#32: Alien

Release Date: May 25th, 1979

Format: Theater (Cinemark at The Pike Outlets in Long Beach, CA)

Written by: Dan O’Bannon

Directed by: Ridley Scott

4 Stars

Before the movie started, Cinemark showed a brief interview with Ridley Scott (for the movie’s 45th anniversary), and Scott mentioned three horror movies that he felt moved the genre forward artistically and influenced his intentions with Alien: The Exorcist (1973), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), and The Omen (1976; I don’t have a great reason for why I haven’t seen this yet). He also mentioned that, like most young filmmakers of his generation, he was transfixed by Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). 

The interview stuck with me, and it seems like he realized his vision with Alien. And that’s an important consideration for me when giving a 4-star review. Did the director achieve what they wanted to achieve? Is this the movie they wanted?

Like The Exorcist, Scott achieves an insidious tone with horrors that are largely unseen. After the Nostromo is infected by the alien life form, unbeknownst to the crew, I couldn’t help but think of those scenes where Regan’s mother is walking through their house in The Exorcist, closing an open window and finding a cross under her daughter’s pillow. Things are happening off the margins of the movie screen, and we the audience know they aren’t good. 

Like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Scott keeps the movie small and claustrophobic. And he keeps the violence raw. Leatherface and his family share a horrific family dinner in Texas, and I’d like to think it’s not entirely coincidental that Alien’s most iconic and violent scene also takes place around a shared meal. 

But most importantly, Scott reaches for Kubrickian heights in regards to his set design. Does it look better than 2001? Maybe. Actually, probably. To my eye, Scott was judicious with borrowing the sterile glow and ambience of Discovery One (the ship from 2001), while also borrowing from the organic space-junk, lived-in sets of Star Wars: A New Hope (which in turn I believe George Lucas re-borrowed from Scott in his set design of Empire Strikes Back). 

It all works. Now I need to check out The Omen.