I'm with Omerod, almost word for word.
I love horror, and have for years. I also enjoy all the cheese filled, crappy sequels - they're fun gore fests (I mean ALL things like Jason, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm street, etc, etc, etc).
However, I never try to elevate these films above what they are, fun splatter fests. I've seen Saw 1-5. I think Saw a great low budget horror thriller. The rest are "more of the same, with diminishing returns on story/character quality". This is the thing, they are what they are, but that doesn't mean that they're actually any good as a film. They do their job of having entertaining ways of getting people killed. The twists are to huge and obvious and over the top - but again, it's all part of the cheese.
However, they're NOT good films. They're just what they are, an hour and a half of blood filled entertainment. Nothing more, nothing less
I read that thing about the Alien prequel, and couldn't determine how good or bad it looks. You have missed the point of Alien again and again though Ollie - it's NOT a horror/thriller. It's a piece of great film making which pushed the boundaries when it was released. It's aged badly, but as a piece of filmic art, it's still brilliant. The lighting, camera work, panning, scoring, acting (except for one or two notable problems), pacing, production, writing, cinematography and direction are all absolutely top notch. It is a slow film, but you're meant to immerse yourself in it, not expect gratification every two minutes. It's a film that requires patience, which a lot of younger people (The Saw generation?
) just don't have with films.
Aliens was a great macho action flick. Completely different.
Alien 3 (I went to see it on my 18th birthday, as we're talking about that
) is a great debut for a new director (David Fincher), but nothing special.
Everything else is tosh, which makes me more concerned for the Alien prequel than for any other reason. The world has moved on, and audiences demand too much from this kind of film. They want action, explosions and blood thirst quenching gratification every three seconds - otherwise a film is "dull". I hope that Scott goes back to the good old days of telling a story and building a believable world. If Ollie hates it, he's got another classic on his hands