Customer Reviews

Alien

5 star:		(225)
4 star:		(70)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I've seen Alien/Aliens a bazillion times and just wanted a hard copy. I paid less than $2 and all i got was Movie Gallery copies. No case, no box, just 2 cds. For me that was fine, but if you're thinking about getting a copy, the cheapest ones will be just the bare bones.

Disc 1 is 1979 Version and 2003(?) Directors Cut
Disc 2 is Making of. Quite long, lot's of content for a movie that old.

Alien (1979)
Science Fiction, Horror, 117 minutes
Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Sigourney Weaver, Ian Holm and Tom Skerritt

I first saw Alien during its original theatrical run in 1979 and appreciated it even more on the big screen. The first half of the movie is the best part. It's dark and atmospheric and there is an element of mystery. We are introduced to the crew of the mining ship and learn the relationships and personalities involved.

The computer screens on the ship seem dated now, but the overall effect of the movie is just as powerful. The story gathers pace when some of the crew investigate the surface of a moon and find a ship from an unknown species. The way this sequence unfolds is almost worthy of Hitchcock.

The purpose of the mission isn't immediately clear, but I won't reveal the details in case you haven't seen the movie. This is essentially a story of survival. While an actual encounter with an alien race might involve peaceful interaction, Alien never suggests for a moment that peace is possible. The creature is a killer and pursues the crew one at a time. Eventually, the battle focuses on Ripley (Weaver) and the alien. The second half of the movie doesn't quite live up to the promise of the first because most of the mystery is gone, but it's still a gripping story.

Like many movies featuring unknown creatures, we rarely see shots of the whole creature. We are shown glimpses as it evolves and our imagination fills in the gaps. When we are eventually shown the whole thing, it adds to the effect and comes as quite a shock as we realize its strength and resilience.

Alien is one of my favorite films of at time. It is a master-piece of tension, physical space, atmosphere, tidy special effects, ensemble acting, and the unrelenting desire to unsettle. Its gorgeous cinemascope frame remains one of the best photographed in the history of film, and its legacy lives on both in the trilogy of sequels it has spawned, the presence of its titular beast (one of the most influential move monsters ever) in our pop culture, and in Sigourney Weavers incarnation of the iconic Ellen Ripley. It remains one of the few films that I can watch over and over again and never get tired of.

All this explains why news of a theatrical re-release became my cinematic event of 2003. I had been looking forward to this for years. Too young to have seen the original film in theaters, I had hoped that eventually the opportunity would present itself.

The chance to see at the marvelous tracking shots through the corridor of the Nostromo, Brett's (Harry Dean Stanton) quest to find the cat Jones in the bowels of the ship, Dallas' (Tom Skerrit) trip into the ventilation system, the verbal and later physical spacing between Ash (Ian Holm) and Ripley, Parker (national treasure Yaphet Kotto) and Brett's comic interplay ... all of that, finally on the big screen.

What's unfortunate about this re-release is the same as most theatrical re-releases of moderate-to-classic films: The director has suffered from a cumulative attack of coulda-woulda-shoulda syndrome, and decides to rethink and rework the film for contemporary audiences. Apocalypse Now Redux. The Exorcist: The version that you've never seen. Those Star War's "special editions." What do all of these films have in common? All of them were diminished with the addition of unnecessary material. In each case, a director who just can't leave well enough alone sullies the classic status of the Original film. (Mad props are due to Brian DePaima, who refused to let Scarface be altered in any way for its limited theatrical reissue before its DVD release ... sense a pattern?)

In interviews, Alien director Ridley Scott has spoken of making little trims here and there to help the pacing of the film) and show more glimpses of the alien). He has said, too, that the addition of the often spoken of "cocoon sequence" now fits very well in the film (the exact opposite of what he had been saying for years).

The original version of Alien starts out slowly, building gradually until the last 25 minutes are as relentlessly paced as any action classic. To try and speed up the first part of the film, then stop dead the last act to include a shocking, previously-deleted scene seems nothing more than a sop to contemporary film-going audiences with no patience for '70s pacing and a fetishized devotion to the cuff of the deleted scene. This is the innovator, not the imitator, and each shift feels like a tiny betrayal.

