I disagree. I think it's all in how it is filmed. I could easily watch the live-action Flintstones movie and conclude that John Goodman isn't remotely scary. But then if I immediately put in the blu-ray for 10 Cloverfield Lane...
Sharks kind of became a joke after Jaws 3-D, Jaws The Revenge and Deep Blue Sea but then Open Water came out and made them scary again. I think one of the most important aspects for movies like these is to present characters that we like and are invested in and that we don't want to die. Then we can worry and be afraid for them even if they're up against a familiar beast or bad guy played by an actor who used to do silly comedies or what have you.
Obviously the foolishness of the characters in Covenant had most people rooting for the aliens so they obviously failed in that regard, lol.
One thing that really struck me listening to the Ridley Scott commentary track for Covenant was his comment that he watched the original ALIEN again before making Covenant and that it was so old and so far removed from who he currently is that he almost felt like he was watching a movie directed by someone else. BOOM. If that doesn't totally nuke the thought that "well it has to be canon since it was made by the same guy" then I don't know what will. When these directors go make sequels or prequels decades later it might as well be a brand new filmmaker because for all intents and purposes they ARE different filmmakers.
Which is why we're seeing guys like Abrams and Edwards making SW films better than Lucas did with the prequels and why Neil Blomkamp just might be a better choice for an ALIEN flick than the man who started it all.
alien creature made scary again