Here’s an interesting article from the Washington Post, comparing the aliens in the just-released “Arrival” with some of the other aliens we’ve seen on the big screen.
[The aliens in “Arrival” are] serene yet daunting and huge yet indistinct. They’re heptapods, meaning they have seven legs, and they look like a cross between a giant hand and a squid; their “fingers” resemble starfish that emit an inky, smoky substance, which is how they express their entirely visual language.
But how do these captivating beasts stack up to other interstellar invaders? Here’s a look at movies over the past 40 years that imaginatively portrayed aliens…
Movies that get a mention include Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, ET, Predator, Mars Attacks, Independence Day, Contact, District 9, Europa Report, and Edge of Tomorrow.
I’ve seen a good many of those, actually. Of the lot of them . . . let me see . . . I might actually have enjoyed “Mars Attacks” the most. It was really funny! I guess I enjoy good parodies.
Of course, make it “Aliens” instead of “Alien” and I’m right there. One of my all-time favorite movies. I’ve done my best to forget everything about the sequel.
You know what I’d like to see if I could order up a movie with aliens? The Chanur books presented as a series of movies. Wouldn’t that be great?
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Both Alien and Aliens were some of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. Just very, very well done. I note that Bing lists them as “Horror” not “SF.” Quite right, and Rotten Tomatoes at 97 and 98% respectively. Also quite right. For some reason IMDB has them at 8.5. Can’t imagine rating them below 9. Alien came out of nowhere. The other great horror blockbuster of the 70s doesn’t come close in scariness: Jaws.
I think Alien is definitely horror, but for me Aliens works as an SF adventure movie, which is why I like it so much better. Alien was extremely well done, but there’s a definite limit to how much horror I can stand to watch!
And yes, Jaws can’t compete. How to stay safe from those aliens when you’re in the station: you can’t. You’re just totally screwed. Have fun with that! How to stay safe from a shark: don’t go swimming. The two scenarios are not even vaguely comparable.