Ridley Scott’s alien from his classic Sci-Fi film of the same name was today hailed as the scariest movie monster of all time.
The slimy, razor-toothed beast which famously emerged from the stomach of John Hurt in the classic 1979 horror, beat Steven Spielberg’s infamous Jaws to claim the title.
Third place was taken by the invisible, laser-wielding alien from 1987’s Predator movie.
The top five was completed by the sewer-dwelling Creeper from Jeepers Creepers and Jeff Goldblum’s half-man, half-fly in The Fly.
The poll of 4,000 film fans was carried out to celebrate the next screening in the Jameson Cult Film Club series at the Royal College of Surgeons, London on March 3.
A spokesperson from Jameson said: ”Four of the films that made the top five were made more than 24 years old.
”They are classic movie monsters by anyone’s definition but what’s really surprising about these results is that the traditional and iconic monsters of the last hundred years like vampires, werewolves, Godzilla and King Kong were more likely to leave fans snoring than screaming.”
The Crawlers from 2005’s The Descent came in at number six while the shape-shifting alien from 1987’s The Thing was seventh.
The bloodthirsty werewolves from British horror flick Dog Soldiers came in at number eight and the T-Rex from 1993’s Jurassic Park was voted in at number nine.
Count Orlok the vampire from German classic Nosferatu completed the top ten.
The study also found nearly half of the people polled admitted they had suffered from nightmares after watching a monster movie.
Women were most likely to have a nightmare after watching Jaws and men were most likely to have a nightmare after watching Alien.
A third admitted they often had to hide behind their hands while watching a scary film with one in ten saying they had left the room altogether.
One in four men said they had been forced to hide their eyes during a scary movie.
The spokesman for Jameson added: ”Years ago people would be scared of the unknown – fantastic creatures with fangs and a thirst for blood.
”These days we have become accustomed to the classic monsters – vampires and werewolves play out romantic teen dramas, the ghosts are friendly, and even the recent remake of King Kong made him out to be a softie.
”Most people we polled agreed that CGI was making monsters much more realistic and scary compared to the special effects of the early first half of the 20th Century.
”I guess with technology developing the way it does we will have a lot more monsters to give us nightmares in the future.”
Jameson will be showing ‘Monsters’ which came 19th in the poll on Thursday March 3rd.
To apply for your free tickets to this event all you have to do is sign up to the Jameson Cult Film Club blog: jamesoncultfilmclub.com.
TOP TEN
1. Alien – Alien
2. Jaws – Jaws
3. Predator – Predator
4. The Creeper – Jeepers Creepers
5. The Fly – The Fly
6. Crawlers – The Descent
7. The Thing – The Thing
8. Werewolves – Dog Soldiers
9. T Rex- Jurassic Park
10. Count Orlok – Nosferatu
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