Aliens: the Thirtieth Anniversary
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on April 1, 2016, 8:09 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of Aliens, the second film of the long-running Alien franchise. That film is arguably the best-known film of the series, since it is the most influential and most-often-referenced in popular culture, with one of the best examples being Starcraft. The most obvious aspect of that influence is that the zerg are quite clearly inspired by the xenomorphs (although one could argue that both of those species, as well as the titular creatures from the Metroid franchise, were inspired by the "bugs" from Starship Troopers), but that game also contains numerous quotes from the film, with one of the most memorable being "How do I get out of this chickenshit outfit?"
The first Alien film was the first R-rated film that I ever saw, as well as the first truly terrifying movie that I ever saw (which also makes it my favorite horror film to this very day), so this film, logically, was the second R-rated film that I ever saw, and I saw both films for the first time when I was very young. I recall being so frightened by those two films that I was afraid to turn out the lights and go to sleep, but I eventually calmed down and overcame that fear. Of course, feeling such fear is evidence of what great horror movies they were, and, as I have grown older, it has been very difficult to recapture that feeling of pure terror that I experienced when I watched them, although I shall say that the 1982 version of The Thing, which I watched for the first time several years ago, was the first horror film in many years that genuinely frightened me and made me afraid to turn out the lights and fall asleep.
What does everyone else say about this subject? What memories do you have of this film? How old were you when you first saw it, and did it genuinely frighten you when you first saw it? Will you do anything to commemorate its thirtieth anniversary? I look forward to your responses.
It happened in both movies. In fact, I think Spaceballs got the same actor to do it again, which is why he says "not again!" when it pops out.
I love Alien. It's not my favorite horror movie, but it's up there. The movie sequels are kind of lost causes at this point, but they kept the franchise alive long enough for Alien Isolation to be an actually good horror game.
But The Thing is just too good a cerebral horror movie. I've watched it like 15 times and realized something new each time. It also makes for a fabulous TTRPG setting in ways Alien doesn't.
April 1, 2016 9:23 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #5
Might wanna change 13th to 30th.
Aliens came out 1986.
Edit: OK, apparently I can't read... Too much Triskaidekaphobia on the brain I guess.
The_Redpill says... #2
My favorite part was when the Myr popped out of the guy's chest
April 1, 2016 8:20 p.m.