¨It's got a wonderful defense mechanism. You
don't dare kill it.¨
Ridley Scott has had a great career and made
several great films, but Alien, only his second film, may arguably be his best
one. In my opinion this is the best horror film of all time due to the dark
mood, the claustrophobic atmosphere, and several shocking scenes that continue
to have an impact on the horror genre 33 years after its release. I have to
admit that I just now got around watching this historic movie after having seen
its prequel, Prometheus. I liked Prometheus so much that I knew I had to go
back and watch the original film that got the franchise started. Despite having
seen the aliens in the horrific AVP films, I still was shocked and surprised
with the scenes and effects in Alien. The visual effects were excellent and it rightfully
won an Oscar in that department. I can only imagine how shocking the chest
bursting scene must have been for viewers in the late 70`s. The scene was
masterfully directed by Ridley Scott and it has to be one of the most
frightening ones in horror history. It may be the highlight of the movie, but
there are also several other shocking moments that make this the perfect sci-fi
horror film. I loved the way they managed to build the suspense without showing
too much of the alien. The setting was just perfect and the sense of
claustrophobia is all over the movie. You knew that at any moment the alien
could pop out of nowhere and attack once again. That sense of dread was also
built thanks to the suspenseful score. Thousands of horror films have tried to
copy a similar format since the release of this perfect movie without reaching the
same success.
The film takes place sometime in the future as
a towing spaceship named Nostromo is on its way back to Earth. There are seven
crew members who are in hypersleep and aren’t expected to wake up until they
get home, but unexpectedly the smart computer running the ship, known as ¨Mother,
¨ receives a signal that seems like a distress call from a nearby planet. The crew
members are awaken and are informed of the situation by Mother. Despite some
initial arguments over them not being a rescue team, the Captain of the vessel,
Dallas (Tom Skerritt), decides to land on the planet and once there they
discover a wrecked spaceship nearby. Dallas along with his assistant Kane (John
Hurt) and crew member Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) get off their ship and
enter the wrecked one in search for clues as to who may have sent the distress
call while Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), Ash (Ian
Holm), and Parker (Yaphet Kotto) remain on board of the Nostromo trying to fix
some mechanical problems after the rough landing they experienced. Kane, Lambert
and Dallas on the other hand discover the fossilized remains of the dead alien
pilot on their expedition with a huge hole on his chest. Kane is sent further
down the ship where he finds some sort of alien eggs surrounded by a blue mist
which seems to be disturbed by his presence. This is where the horror begins as
Ripley discovers that the distress call isn’t really an SOS call, but a
warning.
The film has a perfect structure: the science
fiction is beautiful taking us to a futuristic world that is well constructed,
the visuals are excellent, the editing perfect, the performances are strong,
the script is really well written by Dan O`Bannon and Ronald Shusett (who later
collaborated together for another known sci-fi film: Total Recall), the thrills
and scares are plentiful, and there are several shocking moments with a couple
of twists. The true star of the film is the alien even though we do not see
much of it. The reason he`s the star is because the claustrophobic mood of the
film makes you dread it can show up at any given moment. These characters are
stuck in the spaceship with this evil alien that`s killing them off one by one.
Not even Sigourney Weaver is the star of this film as she practically gets
equal screen time as the rest of the cast. She wasn’t a known star at the time,
and it was actually this franchise that catapulted her to fame, so no one
really knew which characters were really going to survive this horror story as
the film had plenty of surprises throughout. I wish I would have been around in
1979 to see what kind of reaction I would of got considering I already have
seen the aliens in recent versions, but the fear of the unknown is always much
more frightening. I still had a great time with this movie and consider it
mandatory viewing for everyone who loves film. Alien is as close to a perfect
film as you will ever see.
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