I totally agree. I can still vividly remember seeing Alien and being literally on the edge of my seat, terrified as it transformed me into the movie as much as if I was right there in the Nostromo. The others, well the suspense was gone, and gore without suspense is just a carnival act.
Scott knows the effectiveness of NOT showing everything, of leaving much to the viewer’s imagination to let them extrapolate from the hints and pieces he’s shown. Cameron and (whomever the other directors were), went progressively more toward just standard “ooo… look at the scary monster” technique. Alien was a work of art. AVP could have easily shown on Count Floyd’s Monster Chiller Horror Theatre, alongside Dr. Tongue’s 3D House of Stewardesses.

There is no doubt that Alien (the 1st one) was the most original and scariest of the Alien series. Unlike most of the CGI-computer generated monster-fests of today- this one had great story. It used the time-tested dramatic techniques of building tension and scared the heck out of us with some new visual effects- ie. the chest-bursting scene is one of the most horrifying, original moments in movie history. Today’s computer-generated monsters, just aren’t that scary. The techniques used by Scott and his visual effects team to realize this monster- are perhaps the best ever done in the genre. Today’s Alien vs. Predator movies, while having some merit- just fall flat on story and in visual surprises- there is not that frightening visceral quality of the first and best “Alien” movie.
Peter von Puttkamer- Documentary Film Director- Producer “Monster Hunters” and “Sasquatch Odyssey”

Alien and Predator,the first two films,were by far and away the best of the bunch both being absolute iconic classics within their genre. The rest ranged from being ok to absolute garbage purely made to create $$$$.This is the case with almost every series of films made where the first is a classic and the rest very very seldom get anywhere near with a few notable exceptions being Star Wars and the Godfather trilogies.Can’t think of many miore though.

Being a fan of both the Alien and Predator series, I was very happy that they finally made an “Alien vs. Predator.” It was something I think most fans of either series wanted to see. The first A vs. P was a cool concept; set underground in Alaska, Incan-type pyramid with moving walls, etc. It was great to see it. The second A vs. P was just a gore-fest, but that was OK too as I’m a fan of blood n’guts as well! I’d go see a third A vs. P simply because it’s another Alien vs. Predator. If you’re a fan, you’re a fan.

The first Alien movie was great, but it was more of a horror movie in space than traditional sci-fi. Aliens was when it went to sci-fi and since then it’s been moving further and further from it’s horror origins.

The AVP movies are good movies, but they aren’t Alien movies. They are just run of the mill sci-fi, just like Predator was.

For the next Alien movie I’d love to see it make it’s way back to the horror genre. Alien’s hunting down and killing people who can’t defend against it. The “scare” of the Alien is that it is so much more powerful than a human, like some evil force of nature that’s only role is to destroy. Since Aliens use the DNA of the host to create the final creature, we could be seeing Aliens based on fish, birds or large mammals. An Elephant sized Alien would be terrifying.

I liked all four of the Alien movies and both of the Predator movies. Granted the first two Alien movies were the best in the series, but the other two were good enough for me. The AVP movies, of course, were a crushing let-down. Scott himself should’ve been at the helm for those.

Being a fan of the entire series of Alien movies, I have to say that Alien was by far the scariest. Using the Hitchcock way of not showing everything can sometimes be the scariest thing of all. However, for pure action, Aliens was fantastic and a good concept in its own right! Everything after that just doesn’t quite capture what the first two had. As for Predator, the first is clearly the best and the scariest!

Something worth noting as Chris mentions, is that the first Alien was a genuine edge-of-the-seat cover-your-eyes and ears damn scary flick. While the second, Aliens, to me seemed more of an action / guns-a-blazing with explosions flick. The few predator movies were also action movies.

Scott complains that all the other movies weren’t scary, however, they weren’t meant to be.

“In space no one can hear you scream”

The first alien movie has so many inherent qualities. It is the scariest movie of all time and probably one of the best in the sci-fi genre up there with Blade Runner (also Ridley Scott).

