ALIEN (1979)

DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott

STARRING: Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto

The contrast between Alien, and other late 70’s sci-fi is a sharp one. The glitzy, camp utopia’s of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and ‘Buck Rogers in the 24th Century’ are replaced with a dirty, rusting USS Nostramo which is anything but sleek and aerodynamic. The sci-fi factors couldn’t be less important: stripped of its star ships, space suits and androids, ‘Alien’ is essentially a haunted house film. The crew don’t know what’s after them or when and where it will strike next.

The story is simple: the crew of a space ship are awakened prematurely to investigate a possible alien ship, only to find one of there crew is impregnated- unbeknownst by the crew and audiance- by a deadly alien which will hunt them down. However, the strength is in its focus: there is very little in the way of symbolism (a strong feature of the Alien sequels) and virtually no sub-plot. The emphasis is purely on terror.

Like all the best horror pictures, Scott concentrates on our primal fears. In ‘Alien’ Ripley (Weaver) is left alone in the dark, hunted and scared. The setting is claustrophobic, always dark. The Alien itself strikes from nowhere, picking off the Nostramo’s crew one by one. This is aided considerably by Jerry Goldsmith’s excellent score, the notable by its silence.

And then there’s the characters. Each is likeable, we see them laughing together, eating together. Scott makes us care for them, which only serves to enhance our fears all the more as we see them die, alone and afraid in the dark.

Much of Alien’s success can be attributed to Swiss Sureal artist HR Guiger. His designs of the face hugger, its egg, the alien itself, and the crashed ship where the alien is found are central to the film. Both Guiger and Scott agreed that the alien must be kept mostly in the dark, adding to the suspense whilst hiding the guy in the suit. This adds tension to an already suspenseful film.

Alien is a much imitated film, from its three sequels (the much over rated Aliens, the much under rated Alien 3, and the overly abused Alien Reserection) to ‘Species’ and ‘Predator’, yet no one has been able to match the original for sheer suspense, including two of the best scenes ever put to film: the scene where the new born alien bursts from John Hurt’s chest, and the classic "you think its dead but its not" ending.

Masterfully shot, and perfectly paced (the tension is agonizing), Alien still scares today. No matter how many dodgy sequels are released, Scott’s masterpiece will always remain: perfect and terrifying.