A truly Great Film

Rating: 9/10 (31 October 2004)

Alien has become fully franchised, unfortunately so like all good things. When I first watched this film more than twenty years ago, the terror and horror were not due to the double-mouth or the creepy thing with the prehensile tail. The gut-splitting scene was horrifying but not the best. I experienced the terror because Scott was careful enough not to show the Alien too many times. In fact, only towards the end you get a good look at the thing. At other times, it is for the fraction of a second, no more. During the entire length of the film, you know that this thing is somewhere in the ship, may be in the engine room or may be in the accommodation, it can be anywhere. But you do not know it until you come face to face with it, and when you do, you are dead. It is classical horror, not the blood and gore/ face-with-third degree-burns formula that we see today. The suspense and the wait for the inevitable to happen- that sums it up. And then, like all great horror films (I do not know if I should really classify this as a horror film), that feeling in your stomach as you wonder if anyone in the crew will survive to get back at the monster at all!
Scott is excellent (and perhaps one of the few remaining in the English cinema) at using light. See his Duellists, Blade Runner and even that commercial Gladiator. Scott was an understudy of Kubrick and it shows in his films (I believe Jan De Bont was an understudy of Scott in turn, but in my view De Bont does not make good films. Period!). He uses light (or the lack of it) to the maximum effect throughout the movie, and space as the setting for the movie helps him. Whether it is the stranded ship (the one that sends them the SOS), or the inner recesses of Nostromo, it is the blend of shadows and twilight that drive the horror and terror of the movie. Good acting and script too helped. There is no excessive bonhomie or rivalry among the seven astronauts, they are friendly with each other but also professional. That makes the script more credible than its sequels. There are also minor twists in the plot along the way (for those who have not watched the movie and still are happily unaware, do follow the dialogue and scenes carefully from the time they receive the SOS, and see how the scientific officer does it) for those who follow these things but they do not detract. They add to the excitement and horror. Finally, this film is genuinely Sci-Fi.
Sequels followed, glorified by cover stories in national magazines. But none of them comes close. Aliens was made by Cameron, and it is more of a western set in space, with the good, the bad and the ugly clearly defined; there are no shades of grey. In fact, I do not understand why characterization is needed in such movies. You can make a good movie of this sort without imparting too much character to anyone or making a villain out of some hapless Yuppie. But then Cameron has no subtlety or art , and I do not much like his work. To date I fail to understand how Aliens became such a huge success. It probably appeals to the popcorn masses. About the third and fourth films in this franchise, the less said the better. More recently, there was this hit film on predator versus alien. In the interests of art and taste, such films should be boycotted by the general public.