12 Perfect Horror Movies With One Glaring Flaw
10. Alien - The Boring Supporting Characters
Alien is a masterpiece of image and sound, a tour-de-force in atmospheric dread and a showcase of the best directing Ridley Scott has ever done, so it is one hell of a horror film... in most ways.
It's just got one fatal flaw that, for your writer, has always held it back from being a complete masterpiece: the crew on the SS Nostromo are, with the two key exceptions of protagonist Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and the villainous android Ash (Ian Holm), very dull.
Dallas (Tom Skerrit), the captain, is OK but unmemorable, Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) is extremely annoying, Parker (Yaphet Kotto) does nothing but talk about bonuses, Brett (a wasted Harry Dean Stanton) doesn't really talk at all, and Kane (John Hurt) is just sort of... there. Aside from his legendary death scene (which hasn't aged well), he's a bit of a non-entity.
The film's screenplay is otherwise a successful thriller piece, so the poor characterisation is just that one annoying thing in an otherwise excellent movie. Aliens (1986), the movie's sequel, did a better job with its characters, which is why some have always considered the sequel to be the superior film.