Movie Review : Horror Movie ' Alien '

There is an exploration of new ideas and there is a different side to horror represented in the finished product. The most notable director at this time was Alfred Hitchcock. He had the ability to give his audience quite an experience because of the way he crafted his movies. Hitchcock introduced new elements to this genre and one of the most famous horror films of all time, Psycho, was produced in 1960. This motion picture stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Vera Miles and Martin Balsam.

Lastly, the tale of Frankenstein can be observed in depth to prove a point. Some cultures used the idea of Frankenstein to signify that in the future, we humans would be our own monsters since we create them. Others use the tale as a way of detesting against the living things that don’t adhere to our norms. Anything that goes against our mind’s norms tends to present fear and anxiety in our feelings. This is the sole basis as to what monsters are made from.

Whether fears consume the mind or seldom make an appearance, everyone has some sort of fear or anxiety. These fears often appear in popular culture to catch attention. In Timothy K Beals essay on monsters and how they actually relate to humans it says “Monsters put a face to our otherwise vague sense of impending doom. In this light, the typical Hollywood monster movies serve as a vehicle for public rite of exorcism in which our looming sense of unease is projected in the form of a monster and then blown away.” as said in in paragraph eight of “Our Monsters, Ourselves” by Timothy K Beal. At the end of all horror films the monster is defeated by the protagonist, the hero. When these monsters are destroyed, it makes people feel better, because the fear or anxieties disappeared along with this particular monster. In Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, Dr.Frankenstein creates what is supposed to be a beautiful creature, but

The Alien is a science fiction horror movie. Its setting in space and the presence of technology and artificial intelligence empathizes on its science fiction genre. Moreover, the presence of the Alien and the fact that it is a threat to human lives reflects it is also a horror film. The movie revolves around seven human beings that have the mission to return to earth from the space.

The monster is developed throughout the story by way of meticulous and personified writing, painting a picture to bring the monster off the page and into the reader’s imagination. For example, “Something with a dragging tail, with scales, with great clawed feet, and I knew it had no face. (198).They all believe they see it and feel it around them. “It is breathing it Its frenetic struggle to each me, to rend and tear me, to imbue my soul with terror.” (193).

Finding a single interpretation of the word monsters is very challenging because of the numerous forms, ranging from folk stories to current movies and books.

What is a monster? The word "monster" causes one to imagine a hideous, deformed or nonhuman creature that appears in horror movies and novels and terrifies everyone in its path. More importantly, however, the creature described generally behaves monstrously, doing things which harm society and acting with little consideration for the feelings and safety of others. "Thus, it is the behavior which primarily defines a monster, rather than its physical appearance"(Levine 13).

The first Alien movie is one of my favors whose sound evokes terror and suspense. The scene that used sounds build terror and suspense is very intense was when Captain Dallas was inside the cramped air-duct. The other members were tracking the Alien on a computer and communicating it to Dallas. The computer was making clicking sound to show were it was located and then all the sudden the tracking sound stops and you have stone cold silent. This silence creates an eerie vacuum that sense of something impending is about to bust. Then all the sudden the clicking sound started up again and begins to get louder and louder and is moving towards Dallas. Then silent, and you then see Dallas gets out of air duct, turn and is face to face with the Alien.

“Aliens” was directed by James Cameron. James Cameron is 62 years old and he is a Canadian filmmaker, producer, screenwriter, inventor, engineer, philanthropist and deep sea explore. “Aliens” is a horror, science fiction and blood-thirsty film. This movie was released in 1986. The main character was a woman called Ellen Ripley. She was the only survivor on the spaceship and was saved by a crew from a company called Weyland-Yutani Corporation. She has been asleep and drifting for fifty-seven years. On an interview with all the executives from the company, they wanted to know testimony about the Aliens. However, everything that Ripley told them was all true, but the executives think the things that Ripley told them regarding to Aliens are made up by her. Therefore, the executives still decided to go on an expedition to that spaceship, also they want Ripley to go with them. They went on to spaceship and they found a girl called Newt. They went through a few fierce battles and this story end up with only a few survivors. In this movie there are many examples of gender stereotypes.

In respects to the Film of The Thing of both the 1951 and the 1982 versions of the film. They both share a same Sci-Fi theme in which they both had social fears of society. Depending on which version of the film, they both contrast in their social fears and themes. They also contrast in The alien itself from being a super intelligent carrot to an actual sinister like creature that both can manipulate or perfectly imitate humans. The story develops differently from both of the versions of the film that the effects of it leaves a big gap between the films.

Monsters have proven to be more than just the fiendish appearance or the evil within such creatures – their monstrosity symbolizes, more or less, the characteristics that define mankind and/or our innermost fears. Prior to this Exploration of the Humanities course, I have interpreted monsters for what they are: heartless and destructive creatures that generate fear. However, I never bothered what the true cause of such fear is – only associating the gruesome presence with a psychological reaction of horror. But taking this class allowed me to broaden my perspective on monsters and monstrosity: humans fear the “Other” because we as individuals have an “Other” within us (subconsciously) that we are not willing to show to those in our

“Horror and science fiction tend to present radically opposite interpretations of what may look like comparable situations.” (Kawin, 1981.) Bruce Kawin helps the reader to understand how a story in the genre of science fiction could be adapted, or bastardized if you like, into a horror. This is similar to the film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Both “Frankenstein” (1931) and “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) portrayed characters and events differently than Shelley would have desired. Her novel had many deeper implications than the movie portrayed.

Monster and horror movies can be a perfect mode for representing repressed fears and can be seen throughout the history of the genre. Haitian zombies can be seen as a representation of the fear of being stuck as mindless workers forever, werewolves can be understood as representation of our repressed fear of being our most primal selves, Frankenstein as a fear of the power of modern science, and so on throughout history. While this film creates a sense of uncanniness through the replacing of our loved ones with mindless automatons it can also be seen as a repressed cultural fear of being a mindless, emotionless, cookie cutter member of suburbia that was present in the 1950s when this book and film were

Jacques Tourneur’s phenomenon, the psychological horror Cat People (1942), explores the dark side of the human psyche where irrational fears become reality. This sub-genre of horror does not rely on gore or real monsters to evoke fear but rather is more personal as it draws the audience into the psychological anxieties of the characters. The film is constructed almost entirely out of fear whilst the incorporation of elements from the thriller genre adds suspense. Science fiction films such as Jack Arnold’s It Came from Outer Space (1953), focuses on the advancement of technology and the fear of the unknown. Unlike the personal and psychological aspects of horror, this film is much more public as it uses the unknown as a metaphor for the invisible threat of Communism .

At the most basis level, horror movies are about the age-old fight between good and evil. At a deeper level, however, the beast within us is the evil that we have to conquer. This is exemplified in such movies of spiritual possession as The Exorcist and The Omen. A variation of the possession myth is the myth of transfiguration or metamorphosis. Dracula transfigure his victim with a bite; the full moon transforms a mere mortal into a lethal lycanthrope; a potion facilitates Dr Jekyll's metamorphosis into the evil Mr Hyde. These "monsters" are a symbol of the duality of human and reflect man's constant struggle within himself.