The Classic Horror SciFi

Rating: 10/10 (26 August 2008)

It is hard to believe this film is nearly thirty years old, despite knowing when all the shocks are coming it is still frightening.
As I suspect most readers will know the plot follows the crew of the Nostromo, a long range space tug. At the start of the film they are awakened from hyper-sleep and are surprised that they aren't back at Earth as planned but in a strange system where they have intercepted a possible distress beacon's message. When they investigate they find a strange alien ship that appears to have been there a very long time, the pilot has fused to his chair and his ribs are broken in a way that suggests he was killed from the inside.
As they continue to explore the ship Kane (John Hurt) discovers a room full of strange leathery pods, when he touches one it opens and a strange creature jumps out, burns its way through his helmet and clamps itself onto his face. Back on the shuttle they attempt cut it off only to discover that the creature bleeds an acid so strong that a few drops burn through several of the ship's decks. After a while the creature detaches itself and dies for no apparent reason. When Kane awakes he is very hungry and wants a good meal before they go back in to hyper-sleep for the return home. During this meal the alien makes its dramatic appearance as it bursts out of Kane's stomach to the shock of his colleagues. The rest of the film follows their attempts to kill the alien which for some reason one of the crew appears to be protecting.
Unlike most other science fiction films of its time Alien doesn't feature a spaceship with gleaming white surfaces instead it is a dirty claustrophobic vessel which is clearly a work horse and far from new, another difference with other such films is that the hero of the story is actually a heroine in the form of Ellen Ripley played by the excellent Sigourney Weaver in her first major role. The rest of the cast are also great as is the design of the alien, by only showing bits of it at a time it never looks like a man in a suits so remains terrifying till the end.
If you've yet to see this film and like horror or sci-fi I strongly recommend that you give it a go.