it even more. While Aliens is fantastic and above all an incredible sequel and genre change, I still feel like Alien will always be the better of the two simply for the art and impeccable horror, in great part thanks to barely ever showing the xenomorph.
6:17 this part always stays with me because you're trying to imagine what is happening but your mind cannot comprehend the pain and fear....the hyperventilating really freaks me out
Budget constraints have made movie-makers hide the monster ever since movies. Showing the monster costs more, so monsters are people, people-shaped, invisible, people with funny noses (a whole other trope), and Humans in some almost-familiar uniforms.
In hindsight, this movie was a great foundation for a franchise. The audience barely knows about the monster and it barely showed on screen, the only thing they experienced was the sheer tension and horror it caused.
My dad said he saw this when it was in cinemas initially. He has always been into sci-fi. He said with the title Alien, he was thinking flying saucers and green men in space suits lol. What he got absolutely blew his mind. He was never into horror, but having grown up with the Alien, Predator and Terminator movies, I was open to horror just as much. Alien blends the two perfectly.
I don't really like horror movies and especially not gory slasher movies but despite not caring for horror Alien and Jaws are two of my all time favorite films. I wish Ridley Scott's overall body of work wasn't so inconsistent though.
True, but (a bit like M.Night Shayamalan) it's probably just because he makes soooo many movies. The dude makes 2-3 movies a year, while the other 'auteurs' like PTA, Tarantino, Scorsese etc take upwards of 5 years between movies. Different style and obviously those other directors very rarely miss, but I suppose he just loves making movies, so I can respect it.
Studio: "Look, nothing is happening for 45 mins" ...Classic example of why the studio should have little to no creative control over a film... I mean think of the garbage heap we'd have gotten if they had full reign over it....Take the Justice Leauge as a modern example.
Alien was so good that it really made me think about the xenomorph life cycle and how I can make sense of it by disregarding queens and the black goo from the sequel movies.
That one Godzilla movie that came out in 2014 used the same method as Jaws and Alien. Godzilla is shown in only 10 minutes of the film, and that might seem like a little, but it is not! Everything in that film has an amazing payoff.
The fear of the unknown it's the ultimate fear...Alien is prodigal in that. Everything around the creature is a mystery: the origin, its purpose, intention with other creatures, way of thinking, The movie defines what horror is with all the elements combined: the creature, the setting, the atmosphere, the crew.
Alien is the only horror film I've ever watched, a phenomenal masterpiece of character development and suspense. That chest-burst scene was pure genius.
I watched the first Alien movie like 3 weeks ago, when Romulus hit the theaters, I never saw the first 4 movies and I feeled like I needed some context since in the chronological order made sense. I was surprise how well the movie is delivered being like 50 years old, it was an amazing movie from the cast, the mistery around the alien, the ship, the egg, the space jockey, the unknown, the suspicious acting of the android, muthur, it all made sense, and plus, you don't get to see the alien completely, so for the first time viewer it must has been hell of a ride on the imagination. I love that you don't know who the protaganist/heroe of the movie is until the last 25 minutes and yet there is so many questions on why the company is interested in the creature and is willing to sacrifice everything to get it done. The practical effect where amazing, better than 90% of CGI in today's budgets. Its a shame that the prometheus arc was so badly delivered, like there is so many details that is deleted material and give those movies the deep in the lore that is needed, even though a creature like the alien and their race is cool with all of the speculation around it, It's like Gman for Half Life, so powerful and yet the community do not know nothing from this guy and that is more scary. At this point a series will do the trick since in a movie you are bound by the runtime and studios/stakeholders trying to rush everything just to sell.
I saw this in a theatre, expecting something Star Wars-ish, and had the most intense movie experience. I've seen it many times, and always marvel at what a perfect movie it is. It has aged beautifully, and I haven't seen anything in the genre that comes close. It's my favourite movie, up there with LOTR and the Holy Grail.
The Blair Witch project was one of the scariest horror movies I had ever seen. I have a VERY creative imagination. Just like Paranormal Activity it allow my mind to run WILD with that the Witch and Demon would be.
Reminds me of Halloween (1978). Yeah, we see Michael kill his sister at the beginning, but practically nothing “happens” until the last thirty minutes of the movie. But that’s what makes the kills so special; we got so much buildup of not just learning who the characters are, but us knowing that Michael is just around the corner and could pop out at any moment. The keyword is “BUILDUP”.
I like alien because for a horror movie it was well organized and not everywhere, I mean it was but could map everything in your mind on what's going on and where it might be happening.
Offtopic: You're giving me/us a continuation of "Every frame a painting" and similar channels that stopped uploading long ago. I absolutely love your content and I hope you grow and dive down into more fantastic topics about cinema and film in general.
'can seem painfully slow' to basic movie goers who don't engage or even truly watch what they are seeing. [ie 90% of viewers and people who thing Netflex is good] The movie is a masterpiece - a symphony.