For This version of Alien to be coiled "The Director it Cut" is a lie. Ridley Scott wasn't forced to cut any material from the original at the studio's behest, nor did he have grave censorship concerns which required toning down any sequences. The film as released to theaters in 1979 was his director's cut, because he and editor Terry Rawlings cut it. This new version, I strongly suspect, exists to promote Fox's up coming Alien DVD box set. The seven-person (and one cat) crew of the Nostromo is again expendable; the priority is delivering more of the alien.

Should you see it? Absolutely as a good 90 percent or more it is still the same film, and its' soundscape will mess you up in a theater with a good system, and the DVD directors cut sounscape definitely falls into the same category, regardless of how large your home TV screen might be. Will it replace the original? Defiantly, no. For new version I give it a *** rating, while rating the original receives a solid **** star rating.

Alien has offered a sense of terror that isn't often attained with regular horror films. The Shining, Jaws, Psycho and The Exorcist are all fine examples of what horror can do, but I think that Alien even goes a tier above them. It is very well executed, and because it relies on shocks and suspense as oppose to just gore it stands the test of time much better then any of its sequels.

I think part of what makes Alien so great is the intense sense of claustrophobia that accompanies the film. Everything is full of metal and smoke, and we tend to feel cramped and stuck. This sense deepens when we are introduced to the Alien through one of the best executed scenes I think of any horror film.
The tagline "in space nobody can hear you scream" seems to carry through very truly, and when we see Veronica Cartwright's reactions we get a sense that we would be just like her in that situation.

Alien is often passed off as 'just another monster movie', but I think that this is pretty unfair, as Alien is just as classy and well executed as any of the above mentioned films.

There is so much I could write about Alien as it happens to be one of my all time favorites, but I think I will leave it at that. See it late at night with the lights turned off, and make sure you check your blood pressure. It never fails to scare a willing viewer. 9/10.

Definitely the best, or one of the best, horror/sci-fi films ever made that set the standard high in every category (yep, the acting, too!)

Well done! "Alien" was very much a "punch-in-the-gut" experience. You know from the outset things are going to go very awry for of the tug Nostromo. The concept of it hauling an oil refinery through space was treated as being "no big thing", used, I suppose, to reflect the oil problems of the 1970s.

This was the first time we here about "The Company', which dabbles in everything from shipping to arms-dealing. It was used in several other movies, the most recent being "Avatar".

Excellent ensemble cast, headed by a very strong Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, who had appeared only in one other film previous (I think...). All the rest from Tom Skeritt to Veronica Cartwright do get great jobs with characters we unfortunately don't get to know too well as they are picked off, one by one.

Ridley Scott, who had worked in commercials, had many tricks up his sleeve: a somewhat muffled dialogue (much ambient noise), dim lighting in the ship (lots of shadows) and the presentation of the Alien itself. The viewer does not get a very good look at this monstrosity (just its mouth and teeth) until right at the end as it clings to the edges of any open air-lock.

PS When I first saw this movie back in the theatre, no one had mentioned the "chest-bursting" scene. A shocking and grisly (for its time) few moments.

Highly recommended, along with James Cameron's "Aliens" (more of a space adventure). The other sequels... if you don't see them, you're not missing much.

Without a doubt, the best horror film I have ever seen and close to the best science fiction movie I've seen. It scared the daylights out of me.

Everything about it was designed to keep your blood pressure up. As one other reviewer suggested, it is not an action film. Its best sequences are the quiet periods before the alien storm, those moments pregnant with expectation and fear: the cat hissing, the breath of fetid air, the creak of piping in the ship, the drip drip of water quietly echoing throught the holds - or is that saliva? The monster is the perfection of evil; the sets fit the atmosphere and only add to the creature's menace; the original premise is believable if one's imagination is allowed to stretch.

If you want to scare your kids, get it. Don't show it to your grandparents, though. Could be dangerous.

The first half hour or so of this movie was a bit slow, and I honestly had a hard time not falling asleep. It got a lot better though and kept me on the edge of my seat. I would recommend this movie if you like science fiction or suspense.

Although it took some time for me to appreciate it, today I can easily agree with many that 1979's "Alien" is one of the greatest science fiction/ horror movies that has ever been made.

A team on board a deep space ship called Nostromo is returning to earth after a deep sleep but then while returning to Earth, receives a mysterious distress signal on a distant planet and are sent in to investigate the source of the signal. During that time, one of them discovers large objects with movement within them. It turns out that these 'objects' are actually organic alien eggs and when one of them hatches, one of the crew is attacked and is brought back to the ship to have the 'alien' removed but the 'blood' of this alien is in fact a super strong molecular acid that eats through almost anything it touches. Even worse, the crew are being hunted and killed one by one by an extremely dangerous alien creature and now they must try to destroy the creature and escape with their lives before it's too late.

