Alien | | Cast : | Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt | | Director : | Ridley Scott | | Studio : | Fox Home Entertainme | | Format : | Color, Widescreen | | Released Date : | May 25, 1979 | | DVD Released Date : | January 06, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed), English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 09, 2005 | | Summary | In space, they can't hear you scream! | Content
 | The space driller Nostromo and its crew of 6 are finishing their mission and returning to the earth. But their return is cut short when an incomprehensible message is received from a nearby planet. Upon landing there, a dormant alien craft is discovered. Inside they discover a nest of eggs and pick up an unwanted stowaway. They get all this unwanted strife for going against their mission... or did they?
ALIEN is a phenomenal film with a creepy storyline, great performances and an unearthly production design. The film kicks in after the alien has infested the ship, turning what looks like a science fiction film into a space bound haunted house. That is one of the films greatest strengths as one by one, the crew is eliminated. The hodge-podge crew was hired for ore drilling operations, not alien extermination. The strongest chance for survival sits with Ripley (Sigourney Weaver in her signature role) as she has the brains, brawn and willpower to win the day even as the ship is dying. Director Ridley Scott (Gladiator), does an amazing job of capturing the `life' of the ship adding an organic quality to everything. The Nostromo has a communication center (brain) and a central hub, or heart, where all of the passages extend. All of these passages lined with vein piping and the sound of liquid surges, the blood of the ship. This organic quality also allows for an alien organism to hide, and it does. It remains hidden for most of the film. As Spielberg did with JAWS, the creature's presence is made in more ways than physical sightings. The creature design, and many of the films other set pieces were designed by H.R.Geiger, whose high-contrast bio-machine look adapts well to the screen. It is masterfully recreated on screen.
This ALIEN (followed by 3 sequels) is a cornerstone in Science Fiction and Horror and is well transferred onto this special edition DVD that is a must own for fans of the films. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 30, 2005 | | Summary | What's that coming out of your chest? Same thing that goes bump in the night-IN SPACE! | Content
| This is a terrific movie! Alien is my second favorite space monster next to Predator, and the scariness and cool fight scenes of this film were terrific, as were the gross parts with blood and acid and ooze! I thought the Aliens were scary looking and plenty evil and powerful, and it ends in a way you'd never guess! Alien's a very well made and classic movie, and I recommend it to all who enjoy scary stuff! As I said, it's a terrific movie! See it! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 30, 2005 | | Summary | A Landmark Achievement That Spawned a New Genre | Content
| Other attempts to fuse science fiction with horror suffered from mediocrity (at best). My litmus test for both sci-fi and horror is the suspension of disbelief. This champion of night terrors is beliveable. That is one of its major strengths. One can easily envision a world of inter-cosmic space travel centurys down the road. Of course light year travel will be a fact of life a couple hundred years from now. The key to Alien's believeability is that the laws of physics remain intact. No zooming to Vulcan and back in 1.5 parsecs, rather, more plausible is that hibernation will still be necessary for such long journeys. The only other way of realizing such a lengthy journey is a multi-generational craft. However, that plot has yet to evolve. The film is a visual feast that pulsates with perfect timing. The Alien in question is a hideous creature whose blood is more caustic than acid. It breeds by using other of the Kingdom Animalia as surrogate host to gestation. The Alien creature is a highly intelligent class of nightmarish monsters and is far more technologically advanced. The climax is cliche', yet the march toward it is new, and frightening. The viewer never knows who will think faster, develop better strategies, and ultimately be the lone survivor until the final dreadful seconds. This dark film is also inspiring as an example of man's adaptability to survive in nearly any environment, and our ability to shed fear as need be. The best in show of the newer sci-fi/horror drama. ps. Sigourney Weaver is 6'1". |
| Rating | | | Date | July 09, 2005 | | Summary | Never has the contrast been clearer | Content
| I'm a fan of the old Ridley Scott, which was ironically the young Ridley Scott. Back in his youth he made some great films and Alien is one of his crowning achievements. But let's ignore the film for just a second.
You see the Scott Brothers (Ridley and Tony) had a highly visual sense of film-making that used the widescreen frame to its fullest potential. From quite early on they were made best pals of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and they made their reputations with such films like Beverly Hills Cop 2, Blade Runner and Top Gun. In the early 90's their careers briefly faltered and a hack called Michael Bay went into business. Michael Bay ripped off everything he possible could from the Scotts. So much so that in recent years Ridley and Tony have had to exaggerate their style in an effort to distance themselves from this man. The result has been films that look more like agonising, drawn-out epileptic seizures (Man on Fire, Black Hawk Down, Domino) than works of art.
Now let's get back to Alien. A beautifully paced, shot and cut fright machine with perfectly timed scares, meaningful subtext and an iron-grip on the audience. How far removed from the work of the Scott Brothers today. The franchise went to hell in 2004 with the awful Alien vs Predator movie but in its beginning the Alien films were a thing of greatness.
If you can, see the director's cut. I saw this film twice in the cinema (original cut, then director's cut) and while they're both good the director's cut is a bit faster and has a couple real cool extra scenes and shot of the creature. And of course, widescreen is how this film MUST be seen.
The DVD is in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with a brilliant DTS 5.1 soundtrack and ZILLIONS of extras to keep you happy. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 08, 2005 | | Summary | In space no one can hear you scream! | Content
| Ridley's Scotts 1979 masterpiece has proved once again, you don't need to see the evil to put a scare into your bones. Dark, pulsating and quick when it needs to be. Like Hitchcock, it is more scary to see less then what you should. Jerry Goldsmiths music is penetrating and yet resourceful, you know whats going on when you hear it. A landmark film for letting the lead person be a woman, while in other horror films they fail. Sigourney kicks some serious ass in this. Singnature scene, dinner table, with the un-invited guest, unbelievable, shocking, disturbing, but we don't turn away. No need to see the alien, the music and tenseness is as good as it gets. When we do see him, I about sh#t my pants, the best alien ever on film, period. This film is awesome, watch to the end, I promise, you will want to watch again. |
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