Classic Sci-Fi horror film which set the tone for future films to come

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2020)

In a world where previous sci-fi horror films were usually B-Movie films like the blob and Them, aswell as Hitchcock films like The Birds, Rear Window and of course Psycho, the horror genre never really tried to be overly complex or masterful like the way this film tried to be. Ridley Scott was able to create a Science Fiction world feel complex and believable as well as tangible. The Nostromo Ship has a very decayed and accomidated feel to it which makes it feel like you're with the characters in the setting as the tension and horror begins to rise and unfold.
The practical effects used for the Xenomorph and the Facehuggers were very complex and detailed for the time and the chestburster scene is a classic scene in horror that has been imitated in future film's from it's impact on the audience. Sigourney Weaver played such an incredible female protagonist as we feel her dread as the movie progresses. The final half an hour of the film is pure Sci-Fi Horror mastery with sustained tension and adrenalin throughout. The film is directed to feel cramped and claustrophobic with the focus on the alien's whereabouts as it's always shrouded in darkness until the very end, showing as little visual contact of the creature throughout the film until the finale where the monster is shown in all it's glory. The imagery of the Xenomorph itself is iconic in movie monster history being a very creative and intimidating design which had so much thought and planning into it's design and studying how it thinks which important just how to scare and satisfy the audience watching the revolutionary new take on horror. It's a directing style that was unique to the time adding more nuance and subtleness to the genre. The film is perfectly paced from start to finish yet never drags or feels boring in any of it's scenes. John Hurt also plays a great performance of the victim of the facehugger as thee whole imagery of it is incredibly creepy which was never done before at that time. It's overall a chilling, atmospheric and adrenalin pumping movie which has incredible rewatch value that actually gets better the more times you watch it