'Alien' - A Movie Review

When you return to earth, please don’t bring an alien back with you!

Alien crawled onto the big screen forty years ago! During their expeditions in unknown territory in outer space, a small crew is attacked by a dangerous creature. It’s only a matter of escape before the alien attacks them all.

I had a blast catching a re-release of Alien in theaters. I could feel the nostalgia mixed with terror around the theater. I watched this film a long time ago and I forgot so much about it, save for a couple of notoriously famous scenes. Alien is a superb sci-fi thriller that has you on the edge of your seat no matter how many times one has seen it.

Sigourney Weaver’s performance as Ripley was magnificent from beginning to end! I loved her leadership, especially her brutality when spitting out orders to her crew. Weaver single-handedly steals the show as she scrambles recklessly through the dark corridors of the shuttle, scared witless. No matter how terrified you are, never back down!

Alien has a minimal cast of only seven actors! Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto were outstanding as the crew members. They’re mainly here for research, and not to make friends, which is very obvious just by the way they interact and feel about each other.

Although they are seen having fun in conversation, there is clear tension among the members of the crew. What I like about Alien is that it does not shy away from negative altercations. Whether you like someone or not, you have to figure out how to put up someone’s habits, which the crew succeeds in.

No cat gets left behind. Even Jones the Cat has a notable appearance hissing at the creature and running from the terror. I love how the cat was not forgotten amongst the terror as the crew is scrambling for safety even with minimal time on their hands.

In one of Alien’s most famous scenes in which a new lifeform births itself from the chest of Kane. That scene in itself was frightening. It’s gross, painful to watch, and yet your eyes are hooked wanting to know what will happen.

Even the actors had no idea what going to happen! Their expressions of terror when blood sprays all over them is real! That’s right, the director didn’t inform them of what was going to happen to inspire a genuine reaction .

The alien was so frightening! Its monstrous and bleak appearance with sinister, sharp teeth, claws, and no eyes was so menacing that it scared me in a well-directed jump scare! The horror of Alien is that nobody, including the audience, has any idea of where the creature is or the next time it will pop up again.

For the construction of the alien, Bolaji Badejo, a seven-foot-tall man, wore the threatening monster suit, slowly looming through the hallways. That was very impressive! The alien’s appearance went through several renditions throughout filming until finding the right form to make the monster look real.

Director Ridley Scott created tension right from the beginning. Everything from the way he shot his sequences in terrific dark cinematographic lighting sold the right atmosphere of the film.

Alien slithers at a suitable pace, first slowly getting to the know the crew in their normal routine, and then gasping when a face-hugging creature has a crew member encased, followed by relief when all the terror seems to have diminished until the final hour is filled with suspense until the gripping conclusion.

Alien is a stellar masterpiece that left a terrifying mark on film history! It is a fantastic, well-acted sci-fi thriller that makes your heart pound. Grab some popcorn and watch the horror unfold.