Lucas
Versantvoort / January 7, 2015
In 1979, a
little film hit theatres. You might have heard of it, it’s called Alien. Ever
seen it? You probably should. It’s pretty good. Seriously, what am I talking
about? It’s Alien. Everyone has either seen or heard of this movie. Now, I
don’t see Ridley Scott as the master filmmaker some perceive him to be, but
there are times when he got it very right. Alien is one of those times.
In deep space, a ship called the
Nostromo carrying mineral ore and seven crewmembers is bound for Earth. The
crew are in hypersleep and all is well, that is until the ship’s computer
registers a signal from a distant planet. The ship has automatically changed
its course and awoken the crew. Though no one is particularly excited—everyone
assumed they’d be on Earth by now—one of the crewmembers informs them they’re
contractually bound to investigate any signal. They arrive at the planet. Three
of the crewmembers (Kane, Dallas and Lambert) don their suits and head out to
explore the planet. They arrive to discover a mysterious spacecraft in the
shape of a horseshoe. They enter and eventually discover a large hall with
countless eggs all guarded by a force field hovering just above them. Then, one
of the eggs opens and a crab-like alien, spewing acid, burns through Kane’s
helmet and latches onto his face. They bring him back to the Nostromo and the
rest is history.
What made this film revolutionary at
the time was its brilliant combination of the claustrophobia of space with the
concept of a haunted house horror show. A well-executed haunted house thriller
is scary enough, but the addition of space means there’s literally no escape. It’s
actually a simple, but really effective concept and Alien executes it to claustrophobic
perfection.
Indeed, it’s the atmosphere and the
handling of the alien itself that makes Alien such a classic. Regarding the
alien, Scott and co applied the Jaws principle: refrain from showing the
monster completely. What you can’t see or understand is the basis of all
horror. Because the film deliberately only shows parts of the alien who’s often
veiled in shadow, it makes him/she/it all the more horrifying. It’s telling
that one of the deleted scenes featured a full body-shot of the alien crawling
towards someone. It looked downright ridiculous. Indeed, the importance of only
showing glimpses of the monster in horror films cannot be overstated. It’s
something Aliens tried to do as well by showing shots of the aliens and quickly
cutting away, but alas, you can only show aliens exploding so often before they
lose their shock value. The idea of not showing the alien also extends to the
script which doesn’t explain the origin of the alien, how the spacecraft got
there, what the space jockey was doing there, etc. Because we have zero
information on it, we can’t understand it and because we can’t understand it,
our imagination kicks in. Sometimes, leaving plot elements unexplained and
letting the viewers’ minds do all the work is for the better. Also, the
atmosphere in Alien is absolutely wonderful. Even by today’s standards, this
film looks incredible and it was made in 1979…with a budget of only 11 million
dollars. All three of Alien’s sequels have moments where you’re subtly aware
that something looks fake or was made on a computer screen. In Alien, I can’t
remember a single moment where the film looked anything less than stunning. Whether
it’s H.R. Giger’s wonderfully disgusting alien design or the ship’s interiors,
it’s all wonderfully realized and immersive.
This film also marked the birth of
one of film’s most famous action heroines, Ripley. While she would only be
recognized as such in Cameron’s Aliens, it’s interesting to see in retrospect
how Alien laid the foundation. What I like the most is that at first, Ripley is
just another crew member. Scott doesn’t emphasize her as the main character. But
when Kane is brought back with a face hugger firmly attached to his thinking
cap, Ripley takes center stage by refusing Kane and the others entry back on
the ship because it’s in violation of protocol. The fact that Ash overrides the
door and gives them access anyway, thus ignoring Ripley is irrelevant. This is
the first time Ripley assumes the position of a leader. Her decision might be
inhumane, but it’s exactly those types of hard decisions that leaders must
make. As time goes on and the alien escapes, Ripley starts assuming this role
more and more and it’s very well done.
Special mention also has to go to
maestro Jerry Goldsmith’s score. The production was a troubled one for
Goldsmith: some of his music for Freud (1962) was used for the dripping acid
scene, a classical piece replaced his end credits music and all but one cue
survived the editing process unscathed. Despite all this, the score itself is a
classic in the horror genre. Particularly impressive is how ‘alien’ much of the
score sounds, and how much of this is achieved not through electronics, but the
skillful manipulation of instruments or the application of real ones. He used
actual whistling, an echoplex, wind machines, a didgeridoo, conch shells, a serpent,
the list goes on. Despite all this experimentation, Goldsmith still manages to
inject the score with some cohesion by carefully applying and manipulating a
few themes, the main theme of course being the most recognizable and romantic. Director
Scott however was hesitant to start the film with a broad, but mysterious
romantic theme and replaced it with the famous hollow sound that opened the
film back in 1979. While from a musical standpoint, Goldsmith sought to create
a musical journey, while Scott was thinking in individual cues. Both sides of
the argument are understandable however.
Alien stands as one of the great
achievements in horror cinema. Not only did it introduce one of film’s greatest
heroines, but it combined sci-fi, the vast isolation of space and the haunted
house concept to produce a singular horror experience.
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