A Review of the Movie Alien: In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream

Despite the 28 years that have intervened between the initial release of this classic film (May 1979) and today, the tagline "In space, no one can hear you scream" can still send chills up your spine.

Conceived by horror fan Daniel O'Bannon, "ALIEN" set the ground for a whole set of new science fiction fans, and raised the bar on what they could expect. Following close on the heels of "Star Wars," "ALIEN" showed us that science fiction could deal with serious subjects and scare the bejeebers out of us at the same time.

The crew of the ill-fated Nostromo find themselves awakened early from their hyper-sleep on their way home with 20,000,000 tons of refined ore, answering an alleged distress signal received from an unknown ship on an uncharted planet.

What soon becomes apparent to the crew is that this was no distress call, but a warning from some unknown sentient being, trying to scare off anyone from landing on the planet, the last survivor detailing his ship's encounter with a deadly alien lifeform.

Tom Skerritt received top billing for this film, even though the role of Ripley catapulted Sigourney Weaver from bit parts on television into a heroine to be reckoned with. It also put a solid lock on audiences believing in a woman as the hero, following closely the heels of "Halloween" and Jamie Leigh Curtis' portrayal of a woman who fights back released just the prior fall.

What set "ALIEN" apart from virtually every earlier science fiction film, possibly with the exception of "The Day The Earth Stood Still," was the fine acting, direction and script work. A stellar (cough) cast includes Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto. And of course, Jones and the Alien.

John Hurt's death scene is still one of the most terrifying ever to grace the screen, without being overly exposed and focusing on the gore, a credit to the skill of director Ridley Scott to focus on the psychological terror the crew was experiencing, and not to pander to the guts and gore crowd.