“In space, no one can hear you scream”
The perfect tag line for one of the best movies of all time,
“Alien” set a new standard in horror. There are so many reasons why I and
millions of other people love this movie. From the frightening landscape and
look of the alien that was brought to us by the talented Mr. H.R Giger, to the
Lovecraftian sense of dread and foreboding atmosphere, to the honest reactions
and terror of the actors themselves, this movie has it all. Some may say that
it’s just a cleverly done slasher flick where crew members are killed off one
by one; and this is partly true but it is so much more beyond that. The alien
is a monster from our nightmares. It is lithe, it drools, it’s huge, it
changes, it screams, and it bursts out of your chest after you think the worst
has passed. Just admit it, the face-hugger itself was enough to give you
nightmares once upon a time. When you add in a killer cyborg that you thought
was just the prerequisite prick of the crew, you have no idea who or what to
trust at that point!
The ship Nostromo is heading back to Earth with its crew and
a payload of millions of tons of minerals when it picks up a faint distress
transmission. Following programed protocol, it changes course and heads towards
the beacon and awakes the crew from stasis. The crew is thrilled at first
because they believe that they are a week or so away from home but quickly find
out that they are still in the middle of nowhere. The crew follows protocol as
well, landing on the small planetoid and searching for the source of the
transmission. What the rescue crew find, which is made up of Capt. Dallas,
Officer Kane, and Navigator Lambert, is a large derelict ship. Inside they find
a large alien corpse that has a damaged chest area as well as a vast chamber
under the main cockpit room. Kane goes down to investigate and finds hundreds
of large leathery eggs. One has movement inside and as he bends over to look at
it, a face-hugger lunges forth and attaches itself to his helmet. Dallas and
Lambert drag Kane’s body back to the ship but Officer Ripley refuses to let
them on, following protocol and in fear that they could be infected with
whatever is on Kane. The science officer Ash breaks the protocol and opens the
door so they can board. Once inside and in the medical lab, Ash and Dallas try
to remove the alien from Kane’s head but are unable to do so without killing
him, but several hours later the creature let’s go and crawls away to die.
Eventually Kane wakes up without remember what had happened to him. The crew
has one last meal before going back into stasis but their joy of returning home
is interrupted when Kane begins to spasm violently and as they are holding him
down, a terrifying little baby alien bursts out of his chest, looks around and
quickly runs away. Kane has died but he is not the last to do so….
Favorite moment - too many to list! But I would have to say at this point my favorite is the scene where Ash break downs and tries to kill Ripley.
