Alien (45th Anniversary)
Masterful sci-fi/horror classic from Ridley Scott. Often copied, never surpassed.
‘In space no one can hear you scream,’ we read at the end of ALIEN’s 1979 trailer. A recommendation for a film could hardly be more appropriate. For there is every reason to scream in the spaceship Nostromo, but it doesn’t help. The ship’s crew members are woken from their slumber when an SOS signal is picked up from a distant planet. Once there, they find no people, but large mysterious eggs about to hatch. On the journey back from the planet, a crew member turns out to be infected by one of the creatures hatched in the eggs. It is the beginning of a nerve-wracking battle with the rapidly growing alien, with young Sigourney Weaver in a heroic role – unusual for the time – as the female commander Ellen Ripley.
ALIEN was made on a minimal budget. That does not stop Ridley Scott – who would later become a famous director – from creating an extremely oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere, with sound playing an important role. Those who once heard the slimy birth of the black monster are unlikely to forget it. (jc)