Wednesday, December 23, 2015

646. Alien

Alien
1979
Directed by Ridley Scott









So I am about to praise Alien after panning Stalker.  Do film buffs want to strangle me right about now?  Well, you have will have to get in line behind the music fans.

What's not to like about this movie?  It's a slasher film in space!  The Nostromo is a spacecraft returning to Earth with a seven member crew.  The ship picks up a transmission from a nearby planetoid and the crew goes out to investigate.  They find some pretty disgusting things.  More gross moments ensue.

I absolutely loved that there was a strong female character in this one.  Sure, there is usually one woman that survives a slasher film, but that is mostly through the power of her untouched vagina, rather than actually using her brain.  I am also quite pleased that this director cares if his audience is bored.  That doesn't seem to be a concern of our filmmakers lately.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Passes the Bechdel test!  Yay!

Ridley Scott has said that the Alien universe is the same as the Blade Runner universe.

4 comments:

  1. I love this one too. It is so friggin' scary and totally hypnotic. It does not get more claustrophobic than this. Interesting that this is supposed to be the same universe as Blade Runner.

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    1. Oh that's a really good point! A lot of times the last female just kind of gets away even if the killer is still alive. But since there is nowhere to go, Ripley has to defeat it.

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  2. For me, it's been a bit of a dull patch .. lots of films I'm really not all that bothered about. So, after surprising you with being OK with 'halloween', I will also 'quite like' another slasher movie. You are right , what else can it be called? Well, I suppose apart from the fact that the killer isn't making it's way through a bunch of annoying idiots.
    It's mildly interesting to report I recently watched 'It - the terror from beyond Space' (1958) which any fan of Alien should watch.

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  3. I love this movie! Strong female, scary, good story--fun!

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