Alien

Going in to Alien I was fully prepared for one of the greatest thriller/horror films ever, and it did not disappoint. Despite being a little bit slow starting, when it gets going it is an edge of the seat, fast-paced film with twists and turns where you never thought they’d be. There will be spoilers in this review, so be advised to stop reading if you haven’t seen it and want to.

The film follows the crew of a ship that are being stalked by an alien bent on killing all of them. It follows the pattern for many other horror films at the time, but given it was released in 1979, if anything it sets the pattern for other horror films. Considering how old it is, the visual effects are wonderful and the design of the alien is fantastic. Also, the cast is full of actors who go on to bigger and better things, largely as a result of this film. The success of this film can be measured in terms of the franchise around it. There is a vast range of comic books, novels, video games and sequels and prequels to the film. With three sequels and three prequels, Alien is one of the all-time great horror movies.

Sigourney Weaver, who becomes the focal point for the sequel films, is the famous Officer Ripley, who manages to escape the ship, blow it up, and then fight the alien one last time. She contributes an awful lot to the success of the films, and does a very good job in this role. Also making an appearance are Tom Skerritt (from MASH and Top Gun), John Hurt (from The Elephant Man, and Ollivander in Harry Potter), Ian Holm (Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings films), and Yaphet Kotto (the main villain from Live and Let Die). None of the actors particularly excel in the film, but they all add to the dynamic of the early scenes/

One of the main things that Alien is famed for is that it is more realistic than other films. This may seem like an odd statement, I mean, an alien attacking a commercial spaceship isn’t particularly realistic. However, before filming started the director, Ridley Scott, wrote the all the characters a backstory to help them prepare for their roles. Also, the cast didn't all get on which each other, and this translates into the film. Therefore, when the characters get annoyed with one another it looks so real mainly because it is. This is good and I like to think that instead of the happy, jokey image of a film set the actors were on edge with each other. Another thing is that during the chestbuster scene (if you have seen it then you will know) the actors knew what was going to happen but they didn't know how. That means that their shock and surprise when blood spurts out is genuine. To make them unaware of this is such a brilliant idea, and the sense of realism around the film has to be another prominent factor in its success.

One of the most difficult things to do in filmmaking is to build genuine tension in the audience and when I was watching Alien I was genuinely tense. There is something about the way that you rarely see the Alien and the idea of its presence is scarier than actually seeing it. The first very tense scene is when John Hurt’s face is encapsulated by the Alien. It is difficult to know what to expect, and when I first saw Alien I didn't know what the plot was at all. This scene is a horrible one, and the ‘egg’ that has attached itself to his face is fantastically designed. However, it is the design of the alien that makes the film so tense. It is easy to design a monster with big teeth and claws that could kill you as soon as you could blink, but the idea of having a mouth which houses another mouth is fantastic, and makes the alien much more imposing. Also, rather like some films these days which introduce the villain straight away, Alien leaves it a good while before showing you the alien. The use of ‘other measures’ of showing the threat posed by the alien is brilliant as well. Instead of seeing a fast-moving alien stalking Dallas in the ventilation shaft, all you see is a dotted line moving closer and closer to him.

The best thing about Alien though is the plots within the plots. One of the crew members is revealed to be an android which wanted to bring the alien back to study it. However the crew discover this and ‘kill’ him. Normally you’d have a film about an alien and what not, but here you have a film with sub-plots. It was a twist that I didn't see coming and that is what Alien does so well. It surprises you just past the point where you think everything is okay again. At the end of the film for example I thought the alien would probably be in the escape pod with her, but this wasn't revealed for so long that I had dismissed the idea and therefore wasn't expecting it to happen when it eventually did.

The legacy of Alien will live on for a while, and having seen the film it is easy to understand why. From the timeless tagline ‘In Space No One Can Hear You Scream’ to the incredible graphics and the genuinely tense storyline, Alien is a film that sets the standard for many horror films to come. It is a thrilling film, and is definitely one to watch.