Great video essay! I actually just saw this in theaters for its re-release! It's also important to note that the slasher film trope in horror (of the villain killing off the group of people one by one) had literally just been introduced (Halloween came out in 1978), and Alien probably inspired a lot of later horror movies with the "final girl" trope. Also Sigourney Weaver was such an unknown actress at the time that no one expected her to be the true main character. Also, Bravo released a documentary about 20 years ago detailing what they thought were the 100 top scary moments in horror (in their opinion). #1 was the first scene from Jaws, #2 was "the scene" from Alien, and #3 was "the scene" in Misery. IMO Alien and Misery should have been #1 and #2 respectively, the Jaws scene is not very scary and the former two scenes have scarred me for life. Alien's famous scene IS definitively the scariest scene ever put to film.
Amnesia the bunker really makes a good game of both, you can hear and sometimes see the monster I'm the tunnels it's made and if you do too much noise, it comes out of it's hole to hunt you.
This may sound silly, but man, watching Signs as a kid with my dad, the scene where the alien walks across the alleyway messed me up so bad for day afterwards 😅 idk if the movie holds up, but the quiet suspense building up to that scene was the first moment I've ever experienced something like this!!
The thing with the Alien movie is: The viewer from the first second onwards just KNOWS something is up. Somehow everything, every setpiece and lighting, is so perfectly scary for no apparent reason, the Xenomorph itself fits more into the human designed ship than the humans.
I love the fact that A Quiet Place wasn't afraid to show the monster. Seeing it quite soon, attacking in brought daylight made it scary. Because you know the cast wasn't even safe during the day
Its just like when was a massive spider in my room. This thing was a beast! I saw the top of it behind something on the floor, desperately hunted for it but didn't see it again until 2 days later (where I again only caught a glimpse!) Seeing parts of - or hints to - the monster occasionally rather than its full build many times throughout the film evokes fear in films as much so as with pesky spiders who think they own your house!
It's also the way it is filmed. The camerawork really makes you feel that you are right there. The story builds up slowy, imagine you are going to watch this movie for the first time and you don't know what Alien is. Bits and pieces of the puzzle come together...
It depends. Alien is a creeper, it doesn't need jump scares. It's also better that the alien was mostly hidden, it was way creepier. But when you have something like the Borg in Star Trek, the terror is when they're up close and personal.
I feel like hereditary did this so well. It’s shocking and horrifying but otherwise there’s not a ton of horror past the decapitation. But those last 30 minutes DO. NOT. STOP. and it stays burned in your brain
What also leant into the unease was the ship was designed partially with the Xenomorph in mind. With it being biomechanical in design, it could blend in with the background noise of the ship, meaning it could be anywhere. The first shot you actually see of the Xenomorph is it hangin around the chains dormant above lambert, looking like just a piece of machinery hoisted up.
I don’t like movies that never show the actual danger, like the teasing is cool but never seeing what obliterated everyone irks me, it’s why found footage is usually my most hated genre. But waiting in suspense can be done well like in Alien, it’s creepy every time and even if you know it’s still great.
I first watched alien aged 14, it scared the crap out of me! So much so that, even today I haven’t watched it all the way through in one go. The scariest film EVER made in my opinion and a masterpiece!
what's scarier?? showing the monster...or hiding the monster?
(i suppose this extrapolates to horror in general too - slasher or supernatural?)
Both. Slasher and supernatural
both to the first question too
Existential horror is the best. How does "Being John Malkovich" fit into your paradigm?
Monster hidden is pretty good. Midnight Mass wasn't scary scary, but not seeing the monster at rhe first few episodes was just perfect. Then they showed the monster and it was meh.
Cloverfield sucked and the monster was silly. Jason and Myers managed to pull off the same fear in anticipation while being out in the open. Both styles make you question every corner turned. ALIEN is great but Jodorowsky's DUNE had to fail, Ridley Scott was nearly fired, Ripley's character was nearly killed off, the budget was doubled and still wasn't enough. Without the ALIEN, it would've been just another forgotten monster film. The father of Biomechanics and the Necronomicon had to give us his unearthly monster and biomechanical Derelict ship.
not the best exampes, but birdbox is better than a quiet place precisely because the monsters aren't seen, although it seem like it makes for a longer story in general when the monsters are shown to the viewer
"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it." -Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock 🤝Suspense
🗿
there is no sexiness in the bang
only the anticipation of xxx LOL
It’s kind of nonsense. Anticipation is great - it’s king - but the bang can be scary too and it’s consequences even scarier …
@whynottalklikeapirat I would think what happens after the bang is more reffered to as horror, as the first thought in aftermath of a 'terrific' event can still terrify, but more likely leaves a horrified sense before they think "what happened?"
