Movie Review - Alien

--Alien Week--
Please note that all "Alien Week" film reviews may contain spoilers related to both the film that is being reviewed and other films in the series.

Alien (1979)

Starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto

Directed by Ridley Scott

The Theatrical Edition rather than the Special Edition was watched as the theatrical cut is the preferred edit of Ridley Scott.

I've always had a certain fondness for the Alien franchise ever since I was scared out of my mind as a nine year-old seeing the creature "first hand" on The Great Movie Ride at the then-named Disney-MGM Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida.  I remember clutching onto my parents as that ride headed through a replica of the spaceship Nostromo with an audio-animatronic figure of female badass Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) shaking as she holds a massive gun on the lookout for the nasty title creature who manages to surprisingly pop out from the ceiling and walls, thus frightening that little nine year-old me and scarring me for, at the very least, the next twenty minutes of my theme park-going experience.  I may not have known about Ridley Scott's Alien at that point in my life, but from that moment on, I became aware of this cinematic science fiction horror flick, and as I have grown older and had the opportunity to watch this classic, I find it nearly impossible not to appreciate the tense and horrifying two hours that slowly unfold onscreen.

Seven people stuck on a spaceship with nowhere to go and a nasty, vicious alien onboard who knows nothing else except to kill.  Sounds like a fun turn of events, but that's the story of Alien in a nutshell.  As our septet begins being picked off one by one by the frightening-looking creature, tension builds in the claustrophobic atmosphere and our crew members begin to slowly turn on one another in order to try and figure out the best way to take down the monster.

This horror film succeeds first and foremost because Ridley Scott takes things slow, gradually ratcheting up the tension and excitement.  As I watched Alien this go-around (for what is probably my fourth or fifth time), I was actually amazed at Scott's pacing throughout the film's first half -- he really takes time to build the atmosphere before he unloads the scares during the movie's last hour.  Some may even feel it's so slow it's boring, but I find it rather refreshing.  Even though he takes his time, Scott always allows a sense of foreboding and eeriness to be prevalent throughout.

Secondly, and what puts this film head over heels above most horror movies, the acting here is of quite a high caliber.  Sigourney Weaver is certainly best known across the world for her role as the headstrong Ripley and there's good reason for that -- she holds our attention and manages to do so even with a hard-edged, sometimes emotionless role.  She's a presence here -- a smart woman who despite her bosses' urges to bring the alien life form back to them has the courage and tenacity to go against their wishes and attempt to eradicate the beast.

And it's certainly not just Weaver who excels.  Her six costars each have crafted their own distinct personalities thanks to a great screenplay from Dan O'Bannon.  None of them disappoint...and neither does the alien itself thanks to the wonderful creature design by H.R. Giger.  It's a menacing beast, made even more frightening by the fact that Ridley Scott keeps him hidden and in the shadows for so long.  While the creature doesn't disappoint when finally seen, the anticipation is a key to the horrors that lie ahead.  When we see the little snake-like monster rip through the chest of an unfortunate Nostromo crew member about an hour in, we soon realize this must be one nasty full-grown alien if a "baby" one looks as horrific as this one does.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-