The first will always be the best

Rating: 10/10 (31 January 2003)

In theaters everyone can hear you scream!
Let's cut the crap and admit the first of the Alien series is still the best. While Cameron and Fincher are worthy successors, Scott joined forces with the visionary Swiss surrealist Giger to create a stunning horror-sf flick that still stands today. Just watch it again and it's really extraordinary to find out it's a film from 1979 (just compare it to other 70's films and you know what we're talking about). Cameron just made a good roller coaster, but gone was the suggestive power that made the first one such a terrific thrill. And Fincher lost his way due to horrible production conditions (he wanted to jump from tunnel to tunnel to create an overall vision, but the studio wouldn't let him). Number 4 in the series is just a plain comic, period.
Isn't it great that in Scott's original you only see the Alien for a couple of minutes? He used the same method to scare the audience Jacques Tourneur used in the original Cat People: sound. The Alien literally hisses its way through the film. Only on certain designated moments in the film, Scott lets it all go, which makes the horror even more convincing (the chestbuster scene!). All in all, Alien is pure art, hence the success of Giger's design and the impact it still has on Alien fans worldwide. Hope Scott will make the fifth, maybe he could elaborate on the Alien planet. This was NIN75... last survivor of the Nostromo...