Gothic setting

Rating: 10/10 (3 May 2006)

One of the reasons for the brilliance of the film, despite some of the silly, carping criticisms of it the Halliwell Film Guide, is that it creates and maintains throughout the Gothic features, although updated, which we find in many of the Gothic stories popular in the 18th and early 19th Centuries. Like many of them, 'Alien' is largely set in one location and the characters cannot escape from the other-wordly menace that threatens them. I consider it a masterpiece of the SF/Horror genre, and still, despite its many good challengers, the best. I first got interested in it years ago when I read a magazine article about Giger, the creator of the extraordinary 'artwork', including creatures, alive and dead, in the film. I read the book, saw the film, and for me, as for many since, 'the rest is history,' as they say.