A group returning from a successful operation in space, have their journey cut short when a signal of unknown origin is intercepted by their ships on board computer system. After deciding to investigate the signal the crew finds itself taking on a new passenger, a ferocious extra-terrestrial which intends to ultimately hunt and kill all of the ships crew…
This is Ridley Scott’s classic, a masterpiece horror movie which to this day over 25 years later still packs a very strong punch. HR Giger’s concept for the ‘alien’ is nothing short of genius never before had something so unusually grotesque whilst simultaneously having heavy sexual overtones been envisioned in the silver screen, arguably ever since (okay maybe except Species Sil, but that was Giger too) . John Hurts ‘chestburster’ sequence has gone down in movie history as one of the most disturbing sequences ever. No question about it, this movie is scary…
Sigourney Weaver’s performance as Ripley is very solid, this being the performance which catapulted her into the big time. Ian Holm’s performance as the shifty science officer is also memorable and his character has a few surprises up his sleeve that we won’t go into. In fact all the performances in this movie are strong and that’s including the cat.
The special effects for their time are simply stunning, they’re perhaps starting to look a little old by modern standards but in comparison to movies of it’s time, it stands high by a mile!
It’s been argued that Alien is simply a b-movie with a-movie level production values, whilst this may in some sense be true, I feel that this movie is more than the sum of it’s parts, it’s organic and has a life of it’s own, most movies don’t achieve this, in this genre almost none do. This movie is a must see for ALL movie fans…
Movie Details
Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Actors: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Release Year: 1979
AKA: Star Beast