A light touch for a totally scary movie!!

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2019)

Great Sci-Fi film, featuring a lot more realism than any of the films I was raised on as a youngster in the early 1950s. As a nine-year old, I was impressed by _Rocketship XM_ but my dad, who *was* a rocket scientist, laughed throughout it and spoilt it for me. The _Nostromo_ in _Alien_ was a junker tractor rocket; it had *dents* for Christ's sake! So it was real. Most of the crew were derelicts as well, so the fit the ship and the plot. Not too bright, and more than a wee bit clumsy. The Alien was designed by a Swiss (Geiger) who knew his biology. In the insect world, *all* the wasps reproduce by laying eggs on or inside the body of a host, be it a spider or caterpillar. It is now believed there is a separate wasp species for every caterpillar species -- and that's a few! The extrudable alien mouthpiece is an exact copy of a dragonfly nymph's mouth -- he uses it to catch small fish. 'Nother thing about this alien: most early aliens might look scary, but they were dumb and slow. You had to be a total klutz/moron (or a pretty blond) to get caught. *This* alien is smart, very smart, . . . and FAST! Nothing like it before this film. Sigourney Weaver is a delight, Skerrit is a good captain, John Hurt makes a great first meal for Mr. Alien, and Harry Dean Stanton always contributes his own special charm. Then, there's "Jonesy"!! True star quality!
Talk about pregnant suspense: all you can want and more. The music was ethereal and totally appropriate, great art direction and camera work. A classic, with a light touch to get the best scare out of one.
One other note: After seeing it (and having bad dreams), I needed to go back and see it again! It was even more scary the *second* time because I knew what was going to happen and couldn;t stop it! Talk about living a nightmare, and paying good money to do it! :-)