Five Horror Classics That Should Never Be Remade, Rebooted, Recalibrated, Whatever

Alien (1979)

Another one of those films that may inspire people to want to try to remake it, due mostly to the fact that better special effects are available, “Alien” is the best horror movie set in space, hands down, and should be considered hands-off.

Like “The Thing,” it is absolutely claustrophobic, trapping its characters in a setting that is just as dangerous as the creature hunting them.

However, whereas the terror in Carpenter’s film is created by the paranoia that the alien could be hiding inside ANYONE, Ridley Scott and company managed to create one of the most scary-as-**** monsters ever, courtesy of Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger.  The alien is the stuff of nightmares on so many levels, mostly due to the fact that it manages to blend in with both the shadows and the machinery of the space ship.  It could be anywhere, and once you see it, it’s far too late.

Of course, this film has inspired many sequels, the Aliens vs. Predators cross-over, and a muddled prequel in “Prometheus,” as well as numerous video games (the most recent of which, “Alien Isolation,” is possibly the best).  Still, the first sequel, James Cameron’s “Aliens,” didn’t even try to recreate the scares of the first flick and went straight-up action.  “Alien 3” tried to return to the series’ horror roots, but was a disappointing mess, and “Alien Resurrection” and the AVP films . . . they are just okay, at best.

The fact that it took a video game made nearly 40 years after this film to come the closest to recreating the tension and scares of the original should show you how impossible it would be to do this classic justice should it be remade.

Next: Psycho