Alien

Year: 1979
Directed By: Ridley Scott
Written By: Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett

RYAN’S REVIEW

I hope I am wrong, but I think this movie will be lost on younger generations.  It’s a fantastic movie but I’m afraid it might be too outdated to be appreciated in the future.  There are those of us who will recognize this movie for the classic that it is, but we will probably be the minority in the long run.  This movie isn’t as ageless as most classic movies. I think it’s hard for horror movies to remain scary when the genre is constantly trying to outdo itself.  However this is just my opinion and I very well may be wrong.  When I was a kid I actually watched Aliens first, and in hindsight this was a mistake.  James Cameron made a very different movie, a better movie I think but not a horror film at all.  When I went from the action/sci-fi sequel to its predecessor the horror aspect of the movie just didn’t register.  I was expecting more of a movie with a similar action feel to it, and throughout the entire movie it never occurred to me that it was supposed to be scary.  This is a slower paced movie, a pace audiences were comfortable with 30 years ago but don’t necessarily tolerate today.

I was a stupid teenager when I watched this for the first time and I couldn’t appreciate it.  Watching it now I can see the horror, and understand the fear it must have invoked when first seen in 1979.  This movie moves slow, but it was an imaginative original idea and it was very well made.  This movie was one of the first ones directed by Ridley Scott, who has gone on to have an incredible career and is still making great movies today.  One of the first roles for Sigourney Weaver, who has also gone on to have a fantastic career and still carries weight as an actress today.  Alien won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and it was well deserved, the effects in this movie were ahead of their time. This is a great movie, so good that it spawned a franchise that Fox will probably continue exploiting it till the end of time. I hope you take the time to watch this movie, parts of the film move a little slow at times, but I can assure you that it’s worth your time.

AMBER’S REVIEW

For the time period, this movie is great. It has all of the elements of a science fiction and horror. I like all of the characters and the plot. The movie is thoroughly scary and creepy and quite disgusting in parts. I like it more almost knowing that it goes on and on in sequels still to this day.

I don’t have much more to say about it. It is worth watching, but it isn’t my favorite one to watch over and over.

NEXT MOVIE: Aliens (1986)