10 Things You Learn Rewatching Alien
7. It Proves How Brilliant Jump Scares Can Be
One of the most common complaints about horror movies is their over-reliance on jump scares, and it's pretty much a go-to criticism these days of any "lazy" studio horror film.
But Alien proves to be one of the rare horrors that actually makes effective use of a few neatly-placed jump scares.
The obvious stand-out is Kane's (John Hurt) iconic chest-bursting sequence, but there are a number of other loud jumps throughout the movie, often involving the ship's cat Jonesy, and they do a wonderful job of sustaining audience unease throughout.
It helps that the film is otherwise so immersed in silence, and every single jump is constructed from a perspective of artistry rather than for a cheap scare.
Jump scares might seem like a dirty trick these days, but when deployed sparingly in the hands of the right filmmaker, they can work wonders.