My Dad still talks about how shocking it was for Tom Skerritt's character Dallas to die. He was the only really known actor in the movie and a lot of people went because they recognized him. Nobody expected him to die and it really makes that jump scare even more effective. Nowadays killing off a main character or well-known actor isn't unheard of, but you just didn't do that back then. You're watching him in these vents and it's scary but you still feel an element of safety. "Surely they won't kill off Tom Skerritt..." It makes the jumpscare (and the rest of the film) very unpredictable.
>Tom Skerritt
>Completely ignores John Hurt, the actual biggest name in that movie at the time, who was killed off first specifically because he was the biggest star they had and it would be shocking
No need to be a dick about it. He coulda said Hurt and I remembered the conversation wrong. Either way, both were famous and both were killed off because of that shock factor.@@Duothimir
OMG I had a similar experience with the movie Life (I recommend watching it before reading but whatever) I only recognised Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal and went "oh I guess they'll be the main characters!" nope. Those bitches were dead IMMEDIATLY
@@Duothimir I mean, it could also entirely depend on one's viewpoint. Skerritt is an American actor, so someone whose knowledge of film is primarily Hollywood-based rather than British films would possibly be more likely to latch onto him as "the big name actor" than Hurt. Especially since Skerritt featured in things like M*A*S*H, which would probably have been fairly well-known in general. Meanwhile the list of films prior to Alien that we see Hurt in are primarily British dramas, with only Midnight Express (and providing the voice of Aragorn in Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings animated film) standing out as something you can guarantee an American viewer would have seen.
It still works now because there's still the convention of the leading man surviving
The scene in the air vents is just a masterclass in suspense. The music, the lighting, the claustrophobia, that haunting beep then Lambert's screaming, I shit myself EVERY TIME.
maybe don't eat taco bell while watching alien? hehe
i wish the guy in the suit reached out and grabbed the camera- he just put his arms out and held it like he was asking for cuddles....
she should be whupped for her loudmouthed scream. lamberts a wuss
Except for the cringiest pose ever thrown by the Alien. Even 7 year old me facepalmed as hard as it gets on the sheer stupidity and destruction of suspension of disbelief.
@@arsstv No you didn't 😒
The cat's reaction to a person getting violently killed by a monster is far too real.
The shot of Jonesy's reaction to tge appearance of the xenomorph is my favorite in all of cinema's history.
"What's the mater with u people.. Never seen a feline pounce on her meal before"- cats thoughts
@@christophertadeo6120 "Hmpf....who´s gonna open my next meal now?"
'Well that was slightly odd. Now what?'
“Wow, I missed the part where that’s my problem.”
I think you're right - Alien works so well because you DON'T see the Alien. I went to see it on the big screen for the 30th anniversary (and having seen it several times on the small screen). It's SUCH a different experience. It was perhaps the tensest I've ever been in my life. Alien is a classic and I think it stands up well, it's a story about ordinary people overtaken by extraordinary events. I think what's missing is the shout out to the man in the Alien suit who helped make the creature into something real. Still, great and thought provoking piece.
axually, the story is about an entity that dehumanizes man. 'xenomorph' means "foreign, alien form"
that strange form is, in Ash's words "unclouded by consciousness, delusions of morality".
in other words, dudes who rule the system wants us to live like robots, psychos, without discernment of good and evil.
the same theme is explored in Blade Runner, where a dude claims he "builds replicants", but he dehumanizes humans.
It keeps the tension always high because it never gives you an out by giving it screen time. You never know where it's going to show up next, which keeps the tension high and constantly coiling.
A old friend of mine, his dad was the stunt man in that suit, and for Aliens as well (two of them did Aliens I believe). Agreed, did an amazing job.
Tbh I find this movie so boring I slept
@@cothinker680 you're so cool and brave
Veronica Cartwright delivered an absolutely GOAT level performance in Alien. The despair, and the terror she portrayed was deeply unsettling.
She was terrific, they all were. What I still love is how their performances make each character feel very genuine and natural, whilst also being distinct and representative of different things.
Dallas is the calm figure of authority.
Kane is the explorer.
Ash is the corporate overseer.
Brett is the apathetic, worn down blue collar worker.
Parker on the other hand is the passionate voice of the working man.
Ripley, of course is the unexpected heroine.
.....and then Lambert, imo, plays the role of the audience, on first seeing this film, utterly terrified and struggling to cope with the horror that is facing them.
7 fantastic performances, and each worthy of awards. 8 if you count Bolaji Badejo as the Alien itself.
She was breaking down as many would in that situation. Another reason the ensembles of the first two movies felt so real; there's always a Lambert or Hudson in the group losing it while everything falls apart
The sound design of her screaming as Ripley runs through the ship to get to her and Parker always stands out to me.
I also recommend watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) if you haven't. She's just as good, and only 1 year prior.
@@LordofMovies91 I haven’t seen that film in 30 years or so. I wasn’t really aware that she was in it. I will give it another view for sure. Thanks! 👍🏻
The sound of Lambert's death may be the most horrifying use of audio I've ever heard in a movie.
