Alien (1979) - "In space no one can hear you scream."Someone must have sat down in a meeting and gone "You know that film Halloween [which was released the previous year]? Let's do that...but in space..." If they said that to you, you'd think it was a gimmick and it sounds too simple. Trust me. This film is genuinely scary and shocking. It may primarily be a science-fiction film, but it's really a full-on horror film. Like many of the previous posts, this will contain plot spoilers. Therefore, if you don't want to know what happens, look away. At least watch the film first. Like the film though, you may not want to read this whilst eating your dinner.
Starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver and John Hurt, the crew on board the Nostromo, a deep-space commercial towing vehicle on its way back to Earth, receive an SOS call from a nearby planet and so decide to investigate. They discover a derelict alien spacecraft and within it a hive colony of an unknown creature. It turns out that what appeared to be a distress call is actually a warning. One of the crew members disturbs one of the eggs and then all hell breaks loose.
This film is a journey into the unknown, as it is set in the future and in deep space, which we are yet to explore in real-life. One of the scariest aspects of the film is the sense of claustrophobia. It's all happening in such a confined space that there is nowhere for the characters to run to. If you were a character in this film, you'd want someone covering you back. (SPOILER ALERT!!!) Obviously, the most shocking, unexpected moment, that made me jump out of my seat (metaphorically), was when the alien bursts out of John Hurt's chest. It appears to be the calm after the storm as all the characters are sitting around a table, eating and discussing what happened beforehand, when the creature was attached to John Hurt's face. However, he starts behaving involuntarily and then there is blood everywhere. Supposedly, director Ridley Scott did not inform the cast about what was going to happen at that moment, so to generate a genuine reaction of revulsion and shock from them. That is one of the most mind-blowing moments in cinema history and can be ranked alongside the likes of the head exploding scene from Scanners, the decapitation scene from The Omen, the whole chest defibrillation scene in The Thing when the guy's head scurries all over the floor; the list goes on. It's not to do with violence; it's more related to surrealism.
Another frightening aspect is the actual Alien, originally designed by H. R. Giger. Its stunning visual effect led to an Academy Award. There are three main types of alien - the "facehugger", then the"chestburster" and finally the actual Alien. The facehugger is the one that attaches itself to John Hurt's face and lays the eggs inside him. The chestburster scene was shot using a fake torso, with pumps and squibs gushing blood everywhere, and a puppeteer who shoved it up through the torso with a stick. The adult Alien includes a mouth, which when it opens, rather than having a tongue, has a second mouth, which is creepy. For most of the film, it is played by Bolaji Badejo, a 7-foot-2 Nigerian design student. However, the audience doesn't see most of the actual Alien body in full until the end. Random pieces are shown throughout, in order to raise the tension, fear and suspense.
As with all classic horror films of the 1970s, there was an Alien franchise. In 1986, there came Aliens which was co-written and directed by James Cameron. Many consider it to be as good as the original. In 1992, Alien³, directed by David Fincher, was not so good, mostly ruined by the studio. Five years later, Alien: Resurrection was nothing to write home about, although Jean-Pierre Jeunet would later go on to direct Amelie. Then, there came the attempts to match it against the Predator franchise, firstly with AVP: Alien vs. Predator and then AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem. Both of these tried to be set in the present, not a dystopic future. FAIL. Whereas Alien had characters you were interested in and cared about, AVPR especially featured a group of teens running around in their pants. FAIL. At the end of that film, they try to tie up the timescale between it and Alien. FAIL. In 2012, there was the "unofficial" prequel Prometheus, which I thought was OK, featuring great performances from Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender. However, many were disappointed with it, even calling it the worst film of the year. That's a bit harsh.
It is not a fast-paced film, well at least the first half isn't. It very thoughtful and credit there has to go to the writers. It features characters that you care about and fear for their safety. In terms of acting, this is the most acknowledged performance by Sigourney Weaver. She became a pin-up and icon for cinema-goers overnight (mainly for her gutsy survival and not just for the sight of her in her underpants). Still, if you are planning on going into space at any point in the future, this might not be the film to watch the night before the launch...
