Alien (1979)

The crew of mining spaceship Nostromo answer an apparent distress signal and find themselves with an unwanted passenger, in Ridley Scott’s breakthrough sci-fi horror.

A synopsis suggests little difference between Alien and a Fifties B-movie like It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958): both films are about a spaceship crew being terrorised by a murderous and largely unseen alien presence. But Alien’s genius lies in its visual and conceptual design, which impressed its backers enough to double the production budget, a decision that paid off in spades.

The film brought an unprecedented level of realism to the science fiction genre, while its graphically sexual imagery (much of it originating from the mind of Swiss artist H.R. Giger) fuelled PhD theses galore: the notorious ‘chest-burster’ set-piece as a bizarre allegory of childbirth for example.

At the time, none of the impressive cast could fairly be described as a star (the two Britons, John Hurt and Ian Holm, were closest, but Sigourney Weaver was then totally unknown), and this added to the suspense: anyone could be picked off at any time.

1979 USA, United Kingdom
Directed by
Ridley Scott
Produced by
Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill
Written by
Dan O'Bannon, Walter Hill, David Giler
Featuring
Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright
Running time
117 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Alien

Critics

James Balmont
UK
Nikki Baughan
UK
Lucy Bolton
UK
Matthew Buchanan
New Zealand
Ava Cahen
France
Axelle Carolyn
USA
Zalaba Ferenc
Hungary
David Garlick
UK
Alistair Harkness
UK
Karen Krizanovich
UK
Rebecca Liu
UK
Jacob Milligan
UK
Stuart Murray
UK
Chris Neilan
UK
Michael Nordine
US
Ben Roberts
UK
David Sims
USA
Damon Smith
UK
Maria Ulfsak-Šeripova
Estonia
Saige Walton
Australia

Directors

Lorcan Finnegan
Ireland
Margo Harkin
Armando Iannucci
Uk
Eric Khoo
Singapore
Francis Lee
UK
Neil Marshall
UK
George Miller
Penelope Spheeris
USA