Orogogus wrote on Feb 20, 2015, 19:18:

mellis wrote on Feb 20, 2015, 18:45:
it's impossible for an actor to convey those subtle cues that humans pick-up on because it's not really happening to them and on some deeper level we, the audience, can tell.

In days gone by, those hints were conveyed because some set designer had actually built a life-size replica of the monster and when the scene was filmed, the actor / actress was actually facing it down. I mean, take Signory Weaver in Aliens 2 at the end where she's facing down the queen in the nest. That was a real model, and it must have been pretty frightening when the animatronics crews were operating it, even thought it wasn't real.

How frightening can it be after multiple takes and several hours? If we can intuitively tell they're working off a green screen, shouldn't we also be able to tell that they're just acting in the first place?

I read about how directors hide information from the actors about how there's going to be cold water coming out of the shower in Psycho or holy crap chestburster in Alien, and to be honest I can't recall the end results being any more convincing to me than any other movie.