Alien

Alien (1979) Directed by Ridley Scott, Written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett

When the commercial ship Nostromo receives a signal produced by intelligent life, it drops out of it's flight path and awakens it's crew from hibernation. The signal is from an alien craft, and by law, must be investigated. The seven man crew of the Nostromo land and investigate, Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) in the lead. They find an alien, dead, fossilized, its chest burst from the inside out. Down in the lower decks they find thousands of eggs. When the first officer, Kane (John Hurt) gets to close to one, it blooms open, and something launches itself at him, hugging his face, eating its way through his space suit to get at him. They rush back to the ship. Third officer, Ellen Ripley (Sigorney Weaver) is reluctant to let them back in, wanting to quarantine Kane. The Science officer Ash (Ian Holm) lets them back in.

While Kane lies in sickbay, the creature attached to his face, the rest prepare to run for home. Ash discovers the creature has a defense mechanism.

Dallas: (looks at a pen being dissolved by alien's body fluid) I haven't seen anything like that except, uh, molecular acid.
Brett: It must be using it for blood.
Parker: It's got a wonderful defense mechanism. You don't dare kill it.

Then, as suddenly as it attached itself, it lets go. And shortly thereafter Kane wakes up. It seems all is right with the world...but we all know that is not so.

When the Alien hatches, its very much letting the genie out of the bottle, and the rest of the movie is a spine tingling game of Cat and Mouse, with the roles being exchanged without prior notice.

There are several factors that make this film a classic. First, it has many of the elements of horror; isolation. It does not get much more isolated than a space ship in the outer reaches. This also means there are very few options of where to go. Mood is another factor. The Nostromo is an interesting mix of very bright almost sterile environments, the crew areas, that remind me powerfully of hospitals. (That's uneasy making right there.) The rest of the ship is dark, industrial, and grungy. There are a thousand turns and cubbies, providing a million hidey holes and convenient shadowy areas. They seem to have a number of leaks providing internal rain. Another element is the group of people; they are not a cohesive unit. They are seven people, who have jobs that have thrown them together. They are incredibly believable; Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) are the engineers; they are the hands on fix it men. Brett is probably the one you page for "clean up in cargo bay 2". And they are very much two blue collar guys in space; their primary concern in life is how to buck around to get a full share of the bonus each instead of the half share they signed on for. People complain about food. They are rude in an impersonal sort of way.

Lambert: I can't see a goddamn thing.
Kane: Quit griping.
Lambert: I like griping.

They are very human, and very recognizable. Therefore we can identify with them, and their terror becomes our terror.

Further, Ridley Scott has a great understanding of Less is More. You do not see the monster full on. You see parts, briefly. You see shadows. You do not see buckets of blood. You see an attack, full of motion and shadows, and it cuts away.

Further, the pacing is wonderful. The first part of the movie moves with the stately grace of the Nostromo gliding through space. Nothing much hurries, until the Alien's emergence, and then everything from that point forward is a frantic rush. If any thing slows down, the scene is fraught with tension and frustration.

The music also works to build the mood. It is frequently absent. The life of a cargo space truck crew man is not glamourous enough for a sound track. But when the music starts, you pay attention, because something is going to happen. It is very much the Alfred Hitchcock method. "I am going to scare you. I am just not going to tell you when.

The acting is first rate. At the time, almost all of these actors were unknown. Now, they are all successful to one degree or another. This movie launched Sigorney Weaver's career, and Victoria Cartwright was nominated for best supporting actress. In point of fact, Victoria had read for the part of Ripley, and it was not until the first day of shooting that she learned she was playing Lambert.

One thing that made the acting so very real is that only John Hurt new exactly what was going to happen in his famous death scene. So when the cameras rolled, four of them, they captured the scene in one take. Victoria certainly did not know she was getting a mouth full of fake blood!

This movie won the Oscar for Best Effects, and was nominated for Best Art and Set Direction. Victoria Cartwright won the Saturn for Best Supporting Actress, and Ridley Scott took it for Best Director. The movie won the Saturn that year, and the Hugo of course. There are six other wins and seventeen nominations.

Further, this is one of the most influential horror films of all time, and the first to open up the concept of the female action hero.

On a personal note, this movie scared the bejeezus out of me. That is not easy to do. It gets my number one vote as best horror movie of all time.