THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
There are movies that become almost impossible to not enjoy. There are also the movies you feel like you’re meant to see, and then there’s movies that will find a way to scare you shitless. In 1979, Alien gave us all of the above.
PLOT
The story takes place in a fictional 2079, following a seven member crew of the spaceship, known as ‘Nostromo’. They discover a transmission from the moon LV-426, which they look into. Captain Dallas investigates an abandoned alien ship on the moon, along with members Kane and Lambert. Kane discovers a chamber filled with a nest. When getting close to an egg, a creature attacks him, getting attached to his face. Dallas and Lambert attempt to bring him back on board to save him, but officer Ripley refuses to let them in, citing quarantine regulations. Thankfully, officer Ash overrides her decision and lets them in. Ash and Dallas do a procedure to remove the face hugging creature from Kane. Before success, they discover that it contains acid blood. It dies when removed from him. When he wakes up, he doesn’t remember the incident at all. When having a meal, an alien bursts from his chest, killing him in the progress. Starting out small, the alien quickly grows to a taller, black skinned being with two jaws. It first kills engineer Brett, who was looking for the cat Jones, than Captain Dallas. When Ripley discovers that the mission was to bring the alien back to research the specimen, Ash attempts to kill her. Parker saves her but when he hits him so hard, his head falls off, revealing his identity as a robot, known as an ‘Android’. Before being incinerated by a flamethrower, Ash confirms that keeping the alien alive was his assigned mission. The new plan for the remaining crew is to self destruct Nostromo and abandon ship, which will likely kill the alien. However, the alien is able to kill Parker and Lambert before they could ever leave. Ripley remains to be the last one standing, along with Jones. Before going in stasis, in which she will rest in a confined area of space where time will be stopped, meaning she’ll remain the same age when waking up, she discovers that the alien snuck onboard. Once she puts on a spacesuit, she opens the airlock door, blowing it into space. The film ends with her recording her final log entry before she and the cat go into stasis, heading to Earth.
THOUGHTS
When deciding to review this film, it was hard to find the right words without sounding repetitive. What made this one work as a horror film is that the slow pace in the first act is able to increase the suspense, which only gets higher when things get set in motion. As a sci-fi film, the set pieces and costumes design are so creative at its time for it to pay off. Having said that, director Ridley Scott succeeds in making this film as inventive as Dan O’Bannon’s script intends it to be. Although it was given the name ‘Xenomorph’ in the sequel Aliens, the alien easily becomes terrifying in first glance, from spawn to fully grown Like the shark in Jaws, the limited screen time with this creature is what boosts the terror. Every scene in which it kills a character stands out for being unexpected at first viewing. The best example goes to the first death, Kane. John Hurt has had many roles in which the characters he play are killed off and Kane stands out because not once would you think something would burst from one’s chest when eating. Explaining that, the chest bursting scene stands the test of time for it’s graphic depiction. The use of blood famously caught the cast off guard with the genuine reactions that make the scene pay off. If you ask me what was scarier between that or the full grown alien killing Brett, I’m gonna say the first choice every time. Even though this film feels perfect within every viewing, I admit that there some things in the story that I can’t stop thinking about. While I admit that the overall costume designs are great, I can’t stand by that opinion in the opening. When the crew awakes from their cryo chambers, the women only have an inch of cloth covering their breasts? I could care less but really, an inch of cloth? The men have diapers but the women don’t have at least bras? You know what, at least Aliens fixed this. Going into the story, I understand that the crew is curious to know what’s on the abandoned ship. This may advance the plot but they really should’ve waited until the message was completely deciphered. If they did that, they would know that it’s not safe, no one would get killed and they would all vote against Ash to move forward with collecting the alien. I know this movie is dated but since this based on a fictional future, how come no one suggested to perform an X-ray on Kane after the autopsy on the face hugger? We don’t know if Ash did so how come they didn’t ask him? Ripley was also pretty strict on putting Kane in quarantine before bringing him back in the ship, so why didn’t she do it? If there was at least one to perform the X-ray exam, than they would’ve been prepared for the alien that would burst from its chest. Ignore these flaws and this movie will still feel like a masterpiece when it’s over. With a movie like this, you definitely need a cast to keep you hooked, and we are provided just that. Tom Skerritt, Nancy Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto are able to express their own versions of fear and uncertainty that their characters go through. Despite feeling this, you respect their attempts to be brave and responsible in their predicament. Once that is taken notice, we quickly root for them to survive before it’s too late. Ian Holm does not make you think twice of what he truly is until it’s revealed. The reveal of Ash’s robotic persona easily caught me off guard like the rest of the movie, due to the graphic beheading that happens to the character. Last but not least, Sigourney Weaver takes the movie by storm with Ripley, as she succeeds with depicting her to be more intelligent than others think she is. Looking back, you know she was right to not let Kane in, not just for the sake of quarantine regulations, but to stay alive. Had they listened to her, they would’ve survived with her. But of course, with Ash’s secret, he advances the plot forward. Like Leia Organa from Star Wars, Ripley shows that women on film can kick as much ass and are as intelligent as men are always shown to be. That is easily backed up due to her involvement in the sequels, that have made her an unconventional hero moviegoers will recognize her for. Seeing that, she has grown to be an icon that will continue to impact fans positively. The way she takes command at every given chance is able to teach me that we must always take command in our lives or we’ll lose our will in the blink of an eye. To wrap up, Alien is the masterpiece that shows demonic monsters can be inside and out. If you love either genre of horror or sci-fi, see this one now.
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