On repeated viewings it seems more and more artificial and unrealistic, but the first time I heard it, it was utterly terrifying.
Agree, that shit had me trembling for hours
When he says "her death is heard, it's probably more frightening hearing it than seeing it." it immediately made me think of Lethal Company, and how even though its such a simple game one of the more terrifying aspects is when you are playing with others, and generally all of you are at first goofing off and having a good time until the monsters and accidents pick you off one by one, hearing people scream and then abruptly get silenced either in the distanced or through the walkies only adds that much more tension to an already eerie situation.
Tremors did the same to an extent. Every little piece we think “Ah, there’s the monster” and then, that was just a tiny part of it, so we’re left thinking “So how did THAT happen then?” And even AFTER the full reveal, the entire premise of “even if you know what it looks like, you can’t see it coming anyway” added a whole other level of scary
Hell! Fuckin love tremors. It's too damn good like alie in my opinion.
Tremors is definitely a classic creature feature par excellence
The newest Puss In Boots movie surprisingly shows this in a fantastic way. The villain is a construct of death that just lingers the whole movie, often times just giving a faint whistle in the background that makes the hair on your arms crawl. It’s a kids movie, but I love when movies like that really flesh into an aspect of movie production so intensely that anyone can appreciate it.
Funny that the antagonist in a children's animated comedy film is probably the most terrifying, menacing villain that I've seen in a decade. That film doesn't get nearly as much credit as it deserves.
@@Jibriltzfr, one of, if not the best animated movie of all time. It was so refreshing for me when it came out because most recent movies that have come out have just been utter garbage, and i was starting to think there was something wrong with me, but when i saw that movie it gave me hope that movies can still be amazing. I think it’s so funny how the characters that are on screen for the least amount of time, are the most memorable characters of the whole film.
Where’s the gif of spongebob on the baby roller coaster when you need it?
"Alien is...painfully slow by comparison...". No sir, Alien is exquisitely paced. As Ridley said, that pace is deliberate and brings the viewer into the reality he's trying to sell. I wouldn't change a second of it. If anything, the newer movies are too fast and don't allow viewers to settle in but that's another conversation, one about familiarity.
I politely disagree.
both, both is good. I honestly deeply respect the change of direction Aliens took, because, ultimately, trying to do the same thing again would have almost certainly fallen flat. The change of direction gives Aliens a fighting chance at holding its own as a movie.
One of the best horror game I ever played is "Prey", it has its basic monster to be able to mimic anything nearby. This make the game super fun and scary as most of the horror are in my mind, I have no idea which object is real and which is fake, and that make the tension high and the whole game really really great
_NOT A MIMIC_
Give alien isolation a try. With headphones it damn near gives me panic attacks listening to the bugger running around in the vents etc.
Oh hell yeah, one of my top 5 favourite games ! While everyone cites mimic as being the scariest enemies, I'm personally more frightened by poltergeists
@@sugoha_2548 Yeah! That enemy sound simple on paper, but the build up and reveal of it is so cool and scary!
Try Alien Isolation or Resident Evil 7 in VR :D. Those have scared me significantly more than the vast majority of horror films.
getting very strong "Every Frame A Painting" vibes over here....
you deserve a WAY bigger audience, love your video essays!
no one's ever topping Tony and Taylor, but appreciate the compliment ✌
I just joined, so it is getting bigger.
I agree that hiding the monster is always beneficial. I also think Alien works as well as it does because it is such a slow build. It takes so long for anything to happen, and that makes an audience nervous, jumping at things that don't deserve it, looking for some clue, focusing too hard, and BAM!
Beautiful filmmaking
Also, the film starts out with such a weirdly casual air of the crew waking up and going about business as normal, that from minute one you're waiting for the other shoe to drop. That's part of what makes the scene with the chestburster so horrific when it does happen, is that things are so perfectly normal. You could almost presume that things were just fine, that everything was okay and back to normal now that the facehugger was dead, and then _THAT_ happens. There's a whole lot of by-the-numbers "we're just doing our job" feel to so much of the early part of the film, such that you know something really horrific must be waiting in the wings, but you're still not expecting that to go down right in the middle of _dinner!_
I felt the same about "The Thin Red Line", when there is like half an hour just catching runaways, and then an entire invasion onto an abandoned beach, and suddenly a bullet whips out from the fog, and you don´t even know where it came from, never mind spotting the shooter. That was absolutely terrifying, because you were already biting your nails after 40+ minutes of suspense
@paavobergmann4920 you're wrong about that. Well on 2 fronts. There were 2 shots plus it wasn't built around suspense
@@capndallas4918 It´s about how war crushes the soul and the suspense of boredom under constant threat is part of it. Also, I don´t mind if there were 2 shots in the foggy bamboo. doesn´t matter. there was nothing, and then there was a shot. and then another one, but I am not talking about the second shot.
