Alien, or When you see an abandoned spaceship LEAVE IT ALONE

Title: Alien
Rating: R

Released: 1979

Format: DVD

Version: Director's Cut 2 disc edition

Run Time: 1 hour 57 minutes (1979 Theatrical Cut) 1 hour 56 minutes (2003 Director's Cut)

Purchased: Amazon.com
Price:$14.99


Plot according to imdb.com: When a mining ship lands on a planet to investigate upon a suspected SOS, the entire crew are unaware of the terror which they would unleash upon their ship. When a alien life-form attach's itself to the face of a crew member, the rest of the team act fast to try and separate the two organisms. Unbeknownst to everyone, this is the start of the terror which would affect every member of the seven person crew.

Plot according to Allen:  Innocent people are in space, they find an abandoned ship with a distress call.  Of course they decide to investigate.  People go crazy, and people die.  I don't want to give it away but one of the most bad ass aliens in cinema history is involved.

There used to be a time when the future was this bright happy place full of shiny metals and flying cars.  If you were in space your ship was crisp and clean.  Then Alien happened.  Everything is dark, dirty, broken, and gross looking.  It looks real.  Even over 30 years after it's release Alien still looks new.  The effects work.  The acting is great.  Everything looks timeless.  If they released this exact movie without any of it's other incarnations tomorrow I wouldn't think it looked cheap compared to the Harry Potters of the world.

A lot of that credit has to go to Ridley Scott for his direction and the decisions that he made. H.R. Giger's set and character designs were so ahead of their time that you absolutely believe that that is EXACTLY what aliens look like.  The music is pitch perfect for the mood that they were going for, it's there but it isn't there.  The dialog is sparse, but in all honesty if you are being hunted down by an alien that bleeds acid and has no reservations about eating your face off you probably wouldn't be doing much talking either.  That's why it is such a perfect movie - it's realism.  You feel for these people because you are these people.  Their actions in the face of danger is exactly what you would have done.  The scares work because of the perfect mixture of tension and realism.

Every time I mention this movie to my dad, he tells the story about when he first saw it in the theater with my mother and how she was so scared she left bruising on his leg.  And every time I watch it I believe it, because if I was watching it with someone that is probably what I would do as well.

Final rating: 5 out of 5