The Horror/Terror Element of the Alien Franchise

Well, I started this so should give an example. This would be in the form of a mini series while ripping of 24. What could be scary is getting face hugged and impregnated. The victim has 24 hours to do something and things get progressively more difficult as the creature gestates. Each episode would last an hour and be in real time for a 12 hour period- 12 episodes.

You're welcome Netflix lol!

Xeno was scary for one movie...Now it's like Frankenstein's monster. No mystery.

I want true cosmic horror...unspeakable dread. Not just human size bugs.

A.I is VERY close to cosmic horror....It will come to your planet and torture you for thousands of years. I'd go insane after 3 or 4 minutes of extreme torture...but the AI would 'cure' me and start again!

You are not safe on a planet with AI enabled...Death is your only option....Pray they don't clone you.

MonsterZero Interesting idea- knowing that you will be cloned into a world of mechanical manipulation when you were told it was a way to become immortal perhaps? Seems people would be looking at ways to kill themselves instead of fighting to survive. Not sure if that is your idea, but it seems like a unique premise.

As a big fan of comedy and horror, I find that to be effective both require knowing how to deliver a punch line. I think with the original Alien, it was filled with many unknowns and did not really use any established tropes which the franchise has built upon. Alien is a movie that has you believing that there is a monster under the bed, and it is not until we get past Aliens that the monster under the bed becomes less of an unknown territory. Gradually a familiarity sets in and the beast becomes cooked. The problem as I see it, is now you know it is safe too look under the bed, can something be created to get you back in the bed and in fear of something else. This where I think new unknowns need to be created. I think Prometheus and AC lack enough unknowns of an unpredictable nature. I would love to see someone like Mark Gattis get involved with the screenplay for the Alien franchise, since he has an ability to create characters that can creep people out and knows how to deliver a punch line.

What needs to be delivered to the question of what happened to the monsters under the bed, is being told that everything is fine, and that the reason there are no monsters under the bed is because the clown in the attic ate them.

dk - 'Each episode would last an hour and be in real time for a 12 hour period- 12 episodes.'

These are good ideas but I'm sure we won't see a series in the Alien Universe soon.

Let's look at the Star Wars franchise.

It's 2017 and we do not have a live action Star Wars show in spite of the fact that The Force Awakens earned $2,068,223,624 worldwide. (box office mojo info)

And The Force Awakens brought this money in spite of the fact that it is the worst episode of the Saga - in my opinion.

Ati The Star Wars franchise is clearly the favorite (the commercial Juggernaut :)) and does not need off shoots like I was describing. The Alien franchise has a huge base but it doesn't really reflect at the Box Office. There are no cute harmless creatures to lure kids. I just think it could succeed by going in a different direction other than the silver screen. If it is all about chasing the bottom line, then the franchise should have ended with the Quadrilogy imo.

dk that is a cool idea. Season one could be just one victim in a Blade-Runneresque futuristic urban environment. They have absolutely no idea they have been impregnated.

Maybe they are being hunted by Jutou (The rival Chinese Company competing with Yutani in the Origins novel) who want the specimen. 

Season one could end in the burster escaping into the city. 

Season two. 12 hours of anarchy as the city falls to the xenomorphs. Maybe work in MonsterZero idea!! bring in an AI to solve the infestation but makes it more oppressive for the residents....just escalates from there. Just about writes itself lol

Great idea!  

Double Post. 

Alien was never that scary to me personally, but i did watch a lot of the older slashers before seeing it so i was pretty used to that genre.

As a kid I could not sleep when I saw any Alien movie. I would imagine a child now seeing these would still be scared of the monster. However for older fans I think the series just needs to be like Covenant. That had immense dread and tension making it hard to even breath through many of the scenes. This is the adult horror to replace the childhood crippling fear that has gone to the way side (unless it's nuclear winter/real end of the world kinds of subjects), at least for me and my movie going experience. I like to be moved by movies, pushed into new emotions and have a physical and psychological reaction to the events. This dread and horror is where the series should go if you ask me. 

personally, I still cant watch alien without a light on n im in my 30s. I know whats coming and yet I still jump when Dallas turns round. not 1 of the films after it have that same effect. I think once we stared to see more of the creature and more of them, then it lost something. yet I firmly believe if Ridley made a movie in the same form as the original, as in we don't see but our imagination scares us, then we could get another epic alien movie but add the expanded universe aswell.

@ali81 I thought there were scenes in Prometheus that reminded me of scary scenes in the original Alien.  Yet, Prometheus had a deep story that took over instead of the fear.

ali81 said, ". I know whats coming and yet I still jump when Dallas turns round."

I watched the original Alien a week or so before Alien: Covenant came out.  I haven't watched the original Alien in years.  So, that scene you mentioned caused me to uncontrollably scream briefly.  I knew it was coming, but I just didn't know when the exact moment would be.

moon girl, agree, Prometheus had that deeper tone to it and I was one who was disappointed when it was announced ridley had changed his mind about a direct alien prequel. for me though he was spot on in that decision. time for a more expanded alien universe which still has plenty room for the xeno