Perhaps the film that best handles, tackles and tickles our most universal fears...

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2016)

"Alien". A short word still resonating among movie lovers as one of the most frightening and nightmarish experiences ever, and deservedly so. Indeed, aren't our most common fears strangely connected to a possible alien presence? Why are we afraid of the dark, if not for the fear that something might touch us or jump at us? Why can't some people be alone? Fear of intruders. Agoraphobia? The anonymity of the crowd makes easier targets. Claustrophobia? Incapability to escape.
Ridley Scott's "Alien" intelligently explores these fears thanks to its brilliant concept, generally summed up as '"Jaws" in a spacecraft' and it does have a kinship with the no-less groundbreaking shark film. But the monster was in the water, so as menacing and oppressing as he was, you could just choose not to swim. This time, the monster is inside the spacecraft and the spacecraft is in space, it's a tricky situation where the monster won't go away and the protagonists can't either. And since the Alien's blood is a corrosive acid working like universal solvent, jettisoning him is the only option, impossible without a confrontation.
But I'm already in the plot while there's more to appreciate than the monster and its effects. First of all, this is a serious film. Its aesthetic goals match "Star Wars", the film that set new standards of excellence in art-set decorations. And the cast is believable and relatable, you have the veteran Captain played by Tom Skerrit, the more blue-collar executioners played by Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton, executive (and so ill-fated) Kane, played by John Hurt, and the scientist named Ash (Ian Holm), the two female crew members are the young Veronica Cartwright and naturally Sigourney Weaver in her breakthrough performance as Ellen Ripley... and for a little touch of cuteness, there's little Jones, the cat.
Like in another odyssey of the same year ("Apocalypse Now") Scott didn't try to put some bankable or glamorous actors in the story, they all look tough, worn-out, professionals, definitely not Hollywood material. You can feel the difference between "Alien" and "The Martian", Ridley Scott's last film where most crew members are young and fresh looking, starting with their leader played by Jessica Chastain. Chastain did fine in the film but wouldn't a woman like Ellen Ripley be more believable? (and Weaver was younger than Chastain in the film). "Alien" is a film where the priority is the story and beyond the dazzling visual special effects, the film works because it never takes the easy way.
A telling aspect of the film's quality is the slow pacing, it takes its time before each effect. We watch the crew waking up one by one from stasis after receiving a signal from the ship central computer MOTHER (is it an SOS or a warning?), they argue about going there. Parker invokes the need for extra-payment in case they make a detour as the mission is commercial and doesn't include any scientific requests. They eventually go to the wreck and discover the Aliens "leathery eggs". Then,an octopus-like creature breaks Kane's helmet and gets stuck to his head. The film picks off. And at that moment, Ripley stops being a crew member among many others, she raises her voice and insists on putting Kane in quarantine. She didn't even see the Alien that she already hates it (one of the series' endearing trademarks).
Ash opens the door, much to Ripley's displeasure. The creature is in the spaceship, but it's still a matter of ten minutes before the most memorable part of the film happens but see how it's all set-up. Kane strangely recovers from his misadventure, so just when we took for granted he was dead, he gains consciousness back and we feel happy for him, a feeling making his demise even more atrocious. During the last meal, where we enjoy the last moment where they're all smiling, Kane starts having convulsions, and then some weird creature busts out of his chest, and what we get is one of the most iconic horror moments in history. The creature escapes letting the crew, and the viewers, shocked and stunned. And I wonder how film-goers must have felt in the theaters when the darkness made one with the ship's.
"Alien" exploits its nightmarish feel to the fullest including the infamous tag-line: "In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream". And just when you think they might get information on how to get rid of the monster; Ripley learns from Ash that the creature is a priority while the crew is expendable. His description of the monster is just chilling "a perfection only matched by his hostility" but reveals what Scott did with "Alien", besides opening a series that would decline in quality, he created one of the most iconic monster villains of all time, embodying whatever we can fear: intruder, presence in the dark, not simply ugly but increasingly ugly appearance, and a total thirst for survival and destruction. The creature is so special that anyone who encounters him is paralyzed with fear or screams out of terror, this is the essence of evil.
But all these effects would have been fruitless if Scott didn't also care for the casting, writing and directing. After all, we never really totally see the creature, just like in "Jaws", the effects are there thanks to its suggested presence, POV and Jerry Goldsmith's score. And that's what Cinema is about, showing what is needed but making the unseen more effective. Just do the experience, you're be less scared if someone came into your house and made noise than if you were in your house and told that someone was there without you noticing it. It's a thin line, but it's the same that separates between action and suspense. The sequel would be a great action movie, the original is a masterpiece of suspense.