10 More Scariest Horror Movie Opening Credits

Generally reviled by fans of the first two films, David Fincher's Alien 3 turned the space horror franchise moody and unforgiving in a way its predecessors had never been. And the bleak disappointments begin, well, at the very beginning, opening with the titular aliens and making all our fears of what could happen to our favourite characters come true before the picture has really even begun.

Unlike the other Alien movies, 3's monsters make themselves known during the opening credits (rather than, say, half an hour to forty-five minutes in, after a lot of build-up and misdirection). The titles feel like a piece o of Ridley Scott's original - bold white text suspended in outer space - but here they are intercut with clips of a stowaway alien egg (and thus facehugger) on the USS Sulaco, picking up where James Cameron's Aliens left off. 

We can't but watch in horror as Hicks (Michael Biehn), Newt (Rebecca Jorden), and Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) all lie in stasis, helpless against attack, impregnation and the crashing of their ship, as Elliot Goldenthal's ethereal yet menacing score ascends, pairing synths with orchestral strings and angelic choral vocals, neatly reflecting the majesties and horrors of space as one.