10 Sci-Fi Movies Audiences Walked Out Of

Test audiences didn’t so much walk as run from early screenings of this sci-fi horror classic. The film would go on to spawn multiple sequels, as well as novels, comic books and video games. It won multiple awards, including an Oscar for its special effects, and rides high on “greatest horror/sci-fi movie” lists to this day. It also launched Sigourney Weaver to stardom and remains one of director Ridley Scott’s key works.

Of course, viewers at those early previews wouldn’t have known any of that. Even if they had, it’s doubtful the knowledge would have kept them glued to their seats. After all, they weren’t fleeing the theatre out of disdain but rather genuine, gut-wrenching fear.

Who could blame them? Thanks to Ridley Scott’s decision to keep the film’s famous chest bursting moment secret even from most of the actors in the scene, even the cast were left shaken by this film’s biggest jump scare.

One of the film’s editors, Terry Rawlings, was astounded by the audience reaction to an early screening in Dallas. As he recounts in the exhaustive 2003 documentary The Beast Within: The Making Of Alien:

"It was the most incredible preview I've ever been in. I mean, people were screaming and running out of the theater”.