'Safe'
A place to talk about movies--Old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Alien takes an almost unnecessarily slow time getting started
Like other early horror and thriller films, it's a bit of a byproduct of its time. The pacing made it unnerving and intense at the time. The pacing was part of what made it so good. It's definitely slow by today's standards, though.
Well, it was one of the first (if not the first) sci-fi film to treat the future as a complex, messy place, rather than a sterile jump-suited pristine environment. The ship looks like people actually live there and work there. And the monster does not look like a guy in a suit or a series of light effects-thanks to HR Giger, it not only looks genuinely alien--it has many lifestages which all look unique yet work together.
Alien was all "atmospheric" and "claustrophobic." It's most famous for the scene of the alien bursting from the guy's chest--back then it freaked people out. Now of course it happens all the time.
Let's see... there also were class issues--the giant corportation sending poor working stiffs to their certain deaths. The alien effects were groundbreaking, in that (for the most part) the alien did not move like the typical '50s horror movie "guy in a rubber suit."
Also, the designs of the alien and the alien ship were done by H R Geiger, who has a very... distinctive style.
edit: semi-x-posty....
Well, it was one of the first (if not the first) sci-fi film to treat the future as a complex, messy place,
I loved the size of the Nostromo, and that there were rooms large enough to have "weather".
The pacing was part of what made it so good. It's definitely slow by today's standards, though.
Yeah, it's hard to watch the original after having seen everything that's been influenced by it.
The ship looks like people actually live there and work there.
That was pretty awesome. I said out loud, "Dude, they had one hell of a set."
Alien was all "atmospheric" and "claustrophobic." It's most famous for the scene of the alien bursting from the guy's chest--back then it freaked people out. Now of course it happens all the time.
And I can finally appreciate the scene in Spaceballs ! The actor did look familiar, and I checked, and they did get John Hurt for the parody, which is awesome. "Oh no...not again."
Also, the designs of the alien and the alien ship were done by H R Geiger, who has a very... distinctive style.
Oh, yeah. I definitely appreciated the design of things. Impressive for 1979.
Oh my... H R Geiger furniture.
(sneaking in, because I had a personal stake in Alien, and then sneaking out)
What Robin said. Also, hard to go wrong with the basic tactic: people in enclosed place with something that wants to kill them, and they can't leave.
Also? His characters weren't pretty. His actors weren't pretty. They looked like people. They looked rough and three-day-bearded and funky and they could be unpleasant to each other, and yet...
It's one of my favourite films on earth, for several reasons.
(slips back out)
I think the big thing was that Alien was for grown-ups. An R-rated horror/SF movie, 2 years after Star Wars solidified the impression that SF was childish escapism. And then Alien comes along with actual adult motives and conflicts and lots of paranoia.
Plus: scary.
It's (barely) worth seeing It! The Terror from Beyond Space just to see that there is occasionally some value in remakes. I mean, Alien is much better, but it's funny to see a cheesy '50's version of the same story.
And the monster does not look like a guy in a suitWell, except for the big reveal at the end, which is such a let-down.
we don't get to see that city featured too often onscreen, unfortunately
What, The Whole Nine Yards didn't scratch that itch for you?
I just saw Hellbent. A pretty fun example of the horror genre, plus gay! I had figured "shocks, but no visual/impression to linger"
But then there was the thing.
If you have an eye squick, stay away. Otherwise, it's good fun, and the leads are all charismatic, and mostly pretty.
Janet Jason Leigh
This error is taking me to some strange places. That would be "Jennifer" not "Janet". Heh.