Bringing a fine artist (Giger) to the table was a struck of genious, that created a monster so frightening, that no equal has surfaced since. True! In the 30 years since Alien – not a single movie has produced a monster as scary, dark and disturbing. Together with production design and a number of other artists, this movie is forever something unique.

The AVP movies don’t even count. They are what Resident Evil is too the Zombie genre. Fake horror popsicles for teens.

I would have to agree that the first movie was the scariest of the lot. However I always thought the sequels all represented different genres. While the first was more of a horror sci-fi thriller movie, the second was a sci-fi action movie. I’m not quite sure what Fincher and Jeunet were trying to do with theirs. But for me the first two movies stand head and shoulders above the rest. I actually prefer Aliens to Alien.

“Alien” has the merit of having created the alien, the universe and a novel approach to SF and horror. “Aliens” was so adrenalinic (and scary) that left me physically exausted. Every time I see one of the first two movies I “decide” that it is the best – only to reverse my decision when I see again the other.

Things started to crumble with Alien 3, and everything went downhill from there. However, I always found the AvP concept a cool one (and the plot in the videogames is *by far* more cooler than what we have seen in the movies). It is a pity that Hollywood went for the “easy way” and churned out two mediocre “monster of the week” flicks (even if the first one, by Paul Anderson, at least showed some respect for the originals).

Also, “The Predator” should represent the opposite spectre of the Alien, a sort of “junghian shadow” of Giger’s creature – and so it should be and remainn equally scary to humans. A big mistake, IMHO, was to create a sort of “bond” between humans and predators, thus breaking an important point in the narrative balance.

I think “Aliens” was better, but I have to agree: they should’ve mixed it up and tried to make the sequels more interesting. At this point, both franchises should be put to bed and Scott, Cameron, and McTiernan should devise original alien movies.

Alien is still for me the best and scariest movie I have ever seen, on par with The Exorcist, although I must admit I was 12 at the time, and I had to sneak into a theater in order to see the movie. I screamed my head off, and it actually left some scars as I had a lingering fear of the dark for years after seeing that movie. Same thing happened after I saw Jaws, was scared for years of going swimming in the ocean. Anyway, going back to the Alien saga, Aliens is probably the next best in the series, and the rest in my opinion have simply lost the plot. Alien was never about gun fights, it was about survival, about fighting and outwitting something incredibly aggressive, smart, cunning and bloodthirsty, and a good point for Alien III, which at least tried to make it dark, scary and not a full on gun fight, but by then the plot had been already lost. It was never about marines or space pirates or prisoners, it was about man against a beast, a living nightmare of a beast. Regarding Predator, it is probably the second best alien concept ever created, ET doesn’t quite cut it, the second Predator movie was a shame though, and matching both alien creatures together truly had promise, it was and still is a good idea. But the plots, the concepts, the settings, even the casting and the story lines, simply haven’t been up to what these two creatures need and deserve. Shame on the producers and owners of the franchises, they have managed to truthfully destroy two characters, that could give fright and joy to many future generations, and that could have lingered in popular culture simply forever. Two of the biggest science fiction icons have been destroyed. I hope someone with some sense takes these two creatures and puts them back where they deserve to be, in our most obscure nightmares, and not on a happy meal box.

au contraire – the first THREE alien films were excellent in my book – the first being the best, but the second I found to be surprisingly different and original in it’s own right, all that space marines stuff. The third was a beautifully shot film with many interesting bits, and I know it’s not a popular opinion to like it but I did — the fourth was completely useless,laughably dumb. You can always tell when a director is a true fan of horror and science fiction and just some guy trying hard to understand it. I never saw AVP but I got wind of who was directing them and stayed clear of it. The first predator was also very good, the second was at least livable…

Alien is a groundbreaking, masterfully done horror flick. One for the ages. James Cameron was wise enough to know that he couldn’t top Alien as a horror flick, so he made an action-adventure movie with Aliens and did an excellent job. Top notch.

