The best Slasher Movie isn't a Slasher movie.

Can you honestly say that the Alien franchise doesn't scare the liquids out of you? That when faced with a facehugger which jumps onto a persons face and penetrates their mouth. Forcible orally rapes said mouth and pumps alien eggs down the poor sods throat to be gestated in a human host stomach. Only for the Alien offspring to hatch later on by carving its way out/exploding out of its host's chest. Can you say that you're perfectly calm and collected with that idea?

If you think having Alien eggs forced down your throat was terrible. Check out the below two videos and see what you think when it's time for the little guy growing in your stomach to emerge and say hello to the world. The first clip is the original Chestburster scene in the Alien (1979) movie. The second is a modern-day, even more chilling burster scene in the Alien: Covenant (2017) movie.

The face-hugger is just the tip of the iceberg on how this movie is horrifying.

So sit back, ‘relax', and play the Alien movie to find out for yourself. Or, you could keep reading.

Behind the dark and terrifying:

Alien was the first of its kind in the Sci-fi horror genre. Not only did it open our hearts to new intelligent, terrifying & bothersome types of psychological scares. It also did a lot outside of the movie theatre.

Following the badass iconic and franchise basing portrayal of Ripley by Sigourney Weaver, this opened up women's leading roles in sci-fi horror movies.

What sets Alien apart from any other slasher/sci-fi film of that time is that the crew of the Nostromo is made up of scientists and engineers, not jocky raygun-slinging space cowboys. The interstellar isolationist setting and the beautifully terrifying genius behind the Xenomorph creation and its suspense-based portrayal on-screen. Dominates against all other film scares.

Alien isn't what you might call a traditional slasher film. In the sense that it loosely follows the traditional 'man v man' killer approach. Yet consider this, the Xenomorph was hatched from a man's chest and retained some of its human host DNA. So in a technical sense, the Xenomorph is part-human and ALIVE, which is closer than 'formerly human' as some other slasher movie killers are.. cough *Halloween movie* cough. Does that count?

Check out the below video of the best Alien kills and see where I'm coming from with this.

The killer (Xenomorph) is unknowable and unbeatable - qualities all slasher movie killers share. The Xenomorph is heartless and predatory, knowing only that its job isn't done until the last survivor falls.

There's also the single, claustrophobic location that all slasher films share. Yet, instead of a suburban home, it's a cold, unsympathetic commercial mining ship that would become the crew's tomb.

The greatest strength of Alien (1979) is its pacing how it takes its time. It waits. It stalks. It allows for silences. It plays on the cold, isolationist, metallic chattering that one associates with industrial space ships. This movie doesn't displease. What with the suspense built up from the bloody Chestburster scene to the subsequent death. To everyone getting picked off one by one, leaving only Ripley to do battle with.

See, the great thing about slasher films that many movies miss is that It isn't the slashing that we enjoy most. It's the waiting for the slashing. The almost unbearable length of suspense both excites and scares us at the same time.

Alien plays on our fear of the dark and not being able to see what's around us.

With its quick, partial appearances throughout its stalking slaughter spree, the ever-evolving Xenomorph keeps the alien fresh in our minds. It evolves the nature and appearance of the creature, so we never know quite what it looks like or what it can do. It's not until the end of the film that we're shown what the whole mature creature looks like. Leaving the movie's length with us having to use our imagination for every dark scene or every scene with a glimpse of what looks like something moving in the distance.

This exciting, suspense-filled guessing game is what makes Alien so terrifying and exciting at the same time. It's what makes it an excellent film to watch again and again and has given the film a cult following as it's aged since its release 41 years ago.

Those breath-holding moments when you KNOW someone you've spent the last half an hour admiring is going to die, but when?

The suspense leaves it so long that you cover your eyes. A couple more seconds pass, you muster the courage, and you look again. A few more seconds pass and the music gets faster; you know it's coming, you quickly look away. You can't help but look back and BAAAM. A sharp, loud screech and a sudden jump scare almost certainly caused many popcorn spills in the movie theatres.

The stuff of nightmares: The Concept

"The perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility... I admire it's purity. A survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse or delusions of morality" - Ash (portrayed by Ian Holm)

The concept is what makes this movie the top horror movie. The complex and disturbing sexual overtones that went into the creation of the Xenomorph are terrifying as is. That's without even factoring in that the core concept of Alien is based around interspecies rape, which is terrifying to think about. Not to mention the thought behind the basic biology of this killer. No eyes, acid for blood, horrific reproduction method, adaptive combat abilities and its intense hostility.

The Xenomorph truly is a terrifying, horrific organism. Despite all that, it still has a sense of beauty or perfection surrounding it due to its top of the food chain design.

The creation of the Xenomorph as we know it from the first Alien movie was inspired by alien interspecies rape being the core of the concept. Triggering discomfort for both male and female viewers, which has lasted with the age of the movie. The symbolism of homosexual oral rape brought to life by the facehugger attaching itself to Kane was an effective means of targetting male viewers with discomfort.

The very design of the Xenomorph itself was designed to be disturbing. The Alien was designed so it had no apparent gender, so it could give of disturbing thoughts that the creature could

"Just as easily f**k you before it killed you" - Ivor Powell

The designer of the xenomorph H. R. Giger insisted that the creature had no eyes to make it more frightening as you couldn't tell if it was looking at you.

The overall physical design of the Alien evoked many contradictory sexual images. The combination of behavioural and physical evocative characteristics creates a disturbing and uncomfortable blend of sex and death.

The very concept of the creature subdues, overpowers, and opens up the male body to rape and forced impregnation. All of which challenges social norms surrounding men and masculinity, which causes both discomfort and disgust in both men and women.

The alien strikes its victims with a rigid phallic tongue that breaks through skin and bone in its adult body. This tongue has its own set of snapping metallic teeth that connects it to the primal myth of castrating vagina dentata, which targets both the female and male audience again. Creating discomfort for all.

Every detail, from how it's hauntingly tall and human-like when standing, to hot acidic blood, to the phallic-shaped tongue, were all designed specifically to invoke specific sexual imagery that targeted all viewer demographics. Alienating against no one, yet horrifying everyone.

Phallic, vaginal, erotic, intimacy, genderless, predatory, intelligence, homosexuality, sex, and death were all projected from the Xenomorph onto the audience. This, coupled with the dark, suspenseful, terrifying, isolationist space setting, blends perfectly together to create a profoundly discomforting chilling sense of fear.

It's this frightful-biology backed, emotion invoking blend of fear surrounding the Xenomorph that keeps me thrilled when watching.

Sitting there on my sofa, protected by a blanket covering my whole body so nothing in the dark can grab my foot and drag me down the hallway. I sit there all scrunched up, watching the film adverts with both anticipated discomfort and thrilling excitement for what is to come. All orifices are shielded, a lamp is on, a large heavy bowl of snacks is at hand if the need for a weapon arises. I'm ready.

The movie finally starts up, and the opening scene to Alien comes on. Marking the beginning of yet another spooky season in which I laugh watching the very same movie that kept me up at night as a child.