The latest Alien film hit the cinemas recently, and while Alien: Covenant is not a bad film, and definitely better than Prometheus, inevitably it draws comparisons to Ridley Scott’s original masterpiece. Whether that is right or wrong is open to debate, but here we take a look at what we think are a few of some of the must-see sci-fi horror films of the last 30-40 years, beginning of course with, yes you guessed it… Alien.
**Spoiler alters***
Odd to think now that Alien is almost 40 years old. Yet despite that the effects are still pretty good and the film itself remains popular. Indeed that scene where the alien bursts through the chest of Kane – played by John Hurt – is arguably one of the most shocking in any horror film, and the fact it has spawned three sequels, as well as two prequels in Prometheus and now Alien: Covenant says it all (we will ignore the dire Alien versus Predator films, the less said about them the better!).
Then there is Sigourney Weaver’s starring performance as Ripley, the slow build-up to that scene already mentioned, and the discovery that Ash (Ian Holm) is in fact an android. It’s a classic and the tagline: “In space no one can hear you scream”, is one that today is just synonymous with horror.
Another film released a few years after Alien that has similarly built-up a cult following is John Carpenter’s The Thing.
It is also one of those movies that can be watched and enjoyed again and again and again and while on its release it was overshadowed – it came out at around the same time in 1982 as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Blade Runner – it is rightly appreciated now and deservedly so. It has also been rated by some as one of the scariest horror films ever.
Fast forward a few years and in the mid-1990s we had Event Horizon, another sci-fi horror set in space, starring Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne. Event Horizon is actually pretty disturbing and was initially so gory and so shocking that some 35 minutes were cut after unfavorable test screenings.
There has been speculation in recent years – off the back of good DVD sales – that some of that footage might be restored as part of a ‘Director’s Cut’. Sadly, though, it seems the footage has been lost.
There are others that deserve a watch too, Pitch Black, starring Vin Diesel as Riddick, for one (released in 2000) and if you into zombie films, 28 Days Later (2002) and I am Legend (2007), those latter two focusing on the idea of humanity being wiped out by a zombie apocalypse – the chances of it happening, you will be pleased to know, is only 1 in 1000, although a pandemic, more soberingly, is a lot higher, 1 in 2 allegedly. Whether that increases or decreases the sense of horror when you watch either we will let you decide, but both deserve to be seen and are in a similar vein to the 2004 re-make of Dawn of the Dead – with the zombies no longer slow and menacing (as per George A. Romero’s originals or those in hit TV show The Walking Dead), but rather super quick and extremely agile. Dawn of the Dead (2004) deserves to be seen too by the way.
Happy viewing!
