Classic Piece of Cinematic Horror

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2015)

In 1979, a little film hit theatres. You might have heard of it, it's called Alien. Ever seen it? You probably should. It's pretty good. Seriously, what am I talking about? It's Alien. Everyone has either seen or heard of this movie. Now, I don't see Ridley Scott as the master filmmaker some perceive him to be, but there are times when he got it very right. Alien is one of those times.
In deep space, a ship called the Nostromo carrying mineral ore and seven crewmembers is bound for Earth. The crew are in hypersleep and all is well, that is until the ship's computer registers a signal from a distant planet. The ship has automatically changed its course and awoken the crew. Though no one is particularly excited—everyone assumed they'd be on Earth by now—one of the crewmembers informs them they're contractually bound to investigate any signal. They arrive at the planet. Three of the crewmembers (Kane, Dallas and Lambert) don their suits and head out to explore the planet. They arrive to discover a mysterious spacecraft in the shape of a horseshoe. They enter and eventually discover a large hall with countless eggs all guarded by a force field hovering just above them. Then, one of the eggs opens and a crab-like alien, spewing acid, burns through Kane's helmet and latches onto his face. They bring him back to the Nostromo and the rest is history.
What made this film revolutionary at the time was its brilliant combination of the claustrophobia of space with the concept of a haunted house horror show. A well-executed haunted house thriller is scary enough, but the addition of space means there's literally no escape. It's actually a simple, but really effective concept and Alien executes it to claustrophobic perfection.
Indeed, it's the atmosphere and the handling of the alien itself that makes Alien such a classic. Regarding the alien, Scott and co applied the Jaws principle: refrain from showing the monster completely. What you can't see or understand is the basis of all horror. Because the film deliberately only shows parts of the alien who's often veiled in shadow, it makes him/she/it all the more horrifying. It's telling that one of the deleted scenes featured a full body-shot of the alien crawling towards someone. It looked downright ridiculous. Indeed, the importance of only showing glimpses of the monster in horror films cannot be overstated. It's something Aliens tried to do as well by showing shots of the aliens and quickly cutting away, but alas, you can only show aliens exploding so often before they lose their shock value. The idea of not showing the alien also extends to the script which doesn't explain the origin of the alien, how the spacecraft got there, what the space jockey was doing there, etc. Because we have zero information on it, we can't understand it and because we can't understand it, our imagination kicks in. Sometimes, leaving plot elements unexplained and letting the viewers' minds do all the work is for the better. Also, the atmosphere in Alien is absolutely wonderful. Even by today's standards, this film looks incredible and it was made in 1979with a budget of only 11 million dollars. All three of Alien's sequels have moments where you're subtly aware that something looks fake or was made on a computer screen. In Alien, I can't remember a single moment where the film looked anything less than stunning. Whether it's H.R. Giger's wonderfully disgusting alien design or the ship's interiors, it's all wonderfully realized and immersive.
This film also marked the birth of one of film's most famous action heroines, Ripley. While she would only be recognized as such in Cameron's Aliens, it's interesting to see in retrospect how Alien laid the foundation. What I like the most is that at first, Ripley is just another crew member. Scott doesn't emphasize her as the main character. But when Kane is brought back with a face hugger firmly attached to his thinking cap, Ripley takes center stage by refusing Kane and the others entry back on the ship because it's in violation of protocol. The fact that Ash overrides the door and gives them access anyway, thus ignoring Ripley, is irrelevant. This is the first time Ripley assumes the position of a leader. Her decision might be inhumane, but it's exactly those types of hard decisions that leaders must make. As time goes on and the alien escapes, Ripley starts assuming this role more and more. It's very well done.
Special mention goes to maestro Jerry Goldsmith's score. The production was a troubled one for Goldsmith: some of his music for Freud (1962) was used for the dripping acid scene, a classical piece replaced his end credits music and all but one cue survived the editing process unscathed. Despite all this, the score itself is a classic in the horror genre. Particularly impressive is how 'alien' much of the score sounds, and how much of this is achieved not through electronics, but the skillful manipulation of instruments or the application of real ones. He used actual whistling, an echoplex, wind machines, a didgeridoo, conch shells, a serpent, the list goes on. Despite all this experimentation, Goldsmith still manages to inject the score with some cohesion by carefully applying and manipulating a few themes, the main theme of course being the most recognizable and quasi-romantic. Director Scott however was hesitant to start the film with a broad, but mysterious romantic theme and replaced it with the famous hollow sound that opened the film back in 1979. Goldsmith sought to create a musical journey, while Scott was thinking in individual cues. Both sides of the argument are understandable however.
Alien stands as one of the great achievements in cinematic horror. Not only did it introduce one of film's greatest heroines, but it combined sci-fi, the vast isolation of space and the haunted house concept to produce a singular horror experience.