ALIEN is undeniably terrifying, but still suffers from a few flaws

Rating: Null/10 (21 March 2006)

Ridley Scott's ALIEN is an immensely terrifying film. But the terror that it instills within the audience is of a kind that is sadly unknown to most viewers today. These days, what passes as "horror" is a mishmash of hyperactive editing, cheap scares, bad rock music, and explicit death scenes. ALIEN is the antithesis of all that.
ALIEN is a classic exercise in substance over style. Granted, it *is* a remarkably stylish film. It's hard not to notice the flashy visuals, the exhaustingly intricate production design, and the terrifying creature effects. But what's unique about ALIEN is that it never actually depends on any these elements to scare the viewer. It's already a frightening movie at its core; it just uses these elements to enhance the scares and add more believability to the story. Whereas most other big-budgeted horror titles rely solely on their special effects and lavish production values to frighten the viewer, ALIEN doesn't have to--its enthralling storyline, crafty camera-work, and masterful direction are effective enough on their own.
What makes the horror of ALIEN so successful is that it sets up a feeling of anxiety and dread in the very beginning, and continues to slowly and gradually pile on the tension until the explosive climax. There are long, lingering shots where nothing seems to happen and characters don't communicate with one another--yet, the amount of tension in these scenes is unbearable. You *know* something just isn't right. The film creeps along rather slowly, even after the alien life form is discovered and makes its way aboard the ship. The entire time, you're expecting the worst; and yet, oddly, you never see it coming.
After twenty-five years, ALIEN still succeeds in being an exceptionally nerveracking picture. But there are a handful of areas that appear dated or otherwise out of place. Most obviously, the "futuristic" computers and electronics onboard Nostromo are clunky and primitive--almost laughably so. But since personal computers were still in their infancy during the time of production, an issue such as this is easy to overlook. What's puzzling, though, is the discontinuity regarding the special effects. In most of the SFX-intensive sequences, the effects are carried out with striking realism, even by today's standards. But in other scenes, the creature appears to be nothing more than a rubbery hand-puppet, or in a couple instances, a guy ambling around in an alien costume. There's also a startling jump-cut that substitutes a prosthetic head for the actor's real head that is more distracting than effectual. While none of these unbefitting visuals ever actually detract from the quality of the film, one must wonder why these few instances of special effects artistry are so mediocre while the rest are nothing short of amazing.
Parts of the plot were hackneyed and predictable, particularly the false scare involving the cat and the entire subplot about science officer Ash being a robot bent on destroying the crew and transporting the murderous alien to Earth for the United States government. I found this part of the story to be totally forced and completely unnecessary, even detracting somewhat from the perfect simplicity of the plot up to this point (although it did make for some interesting anti-governmental themes). And I'm all for on screen titillation, but were those prolonged Sigourney Weaver underwear shots really necessary? Still, despite these minor gripes, I still consider ALIEN to be among the greatest and most well-made sci-fi/horror films I have ever experienced--not to mention one of the scariest!