Alien

2024 has been such a great year to revisit classics on the big screen, and Alien's 45th Anniversary re-release is no different. Alien has been one of my all-time favorite films since I was in middle school, so I had to see it in the theater, and experience the sheer terror that 1979 audiences did when the film was first released. I have trouble deciding whether I like Ridley Scott's Alien or James Cameron's Aliens better, as it's an apples-and-oranges comparison. Alien is one of the all-time great sci-fi horror films, while Aliens is one of the all-time great sci-fi action spectacles. It's a lot like comparing the first two Terminator films, the first leaning more into the horror and the second bigger-budget installment focusing more on raw thrills. It all comes down to personal preference, but for now I'd say the first Alien and the first Terminator get a very slight edge over their follow-ups, albeit just by a hair. They're all great films in their own ways that have cemented themselves as classics of populist filmmaking and pop culture icons of the late 20th century. What has made Alien last so long, while so many movies of the time have been forgotten? For one, it was made at the perfect time: not only was sci-fi booming thanks to Star Wars (and inspiring numerous cash-ins: even Disney got on the bandwagon with The Black Hole and James Bond got on it with Moonraker, and there was even a Star Trek film released in '79) but the film industry was also right in the middle of the New Hollywood movement, when visionary adult-oriented films could be as successful as the latest action blockbuster. Alien is where the spectacular sci-fi of Star Wars and the disturbing, gritty quality of great 70s horror intersect. Ridley Scott didn't like sci-fi much when he signed on to Alien, as he was much more inspired by Texas Chainsaw Massacre's raw terror, giving a unique perspective on sci-fi. The film starts off with a slow-burning, arguably somewhat procedural first half that shows off the beautiful sets and builds up to the terror about to unfold: much more 2001 than Star Wars. The second half, kicked off by the iconic chestburster, would not work at all without the lengthy buildup. And that second half is when the film goes from an intriguing, technically marvelous sci-fi story to an all-out horrifying thriller: a horror movie in space. Setting most of the film inside the Nostromo and focusing on its small crew makes the atmosphere instantly claustrophobic, and grounds this sci-fi story in realism. The incredible set design, created by Ron Cobb and the legendary H.R. Giger, gives the film its grotesqueness and unique visual style. The Nostromo feels lived-in and a little dirty, (which fits the characters' working-class backgrounds) in direct contrast to the overly polished sci-fi spaceships we're used to seeing. Once the crew gets to the crashed spaceship from which they find the egg-laying facehugger, the set designs get really spectacular. The level of detail in the sets, and the design of the xenomorph, facehugger, the space jockey (probably the most outstanding design in the whole film), and alien egg, is astounding and makes them look even more grotesque, all thanks to Giger's work. This is some of the best design in a sci-fi film, I'd argue the best set designs in any film period. That level of grotesque detail also applies to the amazing gore effects, the chestburster covering poor John Hurt in that dark Dick Smith fake blood, and Ash's milky android blood spurting all over the crew. The star of the show, however, is the xenomorph, one of the greatest designs for a creature. If the creature effects didn't work, Alien wouldn't work, and the design is ingenious. Its lack of eyes, smooth head and two mouths make for a distinct, hideous but oddly beautiful creature. The later sequels achieved this imagery with CGI, but did not capture nearly the impressive detail and believability of the original Alien or Aliens' practical work. The designs as a whole lend the film to readings of its body horror imagery as symbols of rape: the xenomorph looks like a giant penis monster, the caverns in the crashed ship look like giant vaginas, and the facehugger essentially orally rapes Kane. As a result, the film becomes so much more terrifying: the xenomorph isn't out to simply kill you, but to violate you. Those amazing effects and sets are captured with some stunning widescreen photography by Derek Vanlint, which captures each member of the Nostromo crew in wides. Films like Alien are exactly what widescreen was made for, as the frame showcases each and every small detail of the sets. In the tense dialogue scenes among the crew, the filmmakers make sure we see each person on the ship, in wide shots that sometimes hold for uncomfortable lengths, adding to the sense of tension and community amongst them. Sometimes the camera goes handheld as the crew walks along the crashed spaceship, and when they are on the run from the xenomorph, and to stunning effect. When we go to video footage as the crew gets to the spaceship, it helps ground the story even more into a documentary-like reality. The filmmakers