Alien Rips You Out of Your Stupor!

Rating: 9/10 (22 April 2015)

There's something eerie and absolutely unnerving about Ridley Scott's 'Alien' from the moment it begins.
For the first 45 minutes, very little happens. We float silently around a huge, empty spaceship, Ridley Scott masterfully conjuring the mood as his patient directorial gaze explores the mechanical womb of the commercial towing vessel Nostromo.. Even without its extra- terrestrial threat, Nostromo is an unsettling place - a gigantic haunted house drifting through the most unforgiving environment known to man. The aforementioned spaceship intercepts a distress call from a distant planet and wakes up its crew including Ripley (Sigourney Weaver giving a tough-as-nails portrayal in what is arguably the greatest female character committed to celluloid), which was in stasis en-route to Earth. The feel here is slightly groggy, as if the film, as well as the crew, still hasn't completely woken up yet. They land on the barren planet and discover a huge, derelict space craft where they stumble onto a strange life form in a repository of extraterrestrial eggs. Soon, a multiple legged monster launches on to one curious crew member, impregnating him with a vicious alien being. It comes back aboard slapped across his face and ends up grinding its way through his chest the next morning (in the now-iconic chest bursting sequence), as a horrible creature that rapidly evolves into a full-grown, acid- blooded killer that begins picking off the crew one by one. It soon transforms in to a battle for life for Ripley who evades the relentless force of nature that's infiltrated her ship at all costs and the movie that started off as a daydream quickly turns into a nightmare.
Ridley Scott spawns a truly creepy tale that introduces real heart palpitating fear into the sci-fi equation. Right from the start, he cues us in to what Alien will be: a distinctly deliberate exercise in terror. The level of suspense and fear that he ratchets up is excruciating, as cleverly devised plot points and character revelations keep the audience off balance right up to the final frame. He displays an eye for detail and a brilliant way of alternating false scares with genuine jolts, which help to create a seamless blend of Gothic horror and harrowing science fiction. He also manages to keep the alien enigmatic and swift, rather than just a lumbering beast hogging the screen.
Alien continues to resonate as a brilliant sci-fi/horror hybrid that seems like a simplistic monster in the house picture but reveals layers underneath its somewhat simplistic premise, going well beyond the usual genre trappings. This is a must-have cinematic experience that will leave you shivering and adrenalized.