Alien

seeing this film for the first time after watching The Thing (1982), it is very hard to not compare them. Both are about a battle of survival between a dangerous alien and the humans trapped within its reach, but also about containing that alien and not letting it get to the rest of humanity.  i think Alien really excelled at making the crew feel so isolated and helpless. the spaceship they are on is always making beeping noises and breaking, sending sparks of electricity and flashing lights everywhere which not only makes for great scenery, but also had me convinced that there was no way any of them were ever going to make it home. the score was also great, or the lack of one i should say, there are plenty of moments in the film with just silence that makes everything so eerie. my biggest gripe with this film is probably the alien itself and his kills. it works fine, but i was just expecting more, especially after watching The Thing, it just seemed like a standard movie monster and not this “perfect organism” killing machine that Ash described it as. I think my favorite kill was when it gets Dallas in the vents, as that one definitely gave me a jump, but other than that it was pretty standard. Also have to give props for the ending, it really got me because i went from thinking that nobody would make to cheering ripley on as she delivers the badass “i got you, you son of a bitch”, to then being just as shocked as she is to see the Alien still alive in the escape pod with her.  If i had seen this before The Thing i for sure would have liked it more but it was still great.