But first, the story …

After a particularly heavy landing onto the uneven surface of the planet, noxious elements swirling all around them, three of the crew members venture outside to find the source of the signal. As the trio of reluctant explorers investigate a millennia-old spaceship of 'undetermined origin' (read, alien), one of them, Kane (John Hurt), literally stumbles upon a lair containing hundreds upon hundreds of seemingly lifeless eggs. Closer inspection, in retrospect, was a bad idea. His last words, 'Wait, there's movement inside …' sets in motion a chain of events leading to a horrifying finality. From here-on, the crew are subjected to a terrifying game of cat and mouse through the labyrinth of tunnels, air-ways and ducts that make up the Nostromo. They have no weapons to speak-of, they are not trained marines, they have limited resources and they have no idea what they are hunting, or more specifically, what is hunting them. And that SOS signal? It was a warning …

The soundtrack is low-key and minimalistic with Scott relying on the environment to provide ambience and background noise. Usually, there's little more to be heard than the steady hum of the ships huge engines or the natural sounds of an industrial space-vessel of this size and complexity. It's disturbingly quiet, space *is* after all, and merely enforces the sense of fore-boding.

If the acting were terrible, all the atmospheric production in the world couldn't save the film but the cast, to pardon the pun, are stellar. Resisting the urge to go with 'young and beautiful', instead casting 'older and weary', the seven crew members of Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), Kane (John Hurt),
Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Ash (Ian Holm), plus the ships ginger cat, Jones (yes, a cat!), lend a real measure of authenticity to proceedings. Certainly, none of them could be classed as 'blockbusters' in the same vein as say, a Tom Cruise or a Bruce Willis, but that's a plus point in this reviewers mind. They are all accomplished character actors with solid resumes in theatre, TV and film. But, the feature belongs to Ripley with Sigourney Weaver bringing possibly a career-best performance. Despite Oscar nods for 'Working Girl' and 'Gorillas in the Mist', as deserved as they were, Weavers role as Ripley will be the one she is most identified with. She is strong, determined but displays more than a little vulnerability in the face of such a hostile enemy. Her heroism knows no bounds. The uber-talented Ian Holm, playing creepy Science Officer Ash with a hidden agenda, also deserves special credit. His observation of the alien as a 'perfect organism' is chillingly and simply delivered.

Alien has been copied many times since it was first shown but none have bettered it. It's as relevant now as it was back then, probably even more so. It's a masterly-crafted tale from a director at the top of his game. Ridley Scott would, arguably, go one better with 'Blade Runner' three years later, but nothing comes as close to providing a sheer-terror, edge-of-your-seat, shout-out-load scary ride as he does here. James Cameron probably comes closest with his sequel seven years later, 'Aliens' (I don't agree but many think the sequel is a better film). Alien is probably the most important and influential science-fiction film since Stanley Kubricks '2001' (1968) and both can be held up as master-pieces of the genre.