Tag Line : In Space, No one can hear you scream.
It's hard to believe that
this Classic Sci-Fi / Horror film, starring Sigourney Weaver,
came out over 20 years ago and that they're still making sequels
to it to this day.
Directed by Ridley Scott, Alien is set in the farthest regions of outer space, aboard a giant space freighter the "Nostromo" . The freighter crew are awoken from hypersleep prematurely, when their ships computer picks up a distress beacon from a crashed ship on a nearby planet.
Taking their shuttle, the crew touch down and find the wreckage of an ancient space craft. The cargo hold of the craft, appears to be full of giant "Eggs". One of the crew, Kane ( John Hurt ), decides to have a closer look at one of them. As he stoops down to look, the top of the egg opens up and a creature leaps out and attaches itself to his face.
Efforts to remove the slimey "facehugger" creature fail, as it has acid for blood and so they can not amputate its legs. Eventually though, the creature detatches itself and appears to die. All seems well, Kane regains consousness, none the worse for his ordeal, and the crew prepare to return to their hypersleep chambers.
But then, as they sit down for a last meal, Kane starts convulsing violently. As the crew try to hold him down, his chest literally explodes, and an Alien creature bursts out from within him ( Blood everywhere ).
One quick funeral later, and the hunt is on to find the alien. Unfortunately, the small creature that emerged from Kane's chest isn't so small any more. Much to the dismay of crewman Brett ( poor old Harry Dean Stanton) who becomes the first victim.
And so the scene is set for a battle to the death, as the crew prepare to fight for their lives. There are some really great suspense scene's, particularly when captain Dallas ( Tom Skerrit ) meets his demise in the ventilation shaft, and when the creature sneaks up on Parker and Lambert, ( Yaphet Kotto and Veronica Cartwright ) when theyre trying to abandon ship.
Another intersting plot twist which proved quite shocking for its day, is the scene where Ash ( Ian Holm ) attacks Ripley ( Sigourney Weaver ). Parker bashes him around the head with an iron bar to stop him, and his head comes flying off. The initial shock factor of this is quite extreme, but quickly dissapears when his neck spurts lubrication fluids instread of blood, revealing him to be an android.
The film is a definate "must see" for all horror and sci-fi fans alike. If you haven't seen it yet, where have you been ? You also get to see Sigourney Weaver being chased around the shuttle in just her underwear, so what more excuse do you need?
Overall Rating 9/10.
Other Information. A DVD box set of all 4 "Alien" films was released in 2000. The UK release contained an exclusive fifth disc which, in addition to the interviews with the designers and crew, also featured 11 unused or unfinished scenes from the film. These had previously only been available on a special edition "Alien" laserdisc, and if included in the film would have added an addtional 18 minutes to the films running time. These included, Ripley asking Lambert if she'd ever slept with Ash. Lambert replying "No have you?". Parker cornering the alien in the airlock, but is unable to flush it out as a siren suddenly sounds and alerts it, and Ripley stumbling on the aliens nest, near the end of the film, finding Brett and Dallas (who's still alive) cocooned for safe keeping, in a scene very similar to that used in Aliens. In December 1978, a rough cut of this film, featuring ALL of the completed scenes was screened once in london. However, rumour has it that the print screened was 165 minutes long - which would indicate that there was a lot of extra footage, or that the film was screened in slow motion. H.R.Giger designed the original Alien and facehugger creatures however, the actual Chestburster was created and built by special effects designer Derek Meddings, based on a thumbnail sketch by director Ridley Scott. Apparently Giger's original sketch of the chestburster looked like a giant, bald, demented, turkey, and the director hated it. The industrial looking set designs where created by special effects artist Ron Cobb. He also worked with Ridley Scott on the film "Blade Runner". |
Extra Info. |
Video
Clips. Theatrical trailer. (1.12MB) Deleted "Cocoon" scene. (1.08MB) |
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Online.
Buy the video at Blackstar Buy the DVD at Blackstar Buy the DVD box set at Blackstar Notes on affiliate sites. |
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