An inhabitant of my nightmares for decades

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 2006)

I first watched this film in 1983; due to my early age the viewing was heavily censored and I was instructed to retire to my bedroom after the scene in which Dallas announces that the remains of the face-hugger parasite will be taken to Earth for further studies. In 1985 I was allowed to view the film in its entirety, but remained in a state of shock after the arch-famous eclosion scene where Kane "gives birth" to the next stage of development of the Alien. It took yet another viewing for the full experience of the adult Alien hunting down the remaining members of the crew one by one, and the most pleasant surprise of seeing a female character (Ripley) turn the tables on the monster. Even as an adult I still shiver as an anxious Ripley traverses the cold and dark expanses of the Nostromo, on her way to secure supplies or activate/deactivate the ship's self-destruct mechanism, guessing by the movements in the shadows that the Alien is about to strike at any moment. Also, my stomach never fails to turn at the sight of the Alien torturing Lambert, or of the monster languidly stretching inside the escape pod, as if saying "I'm not in a hurry for my next meal." Finally, it is impossible to detest the inhuman scheme of the Weyland-Yutani Company and their android spy Ash: Crew expendable! Talk about human rights violations!