Movie about haunted space station skin#
Movie about haunted space station full#

Traditionally these stories tend to invent excuses as to why the people would remain in this hell throughout the duration.

Haunted house movies often strive for this effect, but reason stands in the way. The realization after Kane’s interrupted dinner that this ticking time bomb is a death sentence only makes the situation more anxious, evoking a sense of squeamish helplessness both outside and in. Once the seed has been planted inside its victim, fate has been sealed. How ghosts do this is vague and unexplainable, but Alien handles this very supernatural concept in a non-literal and insidiously physical way, portraying a ravenous parasite that decides when the duties of its host will ultimately come to an end. The most terrifying aspect of possession is the loss of control, the idea that one’s destiny is no longer their own to determine, but some foreign entity’s. When even the internal functioning of one’s body can’t be trusted, then utter vulnerability is all that’s left. Alien harnesses this instinct in dual ways, attacking audience comfort with both the dependability of home and their own selves. Sanctuaries are often taken for granted in life, whether they be built of wood or flesh pull the rug out from underneath that security and there is instant unease and possibly panic. This intrusion into personal space perfectly captures the violation at the heart of the best haunted house movies.

Movie about haunted space station skin#

Now, upon invasion, both ship and one’s own skin have the potential to be horrifying traps from which they cannot escape. Instead of this elusive being originating from some mystical plane that audiences can’t relate to, Alien gives them a simple predator, instinctively understood in mankind’s collective subconscious as shudderingly lethal, and sets it loose upon the unsuspecting prey. No time to rest, always on the lookout, hunted on their own turf by a force that seemingly appears out of nowhere. What once could be navigated without a care instead now demands unrelenting awareness and caution, as the potential of attack and death lurks around every corner. The arrival of the titular guest is like an infection, betraying the trust of those familiar hallways and life-giving air ducts. It has protected them, sheltered them well from the cold vacuum of infinite space, become as depended upon and familiar as their own bodies. Though the classic device of a group challenged to spend a night or two debunking frightful legend can still manage the occasional creep-out, real fear in the genre comes from invasion of places we feel most safe. While a commercial spaceship, the Nostromo is nevertheless home to a small crew that has been out to sea for a very long time. First and foremost is the house itself, which has always worked best when it serves as the main characters’ home. That the xenomorph is not a proper apparition not only doesn’t destroy the metaphor but instead benefits the suspension of disbelief greatly, and (other-worldliness notwithstanding) its tangibility makes the mortal consequences of crossing its path all the more real.Īlien‘s lack of ghosts also allows it to focus on what physical elements make the haunted house scenario such a scary one in the first place.

Instead, despite the body count, Alien plays more like an exorcism story, with a demon born from man’s folly that must be expunged before it eats the souls of everyone on board. Sure, many liken Ridley Scott’s film to more of a sci-fi slasher flick, with its single-minded killer and death toll, but the lack of depicted violence places less emphasis on the slaughter (save for one nightmare-inducing scene actual loss of life takes place off-screen), and the sterile, amoral nature of the characters doesn’t fit with the type of “punishment” the subgenre is known for. Take away the ethereal specter and replace it with a flesh-and-acid-for-blood monster with two mouths, however, and you get one of the best haunted house movies ever made: 1979’s Alien.

Movie about haunted space station full#

Because of this, a whole subgenre of horror holds little appeal, too full of magical encounters and dubious decisions to fully exploit its common themes of invasion, violation, and dread of the unknown. Save for the possibility that some poltergeist has taken possession of a horribly terrifying clown doll and is camped out beneath my bed while waiting for me to lean over for a peek, the idea that some unseen, phantasmic force could do me bodily harm generally doesn’t move me to fears. Is The Derelict a stand-in for a haunted house?