Alien

When a movie manages to frighten you to death even thirty years after its release, you must admit it’s good. And all you need to do is to show nothing, keep everything hidden and flash lights in the viewers’ faces and they will be terrified. If it weren’t for James Cameron, Ridley Scott would be the uncrowned king of the Alien saga. (25/11/2007)

Alien is one of the fundamental works of the sci-fi genre, which meant the definitive emancipation of sci-fi as a full-fledged genre that can be classified in the A-category and compete for the highest honors at film festivals. It completed the process started by Kubrick with his film 2001: A Space Odyssey. At the same time, it rehabilitated the motif of space "monsters" which had been profaned by cheap B-movies of previous decades. The director approached the subject with maximum seriousness and worked very carefully with the screenplay, opting for an excellent collaborator in the form of the previously little-known artist H.R. Giger. It is precisely in terms of visuals that the film does exceptionally well, using a wide range of colors to evoke a gloomy atmosphere. The alien ship appears remarkably strange. The environment of the worn-out spacecraft full of various sounds created by technology creates a special tension that stays with the viewer until the last moments. The slowly increasing tension is followed by shocking "scares." Alien makes an original impression and evokes genuine fear. The actors approached the film with obvious skepticism, considering it to be one of the common cheap genre films, and were pleasantly surprised by the result. The film catapulted Sigourney Weaver into the ranks of the stellar acting elite and guaranteed her very nice salaries in the future. Ripley became her defining role, and many fans simply identified her with the starship officer. I remember the desperate attempts of the youth at the time to get into the movie theater for the screening. The film was hugely popular and also restricted to a certain age. Even many years later, although it is no longer at the forefront technically, Alien still has a very impressive and fully functional atmosphere. Overall impression: 100%. (18/04/2008)

The most famous representative of its genre, its thematically related followers can’t even hold a candle to it. My big sister told me that during a screening in our cinema (during the totalitarian era – what a wonder!), a female spectator didn't manage to leave the hall and threw up during one tense scene. Nowadays, Alien probably wouldn't shock anyone, but back then it was something completely new, unseen. I have two people in particular to thank for that: Ridley Scott, who was in fine form, and H.R. Giger, without whose vision, the result would probably not have been so rewarding. (02/03/2003)

Ridley Scott's first major "notch" in world cinema. A film shot in an utterly timeless way with lots of creepy sounds and visual "experiences". Sometimes I wonder how much better the final impression could have been if I could have sat in the cinema (preferably alone) in that year 1979 or 1980 and enjoyed the horror in its full glory on the screen. But back then I was just a twinkle in my mother’s eye...))) One of Mr. Scott's best pieces. 100% (30/09/2009)

If someone were to define the qualities a truly significant and excellent film should have, it wouldn’t take them long to get to the concept of timelessness. And since we have been in the XXI century for some time already and timelessness is determined only retrospectively, I would put Alien as the benchmark for timelessness in the movie industry, because, save for certain aspects of the technology of the ship, this film has not aged a day. What is striking, however, is that even after all this time and all the similarly thematic stuff created during it, this film never ceases to seduce the attention of the viewer in an almost exhibitionist manner, holding them under constant tension, even though they already know all the twists. This is undoubtedly the result of the amazing work not only by make-up artists, set designers, the technical staff and Jerry Goldsmith, but especially Ridley Scott, who possibly never again in his career would make something with such confidence, and his timing for editing and sense for building tension outside the frame that make every scene with the famous terrors material for a wholesome horror story. Every aspect of that necessarily cut-off world and environment has been though-out to the tiniest detail and the initial curiosity (who’s sending the signal? Who does the spaceship belong to? What is that creature on Kane’s face doing and why is it keeping him alive?) is gradually overcome by fear and concern for the characters, while always providing an explanation that makes sense. In addition, the claustrophobic setting and the reliance on sound work flawlessly throughout, making Alien a unique and very artistic spin on the space-slasher that paved the way for a host of followers, but with a creative dominance that has made it impossible for them to approach it qualitatively – the only thematically similar contribution that gets close (and which in fact I prefer) is The Thing. James Cameron in the direct sequel understood that he had to take a different, more explicit path, and he did it wonderfully. In any case, the privileged status of this film is unquestionable and… timeless. (05/03/2020)