yh
The first time I saw this movie as a kid, I definitely thought it was slow. Now, watching it with matured eyes, I have a different level of appreciation with Ridley's craftsmanship.
when i was a kid(i was 8 and i truly loved to watch horror movies even a Doom movie in that age, maybe i was too young for them but i still enjoyed them and never regret that i saw em) i actually watched every episode of Alien and also eventually Predators with my grandpa
and i really enjoyed them, they were really fun and i truly loved the anticipation it had
i didnt think of it as a slow film in my personal opinion, i truly loved every second of it
it was overall so beautiful
even after 10 years its still on my list of Best Movies ever seen
When was this? Your comment makes you sound like a member of the short attention span generation. Yeah, if you grew up with your entertainment consisting of a bunch of shots no longer than 2 seconds, it would seem "boring". I saw it in the theater during its initial release when I was 13 or 14, and was riveted.
@@kristopherloviska9042 im not sure whether ur talking to me or not
But i didnt watch shorts, youtube or any stuff back then
Back then i was fishing with my grandpa, went to farms and such, he taught me alot
In the end of the day, we always downloaded a movie from a PC and watched it together
Golden times, i miss them
Movies that seem slow are one of two things: details matter and people who don't notice or don't understand details are watching.
It's definitelly a masterpiece, all the elements of the movie are crafted with love and care
There's a film I saw a trailer for recently called The Last Voyage of the Demeter, and the first half was amazing they built up the monster by showing what it had done and the legend behind it.
Then the second half of the trailer happened, which showed off the full monster every second it could and killed almost any tension they had built
Yes!! They could have hidden the monster but nope. I don't get why these corporate entities want to show everything in a trailer.
That is why Alien's trailer is, for me, the perfect trailer. Shows confusion, tension, mystery. In the end you want to know wth was that and you have seen 0 from the creature itself.
What makes the Demeter segment so good in the original Dracula novel is that you never see Dracula.
You only get accounts from the captain’s ship log as he watches his crew slowly go crazy as they get picked off one by one.
He has no idea what’s going on. He probably doesn’t even know what a vampire is, but his crew are still dying, and the segment’s eldritch, existential dread is peak literature.
In my mind, a perfect adaptation of that segment would’ve probably been a cross between Alien and The Lighthouse.
@@sunchips18that's what I was hoping it would be, but nope. Waste of a film.
I think The Descent (2005) nails hiding the monster well too. The movie was set underground so shadows and silhouettes from a distance worked well for the terror.
or "Event Horizon".
One of the worst movies I’ve ever seen 😂
“Nothing happens for 45 minutes” “LORE HAPPENS”
I couldn't agree more - "hidden" is way scarier. I remember being terrified by the Amityville Horror when it was out (the late 70's, I think ) because my imagination produced far more terror than any descriptive prose or illustration. Alien is the same - the hints and glimpses let your mind run rampant and that lets us give ourselves the scare and thrill we're after.
I first saw Alien when it was on tv in the early 80s, I remember everyone loving it, there was no talk about it being slow or boring. I think it is close to perfect.
Definitely scarier having hidden monsters
Fun Fact: At the premiere of the movie, religious zealots set fire to a model of the Xenomorph that was displayed outside, believing it to be the work of the devil.
HR Geiger was inspired by demonic imagery
did little facehugger models jump out of it?
would've been 4D chess from the marketing department
The prop that someone tried to burn was actually the space jockey.
Those losers will always exist unfortunately.
@@ito2789 in afganistan the religion of peace broke every single temple and statue of Buddhism the country used to worship that religion, those were beautiful statues and i agree with you losers will always exist
If i remember correctly, Terry said that even him couldn't put the finger on what made the movie so good and scary. For me Alien is a masterclass in multiple areas and it is what happens when everyone involved focus on the same objective (the horror). In a lot of other movies in the genre i get the sensation that the light is too plastic, or that the editor is in a hurry, or that the sound design is taken over by the score and etc... That goes to show that if even ONE element is not on target with the vibe that the movie needs the whole thing can fall apart.
(Note: there is no right or wrong in horror, i think you can make any vibe work, but is the director and producers job to communicate that well enough so no one get it wrong and if someone gets it wrong it need to be changed, check the history behind the score made by Jerry Goldsmith and how it was used).
The environment is absolutely the star of the show in Alien. It heightens all the tension by being what is shown for the whole length of screen time, feeling very uncomfortable and alien in itself.
This channel is filling the void in my life that appeared when Every Frame a Painting stopped uploading. Please please keep going.
I watched alien when I was a kid, and it scared me so much I never wanted to see it again. When I finally did, several years later, it became my favorite horror film… and still is
",I read it, and I thought it was absolutely terrible." The documentaries and interviews in the "Alien Quadrillogy" DVD set were top notch! I loved that everybody was able to be honest about their feelings on the project. You could tell that these guys did not like each other and that Dan O'Bannon was still upset with the changes made to his story.
