AmateurMovieReviews.com

Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: Dan O'Bannon
Starring: Tom Skerritt (Dallas)
John Hurt (Kane)
Sigourney Weaver (Ripley)
Yaphet Kotto (Parker)
Harry Dean Stanton (Brett)
Ian Holm (Ash)
Veronica Cartwright (Lambert)


: Far off in the cold reaches of space, the crew of a comercial tow ship investigates an S.O.S and find that they are the ones in need of saving :

In the distant future the massive space ship Nostromo silently drifts through space. Its crew of 7 are blissfully sleeping in cryo-stasis; instead of staying wake on a journey that would take years.
Computer monitors switch on and the ship's life support system turns on, waking the crew from their slumber 10 months too early. The ship's Captain Tom Skerritt) logs onto the ships supercomputer (known as Mother). Here he discovers the reason for their rude awakening. It seems the ship has picked up a faint signal and, obeying its directives, has altered its course accordingly to locate the beacon's.
The only problem is, it's having trouble deciphering exactly wat the nature of the beacon is.

Whilst Captain Dallas is chatting to the computer, we meet the rest of the crew: Kane (Hurt) 2nd in command, Ripley (Weaver) 3rd in command, Ash (Holm) the ships science officer, Lambert (Cartwright) the communications officer and Parker and Brett (Kotto and Stanton) a pair of bickering engineers. There's also Jones, the ships cat.

Eventually they locate the planet that the signal is coming from (called LV-426 in Aliens). A landing craft is released and they all venture down to the planet's surface. After touching down, Dallas leads a team including Kane and Lambert to locate the beacon. Aftertrekking a few kilometres of inhospitable terrain, a huge spaceship emerges over a ridge. A spaceship like nothing built by man.
A crack in the side allows them entry to the vessel and they are gobsmacked at what they find. There is a huge skeleton growing out of a chair in the middle of the room with a hole in it's chest where something burst out of.
After some more exploring Kane finds a shaft that leads down to a mysterious room filled with leathery eggs. Investigating on leads to it opening and a disgusting, large parasite melting through his helmet and attaching to his face (these little buggers are called Face Huggers).

Arriving back, Ripley refuses to let the exploration team back in unless they go through quarantine. The science officer, Ash, opens the air-lock and lets them in; disobeying a direct order.
With Kane in the medi-lab, they attempt to remove the parasite by cutting off one of it's many legs. The smallest incision causes bio-acid to spew out and eat through the floor and the deck below. After it comes to a stop, the crew realise they can't cut the creature off without kiling Kane. Who in their right mind would attack a creature with acid for blood?

The crew are called back to the lab by Ash, who is just as surprised to find the face hugger missing. A quick search around the room finds it dead in a corner. And it's not long before Kane regains consciousness. All is fine. Or is it?

The crew are all sat around a table eating Chinese food (where do they get Chinese food so far into space?) and are having a few laughs, jokes and complaining about pay. Kane starts coughing and choking on his food (Parker jokes "the food ain't that bad, man"). His choking turns nasty and he really starts spasing out: Screaming and convulsing beore falling to the table. The others try and restrain him, but leap back in terror as his chest suddenly erupts in a fountain of blood and gore. In the middle of his chest hole, and the cause of it, a viscious snake-like creature (grown from an egg implanted by the facehugger) looks around the room, then races off down a orridor, leaving the stunned crew in silence.

After discussion, the crew decide to hunt the little sod down and kill it. All they have in the way of weapons though are a few flamethrowers that Parker put together and a home made motion detector. Split off into 2 teams, one of them get a fright as the cat jumps out at them. Realising they'll pick it up again on the detector, Brett goes to look for it. As he's looking, he steps on something and holds it up for a better look. it seems the alien has shed its skin. Brett encounters the alien and this time it's big, almost feet tall and very powerful. Brett's close encounter doesn't last long. Time for a new plan.

Will the crew manage to kill it? Who will survive and what will be left of them? What is the secret directive Mother has? And why does Ash seem to want to protect the creature at all costs?
Well, these are questions you're going to have to answer yourself. Plus, nearly everyone has seen Alien, and if you havent, you bloody well should.

The film is slow-paced to begin with (almost an hour goes by until we see the alien) and we're giving a view of the ship and a look around before the crew are awakened, and as they walk around too. We get to see all the little details of circuit bards, long, dark gothic corridors, high-tech mechanisms and all sorts of nooks and cranies (perfect for a monster to hide in and jump out).
Constant slow, lingering camera movements implant a feeling of axiety and fear before the first words are spoken (over 5 minutes into the film). As we meet the characters, we realise that thy are just the same as us: human beings. Not stereotypical chiselled good looks and catwalk models (although Sigourney Weaver was, and still is, absolutly stunning in my eyes). These are normal people doing a normal job. Parker and Brett show this best with their constant bitching about pay and insults to each other.

This film works on so many different levels, each one disturbing us even further. Like any decent suspence/horror film, Alien takes its time to slowly introduce us to the threat: not just thrusting it into our faces with a sign saying "be scared now". It's a slow build up until the crescendo that is the dinner scene. That scene is one of the most disgusting and infamous scenes in all of cinema history.
A lot of people disagree when I say this is a Sci-Fi version of a haunted house film, but it is. It has all the cliches of a haunted house flick (even down to the person being scared by the cat jumping out at them), but distorts them so much you don't know what's what.

One of the sub-narrative plots in this film is the notion of male rape. The face hugger being the rapist, forced itself onto Kane, rammed something down his throat and impregnated him. This idea freaks out a lot of men and once they realise that's what's happening in the film, they won't watch it again.

Ridlet Scott's directing is powerful and masterful (as per usual). the set design is incredible, detailed and still impresses to this day (if you look, you can make out what some of the set is made from. There's one part near the end when a computer console is covered in plastic components of an Airfix aeroplane. Not that I'm complaining).

The actors do a terrific job, particularly Sigourney Weaver (but then I am biased) and Ian Holm as Ash; who has the biggest twist in the film and no one who hasn't scene it will work it out right until it is revealed.

But the top marks go to the genius of H.R. Geiger and his design of the Alien creature. Long before James Cameron's high-action sequel took the creature out of the shadows and into the open, H.R. Geiger's creature was starkly original, even perverse (designed with male sex organs poking out of female organs) and director Scott wisely kept the creature hidden in the shadows. Sure it was just a man in a suit, but it was one massivly impressive suit. keeping it in the dark not only heightened the fright factor, but also kept the suit out of the scrtinizing eye of the movie-goer. Nothing ruins a monster movie like being able to see the seam or the zipper on the back, and Scott erased that probability by keeping it low lit and hidden. We see all we need to see of the hostile creature, and what we do see is scary as hell.

The most impressive scenes are easily in the last 20 minutes or so. Scott's directing and O'Bannon's writing perfecty bounce off each other and meld to create a horror masterpiece. This film is almost perfect apart from one thing, just as Ripley is about to escape, she goes back for the cat. How crazy and stupid is that? This woman has gone from meek to mighty and goes back for a dumb cat. A lot of people say it's a good thing; showing her nurturing side (which is shown a lot more in Aliens), but maybe she went back so the writer could fit in an extra bit of suspence.

But that aside, Alien wel deserves to be called a horror masterpiece, and one of the best at that. The film being set in space is incidental, as Alien has all the clustrophobic and undeniable feeling of a haunted house/monster-on-the-loose film. One of Ridley Scott's best films, Alien is taut, suspenseful and a classic scare show.

Everyone has to see this film at least once.
Gets 10 out of 10 in my book any day