FIRST EXPOSURE

Jv8r said: "As for the Alien: I used to sit up late on Saturdays watching "Shock Theater" for fun. Those B-movie BS monsters scared for a few hours, then slipped into obscurity. This was different! This thing was transferred via art from someone else's nightmare directly into mine! It seemed real. Somehow horrible and elegant (almost beautiful) at the same time. It was also utterly unstoppable (well, almost). It has resided somewhere in the shadows of my periphery ever since." @Jv8r, I think what made 'Alien' so damn scary was that it _was_ the first, most realistic sci-fi horror film. RS, O' Bannon, & Giger focused on realism because they knew the more like 'real life' they could get their sets, their environments, their creature 'innards,' & their crew's predicaments and mannerisms, the more frightening the movie is. The realism heightens the terror because the audience thinks, "This could actually [i][u]happen[/u]."[/i] I also know what you mean by "it's almost beautiful." The average person thinks one is weird describing a horror film that way. But [i]Alien[/i] does stand apart from all other horror films in this regard. The way light in [i]Alien[/i]'s space & hostile planet is depicted, how the various spacecraft look & move in their environments, the well-crafted design that went into every set, the ever-present feeling of isolation & claustophobia, the care they took to make sure everything had a realistic "lived in" quality, it all adds up to create a very believable situation that [i]could[/i] happen in 200 years (or less!).

For me, I was exposed to 'Alien' right from the very start. It was August 1979, I was 12 and I was reading the daily newspaper and there was a report on this new sci-fi/horror movie called 'Alien'. Being a hardcore 'Star Wars' and 'Battlestar Galactica' fan, I was immediately intrigued. The full-page article showed a huge black-and-white photo of the Space-Jockey inside the derelict which just looked very expensive and very strange - it reported on how different and totally scary this movie was supposed to be and how no-one really knew what the Alien looked like. One day at school my friend told me his sister went to see it and had been terrified which just added to the intriuge. Later that year, maybe October, November(?) one day at a newsagent, there was one of those late-70s/early 80s full-colour poster/magazine totally dedicated to the movie-franchise - I bought it and from that point onward wanted to know everything about the movie (this 1st issue just had interviews, rare publicity-photos, etc This was the first issue - the 2nd issue actually had a full-on, sideview photo of the Alien and I was blown away. I took it to school and everybody wanted to see this photo/magazine and ther general opinion was "WTF IS THAT!?" It just looked hideous...unlike anything Id ever seen before....very weird. All along the bottom of the page said something like: [i]"The alien lives to kill and kills to live..."[/i]The first-ever TV clip I saw was early 1980 for a movie awards show - they showed the clip of Dallas in the air-vent up until he turns around and it's there. I couldn't sleep after that - scared sh!tless!

I was infected by the Alien magick immediatley and forever in about ´88. I loved Star Wars, early SciFis and Horror, too. When I look back I now clearly can say what impressed me the most. It was the movie posters, the design, the overall feel..they were much simpler than todays. I remember just [i]seeing[/i] the poster with the half head of Dawn of the Dead gave me chills. Same with the Alien egg poster, remember? ;) Those were the days, the early 80ies when splatter movies were new and rated the first time. I mean, I was too young in the 80ies I saw Alien on VHS in ´88. Aliens gave me an similar feel as Terminator I. A friend was a collector of Splatter and we watched regulary although I was more into SciFi-Horror..

Philly, 1979 11 years old with my mom. Alien and Aliens are my favorite movies of all time to this day.

Pops took me to see ALIEN in the summer of '79 when I was six. "Hey, kiddo. Wanna go see a movie?" "Yeah!" "Well, go get the paper and see what's playing." "What's ALIEN?" "Hell if I know. Sounds like a space movie. You liked STAR WARS, right?" Once the nightmares stopped, I was hooked!