I see the "hiding the monster" approach to horror as having earlier roots than Jaws. If you watch Rosemary's Baby, little of the actual horror in that movie is shown onscreen. You only see Satan in quick flashes during the assault scene. And at the end, you don't see the baby. You just hear Rosemary ask "What have you done to his eyes?" Whatever we imagine is far worse than what Polanski could have shown us. There are more examples of this kind of subtlety and restraint throughout the movie.
The scene in the vents is perfect. You see it for just a second. And I think that’s just enough
The tension really starts about 20 minutes in when they find the space ship. And this also came out in 79, when people were more patient. It wouldn’t work in 2024
I’ve always said that “Alien” was a great great movie. (Not just in the horror or sci-fi genre) The art department (sets) are absolutely brilliant.
Alien is one of the few horror movies where the characters arent stereotypes.
Which it is able to do due to its slow buildup.
The scariest villain in my personal opinion isn't a monster, it actually not even in a book, movie, or television series. The scariest monster in any media that I've encountered is a game called 'Darkwood', and the monster in that game isn't a "Thing" it's the Forrest itself that you are trapped in. It is trying to kill you, or at the very least stop you from progressing further into the Forrest. Every morning is a fight for survival, every night terrifying anticipation of what's in the darkness, ready to hunt you down. I've had moments where I have to put the controller down and come back to it after a few days to a week I was so shaken and scared to keep going. The Forrest in Darkwood is truly the most terrifying villain I've ever encountered, and they do such and amazing job building the anticipation and tension.
Duuuude! Darkwood rules!!! It's such a bleak game, but it ends with a sliver of hope.
Yeah like the first Blaire witch movie. It was scary
For me, Alien 1979 final cut will always be an amazing return to the series whenever I pick up new content on the lore.
After watching Prometheus for the first time I came back to this movie with a fresh perspective and it instantly felt like a chilling callback to that classic horror/unknown feeling. To actually have some insight that suggests the already old movie was actually a baby compared to it's parents lore was insane. To get that juicy scene of the Engineer sitting behind it's unfathomable technology and having no clue just how long it was actually there for, who they were, or for why, until literally several decades after the original film released was just a perfectly engineered formula for success.
Only a Ridley Scott film can pull that off for me.
Fans complain about Prometheus, but I loved it and it fits perfectly within the Alien films. Any complaints about it could also be applied to the first Alien movie I think.
Shout out to the actors too. They all did a sublime job. Utterly believable and natural characters.
Literally forgot I was watching a youtube video until it ended, and I wasn't even watching in full screen. Top notch content.
I had no idea this was Ridley's second movie. Really his first major one. I thought he had been a seasoned director when he made this. It's a masterpiece.
What's also amazing is that the studio didn't meddle with his vision.
Hiding the monster until the big reveal done correctly. But let’s also appreciate that they actually had a monster to reveal- the design is fantastic. A monster movie with an underwhelming reveal at the end is still disappointing
True! No point building up to something underwhelming
The Boogie Man is another good example that was recently released. Since it was based off of a Steven King book, id expect nothing less than amazing horror.
I’ll give it a watch! I think Barbarian last year was pretty good example too (at least for the first hour or so…)
Alien did something simple and yet so very underutilized... It established the mundane before introducing the extraordinary.
The film showed us believable, relatable humans behaving reasonably in a calm environment. That calm felt like a fragile thing that audiences expected to shatter at any moment. The divergence from normality was drip-fed, building tension until it eventually burst to the forefront. Best film in the franchise and one of the best horror films to date.
That first alien reveal of Signs (2002) was truly horrifying than any monster I had ever seen. I think it has something to do with being similar enough to us while being different enough than us.
On a second thought, it might have been scariest for me because it was believable
According to Ridley Scott, the alien is not a monster. It's better than a monster.
Alien is my all-time favorite movie. Absolutely gorgeous cinematography, sound and art design. Slow paced but huge focus on tension building rather than overdone and predictable jump scares. A simple plot with great revelations. Also some breathtaking sequences, like my favorite of Ripley running back and forth between the bridge and the shuttle with the self-destruct sequence counting down. The shot at 6:21 of Ripley's finger nails bristling in the light and then focusing on her face of abject terror coming up the ladder, knowing the Alien could be anywhere, is burned into my brain. Every time I watch it, I find more reasons to love it even more.
While Aliens is fantastic and above all an incredible sequel and genre change, I still feel like Alien will always be the better of the two simply for the art and impeccable horror, in great part thanks to barely ever showing the xenomorph.
Every video is so interesting and engaging. Man, I love this channel.
6:17 this part always stays with me because you're trying to imagine what is happening but your mind cannot comprehend the pain and fear....the hyperventilating really freaks me out
man the lighting and the composition or arrangement in this film is so flawless, it still looks amazing!
This is VERY quickly becoming my favorite channel!!!!
Budget constraints have made movie-makers hide the monster ever since movies.