While nowhere near as action-packed as it's 1986 sequel "Aliens", this movie however is equally intense as the sequel but in a totally different way. While the sequel benefits from it's tons of action sequences, "Alien" is every bit as intense by it's extremely suspenseful tone and while it may be slow at times, when the intense parts come, they'll make you jump right out of your seat. This movie does not rely so much on action for intensity as it does on immense suspense, tension, and disturbingly quiet tone and then the alien jumps right out into the screen! While "Alien" is slow-paced a lot of the time the pace leads up to terrifying confrontations with the creature as it kills the crew members one by one. Perhaps it's most famous scene of all time is the frighteningly vile scene where one of the crew members who was previously attacked by the 'baby' alien goes into violent convulsions and culminating when a 'baby' alien bursts right out of the mans chest killing him instantly. That scene is perhaps the most famous sci-fi horror scenes ever filmed. I had nightmares for many years after seeing that and even now with a stomach made of titanium steel, I still get very queasy at that scene but it is one of the most original sequences ever filmed to this day.

Ridley Scott's directing is absolutely phenomenal. Being that this was a low budget movie of only 11 Million dollars, Scott and the crew have used the limited resources to create a really stunningly beautiful yet terrifying epic that has been virtually unrivalled to this day. The sets are incredible and the special effects are really awesome. Even then the film shows it's age in some places such as some extremely dated special effects, a few of which are ancient even by early 1980s standards but overall, this film is one of the greatest examples of using the limited budget to an efficient degree and the result is not only a terrifying Sci-Fi horror movie but also one of the greatest landmark achievements in these two genres.

The cast is absolutely spectacular. The career of a then unknown Sigourney Weaver would literally take off right through the roof with her playing the main protagonist character Ellen Ripley. Ripley's character is one of the best woman protagonists that I've ever seen in any movie especially towards the latter half of this movie. It was this that made Weaver into a superstar. She's even better in the 1986 James Cameron directed sequel "Aliens". Perhaps another favorite 'actor' of mines in this movie surprisingly enough is the cat Jones. I absolutely love the scenes where he like hisses at the guy in the storage unit and literally walks away when the alien grabs him and makes a meal out of him.

This "Collector's Edition" two disk set is a massive treat. The first disc alone is a vast improvement on both the VHS and the 1999 "Special Edition" DVD. The picture and sound quality of the original movie was not all that great but this "Collector's Edition" gives this movie a much needed clean-up job on a phenomenal classic and the picture quality is now crystal clear and the sound quality is also vastly improved too and I no longer have to turn the volume up to eardrum bursting levels to hear the movie clearly enough. The first disc contains the original theatrical version untouched for the 'purists' who don't want anything done to it. Disc One also comes with the "Director's Cut" edition where some footage that Scott didn't feel to happy with is removed but is replaced with some newly incorporated footage that wasn't on the original. The result is the movie being only a minute longer but gives the movie a different light.

The second disc contains an excellent 'making of' documentary and you can witness some ego battles between some of the members of the cast especially between Yaphet Kotto and the actor who played the 'Alien' and how they edited it to make their tensions work in the movie itself. It also has tons of other amazing extras that I don't want to point out, out of fear of spoiling the fun of this DVD.

Most horror movies to me are nothing but vile gore fests with little to no plot behind them but "Alien" is one of the best horror movies of all time. It was groundbreaking back in 1979 when it was released and now 25 years later (at the time of writing this review), it is an absolutely classic today. I strongly recommend that you buy this today and get this DVD. This is one of the most smartly assembled DVDs that I've had in recent years and it is on the border of being flawless.

The original Alien is the first and probably the best of the series. Alien may have a slower pace than the action packed Aliens, it had more tension and suspense which is more important in a horror movie. The suspense in Alien is more unnerving than the Alien it self. In Alien, the alien was invicible, no one could kill it. The aliens in Aliens were fairly easy to kill which made for stuning action sequences, but adversely made them less frightening.
Don't get me wrong Aliens is a great Action Thriller movie and it is the perfect sequel to Alien, Aliens is an Action Thriller movie while Alien is a true horror movie.