With the enigmatic Prometheus due for release later this month, what better time to revisit Scott's original masterpiece - the film that depicted space not as the mystical final frontier, full of adventure and fanciful creatures as envisioned in Star Wars (released two years earlier). Rather, Scott painted the unexplored realms of space as hostile badlands, where unimaginable monsters dwell.
What makes Alien so deeply terrifying is the perfectly-crafted atmosphere. From the slowly-materialising title in the opening moments to the eerie rows of foreboding egg shapes encountered by Kane (John Hurt), a steadily-building sense of dread is ever present. And the dread is truly justified when one of the eggs slowly creaks open, revealing the first glimpse of extra-terrestrial life in Ridley Scott's vision.
Following Kane's uncomfortable encounter with the nightmarish hatchling, Scott treats us to one of the only graphically-violent moments in the film, the sequence that remains on a par with the shower scene from Psycho as the most legendary moment in cinematic horror - the appropriately-dubbed chestburster scene.
Through Kane's grisly demise, we are introduced to one of the most iconic cinematic monsters of all time, the eponymous Alien. In the view of Ian Holm's character Ash, the Alien was a "perfect creation" in its ability to kill and survive, but this is also true of its enduring legacy as one of the most terrifying beings ever committed to film. The design of the creature is masterfully terrifying - huge phallic head, two snapping mouths, acidic blood and a blade-like tail - and Scott's decision to rarely reveal the alien in full and instead keep it obscured by shadows only adds to the horror, as it slowly and deliberately dispatches every member of the ship's crew, leaving just Sigourney Weaver as the heroic Ripley to finally bring it down.
A triumph of design, atmosphere and performance, Alien remains an enduring landmark of cinema, spawning a franchise that was greatly embellished by James Cameron, fostered by David Fincher and finally run into the ground by Jean Pierre-Jeunet. Who'd have guessed that 33 years down the line, Scott would be revisiting his greatest creation and exploring the creature's mysterious origins. Fingers crossed for another nightmarish masterpiece.
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