also make sure not to show the xenomorph too often, instead taking a Jaws-like approach of "less is more", building up to its full appearance. To show the xenomorph too much would have drawn too much attention to the creature itself, which could have overshadowed the characters it's on the hunt for, or made the creature look fake. They don't often show the graphic ways in which the xenomorph kills its victims, cutting away from the gory details; if anything, this makes the violence more unsettling than if it were shown in detail. Lambert's death is kept completely offscreen, and consequently is the most disturbing death scene in the whole film. The film has a few jumpscares, but they are aided by such unbearable suspense that they become genuinely affecting. Alien terrified me as a kid because of this, and still made me feel tense in the theater years later. The sound design makes the film even more effective. The absence of sounds during suspense scenes enhances the tension, adding to the coldness of the Nostromo and space shuttle settings. When we go inside the Nostromo, and hear the computer blips and background whirring, the auditory design really shines and creates a brilliant sense of dread. As the Nostromo self-destructs, loud alarms and fans assault the audience's senses and make their hearts pound, the sound becoming even more intense as rumbling, bassy explosions dominate the soundscape. This was one of the earliest films mixed in Dolby Stereo, shortly after Star Wars took full advantage of the format, so the film's audio sounds fantastic for the time. Jerry Goldsmith's score is also one of the most underrated film scores of all time. Goldsmith's orchestra swells with some softer tunes, eliciting a childlike wonder when we first go into space, before it goes into unsettling high strings as the crew discovers the grotesque space jockey. This is one of the greatest horror soundtracks for its mix of classical scoring and more avant-garde sounds. But like Spielberg does with John Williams' greatest scores, the film doesn't overuse Goldsmith's score; the film's scariest scenes, namely the chestburster and most of the finale, are without any music. But Alien absolutely would not work if there wasn't a strong cast of characters to care about. So many sci-fi and horror films have stupid and annoying characters whose deaths we're waiting for, but Alien doesn't fall into that trap.(Prometheus wasn't so lucky... run left!). Here we have a fascinating dynamic among the trucker-like crew of the Nostromo: Tom Skerritt's Dallas, the great Harry Dean Stanton's Brett, John Hurt's ill-fated Kane, Yaphet Kotto's somewhat opportunistic Parker, Veronica Cartwright's frightened Lambert, Ian Holm's Ash--a suspicious presence on the ship who we always know something's off with--and of course, Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo. Every actor is superb in their parts, the standouts being Hurt, Holm, and of course Weaver, whose incredible performance as Ripley made her a star overnight. We might not agree with every method the crew members use to survive by, but they're smart and never irritating; not even Lambert, who's just as terrified by the xenomorph as us, and doesn't have an uber-masculine hero to save her. There's something of a hierarchy among the crew that I noticed on this viewing, between the scientists (Lambert, Kane, and Dallas) and the more trucker-like working-class technicians (Ripley, Brett, and Parker), that inevitably leads to tension. The truckers want nothing more than to kill the thing, survive, and get their bonuses, and are often ignored by the higher-ups on the crew, who want to study the facehugger. Ultimately, the truckers turn out to be right about the whole thing--along with hints of social commentary as the crew are employed by "the corporation", which foreshadows the presence of Weyland-Yutani and their ulterior motives in the sequel. The true antagonists aren't any space creatures, but the machines that jeopardize the crew: namely the MU-TH-UR computer and one of cinema's greatest twist villains, Ash the android. The crew puts too much trust in these machines, neither of which they know has ulterior motives, one of which they don't even know is a machine! The lack of anybody (or anything) to fully trust outside the crew makes this story suspenseful and engaging. Ellen Ripley's story arc and final moments are ingenious: she goes from a less-active, higher-up presence in the crew to the last chance the crew has at survival, essentially the "final girl" in a space-set slasher flick. Her character was originally written gender-blind, potentially a male, but casting Sigourney Weaver as the resilient, strong survivor Ripley made the film so much more significant, and paved the way for better female roles in cinema; a role that would be successfully expanded upon for Aliens. Alien is, and will always be, an all-time classic. It has not aged a day since its 1979 release, and seeing it again 45 years later confirms that. A superb, essential sci-fi horror that delivers on both blockbuster spectacle and thrilling scares, and has lost none of its power decades later.