Before 1979, if you said the word alien people immediately thought of little green men in rubber masks or face paint with toy laser guns and tinfoil spacesuits, gliding through a construction paper cosmos in a plastic ship held up on string. This is how my dad, Duke explained it when I was a kid. Once Ridley Scott’s science-fiction horror masterpiece debuted, people never thought of extraterrestrials the same way again. Suddenly they were monsters that looked and acted in horrific ways we couldn’t imagine, and we couldn’t run or fight. Truly, in space no one could hear you scream. Alien is the story of the Nostromo, a blue class freighter on it’s way back to Earth that is lead astray by a foreign distress call on a unknown world. The crew are awoken early from hyper-sleep by the company’s order. Dallas, Ripley, Lambert, Brett, Parker, Kane, and Ash are the only crew. After a group discussion about the benefits promised to them by the Company and a private consultation Captain Dallas has with the ship’s computer, Mother, the crew decides to fatefully investigate. Dallas, Lambert, and Kane venture out into the dark wastelands, soon coming across the iconic Derelict. Inside through vascular tunnels, the only inhabitant is a large body seated at what could be a pilot’s seat; it doesn’t take long to realize it’s cause of death. A large gaping hole in it’s chest, with the bones broken outward. Near the body they discover a hole leading down into another part of the ship. Kane repels down to a peculiar sight; the ground is coated in thin blue haze that reacts when broken and large ovular mounds standing still like bulbs. Kane trips. He stares at the bulb, coming to see it’s a egg. It opens. Something slides inside. A long bony spider-like creature lashes out, breaking through Kane’s helmet, wrapping itself around his face. Dallas and Ripley argue over the health hazard Kane possesses but Ash ultimately lets them bring Kane on board. The creature will not come off without killing him and it’s blood is highly acidic, a single drop burning through almost six layers of the hull. The creature dies on it’s own and falls off; Kane awakens seemingly ok. At dinner he begins to cough, than choke and hold his chest like he’s having a heart attack, until blood splatters from the center of his chest a new creature breaks free, a long, phallic snake like creature that rushes off whilst everyone gazes in utter terror. They go looking for it with a cattle prod, thinking it’s small. Brett discovers this is not the case; the creature has grown tremendously in the span of a few hours and is violently lethal. One by one the crew is killed by the alien except for Ripley, while the truth comes out, they are expendable as long as the Company gets the creature as a weapon… the perfect organism.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s a true masterpiece. The characters feel like regular working folks we can relate to so we feel for them; the set designs and Giger designs are gorgeous and unsettling; and the Alien is both fascinating and terrifying with a look that is truly unforgettable. The movie feels truly claustrophobic, added the fact they ain’t got shit to put up any sort of fight with and the hidden threat of the Company covertly trying to make sure the alien survives. I absolutely recommend this movie to anyone who wants a good story and deep suspenseful horror. As always, thank you for checking us out, may the gaming gods bring you glory, and please stay away from large leathery eggs. Bad things happen…by the way on a final note, seriously one the greatest “you’re fucked” speeches in all of horror. Love this movie, yahl.
11 thoughts on “Alien”