The Greatest SciFi - Horror Film Ever

Rating: 10/10 (29 January 2004)

10/10 Movie: Alien (1979)
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Some movies aspire to be what Alien is. It is in my mind and the minds of many others what SciFi is all about_: a sense of wondering. Every glimpse of the derelict vessel on LV-420 is a glimpse into the depths of human imagination.
Some SciFi movies are filled with adventure, and some with romance, or ingenuity, but Alien is a SciFi movie filled with horror, suspense, and wonder. The basic question SciFi always gets around to is not about the future or its innovations, but whether we are alone in the universe. Is there someone, or someone else out there?
Alien has the answer, and it may be more than you are willing to handle. The movie is definitely not suitable for younger viewers, as it is among Hollywood's finest suspense films. There are moments in ALien that would make any reasonable person shake in his skin.
And now for the breakdown:
Sound: Simply eerie. The ambient sounds in the background, the humming and pinging of the ship, metallic clankings, and every squeal of the Alien adds to the suspense and fear the viewer will be doubtlessly experiencing.

Music: Once again, eerie. everything audiowise in this movie deserves that adjective. the music is soft and understated, but in this type of film the soft creepy tones you hear are perfect. I am quite certain a large musical score would have been too distracting, and what audiences did get was a very soft musical presence that supplements the movie's mood.
Set Design/Scenery: This film is the best SciFi film I have ever seen, even to date, for the set design. SciFi films always try to make the settings look to grandiose or too extravagent. The Nostromo, however, looks like a warehouse or a factory, with only a small area designed to accomodate the crew. It really looks like it was designed for mining purposes since machinery and equipment dominate the ship while there are but smally cubby holes for the crew (which Parker or Brett one decorated with nudy photos - adding to the realism). LV420 is equally impressive with its harsh conditions and low visibility. Most impressive of all for me was the derelict alien spacecraft and the "Pilot" as he is so often referred to as. The scenes of that ship are simply beyond description, and to think the movie was released into theaters in 1979! You would never know it from the sets.
Plot: Amazing. I hate to overstate anything, and I rarely am so giving with my praise as this, but the plot was amazing. It is sort of simple, but unique. An evil unnamed (at least in the first film) corporation redirects one of its mining ships to intercept a communication of unknown origin. The crew rises from Cryo-sleep to investigate the signal, as is required by a clause in their contracts under penalty of "total forfeiture of shares". The crew sets own on the planet where the signal has come from. Some of the crew investigate the derelict alien spacecraft that has long been on the planet while Lt. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) discovers to their dismay that the signal was in fact a distress signal. Meanwhile, those of the crew inspecting the derelict ship find that its pilot is dead in his chair: something burst through his ribcage. It would appear that their was a second species on the derelict ship, and it is very much alive. What's worse, a member of the second species
Subplots: This movie had a few of them. There was the ongoing stryfe between Parker, Brett, and the rest of the crew. Apparently Parker and Brett get paid half as much as the rest of the crew, and there was a lot of tension concerning the "bonus situation". Also, there was the relationship between the creature and the Company, and also the betrayal of Ash and his connection to the Company. I am also given pause to wonder more about the origins of the Pilot species and its connection to the alien (ie - why all those eggs were aboard its ship and where the rest of its crew was if any ever existed). There was a lot left to the imagination. My biggest gripe with Alien's sequels is that none of them deal with these latter questions. Maybe Alien Versus the Predator will go into it, but I doubt it. Actually, I am hoping that it will not, since any answers given would be rushed in a film about both these creatures. With a poor director like Paul Anderson on the AVP film, I am sure a lot of the alien and predator fans will see their favorite SciFi characters dragged through the mud.
Mood: Eerie (have I said that enough?). Thanks largely to the white areas of the living area sof the Nostromo contrasting with the metal, dark-coloured mechanical portions of the ship where the creature lurks, the film manages to create a simultaneously gritty and sterile environment either of which could get the mind wandering places one wouldn't want it to in such a place. Even without the alien lurking about the halls of the Nostromo it is a breeding ground for fear. The movie definitley illicits fear and eerieness. It also illicits a feeling of remoteness as a result of truly feeling distanced from the rest of humankind. The small number of people in the cast helps add to the feeling of isolation that allows the imagination to really go wild conjuring up all kinds of opportunies for the alien to appear when in fact the creature often appears when you least expect it.
Dialogue/Characterization: There is no over-acting here. the characters all act exactly as a I would expect random people in such a predicament to react. They were not soldiers or explorers (well Kane was sort of an explorer at heart -- poor guy should have known he was in a horror flick where it least pays to have that pioneering spirit), but they were miners and truckers of the futuristic sort. Weaver, Skerrit, Cartwright, Stanton, and Kotto all performed as their characters would have had the situation been real. This sounds like a duh for most movies, but SciFi actors usually overact, and characters in horror movies rarely act with any semblance of human nature. This movie comes across with a real presence ofor both genres with character that were both written and acted believably.
BOTTOM LINE: Buy this movie if you ever buy anything else SciFi or horror. In fact, buy the whole Quadriology in box set. The last two films are markedly lower quality than the first two, but there was a lot of room to fall from standard set by Alien and Aliens. the latter two films are still enjoyable, and buy the time you have paid for Alien and Aliens, you may as well shell out an extra $20 and have the whole 9-disc set.