I’ve seen over 3000 Horror/Thrillers and putting aside personal opinion, the Top 10 are hard to argue. They’re the titles you know must be conquered at some point if you’re even curious about the genre. I decided to acknowledge the Hall of Fame rather than lose all credibility up front by attempting to argue against them or push in a personal favorite. All of these films I like. Four of them would be in my personal Top 10.
How about a Haunted House movie, but in space? In my Hollywood 365 post I wrote about this film’s flawless aesthetic qualities. Now, I get to add to that how damn scary the movie is. That while the film patiently allows yo to take in its beauty, it lowers your anxiety so the jolts have a much greater impact. The script is very routine, but that’s covered by the extremely natural performances. The character interaction favors overlapping dialogue, similar to Robert Altman. They smoke, drink coffee, sweat, argue and pace nervously.
One of the great, lasting qualities of Alien is that it’s the rare horror film whose surprises are as good on repeat viewings. Just because you know what’s coming, it doesn’t make the film any less suspenseful. Every appearance by the Alien is absolutely frightening, and it’s entrance remains one of the all time great WTF moments. Ridley Scott has always been a visual director who excelled at bringing a specific time and place to life. Over time he’s become less of a technical perfectionist and his films aren’t nearly as atmospheric, probably because it’s so difficult and he no longer has to prove himself. Rewatching Alien, I see him getting exactly the right story at the right time in his career.
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