The subsequent movies have been shallow cash-ins. ‘Nuff said.

I was 11 years old when I saw Alien in 1979. I totally enjoyed it, even though I had to endure quite a few nightmares after I saw it. It was easily one of the most memorable movies that I had ever seen in my childhood. So when the first trailers for Aliens came out in 1986, I was extremely excited to see the follow-up! I was counting the days till the movie finally came out, and when it finally did, it did not disappoint. I absolutely loved it! Once the action got going, it was non-stop until the end! What I liked about it most is that it was completely faithful to the original plot, and did not depart from it in any way, but developed and built on it instead. To be quite honest, while I loved the original movie, I actually enjoyed the sequel even more! While the humans hardly even put up a fight in the first movie, this time they were much better prepared. It was truly amazing to see all the latest technology and modern military hardware and gadgetry being brought to bear against the aliens – and by some real hard core military bad*sses at that! That made it much more exciting than the first. I must have seen it at least five times already!

As soon as Alien 3 came out, I was immediately skeptical. I really doubted that they could do much more with what was already a perfect climax in part 2. Sure enough, it didn’t even come close to either of the two previous installments. I found myself dozing off through most of it. That says it all. After the dismal failure that part 3 was, I didn’t expect part 4 to be any better so I didn’t even bother seeing it. From what I gather from the article and the related posts above, I don’t think I missed very much.

I’d echo Ridley Scott’s comments – what made Alien so terrifying was the unknown qualities of the alien. The facehugger was bad enough, then no one expected the chestburster and it just kept getting worse from there.

By not changing the alien significantly in any of the subsequent movies, it reduced the series to the equivalent of the Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street series – you know what the bad guy can do, so you end up laughing at the ignorance or stupidity of the victims.

Another issue with the other films – you did not really develop any empathy towards the characters. Dallas, Lambert, Parker and even Ash invoked as strong sentiments as did Ripley. In subsequent movies, a character here or there might have stood out but the rest were one-dimensional.

Alien (Alien 1) = 10 first time/8 replay value
Aliens (Alien 2) = 9 first time/9 replay value
Alien 3 = 7 first time/6 replay value
Alien 4 = Good start, horrible, horrible ending = 3 first time/ 1 replay value

A v P = could have been a great concept, but far too studio

Like Sean Connery is the only “real” cinematic James Bond, the original Alien is the only “real” Alien. The others are like cheap subplots. I still cringe at the memory of the first time the Alien comes out of someone’s gut… And the whole gloomy, depressing atmosphere of the ship….Ridley Scott is a real master…after him others just cashed in on a good thing.

“Alien” was a brilliant horror movie (even if I couldn’t hear a word anybody said at the beginning, because of the engine noise).
The breakfast scene will live in ickiness forever, but will never again have the power it had when it was shocking and new (unless the film is forgotten and then stumbled upon by unsuspecting future generations, which would be a cool reflection of the plot :-)).

“Alien vs. Predator” on the other hand was doomed to failure because it was a bad idea. The whole concept of an Alien/Predator face-off is just childish. The fact that fanboys nag you to do something does *not* mean you should do it (well, other than as a nonviolent way to take their lunch money off them).

I have been fan of both Ridley Scott and the Alien. I agree with most of you guys that Alien and Aliens were the best. The worst (and best) of mankind in 1 spaceship. I preferred Aliens actually as a Sci Fi movie. The other sequels were disappointments. I believe there is still life for another Alien movie and I do agree that the alien would have to evolve.

