A True Horror Classic

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2014)

Alien is a film that survives on the strength of its atmosphere, chills, and unpredictability. Without those things, the film might not be remembered for anything other than for being the starting ground for Sigourney Weaver. But since we have a haunting atmosphere, effective scares, and an unpredictable screenplay, we get one of the most iconic horror films ever made. But what makes these things in Alien work? Let's find out!
The plot of Alien follows a commercial towing spaceship by the name of Nostromo being sent to investigate a shipwreck on a mysterious, foreign planet where they encounter a strange alien being that attaches itself to one of the crew members faces with no way to get rid of it. It eventually detaches itself from his face, only then to have a creature violently burst out of his chest, killing him in the process. It then grows into a bigger alien who silently picks off the crew members one by one.
The main strengths of Alien are the atmosphere, chills, and unpredictability. This film features an incredibly haunting, eerie atmosphere that just intrigues you from beginning to end. The visuals hook you in from the moment the movie starts with these slow pans of different areas of the ship and the slow reveal of the movie's title. With the complete lack of sound and slow cuts, it gives you a sense of isolation and dread right away. Then, they approach the mysterious planet and we get some truly unique-looking visuals that look just as strange and alien to us as it does for the main characters. The camera-work is very creepy with the way it lingers on certain things without any reasoning in the film to do so, leaving us very lost just like the crew members themselves. The film DOES simmer down the eerieness a bit when they go back to the ship but once the alien pops out of Kane's chest, it goes back to being unsettling again knowing that it could pop out anywhere in this dark, claustrophobic environment. I could go on and on about how effective the atmosphere in the film is but to sum it up, it's one of the key factors to the film's success.
This is also a pretty terrifying film. While it takes its time to build up its scares, when it strikes, it always works. They build those moments up for SO long, when it happens, you often don't expect it so it scares the sh!t out of you. The alien itself is terrifying in its design and conception. It has a very black, gooey look in close-ups with an extra set of teeth inside its mouth which is pretty freaky, but in long shots, it has an oddly phallic, almost fetishistic look to it. In fact, the way the alien is written has a kinda rapish feel to it the entire time. Think about it, he grabs you when you least expect it, causes you to pass out, and then impregnates you while you're unconscious. I know this sounds really strange and some of you are probably gonna call me a sick pervert for thinking something like this but I think this was the filmmaker's intention, because it adds a disturbing edge on a psychological level and it makes the film scarier than had it just relied on loud noises to scare you like a lot of horror films today.
But my favorite thing about the film has to be its unpredictability. Even though this is pretty straight-forward plot, the way it develops is very unpredictable and intriguing. For example, when the alien first bursts out and grabs onto Kane's face, it feels so unexpected because has been very quiet and slow up to this point, so it completely surprises you and makes you interested to see the rest of the film. When Kane's taken back to the ship, everything the alien does is surprising. When one of them tries to use a saw to cut it off his face, it bleeds acid. Just when it gets off Kane's face and he seems just fine, all of a sudden, an alien POPS right out of his chest! And if that's not enough, there's a plot twist that the ship's science officer, Ash, is an android! It turns out that he's been sent to bring the alien back to the crew's employers to use as a weapon. That itself is fascinating and it makes the film's universe feel a whole lot bigger. It's these things that keep the film consistently interesting.
Lastly, I want to point out the film's performances, effects, sound design. While the characters in the film have been criticized by some critics for not having much personality, I thought they were all well- defined and they all felt like real people to me. They're not technobabble-speaking geniuses from Star Trek, they're just like normal folks delivering a package by boat. The standout performance is Sigourney Weaver as Ripley. While she doesn't develop into an action hero yet(that happens in the sequel), Weaver has a believable authoritative presence on screen. When she's taking charge of what to do about the alien, you buy it. But she can also sell being scared and paranoid in a claustrophobic environment with a deadly alien around convincingly. It's a very tough balance to strike but Weaver pulls it off well. The film also won an Oscar for special effects and it definitely deserves it. The miniature and model work for the Nostromo looks incredibly convincing and all the alien effects have an organic look that can't be replicated in CGI. The sound design is very eerie with a discomforting silence for the majority of the film but also some really strange, unusual sounds for the alien that sound incredibly disturbing.
Overall, Alien is a classic with a haunting atmosphere, effective scares, an unpredictable screenplay, a strong lead performance, and some excellent technicals. 9/10