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ALIEN
(1979/ 116 minutes-Rated R)
Director-Ridley Scott
CAST:
Tom Skerritt ...Dallas
Sigourney Weaver ...Ripley
Veronica Cartwright ...Lambert
Harry Dean Stanton ...Brett
John Hurt ...Kane
Ian Holm ...Ash
Yaphet Kotto ...Parker
Bolaji Bad ...The Alien
Helen Horton ...Mother(voice)
GENRE: Horror Films
Reviewed by Shelby Sherman and DVD Director's Cut viewed on a
Panasonic 42” Plasma HDTV monitor with Dolby 5.1 surround
sound.
Every time I view Alien I can't help but to marvel with awe at
this timeless masterpiece horror classic, the best of its genre ever
made. Ridley Scott, with the help of breathtaking, brilliant Alien
design from H.R. Giger, takes the viewer to the very end of the
nightmare tunnel, the darkest recesses of the worst nightmare
imaginable. This movie is made on a shoestring budget and the old
fashioned way, with imagination and talent. The end result is the
absolute epitome of horror that gets better with age. The Nostromo
is a mining ship, a huge towing vessel, created with sets that were
dark, claustrophobic and unforgiving. Most
of these sets were made out of old airplane parts and the result was
a spectacular achievement in horror, with
flickering lights, gently swaying and clanking chains and dripping
water, providing a sinister environment for a most unwelcome guest.
The crew and cast are a blue-collar lot of unknowns, but the
chemistry and acting is superb, disturbing and believable, enhancing
the absolutely real horror that awaits each one of them. There are
no superheros here, as they were in no way prepared for what awaited
them. They are scared, and rightfully so, and no one projects this
better than Veronica Cartwright as Lambert, the very embodiment of a
hysterical, sobbing woman scared out of her wits...and for very good
reason. This is simply the scariest
movie ever made, so enough niceness and on with the review!
On a scale of
1.0-10.0 (worst-best)
MOVIE 10.0/10.0
Simply the best horror film ever made, an outstanding classic that
keeps on scaring.
Alien is truly awesome from beginning to end. The hands on effort
and imagination of Scott Ridley is stunning, even in this day and age
of special effects and CGI. The designs of Giger are wildly
original, horrifically breathtaking and
unforgettable. The editing by Terry Rawlings was crisp and
parsimonious, making for a perfect storm of a horror flick. No one
who has seen Alien will ever forget the dinner scene, one of
the most dramatic even to be presented to an unwary viewer. Even the
actors were unaware of what was coming down, maximizing the effect of
the event. Memorable!
SOUNDTRACK
10.0/10.0 All I can say is “Wow!”
Jerry Goldsmith hits home run after home run with the score for this
movie. Never has the terror been enhanced more than by this
wonderful score and timely cues. A magnificent effort.
BADASSCICITY
∞(that's INFINITY!)/10.0
It can never get any badder than the Alien.
It is almost always dangerous to
project an absolute about anything, but as far as I am concerned,
everyone else can just flush their so-called monsters or baddasses
down the sewer. [Green Goblin in Spiderman, yeah, right!]
I'm sorry, there just can't be anything in reality or the
human imagination that can top this creature that we barely get to
see during most of this horror classic. The metaphorically rich
design of this snarling, biting, chomping, eviscerating
and head-banging nightmare from the
bowels of hell can never be duplicated or topped. If you disagree
with me, then you are wrong. If you think the Predator had a bad
attitude, you will not believe the unchartable hostility that the
Alien carries around as second nature. The Predator, as tough as he
was is about the equivalent of the Pillsbury doughboy when compared
to this “bad boy”. Ash said it best, “ It's
structural perfection is only matched by its hostility...Perfect
organism...unclouded by conscience, remorse,
or delusions of morality.” Chilling.
SET
DESIGN/ARTWORK 20.0/10.0 No computer graphics in Alien, they
did it with imagination and talent.
Every time I revisit this movie,
I must take pause to reflect on the enormous raw talent and
creativity that made it possible. The ships are organic, almost
alive as was terrifyingly demonstrated by
the creepy, cavernous spaceship that surrounded an even creepier
Space Jockey. I cannot say enough about the use of lighting and
sound which complimented Goldsmith's wonderful musical score. Ridley
Scott is a genius and his creativity with using ordinary objects and
hands on attention to detail make this film what it is. The design
of the Alien monster is a feat that will probably never be
duplicated.
CORPSE
COUNT 10.0/10.0 We will really never know, will we?
While this is not as important in
a horror movie as it is in a Carnage/Action movie, I think that
special mention should be made of the creativity of the Alien kills.
We never know how many he or his gene line have killed previously.
It's what it does best. Violent does not begin to describe his
methodology....Heart-stopping.
SAPPINESS
.01/10.0 No love here at all
Kudos to Ridley Scott for axing a
scene that would have alluded some sort of
thing between Dallas and Ripley. Alien does not distract the
viewer or detract from the fear by any sort of mushiness. By the end
of the movie Ripley has demonstrated that she has some “balls”
even though we see that she is all female when we are treated to just
one glimpse of her barely pantied mons in what was the only scene in
the movie that could be considered marginally erotic. This movie
takes care of business, and its business is to turn your underwear
brown.
~SPOILERS
CORNER~
[Major Spoilers below here, so if
you haven't seen the movie, be warned!]
WoW! I don't know where to
begin.... From the terrifying sets to the even more terrifying
Alien, with a very sinister elongated head replete with rows of
smashing teeth, the viewer is uneasy and usually scared shitless,
time and time again. The movie literally oozes with organic evil as
the makers of Alien put on a clinic of how to scare you
properly! Ridley Scott shows you just enough to make your
imagination and terror run wild as the viewer only get
glimpses of the terror of all terrors.
There are 3 scenes in this movie
that really stand out. First, of course is the Last Supper
chest-bursting scene. Much has been said and written about this, you
must see it to believe it, one of the most dramatic scenes ever
attempted on the screen. It was brilliant!
The second scene was when Brett
went to retrieve the cat, Jones. You just knew, you just knew that
when Brett went through those double doors that something terrible
was about to happen. The sets literally emanate haunting malevolence
as the inconsistent lighting, the swaying, clanking chains, the
dripping water and the dirty, grimy mining
machinery, poised to come alive at any moment! Here is where first
Jones and then the doomed Brett get a first look at the monster and
brother what a monster he is! I still get chill bumps as Jone is a
non-human witness to an unparalleled ruthless brutality with those
chains still swaying and clanking, HELL YES!
The third memorable scene employs
what a great horror movie always employs and that is the unexpected
and ingenious plot twist. Ash is revealed
as a Company planted robot, charged with bringing the Alien back to
earth in an ultra violent and equally terrifying reality check at
Mother's console. That oozing milk-mouth, and the reverberating and
super chilling voice of the freshly decapitated Ash, did nothing to
encourage what was left of the Nostromo crew. He coldly let them
have it between the eyes as to what they were REALLY up against.
Unforgettable.
PREFERRED
ENDING
Somehow it just didn't seem right
for Ripley to get the best of this Alien from Hell, even with the
brilliant twist of the monster stowing away (again). My preferred
ending is for the Alien to fall madly in love with Ripley, skull-fuck
her (an amorous adventure that she unfortunately will not survive)
and to direct the craft to The White House, where he again falls
madly in love with First Lady Rosanne Carter.
One of the best
movies ever made!
Add your comment to this page
 | | | | | | From: |
Shelby Sherman | Subject: | 2004-05-12 21:25:55 |
| | | | | | From: |
Tom Kiely | Subject: | 2007-04-29 18:45:01 |
| | | | |
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