Alien (1979)

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto and some Badass Motherfucker Aliens

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: In space no one can hear you scream.

Plot: A mining ship, investigating a suspected SOS, lands on a distant planet. The crew discovers some strange creatures and investigates. People die.

My Rating: 10/10

Would I watch it again? Oh, please


When talking about my favorite films of...all...time, I find it difficult to write about the gazillion reasons why I dig them so much; especially when just about everyone is familiar with them. It's overkill, really, to talk in depth about them. ALIEN is about as flawless as you can get for either a sci-fi or horror film. It's a home run. It's a triumph of cinema that goes against the type and it delivers on every level.


Take the opening for example. You've got Jerry Goldsmith's quiet, haunting score playing over a spacescape that's slowly revealing the bits and pieces of lettering that become ALIEN. This hit theaters when I was 9 so there was no way my parents would have taken me to see this. Good thing, I suppose, since just the opening credits alone would've had me pissing myself. Then for the next 3.5 minutes we see the exterior of the spaceship, The Nostromo, and then the camera leads us inside through several rooms and corridors ending on the hypersleep chamber. It's 6:45 into the picture before the first word is spoken. Now THAT'S patience. Compare that to the current scene where Michael Bay can't take a piss without having something blow up in the bathroom.


Where Ridley Scott's pacing is slow, it's also deliberate. So much so that the characters are allowed to breathe and we are allowed to get to know them. And it's because of this the film really works. We care about these people. All of them. Their ship is a character all on its own and we know that from the opening sequence. It's lived in. It's real.


The special effects are outstanding and still hold up 30 years later. And the alien! FUCK ME if that's not the scariest damn thing that ever came down the Pike! It's iconic. And Ridley Scott, possibly due to budget and effects limitations, doesn't show us the monster until over an hour into the picture. It's incredibly effective and frightening.

"Hey, look! Space crack!"

I'm spent. I could keep going but what's the point? It's a classic. If only more film makers would spend more time on atmosphere and less time on 'jump scares' and gore, we'd be better for it. Because even though the monster in ALIEN is frightening, it's the casual build-up through atmosphere that sells it. ALIEN delivers on all fronts and it delivers it in spades. Outstanding. I cannot recommend this film more. Now as for the sequels...Well, that's another story.