Alien burst onto our screens in 1979, dripping with goo and introducing HR Giger's gruesomely imagined montrous alien.
Giger's alien is still very much present in the rest of the Alien series - as is Sigourney Weaver.
The future mapped out by Alien is one where self-interest is foremost. The Nostromo is a cargo ship, one of the worker bees of the human conquest of space, and carrier of the spoils of other worlds.
When the crew of the Nostromo answer a distress signal originating from the abandoned planetoid LV426, they encounter a species even deadlier than themselves, and one horribly successful at colonisation.
Kane (John Hurt), a crew member on the landing party finds millions of reptilian eggs dripping liquid upwards in defiance of the laws of gravity and in one shocking second an egg bursts open and a strange alien life-form attaches itself to his face.
Kane becomes a surrogate mother to the alien implanted deep within his body, and the subsequent birth scene is one of the most shocking incidents on film, even today.
Soon the quiet heartbeat of the Nostromo’s engines is countered with sinister dripping noises, and the alien starts to modify the ship with its resinous secretions, as it had done on the planetoid. The crew find to their cost that they are ill-equipped to deal with the consequences of rescuing Kane...
Although the alien and its grotesque offspring are about as inhuman in appearance as is possible, all goo and insectlike carapace, they are closer to the humans of this future than is comfortable.
Watching Alien can at times feel like lifting a rock and recoiling at what we find underneath.
H R Giger, the Swiss artist, provided the strangely insectile and alien designs for the xenomorph, and his sexually charged images give the film an truly alien look that has been widely imitated, but never bettered.
Although you never see the alien until the last scenes of the film, its presence can be keenly felt. The tension the crew feel in the claustrophobic belly of the ship is communicated directly to the audience through both the stunning sets and the eerie music that is instantly recognisable as Alien, and has been repeated in some measure through the whole series of Alien films.
No review of Alien would be complete without mentioning Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the all-action heroine of Alien, who desperately fights to survive against all odds.
Weaver made this part her own, and has now made four films in the Alien series, all with different directors, each of whom gives the Alien concept a slightly different twist.
I still think that Alien, the first of this series, is the best, and unmatched for the sheer edge of the seat terror you experience, not just the first, but every time you watch this film.
This is one the few films that improves with every viewing, as there is always more of Giger's fabulously detailed and realised vision to wonder at.
Buy it, watch it, fear it.
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Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
apparently, when the alien burst out of John Hurts' chest the rest of the cast didn't know, so the shock on their faces are real..... well done to the Director for thinking that one up.
and well done on your op as well matey - nice one!
assethound 23.05.2001 12:19
Dogbert - BUY IT ! you will want to watch it again and again.
WhiteWitch 23.05.2001 12:07
Great opinion - must look out for more of your writing. My favourite in this series was Aliens - excellent storyline, positive ending and great roles for women.
By transplanting the classic haunted house scenario into space, Ridley Scott, together ... more
with screenwriters Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, produced a work of genuinely original cinematic sci-fi withAlienthat, despite the passage of years and countless ...
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By transplanting the classic haunted house scenario into space, Ridley Scott, together ... more
with screenwriters Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, produced a work of genuinely original cinematic sci-fi withAlienthat, despite the passage of years and countless ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Alien is the first movie of one of the most popular sagas in science fiction history and ... more
introduces Sigourney Weaver as Ripley the iron-willed woman destined to battle the galaxy's ultimate creature. The terror begins when the crew of the spaceship N...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Alien is the first movie of one of the most popular sagas in science fiction history, and ... more
introduces Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, the iron-willed woman destined to battle the galaxy's ultimate creature. The terror begin when the crew of the spaceship No...
Advantages: Looks great, mixes genres perfectly. DVD features excellent Disadvantages: Will not appeal to everyone, some special effects are not believable
gunmenoftheapocalypse 11.12.2003 (11.12.2003)
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Review of Alien (DVD)
Advantages: Excellent presentation of the film itself in terms of both image and sound; comprehensive photo gallery; interesting interview with James Cameron. Disadvantages: No Director’s Commentary; only one trailer included; no music audio options — essentially, this is not an extras-lite DVD, but it simply has nowhere near as much content as the Alien DVD it follows.
![Alien [DVD] [1979]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78531320.jpg "Alien [DVD] [1979]")
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