Classic Screamer

Rating: 10/10 (19 November 1999)

Ridley Scott's gem from outer space, probably orbiting Earth from that origin, scared the skin out of viewers in 1979 who thought they have seen every horrible creature science fiction had to offer.
They were wrong.
H.R. Geiger's biomechanical demon had so many details into its habitat and reproduction process, it seemed like the acid-bleeding monster was actually alive and breathing.
The story has space truckers Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerrit, John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto, and others investigating an unidentified spacecraft (big mistake!). Hurt is attacked by something parasitic and unearthly from one of thousands of eggs incubating on the ship. The thing, which attaches itself to his face is finally peeled off and terminated. But Hurt is in a coma. Will he live? Sure! He comes out of it later and seems fine to everyone, until of course his stomach explodes unexpectedly and some alien fetus flies out and runs away. Pretty soon the crew is playing a deadly game of hide and seek with the later full-grown beast and guess which one survives! (hint: look at the star of the handfull of sequels)
Critics like this original, but prefer the testosteronal, explosive ALIENS, directed by (who else?) James Cameron as the best. But I put the original one notch above because it's creepier and more haunting than the sequels. The mood is opaque and the pacing is full of tension. Alien3 captured similar essence, but lost itself in continuous religious symbolism.
But not just the mood makes this flick great. The monster has influenced so much more horror into science fiction. A razor-toothed yang to the ying of past aliens like little green men with giant heads or Spielberg's crop of lovable, cuddly extraterrestrials. The set design paved way to gloomier visions of space travel, alien encounters, and the future itself. Even the claustrophobia experienced inside the spaceship (the setting of the whole movie) is echoed in DIE HARD.
But even if you strip all that away you still have the honest, full-throttle scares that have made horror movie history (ie the stomach bursting, alien in the vent, and the extended second set of jaws of the alien)