Alien is a 1979 film written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett (with uncredited input by Walter Hill and David Giler) and directed by Ridley Scott. It's a haunted house in space film and has myriad influences. It! The Terror from Beyond Space, And Then There Were None, The Thing from Another World, EC Horror Comics, Forbidden Planet, Jaws, and, perhaps most surprisingly, a 1974 John Carpenter comedy called Dark Star. In Dark Star, the bored crew of a spaceship had a pet alien called Pinback who they had to track down when he became loose on the ship. Pinback was a beachball with feet and played for laughs but Dark Star screenwriter Dan O'Bannon later gave the concept a .  Read the complete review

This is a review of the 2 disc special edition which can be bough separately or comes as part of the Alien Quadrilogy set Alien Disc 1 Movie: I have owned Alien (and others in the series) in many guises, from VHS Tapes, The Alien Legacy box set , the Quadrilogy Box and even steelbox sets, so yes you could say I am a fan of the films, and although the subsequent sequels (bar Aliens) have diminished in quality, I still enjoy each and every one of them in their own way. It was on the year of release, 1979, when Ridley Scott's Alien first hit the cinema I was a young lad (12 or 13 years old) and I tried sneaking into the ...  Read the complete review

‘Alien’ is a well-known classic, a hybrid of suspense horror and science fiction which has thrilled audiences ever since its release in 1979. With the DVD release we can finally approximate the quality of the cinematic print in our own home and see the film in its full scope widescreen glory. And when the extras are considered too, what we have here is a very impressive DVD package indeed. Whether you buy the Alien DVD on its own, or as part of the ‘Alien Legacy’ boxset (which also contains ‘Aliens’, ‘Alien3’, and ‘Alien Resurrection’ as well as a bonus documentary disc) as I did, this is what you get… ...  Read the complete review

When you think about it, actually sit down and turn your mind to the matter in an attempt to fathom out the reality and the thinking behind it, the success of Alien was quite simple and easy to understand. After all, what is the underlying power of the horror movie? Rather than the creation of a foul, unworldly, horrible monster at the root of all our fears, it is the creation of suspense and a deeply felt but barely articulated sense of helplessness in the face of some dark, evil, nameless Other. It is not the monster that is the cause of our distress, but rather our fear of an unspoken, unseen, unheard, but very strongly sensed embodiment of evil. Once we ...  Read the complete review

Fear of the unknown and isolation are themes that are often explored in many horror movies. Take ‘The Blair Witch Project’ for example – a classic example that explores what isolation coupled with fear and ‘not knowing what’s out there’ can effect people in different ways. In 1977 the world was introduced to Star Wars: A New Hope. People were shown strange alien worlds with creatures that were by and large friendly and fun – even cuddly. In 1979 Director Ridley Scott took the space odyssey in a different direction altogether. The aliens weren’t so lovable anymore. Director Ridley Scott (who’s ...  Read the complete review