Alien (1979)

4/5

Crew on the commercial spacecraft Nostromo are traveling back to Earth from Thedus with their cargo containing ore when they are awoken by an unknown signal from a nearby planet. With orders from their employers, they land on the planet and further investigate the transmission. Three members of the crew, Kane, Dallas and Lambert leave the Nostromo to track the signal and soon discover hundreds of alien eggs that are still in the incubation period. When Kane inspects one of the eggs, it opens up and some sort of parasite attaches itself to his face, rendering him unconscious. Dallas and Lambert manage to carry him back to the ship where the creature lays an egg in Kane’s stomach then dies. Kane regains consciousness and feels okay, not knowing later, he will die violently when the parasite inside him rips his stomach open and escapes inside the ship, picking the crew off one by one and growing in size as it does so.

Ridley Scott who directs does a fantastic job, bringing the standard ingredients of a horror movie set in a dark grim house, then polishes them up and shifts them to a spaceship, giving us this deliberate scary shocker with the added bonus of the thriller element that keeps you glued to the seat. Without question one of the finest horror films ever made.

A Region 1 and 2 DVD release includes commentary by Ridley Scott, cast and technical crew, two versions of the film with an extended running time of 2 hr 17 mins with deleted scenes and storyboards etc.

Bananas

Starring

Sigourney Weaver (Ripley)

Tom Skerritt (Dallas)

John Hurt (Kane)

Ian Holm (Ash)

Veronica Cartwright (Lambert)

Harry Dean Stanton (Brett)

USA Color 1 hr 57 mins Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller

Director

Ridley Scott

Screenplay