
This is a film of shadowy corners and dark spaces, of menaces and monsters lurking in air ducts, ready to kill and do worse to you at a moment's notice. Yet ALIEN isn't about originality, just old-fashioned scares executed in a clean, professional manner. One film, a '50s B-movie - IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE - has almost exactly the same plot as this film, while Mario Bava's sci-fi outing PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES has the same visual look. Essentially it's one of those 'old dark house' films of the '30s, transferred to a futuristic spaceship.

The likes of this go back to the 1950s and earlier. While this first film in the long-running series has since been overshadowed by a superior sequel (Jim Cameron's ALIENS, one of the best sci fi/horror/action films ever) and a third film that nearly equalled the highs found here, it's nevertheless a hugely entertaining movie that works thanks to a simple, straightforward plot line that offers maximum terror, all of the time. It's a film that came along at just the right time, proving to be an antidote to the kind of kiddie-friendly sci-fi that was popularised by STAR WARS during the period. There's no doubt that ALIEN is a classic of the science fiction genre. Reviewed by Leofwine_draca 10 / 10 A masterclass in sci-fi horror filmmaking When one of the eggs is disturbed, the crew realizes that they are not alone on the spaceship and they must deal with the consequences.-blazesnakes9

At the same time as they discover a hive colony of some unknown creature, the ship's computer deciphers the message to be a warning, not a distress call. After a rough landing, three crew members leave the spaceship to explore the area on the moon.

The crew are under obligation to investigate and the spaceship descends on the moon afterwards. In the distant future, the crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo are on their way home when they pick up a distress call from a distant moon.
