Alien (1979)
Average Rating: 8.7/10
Reviews Counted: 88
Fresh: 85 | Rotten: 3
A modern classic, Alien blends science fiction, horror and bleak poetry into a seamless whole.
Average Rating: 8.3/10
Critic Reviews: 19
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 3
A modern classic, Alien blends science fiction, horror and bleak poetry into a seamless whole.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 406,570
My Rating
Movie Info
"In space, no one can hear you scream." A close encounter of the third kind becomes a Jaws-style nightmare when an alien invades a spacecraft in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror classic. On the way home from a mission for the Company, the Nostromo's crew is woken up from hibernation by the ship's Mother computer to answer a distress signal from a nearby planet. Capt. Dallas's (Tom Skerritt) rescue team discovers a bizarre pod field, but things get even stranger when a face-hugging creature bursts
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Cast
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Tom Skerritt
Dallas -
Sigourney Weaver
Ellen Ripley -
Veronica Cartwright
Lambert -
Yaphet Kotto
Parker -
Harry Dean Stanton
Brett -
John Hurt
Kane -
Ian Holm
Ash -
Bolaji Badejo
Alien -
Helen Horton
Mother
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Alien Trailer & Photos
All Critics (88) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (89) | Rotten (3) | DVD (44)
The most startling thing watching Alien again is its pacing. For the first 45 minutes, little happens. It's all slow, exquisite build-up, which makes the second half seem all the more horrific.
Top CriticIt is depressing to watch an expensive, crafty movie that never soars beyond its cold desire to score the big bucks.
The limited strengths of its staple sci-fi horrors always derived from either the offhand organic/ Freudian resonances of its design or the purely (brilliantly) manipulative editing and pacing of its above-average shock quota.
An old-fashioned scary movie set in a highly realistic sci-fi future, made all the more believable by expert technical craftmanship.
An empty-headed horror movie with nothing to recommend it beyond the disco-inspired art direction and some handsome, if gimmicky, cinematography.
The limited strengths of its staple sci-fi horrors always derived from either the offhand organic/ Freudian resonances of its design or the purely (brilliantly) manipulative editing and pacing of its above-average shock quota.
Look as hard as you like, you won't spot a single flaw, even though the film's had 24 years to date.
A perfect roller coaster blend of horror and science fiction. Sigourney Weaver was an amazing discovery.
In a century of sci-fi/horror hybrids, few if any movies do such a good job at reaching the absolute highest peaks of both halves of that equation as this one.
...a seminal feminist action flick.
Alien has power, elicits terror, and the acid blood scars your consciousness.
It remains a benchmark of extra-terrestrial horror, and gave us a bona fide A-list star in the shape of Sigourney Weaver.
My favorite film of all time is one of the finest blu-rays in my collection.
The monster itself is still one of the flat-out scariest ever designed for the movies.
Ridley Scott's Alien is nothing short of a masterpiece. Technically brilliant, tense, horrifying and visually breathtaking, there's not a moment in this B-monster movie that doesn't excel well beyond the usual genre trappings.
Dated but still extremely scary. Not for younger kids.
Science fiction horror doesn't get any better than this.
It's a chilling, slow-paced, space horror movie using the same formula as the B-films of the 1950s.
Alien proved that material derided as B-movie fodder could be handled with finesse and glossy production values, without diminishing the thrills or polishing over the hard-edged horror.
Better than most of today's big budget sci-fi/horror films.
It certainly doesn't look like a 24-year-old movie.
There's nothing terribly complex or original about the movie, but it is distinguished by its clever and innovative use of B-movie staples in a hi-tech setting.
Audience Reviews for Alien
Super Reviewer
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- Ellen Ripley: Final report, the commercial star-ship Nostromo. Third officer reporting. The other members of the crew?Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash, and Captain Dallas?are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier within six weeks. With a little luck the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.
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- Ash: I can't lie to you about your chances, but you have my sympathies.
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- Ellen Ripley: We will and then we will blow it the fuck out into space!
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- Parker: Get out of the room!
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- Ellen Ripley: This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.
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- Ellen Ripley: You...are...my...lucky...star...
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Time Magazine sucks | 5 days ago | 1 |
| dave kher = banishment | 5 days ago | 2 |
| Gay looking guy who looks like a woman | 29 days ago | 2 |
| Alien | 30 days ago | 3 |
| Old coot | 6 months ago | 0 |
Latest News on Alien
May 21, 2013:
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January 18, 2011:
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Foreign Titles
- Alien - Das unheimliche Wesen aus einer fremden Welt (DE)
- Alien (UK)
