Outside Perception
Amin n'rangwa edanea
Alien – Classic horror or Sci-Fi?
Alien, released in theaters in 1979 is one of my all time favorite movies. I was probably all of 10 when I first saw it. Two of my friends had HBO in their home so we hatched a plan to be able to see this. I reached out to HBO who we’re very nice in letting me know that, they have no idea when that might have been, so, I’m going with I was probably 10 years old. I have the original trailer below so you can understand that… I really didn’t know what I was getting into. It looked Sci-Fi to me and I was still completely enamored of Star Wars. Hey, give me a break, remember 10 years old plus I was told I couldn’t watch it.
I don’t know what the official genre this movie falls into IMDB says Horror/Sci-Fi. I’m going with Horror in space. The tagline being “In space no one care hear you scream”. True, they can’t. It’s classic horror to me, I had nightmares for quite a while and could not eat Spaghetti because… well, I don’t want to ruin anything if you haven’t watched this already. As frightening as I was of the entirety of this film it is still amazing to me. It has a slow pace compared to current films, but… it sucks you in and scares the hell out of you anyway. It leaves a lot to the imagination and that’s one of the thing I enjoy. My imagination could always conjure up more horrors then could ever be adequately displayed on a screen. Even though it was low budget for the time, and is over 30 years old the film holds up surprisingly well. The acting is good, the story is great and in truth that’s what matters to tell a good story.
Alien is on IMDB’s list of top movies as #51 It didn’t make the American Film Institutes current list of top 100 movies. However, it did Make it into AFI’s list of most thrilling at #6 and the Villain, the Alien, is listed at #14 I’m pretty good with those rankings. Alien also has several sequel/prequels and crossover films all taking place in the same fictional universe. Currently there are 11 Films and plans for more. If you are interested there are also books and video games you can submerge yourself in. One of the games I own is Aliens Vs Predator… It scares me too (laugh).
So that’s it for the letter A. Tonight go on and watch a nice/frightening movie, recommended by me. Have some suggestions starting with the letter “A” you want to make for me? Please, comment and let me know. I love movies and am always looking for good things to watch.
Favorite Quote – Ripley and Ash discussing what to do with the dead Alien face hugger he wants to bring it back.
Ripley – Ash, are you kidding? This thing bled acid. Who knows what it’s gonna do when it’s dead.
Ash – I think it’s safe to assume it isn’t a zombie.
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11 Comments on “Alien – Classic horror or Sci-Fi?”
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Outside Perception 
Classic sci-fi and horror – looking forward to the new one coming out soon. Love the blog.
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I LOVED alien as a kid…but of course remember very little of it.
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What a great theme! Alien is awesome. As an A movie, I also like Avatar.
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Did you know Alien was the first feature film Ridley Scott ever directed? Up till then, he had directed about 150 commercials — that’s where he perfected his straight-line storytelling. Alien was sometimes criticized for its simple plot, but he sure knew what he was doing. His use of steam and obscured vistas, as well as a score that frequently mimicked the heartbeat of terror, helped build the suspense. Definitely a classic.
I’m looking forward to the rest of your challenge!
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I didn’t see this one until years after it came out…my favorite is still the second one, I just love the interplay between Ripley and Hicks, and Hudson was an absolute idiot but had some of the best lines. “I’m tellin’ ya, man, there’s somethin’ movin’, and it ain’t us!” My favorite line in the whole movie. 😛 Loved Newt too…”Affirmative!” Hard to believe that was the only movie little Carrie Henn ever made…she grew up to become a teacher.
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Aliens to me is pretty awesome I was glad when they added back in all the footage to the special edition.
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For some reason, the only Alien movies we own though are Alien vs. Predator and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. No idea why we don’t have the originals…gonna have to remedy that! 😀
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You can get them in a Nice box Set.
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I love the Alien movies! Ha, even the fourth one, which kinda feels like Firefly with fewer morals crash landed into a horror movie. Cowboys and horror in space.
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It’s been so long since I watched the resurrection one… maybe I should
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1979???? I thought it was more recent (well, not THAT recent) than that! I was probably already in high school when I saw the first and I loved it (I was probably also biased, though, because it was a woman who kicked a**). I actually have the entire set now (in VCD form, though). Story-wise, I least like the last one, but the action is always good. I’d classify it as Sci-Fi Thriller.
My A: How to Spell the Ancient Filipino Way
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