That new release of Danse Macabre has a new essay opening it - What's Scary.

It was a good read, and it led me to finally seeing the Last House on the Left remake which Stephen King recommended. I'd avoided that film as I thought the original was rubbish -but SK thought the same. His complaint about the microwave though, I'd agree but for different reasons - you can use a microwave with a door open - it is just a sensor that can be overridden without I expect too much trouble (I'm not about to post how). And they did make a point in the movie of pointing out at the start that the Microwave was faulty (at least they did in the extended cut). My issue with it was that a) they'd have a hard time explaining that death to the police - the others could be self defense; and b) you ever try cooking a roast in the microwave? You could kill someone but it would take some time, and no explosion... .

And also on Alien - regarding rescuing the cat being a bit incongruous, and so female - maybe to him, but I'd have done the same, and I'm a male...