There are few films manage to blend genres quite as successfully as Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece, Alien. While James Cameron’s sequel was much more of an action affair, Alien marries sci-fi and horror to create a story filled with suspense and continues to terrify audiences to this day.
Though the film’s setting would have you believe it’s primarily a sci-fi film, it’s roots are firmly in the horror genre. Many tropes of horror are recognisable during the runtime with the isolated crew of the Nostromo facing a killer that lurks in the shadows and dispatches them one by one. It’s all very slasher-esque right down the final girl, Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, who manages to defeat the creature – named a Xenomorph – and escape, and if the film had been made as a straight up slasher, perhaps it wouldn’t be quite as memorable as it is. This is where the sci-fi setting helps Alien distinguish itself from John Carpenter’s Halloween (released the same year) and a number of other slasher films that appeared throughout the 70’s and 80’s. Scott presents a view of the future which has an extremely industrial aesthetic with the Nostromo appearing as a power plant floating through space, an aesthetic which differs from traditional sci-fi films and also lends itself to the horror genre very well.
Many of the other sci-fi aspects of the film feature impressive effects for 1979, with the shots of the crew’s initial landing on the moon LV-426 – where they encounter the alien eggs – able to rival any modern CGI. Models and miniatures were used to capture both this and other exterior shots of spaceships which makes them appear as real as possible, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey provided some inspiration to Scott when shooting these scenes. It’s not just the spaceships, however, that are impressive. When the Xenomorph is finally seen in all it’s glory, it’s a terrifying creation and a fantastic organic design by the late H.R. Giger which was intended to contrast the industrial aesthetic of the spaceships.
As well as the setting and the effects, the way in which Scott builds tension throughout the film is also a highlight, using the claustrophobic hallways of the Nostromo to trap his cast within the frame as the shadows pass over them. The fact that the Xenomorph itself is jet black from head to toe makes the shadowy passages of the Nostromo the perfect hiding place and as the crew make their way around the ship while Scott allows the suspense to build up, it’s refreshing to see him show restraint when showing the alien, opting for a jump scare involving the ship’s cat, Jones, instead.
Amongst the film’s tension building moments, there’s also iconic scenes to be found that have been parodied and referenced countless times in pop culture. Perhaps the most iconic of these involves the Xenomorph offspring bursting from Kane’s chest during dinner only to flee the area immediately and begin growing into the creature we see later on. It’s interesting to note that none of the cast – save for John Hurt who played Kane – knew exactly what would happen in this scene, that means when the blood sprays over them and that cute little Xenomorph pops his head out of Kane’s gut to say ‘hello’, all the reactions caught on camera were real, a nice technique used by Scott to capture the cast’s genuine reactions.
It’s scenes such as this that contributed to the film’s success and allowed Alien to pave the way for 3 sequels, 2 spin-offs, and a semi-prequel with another due soon. Many still claim it as a sci-fi masterpiece and it’s hard to argue, yet the beauty of the film is that it’s also a horror masterpiece, something which is hard to come by. Though some fans state that it’s sequel, Aliens, is the superior film, there’s no denying the power of the original and as a fan of horror, Scott’s vision is the one favoured by me.
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