Showing the monster costs more, so monsters are people, people-shaped, invisible, people with funny noses (a whole other trope), and Humans in some almost-familiar uniforms.
In hindsight, this movie was a great foundation for a franchise. The audience barely knows about the monster and it barely showed on screen, the only thing they experienced was the sheer tension and horror it caused.
My dad said he saw this when it was in cinemas initially. He has always been into sci-fi. He said with the title Alien, he was thinking flying saucers and green men in space suits lol. What he got absolutely blew his mind. He was never into horror, but having grown up with the Alien, Predator and Terminator movies, I was open to horror just as much. Alien blends the two perfectly.
I don't really like horror movies and especially not gory slasher movies but despite not caring for horror Alien and Jaws are two of my all time favorite films. I wish Ridley Scott's overall body of work wasn't so inconsistent though.
True, but (a bit like M.Night Shayamalan) it's probably just because he makes soooo many movies. The dude makes 2-3 movies a year, while the other 'auteurs' like PTA, Tarantino, Scorsese etc take upwards of 5 years between movies. Different style and obviously those other directors very rarely miss, but I suppose he just loves making movies, so I can respect it.
Studio: "Look, nothing is happening for 45 mins"
...Classic example of why the studio should have little to no creative control over a film...
I mean think of the garbage heap we'd have gotten if they had full reign over it....Take the Justice Leauge as a modern example.
You can’t see the monster, but you can hear him.
Makes it far worse.
Alien was so good that it really made me think about the xenomorph life cycle and how I can make sense of it by disregarding queens and the black goo from the sequel movies.
“The oldest and strongest human emotion is fear, and the oldest and strongest human fear is that of the unknown.” -H.P. Lovecraft
I saw Alien as a child and it left me scarred for a decade. Like, 'afraid of the dark and chest pains' scarred.
Watched this back in 3rd grade I remember being so scared that the cat would die the whole time💀
That one Godzilla movie that came out in 2014 used the same method as Jaws and Alien. Godzilla is shown in only 10 minutes of the film, and that might seem like a little, but it is not! Everything in that film has an amazing payoff.
No it wasn't.
The fear of the unknown it's the ultimate fear...Alien is prodigal in that. Everything around the creature is a mystery: the origin, its purpose, intention with other creatures, way of thinking,
The movie defines what horror is with all the elements combined: the creature, the setting, the atmosphere, the crew.
Alien is the only horror film I've ever watched, a phenomenal masterpiece of character development and suspense. That chest-burst scene was pure genius.
What is scary is watching the cat (a predator), watching the alien (predator). Genius idea for that scene.
I watched the first Alien movie like 3 weeks ago, when Romulus hit the theaters, I never saw the first 4 movies and I feeled like I needed some context since in the chronological order made sense. I was surprise how well the movie is delivered being like 50 years old, it was an amazing movie from the cast, the mistery around the alien, the ship, the egg, the space jockey, the unknown, the suspicious acting of the android, muthur, it all made sense, and plus, you don't get to see the alien completely, so for the first time viewer it must has been hell of a ride on the imagination. I love that you don't know who the protaganist/heroe of the movie is until the last 25 minutes and yet there is so many questions on why the company is interested in the creature and is willing to sacrifice everything to get it done. The practical effect where amazing, better than 90% of CGI in today's budgets. Its a shame that the prometheus arc was so badly delivered, like there is so many details that is deleted material and give those movies the deep in the lore that is needed, even though a creature like the alien and their race is cool with all of the speculation around it, It's like Gman for Half Life, so powerful and yet the community do not know nothing from this guy and that is more scary. At this point a series will do the trick since in a movie you are bound by the runtime and studios/stakeholders trying to rush everything just to sell.
I saw this in a theatre, expecting something Star Wars-ish, and had the most intense movie experience. I've seen it many times, and always marvel at what a perfect movie it is. It has aged beautifully, and I haven't seen anything in the genre that comes close. It's my favourite movie, up there with LOTR and the Holy Grail.
The Blair Witch project was one of the scariest horror movies I had ever seen. I have a VERY creative imagination. Just like Paranormal Activity it allow my mind to run WILD with that the Witch and Demon would be.
It worked in Alien: Isolation as well. Short but extremely tense encounters
we remember feelling powerless right after the leader Dallas disappeared while watching in the cinema
Reminds me of Halloween (1978). Yeah, we see Michael kill his sister at the beginning, but practically nothing “happens” until the last thirty minutes of the movie. But that’s what makes the kills so special; we got so much buildup of not just learning who the characters are, but us knowing that Michael is just around the corner and could pop out at any moment. The keyword is “BUILDUP”.
I like alien because for a horror movie it was well organized and not everywhere, I mean it was but could map everything in your mind on what's going on and where it might be happening.
Offtopic:
You're giving me/us a continuation of "Every frame a painting" and similar channels that stopped uploading long ago.
