Alien, a sci-fi horror film of your nightmares, was made in 1979 by Ridey Scott. It focuses on a cargo spaceship and its crew. When it intercepts a signal from another planet, it discovers a horrifying alien which massacres the crew, slowly killing them one by one. Although the story is simple, it is filmed in such a way that keeps the audience in the edge of their seats.
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Scott is talented at creating suspense in the film. "One of the great strengths of Alien is its pacing. It takes its time. It waits." (Ebert, 2003), and this makes it one of the most gripping movies of all time. Scott knows how to build up tension, using music, camera shots, and most of all, time. He doesn't immediately skip to the action: that would be useless. Instead, he builds up the story slowly, gives the viewer a false sense of security, and then suckers them right in the face with a mutated octopus. Scott makes it feel like you're in the film instead of just watching it: using techniques like shaky camera scenes, dark lighting as the film progresses, and even how the actors talk - sometimes you can't even hear what they're saying. This is all trying to replicate real life, and Scott succeeds in doing this amazingly well.
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Not only is Alien progressive in a film sense, it is socially too. "Some women may be impressed by that actress Sigourney Weaver emerges as the 'hero' of the ordeal and the fact that the computer — even though dispassionate and calculating — is dubbed Mother and has a female voice." (Leogrande, 1979). Weaver is a strong main character and isn't shown as a damsel in distress - she's surviving on her own, and, in the end, she succeeds. She is an intelligent woman and uses her head in time of distress, and that ultimately saved her life. The same can't be said for the rest of the crew - but it wouldn't be a horror movie without a few deaths. It's amazing to see how movies have progressed in this way over the years. The original King Kong, made in 1933, makes incredibly uncomfortable viewing because of the blatant sexism and racism throughout. By contrast, Alien, which was only made a little over 30 years later, has a strong female lead and black characters without any stigma around them at all.
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The progression throughout the movie, starting off in a comfortable spaceship made to humans, and then transitioning to the dark, leaking metal vessel which is more of a home to the alien than the humans. The change in set design through the film is something that's "difficult to beat" (Malcolm, 2009), and a lot of thought has obviously been put into it. Alien constantly keeps the audience on their toes, with the alien constantly changing forms, as well as the set and lighting. The music creates suspense at the right times, and definitely adds to the movie instead of just being something to 'accompany' it, like in some many other films. Overall, Alien is a well thought out and progressive film that builds up tension, leads in to action, and has a satisfying ending of one survivor (and a cat).
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Bibliography
Ebert, R (2003)."Alien". In rogerebert.com [online]. Available at: (http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-alien-1979)
Leogrande, E (1979). "Alien’ tears its way into our nightmares: 1979 review". In nydailynews.com [online]. Available at: (http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/alien-tears-nightmares-1979-review-article-1.2648407)
Malcolm, D (2009). "Derek Malcolm's Alien review from 1979" In The Guardian [online]. Available at: (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/oct/13/derek-malcolm-alien-review)
Illustration List
Fig. 1 - https://filmdb.showcasecinemas.co.uk/FilmImages/45/1/49192/alien%20one%20sheet%20poster.jpg
Fig. 2 - https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5637f9fbe4b0baa6d85a1011/56382b71e4b0dcf08214a809/577dcd5d20099e0c9bfdda81/1467937667508/alien-1979-por-trás-das-cenas.jpeg?format=1500w
Fig. 3 - https://i.ytimg.com/vi/x1yRMxS7TT8/maxresdefault.jpg
Fig. 4 - https://33hpwq10j9luq8gl43e62q4e-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/alien-1979-2.jpg
