Today, April 26th, is (unofficially) Alien day, named after the planet LV-426 in the legendary movie. So what better time to look back on Ridley Scott’s masterpiece (which turns 40 this year)? Spoilers ahead.
The original Alien, released in 1979, is quite simply legendary. It’s spawned a franchise and a multi-film crossover (it’s probably better not to think about that, though), features one of the most legendary horror movie monsters in history (see above) and one of the most absolutely terrifying jump scares ever filmed (also see above). It’s been endlessly parodied (most notably in The Simpsons and Spaceballs). It has possibly the single most iconic tagline ever. It provided the world with one of the greatest heroes in not just horror, but all of cinema. It’s built a reputation as an absolute touchstone in cinematic history, one of the greatest of all horror films and sci-fi films (and, to be honest, just kinda films). What’s truly amazing about Alien, however, is that it 100% deserves its legacy. Four decades after its original release, it still terrifies and amazes. The aforementioned jump scare somehow manages to maintain its horror on repeat viewings, the climax of the film is exactly as intense on every watch. Visually, Scott’s directorial brilliance shines through throughout the entire film, from the mysterious, alluring shots of the alien planet to the eerie, frightening darkness that conceals the monster for most of its existence aboard the Nostromo. How, after 40 years, does Alien hold up so well?
My first experience with Alien was a few months ago, before I was a horror movie fan. Alien is a major reason for my obsession with the genre, due to the experience that was my initial viewing. Alien was simply different from anything I had seen, and I’m positive that this has been the experience of many, many other people who have become acquainted with the film over the last 40 years. One thing that makes Alien so fascinating is that it famously isn’t in a hurry. The first half of the movie is building up the atmosphere that forms the crux of its greatness in the second. Alien unfolds at such a slow pace, and this is because there’s so little that happens. The major events are as follows: The crew of the Nostromo is woken from sleep due to a distress signal. Some of the crew embarks onto the planet that sent out the signal. One of them is attacked by an unidentified organism. He is brought onto the ship in a coma. He wakes up and is then immediately killed (in possibly the greatest death scene in the history of film, another accolade for Alien). The alien that bursts out of his chest escapes into the ship. The rest of the film is the surviving crew slowly getting picked off one by one (save for Sigourney Weaver’s iconic Ripley and Jones the cat) punctuated by a massive revelation that they’ve been set up to die so that the Weyland-Yutani corporation, which employs them, can get their hands on the alien. These events are stretched out over a runtime of 1 hour and 56 minutes, and Alien never manages to feel boring for a second. Ridley Scott’s skill is visible in every frame as he constructs a flawless masterwork of tension in which long periods unfold with legitimately nothing happening. Alien is undeniably sparse, and this is where it succeeds, where it finds the otherworldly excellence that evades the countless pretenders to the throne that followed it.
Alien’s unique style is a reason why it holds up today, but the reason why it’s entered the general consciousness in the way it has is because of single indelible moments and aspects of the film. Would Alien be the classic it is today if it weren’t for the legendary chestburster scene? Would it routinely crack top 10 lists of the greatest horror movies ever if the vent scene (the mere words make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up) had been done differently? How many movies can you name whose tagline is so intertwined with the film itself? The image of the egg cracking open to reveal a green glow. The facehugger. All of these are iconic images that any casual movie fan is familiar with. There is one thing, however, that is more memorable, more famous, more terrifying than any of those.
I’m referring, of course, to the Xenomorph. The Alien itself. H.R. Giger’s notorious creature is an icon in its own right, a horror villain on par with Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Hannibal Lecter. There’s endless literature on how the creature was designed to elicit specific responses, how it was designed, created, etc. At the most basic level, the thing is just straight-up terrifying.
If Alien were simply the sum of its parts, it would be a pretty fantastic movie. But it’s not. There’s a quality to watching Alien that’s hard to pin down. It’s endlessly rewatchable, boundlessly iconic, and pretty close to, if not totally, perfect. Alien is one of the greatest cinematic classics there is. Over the last 40 years, you can hear a whole lot of people scream.
The Movie Files 