REVIEW: Alien (1979)
How does one review a film that’s so well-known, over 45 years after its release and still add something of value for your readers? It’s a toughie. Especially when the film in question is as seminal and wide-reaching as Alien (dir. Ridley Scott), and one of my own personal favourites. Come with me as I endeavour to add a GdM angle to this gordian knot of a review.
First, it’s important to think about the context in which Alien was released and how that added to its notoriety. Two years previous, in 1977, Star Wars: A New Hope came out and sci-fi adventures were suddenly viable mainstream entertainment. Despite the ominous promotional material ahead of Alien, it attracted huge crowds when it opened and cinemagoers got more than they bargained for.
Alien takes a slow-burn approach to space horror. Nearly a full hour goes by with just the pottering of a group of hauliers in space responding to a distress signal. There’s tension but it’s low level. You get some iffy vibes from Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm) but nothing you can’t dismiss as him being an insular scientist. The face-hugger attached to Kane (John Hurt) is concerning but it falls off on its own and he wakes up, seemingly fine – problem solved, right? It isn’t until the 55th minute, in the middle of an innocuous, jovial crew dinner that Kane’s choking takes a sinister turn. The others think he might be having a seizure and try to help him… until blood splatters across the inside of his white t-shirt.
Even if you haven’t seen Alien yet, you will have come across some reference to the chestburster scene somewhere in pop culture. It’s been in The Simpsons, Family Guy, Spaceballs and referenced in much more. Heck, it’s even referenced in Toy Story. It’s this scene that terrified audiences in 1979, who’d come along expecting a Star Wars-esque space romp, and made Alien instantly infamous.
The scene itself uses no music to ramp up the tension, you’re left to hear every confused, desperate word the crew utter, every bump and bash as Kane thrashes against the table, and each creak, pop and squelch of the alien emerging from Kane’s body, which is instantly met with silence and the shocked characters look on. It’s an impeccable sequence of shock ‘n’ gore body horror that brings the reality of the crew’s situation crashing down around you in under 2 minutes, pivoting the atmospherics of the film sharply.
The film sticks to its slow-burn pace for a little while longer, and we all have hope that the crew can find and eliminate this invasive species. After all, it’s not that big. No one can account for its prodigious growth rate however, and one by one the crew succumb to the Xenomorph in a series of tense take-downs, full of misdirection and expert filmmaking. Alongside the alien death-machine stalking them from the shadows, the crew have to contend with the moral ambiguity of the company, the ship computer and Ash; all of whom want to capture the specimen and return it to Earth for research. The crew are expendable and swiftly running out of options.
As the film moves towards its finale, the pace and tension ramp up considerably as Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) tries to escape and destroy the alien in the process. But just as you think it’s over, that she’s safe, that she’s won, something moves in the background of the scenery and you are gripped once more by her visceral fear.
There is a lot to appreciate in Alien for fans of grimdark: tension, isolation, fear, desperation, stacked odds and one genuinely badass hero forged in the heat of it all. The Xenomorph is indiscriminate, there is no question of morality here, it simply is, and what it is, is death incarnate.
While some people prefer the more action-packed sequel, Aliens, over the original; I still hold the first film above all for its originality, the expert layering of horror and for introducing so much to cinema and story-telling as a whole. If you’ve never seen it, I recommend it wholeheartedly, even if only as a cultural reference point but I hope you also see the brilliance in it.
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