Alien
Alien (1979)
"It's got a wonderful defense mechanism. You don't dare kill it."
The idea for Alien was a bit of an under-used concept at the time. The merging of horror and sci-fi wasn't something that wasn't done very often, certainly not in the late 70s where the trend for horror was to pit a group of over-sexed teenagers against a murderous psychopath. However, the release of Star Wars two years, prior changed the movie-making landscape and studios everywhere were looking to cash in on anything space-related.
From a story standpoint, Alien isn't that much different than a standard horror film at the time. In fact, it really is just a haunted house movie, but the house is replaced by a spaceship. The first act, like most in the genre, starts off slow by design. This is so we, as the audience, can get to know the characters a bit so we care when they start dying. Once the alien gets loose aboard the ship and starts picking off crew members one by one, is when the story starts to pick up. This was where I received my first surprise of the film. I always remembered the film to be somewhat plodding and deliberate in its pacing (that's why I've always preferred the more frenetic and action-packed sequel), but on this viewing, I realized that I was misremembering a bit as I found the movie to be paced quite well. It's certainly not as fact-paced as Aliens, but for a horror movie focused on building tension and suspense, it actually moved along quite quickly.
Speaking of tension, director Ridley Scott really makes the most of the setting by using the dark and confined ship corridors to really give the film a claustrophobic feeling to it that keeps the audience on the edge of its seat. Scott also builds tension by keeping the fully-grown alien hidden for most of the film, letting the audience use its imaginations to ramp up the scares even more. I've harped on this point time and again in this blog, but it's a real contrast to more modern movies that would use CGI to show the creature in all of its glory as much as possible, which is never as scary as what our minds can conjure up. That being said, I've never been particularly scared of anything in this film but that's just because I don't find these types of films all that scary (it's the supernatural-focused films that freak me out more).
Acting/Characters:
Despite a relatively small cast, this film managed to fill it with a ton of acting heavyweights. The centerpiece is of course, Sigourney Weaver as Ripley but I'm not going to delve to deeply into her performance here because I think her portrayal of the character was much better in the sequel and, thus I won't take up too much time discussing it here. The characters themselves are all fairly established tropes that one might find in any horror movie. Most of them are fairly shallow and given a basic personality and that's about it. We don't even know their first names. Still, given the lack of depth for each character there were a couple of standout performances, starting with...
Ian Holm's portrayal of the Nostromo's mysterious science officer, Ash. Holm plays the character as distant and somewhat detached from the rest of the crew, with a sinister vibe about him. That's the interesting bit about the character, his near child-like enthusiasm regarding the alien almost makes you forget that he may be up to something more nefarious. I won't go into too many details, lest I wander into spoiler territory for those who haven't seen the film, but it really is a great performance from a fantastic actor.
I also want to highlight Yaphet Kotto, who really is one of the more underrated actors of the 70s. Kotto plays Parker, one of the Nostromo's two engineers. Parker is one of those guys that we've probably all come into contact with at some point. He's loud, obnoxious and has a high opinion of himself. He's set up in the first act almost as if he might be a secondary human antagonist but when the shit hits the fan, he's front and center with Ripley, trying to kill the creature. Of all the characters in the film, next to Ripley, Parker has one of the better arcs.
The rest of the cast is played ably, for the most part. Tom Skerritt is always well cast in an authoritative role and his turn as Captain Dallas is no different. Harry Dean Stanton does a good job as Brett, Parker's fellow tool-pusher. John Hurt is unfortunately underused as Kane, mostly because many of his scenes involve him lying on a cot with an alien stuck to his face. If there's one klunker in the cast, it's Veronica Cartwright as Lambert. Unfortunately, Cartwright was a victim of the all too common horror trope of the panicky female, so it's not altogether her fault.
Visual Effects:
I've said it before and I'll say it again. There's no better visual director out there than Ridley Scott and this film is often cited as "Exhibit A' in that argument. Scott builds upon what Lucas did in Star Wars by presenting us a future that is dirty and grimy. The decks of the Nostromo look nothing like what you'd see in Star Trek or some other, more hopeful piece of sci-fi. Instead, the interior of the ship looks much like one might see on any commercial cargo ship from today. That decision, as mentioned above, really helped build tension in the story.
Of course, I can't talk about the film's visuals without talking about the alien itself. It was designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger and was unlike anything seen on film at the time. It's rare in monster movies, especially at this point in movie history, where the audience is treated to a truly original monster but Giger nailed the design of this thing. It truly is terrifying and was the introduction to one of the greatest monsters in cinema history.
Score/Soundtrack:
The film's music was composed by Jerry Goldsmith and was incredibly effective in adding to the tension. The score is so subtle that you don't even notice it most of the time. Even during the film's many jump scares, I didn't really notice the score building, which is a testament to how well it fit into the movie as a whole. In particular, I liked the music for the film's opening sequence in which Goldsmith uses just a few notes repeated to really build up the suspense and quiet danger of space and it kind of reminded me of what John Williams did in Jaws. All in all, a great score.
Action:
There's mot much action to be found here. There certainly some very tense moments in the film, but as far as full-on action set pieces there really isn't any. However, the scene in which Dallas goes searching through the ship's air ducts to locate the alien is a highlight, as is the sequence in the final act where Ripley is frantically trying to get to an escape pod before the ship explodes is another one. Of course I have to mention that infamous scene at the dinner table, which...well that's one of the most iconic scene in the history of cinema. Not a ton of action, but there's definitely scenes that will keep one on the edge of their seat.
Final Verdict:
It's fair to say that my opinion of this film improved with this most recent viewing. I think I still may prefer the sequel more (although that opinion may change by next week), but I certainly can appreciate how groundbreaking this film was. It is a must see for both sci-fi and horror fans. You know what? It really is one of those films that should be required viewing for any film fan, regardless of genre. It's a classic.
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