I absolutely love your content and I hope you grow and dive down into more fantastic topics about cinema and film in general.
My Brothers saw this in the movies when it first came out..... they slept with the lights on for quite some time after that...
'can seem painfully slow' to basic movie goers who don't engage or even truly watch what they are seeing. [ie 90% of viewers and people who thing Netflex is good]
The movie is a masterpiece - a symphony.
Hear, hear. 👏
You're not afraid of being alone in the dark, you're afraid of NOT being alone in the dark!
When having a crafted story supercedes the effects
I see Alien, I click.
This is super underrated content!
Great video essay! I actually just saw this in theaters for its re-release! It's also important to note that the slasher film trope in horror (of the villain killing off the group of people one by one) had literally just been introduced (Halloween came out in 1978), and Alien probably inspired a lot of later horror movies with the "final girl" trope. Also Sigourney Weaver was such an unknown actress at the time that no one expected her to be the true main character.
Also, Bravo released a documentary about 20 years ago detailing what they thought were the 100 top scary moments in horror (in their opinion). #1 was the first scene from Jaws, #2 was "the scene" from Alien, and #3 was "the scene" in Misery. IMO Alien and Misery should have been #1 and #2 respectively, the Jaws scene is not very scary and the former two scenes have scarred me for life. Alien's famous scene IS definitively the scariest scene ever put to film.
Amnesia the bunker really makes a good game of both, you can hear and sometimes see the monster I'm the tunnels it's made and if you do too much noise, it comes out of it's hole to hunt you.
This may sound silly, but man, watching Signs as a kid with my dad, the scene where the alien walks across the alleyway messed me up so bad for day afterwards 😅 idk if the movie holds up, but the quiet suspense building up to that scene was the first moment I've ever experienced something like this!!
its just about that title you wrote made me pause my day
The thing with the Alien movie is: The viewer from the first second onwards just KNOWS something is up. Somehow everything, every setpiece and lighting, is so perfectly scary for no apparent reason, the Xenomorph itself fits more into the human designed ship than the humans.
This video is very well-made. A Blade Runner: 2049 analysis would be awesome.
I love the fact that A Quiet Place wasn't afraid to show the monster. Seeing it quite soon, attacking in brought daylight made it scary. Because you know the cast wasn't even safe during the day
It's amazing to think this film is 45 years old, and it is still the best suspense horror I have ever seen.
Its just like when was a massive spider in my room. This thing was a beast! I saw the top of it behind something on the floor, desperately hunted for it but didn't see it again until 2 days later (where I again only caught a glimpse!) Seeing parts of - or hints to - the monster occasionally rather than its full build many times throughout the film evokes fear in films as much so as with pesky spiders who think they own your house!
To me, a good villain is someone that instantly steals the scene with every entrance and you have NO FUCKING IDEA about what they'll do next.
It's also the way it is filmed. The camerawork really makes you feel that you are right there. The story builds up slowy, imagine you are going to watch this movie for the first time and you don't know what Alien is. Bits and pieces of the puzzle come together...
no matter how many times i watch this movie, still gets me like the first time!
as soon as it starts i forget how it ends....
The most terrifying thing to come out of Alien is probably the video game it has the best AI I have ever seen the monster actually feels smart
That which is unseen and unknown commands the greatest fear
To this day the beeping of the motioncensor still gets to me. It was the movie that got me hooked on horror and it wil always be my favorite.
is it you SkillUp? glad you're also producing great film videos 😊
It depends. Alien is a creeper, it doesn't need jump scares. It's also better that the alien was mostly hidden, it was way creepier.
But when you have something like the Borg in Star Trek, the terror is when they're up close and personal.
ALIEN is NOT painfully slow. It is a perfectly paced masterpiece. So many that were born after this time period have no attention span.
I could not agree more. The first one is BY FAR the best of them all.
I feel like hereditary did this so well. It’s shocking and horrifying but otherwise there’s not a ton of horror past the decapitation. But those last 30 minutes DO. NOT. STOP. and it stays burned in your brain
I love that movie!!
What also leant into the unease was the ship was designed partially with the Xenomorph in mind. With it being biomechanical in design, it could blend in with the background noise of the ship, meaning it could be anywhere. The first shot you actually see of the Xenomorph is it hangin around the chains dormant above lambert, looking like just a piece of machinery hoisted up.
I don’t like movies that never show the actual danger, like the teasing is cool but never seeing what obliterated everyone irks me, it’s why found footage is usually my most hated genre. But waiting in suspense can be done well like in Alien, it’s creepy every time and even if you know it’s still great.
Indeed. We need some form of resolution. Otherwise it’s just like foreplay without climax.
I'd say it's scarier if you can't always see them... but you can hear them... or some other form of that.
I first watched alien aged 14, it scared the crap out of me! So much so that, even today I haven’t watched it all the way through in one go. The scariest film EVER made in my opinion and a masterpiece!