Horror or science fiction?

Rating: 6/10 (27 April 2002)

I wasn't real impressed with this movie because it seemed like any other horror movie, but in a science fiction setting.
In fact, I believe that was the secret to the movie's success. Take your typical horror movie plot - a monster is stalking a group of people, killing them one by one - and set it in the future, in space, and you've got Alien. It probably attracted a lot of science fiction fans to horror and horror fans to science fiction.
From a more esoteric standpoint, I was disappointed that the settings were so dark. Maybe it worked on the big screen, but it failed in my living room.

Credit-wise I'm curious to know why Tom Skeritt had top billing over Sigourney Weaver. The latter's character is obviously our hero and has all the best lines, while the former's character is killed halfway through the movie.
It would be like giving Jack Palance top billing in City Slickers, although he contributed much more to that movie than Skeritt contributed to Alien.