10 Out Of This World Sci-Fi Horror Movie Deaths

The original and still the greatest to ever do it, Gladiator helmer Ridley Scott's "haunted house in space" 1979 hit Alien may have soared thanks to an ingenious tagline ("In space, no one can hear you scream"), an early starring role for the iconic Sigourney Weaver, and the services of mad designer extraordinaire HR Giger. But all this would have been for nought if it weren't for the director, alongside the film's scribe Return of the Living Dead creator Dan O'Bannon, deciding to off the biggest star in the film first.

1984 star/ ubiquitous cinema presence John Hurt was at the time the best known star in the film's cast, and as such audiences expected him to survive the sickly spell which strikes him down after the initial encounter with this flick's eponymous monster. What no one expected, including the cast, was the film's infamous chest burster sequence to kill him off as the embryonic eponymous monster tears through his ribcage in the middle of dinner.

The bloody shock was pulled off by Scott reassuring the actors that it wouldn't be too bloody, filming a far more demure dry run take, then waiting until they leaned in for the next take to shower them in gore.

This cheap trick resulted in one of the most iconic onscreen offings in the history of sci-fi horror, cementing the xenomorph's status as a legendary screen monster even when it only had a body count of one.