20 Horror Movies Everyone Remembers For Just One Scene

Not all of these scenes are good. Here's one so misjudged that it's overshadowed the entire damn movie for over 30 years. That is Alien 3 killing off Newt and Hicks, two beloved characters from the previous instalment, in the opening sequence. Oh, and do they get a badass or emotional demise? No, they die in a crash... off-screen... while still in hypersleep. 

Even accepting that Alien 3 had an infamously hellish production, it is difficult to understand how this was allowed to happen. This is such an insulting and cruel way to treat two awesome characters, with Newt's death feeling particularly unacceptable. She was the heart of 1986's Aliens, after all, and it was also way too hard on franchise protagonist Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). She'd already lost her daughter while in hypersleep between the events of the first and second films, and now she'd lost the other daughter-figure in her life too. 

This grossly misjudged opening has always cast a shadow over what is actually a perfectly OK sequel. That's a hot take, but there it is: Alien 3 is not as bad as you remember, and outside of this opening, it is just fine. At the same time, it's understandable that so many people have been unable to look past this opening, for that's just how dire it was.