John Hurt’s chestburster is the real shock in Alien but for scares, you can’t beat the tension and pure fear of the alien hunting down Dallas (Tom Skerritt) in the bowels of the Nostromo. We can see how close the alien is to him from what’s on the monitor but Dallas is unaware of just how much danger he’s in. And with a flash of video footage, he’s gone.
I’d forgotten that the motion tracker that Aliens made so famous actually debuted in Alien. That scene still works, and the jump scare at the end is totally worth it. Nice pick!
A belated thank you