Alien (Wide Screen)

Advantages: It's truly and genuinely terrifying.
Disadvantages: It's also truly and genuinely terrifying. Don't watch if you scare easily.

...viewer as glimpses of the alien are few and far between but what you do see, you'll wish you hadn't. As mentioned, the settings are designed by H.R.Giger and are purposefully drab but exquisitely detailed - 'atmospheric' is a word seemingly invented solely for the purpose of describing this film. The long-range matte shots, the space-ship interiors, the reflected outline of the ship against a distant sun and many others are all executed with a discernible ...
...His observation of the alien as a 'perfect organism' is chillingly and simply delivered. Without wanting to spoil the plot, there are several memorable set-pieces but the one that is most likely to stick in the mind is the infamous, literally gut-wrenching scene when the alien first makes its gruesome appearance. I read somewhere that director Scott hadn't told the actors what was going to happen in this scene so the blood-spattered, shocked faces ... Read review

Advantages: Tense and atmospheric with good use of suspense
Disadvantages: None

...Alien is a shaping film in the history of horror having spawned many imitators over the past twenty-five years. Combining equal parts of science fiction and horror there’s something distinctive about the mood of the film right from the start. The film feels somehow oppressive and as the spaceship lumbers through space Ridley Scott (Director) takes us on a silent tour of the gigantic vessel. The camera pans smoothly through the ship and the lack of ...
...of the great strengths of Alien is the way that it is paced. It is slow to build up and while some people consider the beginning to be laboured and unnecessary I feel it adds to the tension that grows as the film progresses. This is not one of those all out slasher films that preys on people with a lust for unnecessary action and bravado. Scott realises the impact of suspense and uses it to great effect. In a sense he realised that it is not the ... Read review

Advantages: A true masterpiece of sci-fi horror which will never be bettered
Disadvantages: Will probably affect you for life

...a screenplay by Walter Hill, Alien is a film that was pretty much unique for its time: a sci-fi film that didn't portray a happy, all-is-well antiseptic version of the future. Right from the opening shots of the film where we are given a guided tour of the Commercial Towing Vehicle Nostromo, you can see that the future is ever-so-slightly dirty, and possibly depressing. We are told that the Nostromo is returning to Earth towing a refinery which is ...
...team is attacked by an alien facehugger, which unknown to his colleagues implants an embryo inside him. After returning to the ship and apparently recovering, the crewmember (played by John Hurt) "gives birth" to the beast in one of cinema's most truly memorable scenes. The creature evades capture and grows rapidly, then begins killing off the remaining 6 crew members one by one. They can't kill it, as its acid blood will eat through the hull of ... Read review

Advantages: a fantastic looking and atmospheric film
Disadvantages: not for the faint hearted

...a long way from home, Alien offers us a futuristic world but with all the grime and dirt that you find in today's world. The ship Nostromo for all its futuristic nature is a factory ship, populated by people just doing their jobs for the required rate of pay. No light sabres, no vast ships saving the forests, no teleports and no psychic powers and no one boldly going anywhere, just a possible slice of future reality. The ship is dirty, wet and unpleasant ...
...of seven, one ship, one alien and not forgetting a cat, but like all good films it's not the originality of the plot that immortalises it but the way it is presented to you. The film neatly combines slow burning suspense with action and its obvious that Ridley Scott fully understands Hitchcock's famous bomb under the table statement, (in short, if it goes off, that's action, if it doesn't, that's suspense). In an age where films seem to be high on ... Read review

Advantages: Brilliant
Disadvantages: I prefer the sequel

...find a derilect spaceship of alien construction and investigate. While looking round Kane enters the cargo hold and finds a mass of eggs which were being transported, one of these eggs hatches and he is attacked by the creature inside. The trio return to the ship with Kane still having the 'facehugger' attached to him. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the first officer and doesn't want to let them in, instead preferring to quarantine them but the doctor, ...
...crew attempts to catch the alien creature although quickly realises that it is a rapid grower and end up on the run and fleeing to the lifeboats for their lives as the killing machine picks them off one by one. Ridley Scott brilliantly builds the tension in the film by always keeping the creature in the shadows right up until the finale (a technique used by Steven Spielberg in Jaws a few years before). The stark machinery and claostrophobic tunnels ... Read review

Advantages: Good effects, acting
Disadvantages: a bit macho

...The sequel to 'Alien' leaves behind the original's suspense and claustrophobic fear-factor in favour of a more macho shoot out. What we get, however, is a more than worthy sequel. On the argument over whether this is better than the original, it is so hard to say, as this instalment continues the story, adding a new element to the struggle against the aliens. We still have excellent acting, with Sigourney Weaver's Ripley being very convincing, and the near final scene with the alien queen reminds us that we are all someone's (or something's) offspring.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: violence
Disadvantages: lack of sigorney weavers breasts

...... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average not helpful

Advantages: The highlight of the Alien series
Disadvantages: It ends too quickly...

...Out of the 4 Alien movies ever produced, none brings to life the real stuff that science fiction should be made of. Full of violence, gore, and the edge of seat feelin' that should come from an Alien film. It's got guns, darkness, vehicles and a hell of alot of Aliens, combining the best elements of all the other prequels and sequels. The way this film links to the others is amazing, the continuous saga of Ripley is carried on with great style, take my word for it and see this film, you won't be disapointed.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful