Alien (1979)

The crew of the mining cargo-ship Nostromo are awakened early from their hibernation to investigate what they first interpret to be an interstellar SOS signal, but what is later determined to be a warning. The crew of seven descend on a rocky moon where they encounter an alien craft which is not as vacant as it first appears. One of their crew takes on a parasite that looks very similar Nosferatu's hand with an umbilical cord attacked to it. The creature turns out to be the smallest problem facing the Nostromo crew, as its offspring turns out to be an eight foot tall behemoth with two mouths and acid for blood. The events that transpire when the crew becomes trapped aboard with their new guest makes for one of the scariest and most suspenseful movies I have seen.

Created just two years after Star Wars: A New Hope the film industry's technical prowess was growing by leaps and bounds, and Alien's Oscar winning effects proved that science fiction film-making was a reputable genre that could not only captivate and horrify, but could make its audience completely surrender to the imagination and prowess of the director and technical crew. The movie is now over thirty years old, and looks as fresh and realistic as I'm sure it did when it was first made. I have seen the film three or four times now, and I still jump as though I don't know what is going to happen next. That is the mark of a truly great horror film.

The power of the movie comes not from a visceral punch, but from an atmospheric tension that crescendos as the crew is picked off. It features the first lead role for Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, who would reprise her role in the next two sequels, solidifying a career for her and garnering her an Oscar nomination for Aliens....I suppose that's a spoiler. Ripley survives. Surprise. Oh well, you know the plot. It's the rehashed premise of monster on board so do your best survive. That being said, there are things in this film that will disgust you, terrify you, and unsettle you in ways that are unmatched in monster movies.

I love this movie. It will survive for the same reason that films like Star Wars IV, V, The Exorcist and 2001: A Space Odyssey will survive: their special effects are created with robots, models, and makeup. I praise Allah that this film avoids CGI, as films that do become so dated so quickly. Computer graphics have a tremendous talent for bringing in box office bucks, and then killing off films five years later. They very easily could have turned the stark beauty and quiet terror of Alien into gimmicky schlock faster than you could say "Don't stick your head over that egg!" It does not. It has actors playing opposite an insanely scary creature who I would say is an entirely believable being--if the space travel that they perform was possible and if a foot long creature could grow to eight without eating any food, but I'll overlook the science in this science fiction.

4/4