[why me why now]

Originally Posted by Ash's_evil_hand

You know, that's a very good point. I'm a big advocate of the 'what you don't see is more scary than what you do' train of thought, and Alien did that right the way through.

I think what saved that scene for me, though, was already knowing how invincible the creature was - 'You can't kill it, it's perfect' is what we are told.

It took me a long time to respect 'Aliens' when that came out, simply on that premise - I always considered the Aliens to be more or less invulnerable, and yet there are hundreds of them getting blown apart without much of a problem. Once I saw it as an action film, though, (and once I saw the special edition) I fully accepted it for what it was, and I love both films now.

Alien is still far scarier, though.

agreed - less is most definitely more. i felt that about 2001 - where the sheer threat of Hal came through just through that one immobile red light....Sunshine has shades of that now i think about it