How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Alien.
Quote #1
LAMBERT: I found it. Just short of Zeta II Reticuli. We haven't reached the outer rim yet.
KANE: That's hard to believe.
Fear of the unknown starts with an introduction to the unknown, and one of the best ways to find it is to get lost. Here, the crew of the Nostromo is stuck in a Scooby Doo-type situation, only instead of being lost in the bayou, they're lost beyond even the outer rim of the known universe.
Quote #2
LAMBERT: Let's get out of here.
KANE: We've come this far. We must go on. We have to go on.
People relate to the unknown in different ways. Lambert fears it while Kane embraces it. In an adventure science fiction story, this attitude would make Kane the hero of the story. But this is horror science fiction, so we're betting Lambert has the right idea here.
Quote #3
DALLAS: He could die in 24 hours. Open the hatch.
RIPLEY: Listen to me. If we break quarantine, we could all die.
LAMBERT: Would you open the goddamn hatch? We have to get him inside!
In horror, the unknown comes to scare in one of two ways: Either (1) the characters visit the unknown or (2) the unknown enters the house, town or other place of normality and safety. Alien, like Dracula, has it both ways. First the characters visit the unknown and then they bring something horrible back with them.