I loved Alien! Everything from the gadgetry to the story line was interesting and engaging.
Aliens…. a bit too much rock and roll (but it was I guess keeping in with the then-trend of guns and gore), but for me the best was between Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. In both cases, the cast was great and the direction and story line was entertaining and re-watchable (my gauge of how great a movie is is whether it can be watched time and again, not just a “once is enough”).
The most terrifying one for me has got to be…. grief .. a toss up.. I love bits of all the Alien movies, for eg. the air vent and escape parts for Alien, the motion detector sequence for Aliens, the trapping sequence for Alien 3. Alien Ressurrection wasn’t very terrifying.. *grin* but it still was entertaining (esp the technology)
Alien vs Predator I thought was super entertaining. It may not have done well in the ratings, but I personally thought the cast was good and the story line was fun. AVP2 was unfortunately disappointing, the story line was too weak. They should have let it end at AVP.
I have the complete Aliens collection, including AVP1.
I rewatch all of them every once in a while when time permits. It is definitely an extremely super rare achievement for sequels to do well and in some degree better than the original. So I really don’t think Mr Scott should be disappointed at all. At this point I cannot think of another movie that has achieved an equal status. So hey! GREAT JOB!

I recently saw all the 4 Alien movies again, and was struck by how new and fresh the first movie, “Alien”, still looks. It is truly a masterpiece that will stand the test of time.

It’s also perhaps the second scariest movie I have ever seen. The number one scariest isn’t even a movie, but surprisingly a TV episode of X-files (do not know the name of the episode, but was a creature that was “lurching in the dark” and turned people into zombies) that is really, really creeepy!

I think AVP 3 should jump into the future and have a human / predator first contact. Go from there, make it a real memorable thriller/sci-fi. After that just end the AVP series. I loved all the Aliens and AVP but I’m a sci-fi junkie not a critic. I’ve watched Riddick at least 30 plus times but the movie didn’t do that well at the box office. I’m just hard core into the sci-fi rambo type movies so I’m not as critical as the cultural elite critics who write for the big magazines and papers.

Please don’t make a “Blade Runner II”…

I also liked Alien 3, so I have to agree with the one poster above who said it was beautifully shot. It has a great look and feel to it, and there are a FEW great moments: the heartbreaking scene with Newt’s autopsy, the doctor’s unexpected death, the warden being snatched up into the cieling in front of everybody and an inmate’s one word reaction to it, having no weapons to defend themselves, trying to herd the alien in corridors where doors don’t work half the time. I will agree that it was disappointing overall, but it has its merits. The original was the best, and Aliens was excellent- part of the fact that it is so good is that it went in a different direction than the first while still keeping some of the same “monster in the dark” scares. When a team of heavily armed marines can’t defend against an oncoming horde of monsters, it’s time to be scared. Anybody who isn’t genuinely creeped out by the suspenseful pinging of the aliens approaching on radar is missing something.

[...] ‘Alien vs. Predator’ was ‘a pity,’ says Ridley Scott [...]

Wow Peter I totally remember that episode, and yeah it was definitely the scariest thing I’ve ever seen! That hissing/rattling noise messed me up for life!

That’s not “ensaio sobra a cegueira”, but “ensaio sobre a cegueira” two completely different words in portuguese.

There is no better SF horror than “Alien”. I have the Alien quadrilogy at home, and I think what each sequel has brought to the series is something new, but it also inevitably took something from the original concept which was brilliant. As for AVP 1 & 2, it’s mostly designed to ensure cheap thrills, and it suceeds in that, and nothing more. Though I’ve never liked Predator anyway.

Alien is a very good movie.
Aliens however is better and Alien: Ressurection is almost as good as Aliens.
AVP is nice but haven’t seen AVP2 yet. Maybe never will…

Alien and Aliens were both excellent movies IMO. But Alien 3 lost me. It was just too surreal. Alien 4 was a bit better than 3 but not up to par.

The first AvP movie was decent enough, but I could not understand that gratuitous killing of humans by the Predators, especially at the camp. That was a bit ridiculous– even better would have been to have the Predators ignore the terrified humans.

But Requiem was absolutely horrible. I can forgive the pointless killing of AvP 1 based on the senseless slaughter in the second. No real story at all, just the usual slasher film mentality.

alien is a tremendous movie – it is a brilliant suspense, with the perfect amount of horror tossed in. aliens, on the other hand, has never really been anything more to me than an above average action movie.