10 Movie Sequels That Completely Changed Tone
2. Aliens
Speaking of James Cameron making a sequel to a horror movie as an action flick, here's the one that started that trend. Ridley Scott's Alien was such a perfect horror masterpiece that there was no point in even attempting to replicate it.
That leaves you with one option: Do something entirely removed from that. Aliens took the original and injected it with steroids, creating a war movie between man and alien. Instead of one Xenomorph, there's hundreds, rather than no guns, let's have an armoury. No punches are pulled in this 1986 classic.
Much like Sarah Connor, Ripley evolves as a character into a strong-willed action heroine who refuses to give up. The crack team of marines around her provide memorable characters that are still quoted today.
You've got Vasquez's rebuttal to, "Have you ever been mistaken for a man?" with, "No, have you?", and Bill Paxton profoundly stating "Game over, man" Game over!" (a quote I still like to use whenever anything ever goes wrong for me).
The 80s was the golden age for action and Aliens sits right at the top with Die Hard. Also, the M56 Smartgun is one of the coolest weapons ever.