Ridley Scott's superb space scare-fest.

Rating: 10/10 (6 May 2007)

Just two years after mega-blockbuster Star Wars made sci-fi popular once again with cinema-goers, Ridley Scott presented us with an altogether different kind of space movie—a bloody scary one! Alien follows the luckless crew of the space-tug Nostromo, who are re-routed by their ship's computer when it picks up what seems to be a distress signal. Following the suspected S.O.S. transmission to a desolate planet, they set out to investigate the wreck of an alien craft unaware of the horror that awaits them.
Whilst Alien is essentially just a 'monster on the loose' movie (albeit with a big-budget) what makes it such an effective film is the loving attention to detail in all aspects of its production: the script (by Dan O'Bannon) presents us with a set of well developed characters who react believably to their unusual situation; the set design makes the claustrophobic Nostromo a totally realistic working environment for a crew on a long space haul; and the alien (based on concepts by H. R. Geiger) is a convincingly nasty critter which rapidly grows from a toothy chest-bursting snake-thing into a 7ft bio-mechanical monstrosity.
Scott takes his time developing the story before getting down to the really good stuff, his slow-burn approach allowing the viewer to familiarise themselves with the characters and drink-in the stunning visuals. But when things do start to go pear shaped for the crew of the Nostromo, he cranks up the tension to breaking point, delivering non-stop suspense and shocks right up to the closing credits.
The film also benefits from a very talented cast: the brilliant John Hurt is Kane, the poor schmuck who becomes a human incubator for the monster after poking his nose too far into an alien egg chamber; a young Sigourney Weaver plays Ripley, the tough heroine of the movie; Ian 'Bilbo Baggins' Holm is the nasty science officer Ash; and Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto play alien fodder.
Occasionally Scott relies a little heavily on mechanical scares (Jones the cat is responsible for a few too many false alarms) and some elements require a little more explaining for very picky folk like me (such as 'how the hell did a face-hugger manage to latch on to the big 'space jockey' alien seen in the wreck?'), but seeing as we get to see Sigourney Weaver in the universe's teeniest pair of pants, I'm willing to overlook these trifles and award Alien a whopping 10/10.