Alien: Review By Bawnian©-Dexeus

Alien is a 1979 sci-fi horror film.

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Bolaji Badejo as the Alien.

Recorded unknown species: Egg, Facehugger, Chestbuster and Alien Xenomorph.

Let me tell you a story about how I got to watch the infamous Alien classic. Back in the VHS era, lets say 15 years ago (I was 6) , I walked into Blockbuster with my dad to buy a new movie. Back in these days, the store where I went to had a small section where they sold some new releases. Not sure if this applies to all stores, but this one was popular for that section. As usual, I would let go of my father's hand and did my routine walk around the store. I entered the romance section, cartoon section, anime section, always stayed clear of the adult section because the last time I did, I got an earful of anger from la madre. The one section I never crossed was the horror section thanks to my dad who thought funny to show my Arachnophobia. I decided it was time to put on the big boy pants and so I ventured the aisle. I saw the covers of all the slasher films, ghost genre, demon genre, and the so on. It was all in alphabetical order and I had started from Z-A. when I reached the end, the cover for Alien caught my eye. Something about a dinosaur sized egg with green stuff coming out of the crack allured me. I didn't pursue it until I visited the store several times later. By the time I got the courage to ask my dad to get it for me, he denied it. Couple years go buy and we were close to the DVD era, but my dad gave in and we rented Alien. Guys, it was an incredible experience. Oddly enough, I wasn't scared or jumped on my seat like I did with the spider, but I was glued to the screen.

Ridley Scott only has two sci-fi movies in his resume, where this film, I see it as the predominant production of his career in filmmaking. Granted, the man has explored all genres and has even mashed up two into one, but one must never forget their roots. Audience will know the name Ridley Scott in one of three movie events: Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator. From dating back as far to George Melies Trip to the Moon to Stanley Kubrick's game changer 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien changes the genre once again with fear. the primary emotion carried throughout the early years of space traveling films is the human mind. Our species cannot help travel into the unknown. It is curiosity that wills us to seek answers to that which we must learn and study. Sadly, curiosity always kills the cat.

On board the Nostromo, the year is roughly 2063 and the ship is returning from what seems to have been a long travel with 20 million pounds of mining ore with a crew of seven individuals. The crew work for Weyland Industries. Your average horror movie tends to have teen to college looking characters. To be fair, the crop of actors in this movie were fairly young, but still adult aged. It was only around last year that I recognized ian Holmes and John Hurt (very talented actors mind you). Being in Annie Hall didn't anything to Sigourney's career, where being in Alien put her on the map as one of today's most recognizable classic actresses. She fell under the routine plot for horror movies, where the sole surviving female gets the stones to fight back against the antagonist, and the other female character is the sissy easily scared character. her acting here was above average and underrated. However, the real shine goes to Ian Holmes, a man you all recognize initially as Bilbo baggins in The lord of the Rings. other will recognize him from his earlier career in films like Fifth Element, Loch Ness and Chariots of Fire. He plays Ash, a discovered artificial intelligence android purposely added to the Nostromo mission to collect the specimen on LV-426. It comes to light that the company has been in contact before with said planet, but was the Xenomorph the intended target?

The editing and visuals utilizing practical effects and Kubrick level models are the elements to this production that really put it on the map. From the moment the facehugger appeared on screen, you have to admit it was pretty difficult not to be mesmerized by something you know was fake, but could not help embrace its mystery. Then comes the chestburster and the Xenomorph and all hell breaks loose. in enters the famous tagline "in space...no one can hear you scream". Ridley edited the move in such a fashion that for today's standards, the suspense is ever present until the moment you finally see the Alien. Lord knows the level of imagination that was undergone to create such a magnificent creature. I have already delved into the mythology of the Xenomorph in my other reviews so I shall close it here. Lastly, it's obvious Scott was inspired by 2001, and you can see it with the onboard computer named Mother. Sure, it was preinstalled by Weyland Industries to help the crew on their mission, but also purposely led them to LV-426 on company programmed orders. Especially when Mother writes "All members expendable." Remind you of HAL anyone?

It redefined sci-fi yet again in the best way possible, and deserves a spot in my top ten of all time. With Prometheus just around the corner, I urge for you not to go into the theater with "Alien" on the brain, because prequel or not, I highly doubt it will be called to question. But, I have to ask, when will we EVER learn the origin of the Xenomorph?

Written by: Bawnian©-Dexeus.