10 Classic Special Effects That Put Modern Hollywood To Shame

By Todd Martin / June 2, 2013

5. Alien

This movie has terrified many, many people and it isn€™t hard to see why, considering some of the creatures that appear in it. Designed by visionary artist H.R. Giger, the alien itself is very creepy-looking (it€™s hard to believe that for most of its scenes it is just a very tall guy in a latex suit) and not something I would want to meet alone in a dark alley one night. As with Star Wars the scenes that show spacecraft traveling through space are magnificent and as a child I thought that they really were in outer space. The little facehugger alien is as effective as it is nasty-looking and the scene where it is introduced to the audience (and to poor Kane) never ceases to make me jump when I see it (and I am a hardcore horror guy). The money shot so to speak, though is the whole €œdinner scene€ that involves a little creature known as a chestburster. I won€™t spoil it for you if you haven€™t seen it but let€™s just say that the effects created for this scene are beyond amazing and just wouldn€™t be nearly as effective if they were done with CGI.