an example of a movie monster that effectively uses the "fundamentally inhuman alien mind" is the xenomorph. it is very possible to make a xenomorph "too human" to work as a monster anymore. this is because the fear factor of the xenomorph is based around being inscrutable; in the first movie, this is mostly achieved with its bizarre and horrifying life cycle, and its strange physiology. the sequels introduce/expand on its eusociality. its lack of eyes is meant to be uncanny, calling to mind cave animals, and its carapace and eusociality makes it buglike, which is always a quick and effective way to make something seem strange and Other to humans. the xenomorph was created using a man in a suit, but the designers and the cinematography of the movie goes to great lengths to try to hide that human form.
Predator takes an opposite approach to making a scary alien. it is not scary because it has freaky mandibles and laser guns or even the stealth cloak; lots of aliens are ugly and have laser guns. the predator is scary because it is, for all purposes, a human being. it walks upright, with no tail, and despite the mandibles, it has forward-facing eyes and expressive brows. it uses weapons and tools, it wears clothes, it makes plans. even in the first movie, it clearly demonstrates a range of emotions. (panicking in the net trap, wincing and screaming when it has to patch up its wound, freaking out and shooting wildly into the jungle when Dutch uses his mud stealth cloak (in a direct echo of the scene where the protagonists were freaking out and shooting wildly into the jungle), the little "are you serious? you think you're clever?" look when it finds the trap Dutch is trying to lure it into.) a yautja looks like something you could talk to, and something that could talk back. except it won't. even the fact that it wants to hunt you for sport is something that makes perfect sense to the human mind. there's nothing inscrutable about it; its a game hunter, and your head will look impressive on its wall. this is a thing that humans do all the time. we can look at the yautja and immediately see that they are just like us, but they do not recognize the same in us, and that's what makes them effective horror monsters. they're a mirror. the premise of the yautja in the first predator movie is "what would it feel like to be the lion that's hunted by a big game hunter?"
gracieabrams
germansingergirl
titsay
stormborns
