1. Aliens
Ridley Scott left a whole host of male cinema-goers horrified due to John Hurt and his infamous chest-burster scene. There was something about the whole "man gives birth" thing that was highly unsettling to watch. The film itself was highly atmospheric, as it pitted simple astronauts with hardly any form of weapons against an extraterrestrial that was out for blood. It also introduced us to Sigourney Weaver as the unlikely heroine Ripley. This was back in the day when most action heroes were predominantly male, so naturally, she started the trend for girl power - yes, even before the Spice Girls. James Cameron picked up the reigns for the sequel by both writing and directing it. Sigourney herself was hesitant to reprise the role of Ripley as she was afraid that a below-average sequel could hurt the legacy of the original, but after seeing how carefully James had written the character, she immediately signed up. Whereas the original was an outright horror, Aliens turned out to be a sci-fi action which actually worked, even though it shouldn't have. We have an army of highly trained Marines this time around who don't realise how serious the Alien threat is. Ripley also joins them to LV-426, acting as an adviser after she was court marshalled for destroying her ship in the original film. On LV-426 though, the only survivor is a little girl called Newt who Ripley instantly wishes to protect, after learning that her own daughter had died while she was in cryogenic sleep between films. Naturally too, the majority of the Marines are wiped out and after Newt is captured, Ripley tools up to get her back, encountering the Queen Alien. This cemented Ripley as one of the first action heroines, along with an excellent performance by Jenette Goldstein as the hard as nails Marine Vasquez.