Far more than your average hostile space-creature film

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2006)

It is the mid 21st century. The commercial mining spacecraft Nostromo is on a return course for Earth with its crew in hyper-sleep when the ship's computer intercepts what appears to be an SOS from a desolate planet nearby. The crew is obligated to investigate the signal and lands their craft on the planet. About the time the search party sent onto the surface encounters a derelict alien spacecraft, the remaining crew aboard the Nostromo realizes that the signal is not an SOS, but a warning. But it is too late. One of the investigators comes across a hive colony of alien parasites, one of which puts him in a coma and attaches itself to his face. The unfortunate crewman is brought to the ships infirmary, where the creature eventually dies. Everything seems to be fine and the crew goes back to work. But this strange ordeal is only the beginningÂ… Sigourney Weaver stars as Ripley, the tough yet human female warrior that takes command and survives the horrors of the doomed spacecraft. Weaver provides all the emotion and realism needed to keep this film from turning into another cheesy alien flick. Although Ripley is not the obvious main character at the beginning of the film, she quickly becomes the center of attention as the crew is slowly picked off.
The alien itself, designed by dark sci-fi artist H.R. Giger, is absolutely terrifying. Gone are the corny days of little green men or blobs of goo or giant insects. Giger's alien is of a breed never even considered before in the nightmares of a child. The perfect organism whose structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. Only in the world of sci-fi horror are words like 'horrifying', 'terrible' and 'monstrous' considered compliments.
Jerry Goldsmith provides an excellent score that is only interrupted by strategically placed silence and static noise. The orchestral soundtrack immediately brings to mind the music from 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is an equally good example of the use of silence to build tension.
Alien is the absolute peak of director Ridley Scott's film career. Even after many views, Scott will make your knees knock and your heart pound in your throat. This is the sign of a great fright film. Scott follows a deceptive pattern of rising fear, false alarms and intense "Boo!" moments, rarely resorting to explicit gore to generate terror. On the outside, the genre may seem a bit overdone, but Alien proves to be far more than your average hostile space-creature film.