I guess I was a pretty well-spoken kid and liked to hang out with my older neighbours and their respective friends. These were the early/mid 90's, and we gathered religiously after school to play all kinds of videogames together (Master System, Genesis, NES... Warcraft on my old 486 :p). I remember that some of the older guys absolutely worshipped the Alien movies, and kept talking about how weirdly terrifying this creature was, how they'd never seen anything like it in any other story. Being totally, well... alien to the concept, their descriptions sounded exaggerated and even silly to me. I knew right then it was something I had to see for myself - not with them, though, as they thought it was 'too much' for me; and unfortunately my folks shared their opinion and wouldn't let me watch it. A couple of years went by and one day, I catched this commercial on the TV where they announced they were airing Alien 3 for the first time... along with the previous installments over the course of three nights. Wow, this was my chance. I was 9 years old, give or take, and spoiled enough to have a TV right in the bedroom. So I remember vividly trying to keep myself awake in the dark, counting the minutes just until after midnight so I could close the door and watch them, by myself. Mind you, I had not seen Star Wars, Star Trek, 2001 or any of the like by then, so this was my first true sci-fi / horror flick, and it affected me deeply. So I was positively terrified after just going through the first chapter - but at the same time, utterly fascinated by Giger's/Ridley's vision. It was such a remarkable experience. Many of the less in-your-face aspects of the film stuck with me for a long, long time: the grungy, gritty look of the Nostromo; the oh-so-eerie close-up and fade-out of the Space Jockey; a sweaty, scared-to-death Ripley escaping through these dark, claustrophobic hallways with the Xenomorph lurking behind every corner. Growing up, I found myself appreciating them even more, and how they are still so effective, especially when compared to most of the more recent genre productions. Then again, the bar was set high so early on - and the first three films quickly went on to become my all-time favorites. They are timeless.

I think I was about 13 when Alien was shown in Australia. From memory it was banned for a while and I think it was R rated... This of course made me want to see it even more as I had seen an image of the Alien in the newspaper and was hooked by its bizzar head shape and strange back tubes. I managed to get a ticket, cant remember if I had any trouble. It knocked my socks off, loved it, scared the shit out of me which lasted for months. Then years later when Aliens came out went to the premier and again instantly became hooked! Stated collecting as much stuff as possible and reading everything to be read. Of course this was before the internet existed so stuff wasnt easy to find....

Watching the last 30 minutes of Aliens on my friend's iPod in the school library a few years ago. If we're only talking full movies, then Prometheus.

When I went to see Alien, it was raining and cold out in Albuquerque... I saw the posters and the postcards and thought... "hey a cool run of the mill science fiction movie." When the film finished, I walked outside, the rain was still coming down, as I got on my hands and knees and checked the underside of my Volvo.... and then I checked the backseat... finally I closed the door and just sat there... looking out into the world that was change forever...

I feel so young xD I've had Aliens with me pretty much all my life. I've always been a fan of science fiction and fantasy. Huuuuuuge star wars and star trek fan even when I was little, always loved movies like Blade Runner, Judge Dredd, Predator. Sadly, I wasn't able to see any of them in theatres (except resurrection, bleh.) because I was born in the 90's, but I had an older brother who was really into it, and parents who really didn't care what I watched. I remember being so scared watching Alien when I was around 5 or 6. I mean terrified. I couldn't even look at the VHS covers with the egg and the xeno face for several years. I still have nightmares once a week or so about them. Seriously, I think I need a counselor. lol Despite being unable to sleep for years because of it, it's always been one of my favorite movies and series. One of my favorite games, Metroid, was greatly inspired by Alien, and I'm a Tyranid player in Warhammer 40k. I still play the games, watch the movies again and again (just finished watching Aliens a couple hours ago and bought the new Aliens: Infestation ds game a few weeks ago.). For me, there wasn't really a "first encounter" that I can remember. It's just always been there all my life, traumatizing and fascinating me at the same time. I also remember playing with those Kenner toys all the time. I always found it rather funny that they made all these toys, which seemed to market towards kids based on one of the scariest movies (imo) ever. [IMG]http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f85/hellsing512/aliens_apone.jpg[/IMG] P.S. Apone is such a badass.

the alien trilogy is interesting prometheus is a goo dpoint just because you think they are god it doesnt mean your right.theyre just another alien race trapped in this universe doing what they do!!!

I was 9 (1991) yeas old. Mt Dad had bought some films off a bloke from his local pub. One of these was Aliens and with it being an 18 certificate i wasn't allowed to watch it. I wasn't going to let that stop me so that night i crept downstairs late one night and watched it. I was so blown away bu it that i watched it again straight after. Next day, tired as hell, i was telling everyone about Aliens and the action that took place. I heard about a 3rd film and was excited. I collected Aliens comics and started collecting movie mags that had any info on the new Alien movie. Saw the Alien 3 followed by Alien after that. Ever since then I've been obsessed with the first 3 films. That's the short version lol.