But then why are foreign horror films so bloody creepy?
Also, I’ve just been made aware that this film is part of a “Sam Neill Cosmic Horror Trifecta”, other films being ‘Possession’ and ‘In the Mouth of Madness’.
Excellent point! My theory may also explain why I’ve never liked a foreign horror film either.
Well Marshmallow explained what I was going to say anyway, but for myself at least as s/he points out it adds a little more depth to Ripley, that she’s not just an alien ass-kicking hardass but also a loving mother and one who feels guilty that she missed out on not only her daughters childhood but her entire life.
You might think its lazy writing but that scene worked for me, as you say your milage may vary, also it has a really nice move from an apparently natural background to a reveal that its just a projection on the wall of the space-station.
Really?!? I missed that and I was a big Doom fan back in the day.
And yet they keep churning out sci-fi/horror movies so Hollywood and audiences must like them. I actually started a thread elsewhere on my dislike for the genre, and I would suggest that unfortunately there are few ‘straight’ sci-fi movies with Hollywood having a love of ‘slasher in space’ movies.
Personally Event Horizon is the only movie of that ilk that I do really like. I’ve never been as genuinely creeped out by a movie of any genre before or sense.
But then I don’t like straight horror movies either so I may not be the target audience for your post . 
Haha, you’re right! I thought EH was way older for some reason.
Did you not like Alien?
Horror sci-fi works for me fine, though I can empathize with almost anyone no matter how fantastical. Or maybe it helps that a lot of gritty sci-fi ships look more like oil rigs or other industrial environs, or maybe a research lab or something.
Space/non-terrestrial locations work great because you can’t escape. It’s a closed and claustrophobic environment and getting help from the outside is unlikely. Similar to bases on the ocean floor. Both have the lovely risk of death by asphyxiation. And for space, fears of radiation.
I might’ve jumped the gun, since he could agree with what I said but just disagree with the trope of the dead daughter as being too hand holdy.
I liked *Aliens *a lot better than Alien, but I don’t consider either of them “horror.” There was no supernatural element, no “this could happen to YOU!” overtone. I’d call them both straight science fiction action flicks.
But if someone wants to call them sci-fi horror, I wouldn’t argue with them.