Alien (1979)Movie Review

Considered a masterpiece of the horror genre, the 1979 film ALIEN is directed by Ridley Scott and tells the story of the crew of the Nostromo as they unexpectedly find themselves fighting for their lives against a hostile alien creature that wants nothing more than to eliminate the whole crew.

The crew is in stasis when they are awakened by the ships computer MOTHER, after receiving a distress signal from a nearby planet. The crew decide to investigate. Once there, one of the crew members Kane, played by John Hurt, discovers a room in the ship full of eggs and when he touches one f the eggs, is attacked by an unknown creature, which wraps itself onto his face and neck, making him unconscious but keeping him alive. When the crew come back to the ship, Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver, refuses to allow them in because of quarantine concerns. Ash, the science officer, played by Ian Holm, disregards this and lets them in.

One of the most famous scenes from this movie is the chest-burster scene, where after Kane wakes up from the coma. The crew is eating dinner together before going back into stasis and, Kane goes into a violent seizure where a small alien creature bursts out of his chest, killing him.

This scene was filmed without any of the cast knowing that this was going to happen, and it is clear from the reactions from the other actors. The director wanted to make this scene feel as genuine as possible.

Once the alien creature escapes, the crew have to work together to survive in an attempt to kill the creature. The setting gives the film a great atmosphere of constant dread. The characters find themselves trying to kill something that they know nothing about, and you find yourself holding your breath. It is very different from modern-day horror where the film tries to shock the audience with jump scares in every second scene.

The director keeps the film very quiet, which adds to every scene. The characters find themselves in situations that build the tension, but unlike horror movies where the scene would end with a big jump scare for the audience, Scott keeps the characters in the state of fear. Throughout the whole movie until the end, there is one breathless scene after another.

The design of the creatures was made to give the audience fear of pervasiveness, from the forceful implanting of the eggs to the violent nature of the birth of the alien. Everything was done to give the audience this fear.

What Ridley Scott was able to do with this film is incredible and there have been many imitations that follow the same premise of this film but are far inferior to this one. Alien is still among one of the best sci-fi/horror films in recent times and is definitely something that needs to be watched by all cinephiles.