A terrifying masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (30 November 2002)

The 1970's were not very good for sci-fi films. It was a decade littered with rehashed plots, cheap futuristic visions, and way too many "2001: A Space Odyssey" rip-offs. Sure, a few films stood out from the rest (Star Wars and A Clockwork Orange among them), but the 70's were generically disappointing for science fiction cinema. That is, until 1979 came along... In 1979, people were still reeling from the incredible genius of Star Wars. Star Wars was the ultimate intergalactic fantasy, complete with knights, a princess, a hero, and an evil empire. George Lucas made the final frontier fun, until Ridley Scott came along and made the universe a place of fear and unimaginable horror with Alien. Alien is nothing short of amazing. It's dark climate and extremely realistic feel make it one of the best movies of our time. By now everyone knows the plot; the crew of the mining vessel Nostromo land on LV-426 to investigate an SOS. While on the planet one of the crew members picks up an alien organism who grows and changes and picks off the crew one by one. It's a really simple story obviously (it couldn't have taken Dan O'Bannon more than 2 minutes to come up with the concept) but it develops at a great pace and is executed with an incredible eye for detail. The protaganists aren't your typical "cowboys in space" characters. They are normal, tough, gritty people who want to go in, get the job done, get payed, and get back home. They have no interest in boldly going where no man has gone before or fighting for truth, justice, or the American way. For them, work is hell. They are like the everyday person. So when the stealthy and deadly alien threat comes aboard the ship, they deal with it like any one of us would deal with it, and it is completely believable. The Nostromo ship itself also signaled a change in the sci-fi standard misconception that the future will be a place of perpetual sanitation. The Nostromo is dirty, grimy, and very realistic space ship that has spawned countless look-alikes over the years. A climate of fear is created when the Nostromo crew encounter the ultimate predator...the alien creature. The alien is the stuff of nightmares; a black, lumbering, quick and seemingly indestructible monster that kills with raw efficiency and without mercy. Throughout the film we are only shown bits and pieces of the alien, keeping up our interest level while at the same time scaring us out of our wits. When you finally do see the creature in full, it's clearly one of the most original and horrific screen monsters ever. Alien is a fantastic film that revolutionized the sci-fi genre. The scare factor fades after repeated viewings, but the movie's stylistic and unique appeal never seem to go away. The next film in the series, Aliens (directed by James Cameron of The Terminator) continues the Alien story but abandons the claustrophobic horror of the first in favor of non-stop, pulse-pounding action. Any fan of horror or sci-fi should see Alien. It's a great film with few flaws that will surely have you thinking twice about walking down a dark hallway.