Deep Dark Space

Rating: 10/10 (19 August 2012)

Were always afraid of the dark because it always consists of the unknown, there probably in reality isn't anything really there but we can never be completely sure because we simply are unable to see what is or isn't there. Alien is one of the first sci-fi horror films I've seen and is still one of my all time favorite sci-fi horror films.
One of the things that was interesting about this film was the complex setting over a not so complex cat and mouse game format. We see a deep dark honest look at the yang side of the "Star Trek" future. We see a space ship that is impressive looking to the audience but we can tell from how beat up it looks on the outside, even the title of the spaceships words are faded; so it's obviously seen better days. Even the inside of the ship isn't any better looking, from bad lighting, constant mechanical problems like in one scene landing gear breaks like a toothpick when they land on a planet; some computers are out of order and might be dated looking. It sort of reflects the characters state of mind. But that lighting also almost give the film sort of a Gothic sensibility.
The other thing that works are the characters they all look and act like everyday people. None of them are really handsome or beautiful looking (well except of Sigonrey Weaver as Ripley). Let alone all of them are adults and I like that as opposed to the pretty boy girl look which I can't stand or everyone being teens which is getting really old. I really like how all of them play it straight and seem to be blue collar types; we see from their conversations despite being in space all of them are bored or had enough and simply just want to go home and get paid. And when their given the task to explore a newly discovered planet according to their company regulations to explore the planet, most of them have bored and tired expressions on their faces let alone groan as if another school assignment is being handed to them. Wonder if there was ever a moment in "Star Trek" where one day Kirk and crew had to explore another planet, Spock would say fascinating, but might really be thinking boring. But their all well rounded you actually care about them and hope that at least one of them will make it.
This helps give us the sense of reality of this world of tomorrow and what it has come to. A future where bureaucracy and greed are in control and are playing with people's lives to suit their own selfish and meaningless gains, advanced technology decaying from age, and possibilities becoming limited.
Still this world of tomorrow is fascinating and when the characters arrive on the alien planet it doesn't disappoint. The production value is just magnificent because it's all practical hand built, as we see some organic gigantic space craft. And the mystique it contains where we see some giant looking at some telescope and there are eggs beneath, what could those eggs be there for, an experiment gone wrong, their own discovery turned against them who knows.
The Alien crate as well as the space craft an everything in it was inspired and designed by my favorite artist H.G. Gigger who always had a style of making surrealistic, dark, organic, sometimes mechanical creatures and structures all making a bizarre, exotic, grotesque, beautiful blend. Just like the design and behavior of the creature which seems to be a bizarre blend of a lot of things with the animalistic destructive qualities which make it all the more terrifying. We only get flashes and glimpses of the monster to make the presence of evil hidden and a powerful force to be reckoned with. The fact the ship has poor lighting, claustrophobic and isolated setting doesn't help much which gives the alien more advantage. Even in moments when were in the safe zone away from the creature we don't feel safe because we know it could be anywhere and hit us anytime. When it hits the results are nasty, that chest burster scene the first time I saw it made me sick luck I didn't eat anything.
The cat and mouse game is all about tension where literally feel like your the cat in some places, the mouse in others. The music score from the late great Jerry Goldsmith, is just superb it is one of my favorite suspenseful scores. This helps in the suspenseful build up till at the very last moment when you least expect it, the cat comes in for the kill. My favorite scene which scared the hell out of me was the air duct hunt scene. That part literally made me claustrophobic and afraid of the dark, the use of the sound of that radar really put me on red alert the whole time. And it's suspense just built up till I actually jumped or moved back in my seat, it's that scary.
Space is a deep dark place full of possibilities and danger where no one can help you.
Rating: 4 stars