Such a great movie.
Here is the short version of my position: there is more horror here than I was giving it credit for, but Cameron was still more interested in making it an action movie and shot it that way. Or he actually tried to make a horror movie and couldn't help himself with the action movie.
The longer version:
- A better point to my previous one about an action movie having a higher bar for me: the level of weaponry and training the characters have drastically change the dynamic of the scenes. that's why I can't get behind Scores' point above that the marines might as well as be camp counselors. To me it steers out of horror territory when you are able to kill most things and take out a few aliens in the battle. To use a similar method replace the aliens with an overpowering force in an action or war movie - does it feel that much different the way it's shot?
- while I will admit to soon why there is more horror here than I thought, one thing that also stood out tonight while watching was how Cameron shoots the scenes you referred to and how he bookends the scenes and what he ends with. They often still have an action movie feel to me. The dream sequence he focuses on people running down the hallway a lot and we cut away before the gore on the chest burst vs. in Alien where we are in a confined spot and focused on the gore and faces. The scene where Ripley describes the aliens to the crew could be a campfire horror story in a Friday the 13th movie ..... until he ends with a joke and puff of the chests. In the scene where they first encounter the aliens, he chooses to leave us with Ripley kicking *** and coming to the rescue - and back to the point above, that part of the scene is shot like an action movie.
- I had the same thought as scores above but it fed into the point above - Cameron chooses to end the movie as an action movie.
I gave it a fair eye, and here is some stuff that really stood out as effective horror movie stuff. I did come around a bit on to what people are talking about with the in the movie:
- The face hugger in the jar jump scare was great
- shortly after that the lead up to Newt and the jump scare there. Very horror movie.
- The scene with the face hugger in the room with them is still well done. That was one I had in mind when I asked the question to scores
- before I think it ends action, the intro to the aliens is so well done and very horror movie. What impressed me that I hadn't noticed before is the tone shift leading up to it - we start with a scared Newt and Ripley, not the marines strutting around like the previous similar scene. Then my previous beef is addressed a bit when they are told they can't use live rounds, smart choice there to ramp up the tension, then I forget just how freaking gross and terrifying it is in there and how horrific it gets. Straight out of a horror movie. I argue it lasts until Vasquez starts kicking *** and actually kills a few.
Final assessment: more horror (and quite well done) than I gave it credit for, but Cameron couldn't help but make an action movie as a final product.
Random odd thought on a 100+th rewatch: Wtf is with all the smoking? Ripley right by a severely injured marine had me laughing a bit tonight.
Yeah, I dont think we really disagree much on this then. I've always said it has more of an action tone than horror, but that it had enough horror to more than fit in to this list.
In regard to your first bullet, yes as soon as they start shooting, it becomes action, but the buildup to that, when they are slowly advancing using the motion detectors (this happens in a few scenes), that to me is as much horror as it is action. The suspense and tension leading up to a potential jump scare or reveal of the aliens is through the roof.
The actual shooting and taking out of a few Aliens doesn't even last that long in comparison.
My final assessment is that Aliens was a huge miss on my list that I will be correcting. Expect it to go way up in the final rankings unless someone lowers it on theirs to match.