Some genuinely creepy, suspenseful moments in this movie. Ripley and Newt trapped in a room with a face hugger. Early in the movie when the marines are exploring the colony and have no idea what they are in for, but we viewers do.
shareI always think of this as more of an action movie compared to the horror of the first one, but there are definitely some horror-worthy moments (it's my favourite of the franchise).
shareFew?
What else is there with action and horror like this?
I propose that The Terminator can be considered action horror.
shareVery slightly.
In Aliens the horror is there, as in: I was looking over my shoulder the night I watched it, passing through some dark alley.
Like taking a shower after watching Psycho.
The Terminator is just gritty action rather than horror.
The terminator itself is not scary, nor is the situation described.
The only real horror is the future shock, but nothing much there to take home.
Seriously, I cannot think of a movie that mixes action and horror as succesfully as Alien/s.
I'm not saying it mixes action and horror as successfully, just that it's in the conversation.
I watch The Terminator when I was alone at night as an 11 year old boy. Then went to bed alone in an empty house while everyone was out. It was horror to me. I was scared stiff.
Is this your thread?
https://moviechat.org/tt0088247/The-Terminator/623368044c6b5a232e532ac6/Wouldnt-this-make-it-even-more-horror
Also, for reference.
https://moviechat.org/tt0088247/The-Terminator/602b47c1939e8e50ac2548df/HorrorSci-Fi
When I was a kid in elementary school, half of Aliens terrified me to the extent I almost couldn't breathe (I said "half" because the movie started to become horror after they landed on the planet).
But I still remember the ending of The Terminator did the same thing for me: When the Terminator rose from the fire and chased them to the factory. The cat and mouse in the factory is very terrifying for me.
Ok, I guess the shots with the jarring skeleton stalking them are scary.
Old gritty sfx were often superior to cgi, which still looks too polished and gummy.
Predator 1 was very terrifying for me as a kid, I remember after all the crew got killed only Arnold survived, the movie stopped being an action and became a horror: The scene where the predator chased Arnold to a lake... and in the final battle, the predator clawed down a tree near Arnold...
Come to think of it, Predator is the opposite of Aliens, Aliens started as a horror and slowly became an action, and Predator started as an action and slowly became horror.
Agreed.
shareAs much as I love this movie, upon seeing this thread I thought to myself, "Slef, surely you have seen a horror/action movie that succeeded in delivering both genres as well or maybe better." So I started looking. Gave up after 150 titles or so. This really is the pinnacle, imo.
shareAliens is an action/sci-fi film (Cameron's forte), the horror elements are too sparse to be seen as an action/horror imo.
shareI'm curious what movies you would consider to combine the action and horror genres, if you don't think this one delivers enough when it comes to horror to even belong in the subgenre.
That's a good question. I was going to say Predator 1 & 2, but I regard them like Aliens i.e. action/sci-fi films with some strong horror elements in certain scenes but not enough throughout the whole film.
Stallone's Cobra starts off as a slasher/horror film then descends into action, same with Eye See You aka D-Tox. Rutger Hauer's Split Second comes close.
I don't think i've seen a film that combined horror and action equally into one movie. It either goes one way or the other imo. The original Alien is a sci-fi/horror, but it's quite exciting once they start trying to kill the beast.