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Film · Horror vs. war · Take No. 008

Alien or Aliens?

A haunted house in space, then the same monster multiplied into a war film. Ridley Scott's dread versus James Cameron's firepower. Two masterpieces, one creature.

The case for each side, then the verdict. Then the floor is yours.
The case for

Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott · the Nostromo · one creature

  • 1Xenomorph. One is enough. You barely see it, which is the whole trick.
  • 7Crew members, workers not soldiers, which is why it feels like it could be you.
  • 1Scene, the chestburster, that audiences in 1979 genuinely weren't ready for. Still the gold standard of the shock.
vs
The case for

Aliens (1986)

James Cameron · LV-426 · the Colonial Marines

  • 7Oscar nominations, including a Best Actress nod for Weaver, rare for an action film.
  • 2Mothers at war: Ripley and the Queen. The climax is the most primal in the series.
  • ∞Quotable Marines. 'Game over, man.' 'Get away from her.' It's the most-quoted film of the two by a mile.

Cast your take

——
The verdict

It's Alien. Aliens is the better ride; Alien is the better film.

Aliens is a near-perfect action film, and Cameron's trick of changing genre rather than repeating the first is the smartest sequel move ever made. On a Friday night, it wins.

But Alien is the one that still gets under your skin at forty-plus years old. The design, the patience, the sense that the crew are expendable cargo: it has aged into a stranger, more beautiful thing than its sequel. Alien, narrowly, and we'll argue it after a double bill.

Disagree? That's what the buttons are for.

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