Alien is like a nightmare . It ' s by far the more terrifying experience , feeling more personal and unsettling the more you dwell on its ideas . But we ' ve all had those times when we try to recount a terrifying nightmare to someone , then kind of feel foolish when we spell out exactly what scared us . You kind of have to tune into the movie to really get the full impact of it . Aliens , on the other hand , paints in much broader strokes . It ' s more like a walkthrough haunted house . It ' s a lot easier for everyone to get scared , but there ' s also less of an impact . In fact , a lot of the time is spent giggling and ribnudging , instead of actually being genuinely afraid . Even looking beyond the action vs pure horror aspect , they handle their scares in different ways . Aliens has superior communication , using specific tactics e . g . motion trackers or locked doors to tell the audience just how tense the situation is . Alien is more hitormiss , but when it hits , it really hits . A single image or line can send a shiver down your spine and stick with you for years .