Scream if you can ! (Alien (DVD))

Member Name: ultras67

Product:	Alien (DVD)
Date:	07/11/01 (98 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great monster, refreshed look at an old genre, cast

Disadvantages: none

In 1979 a dark and unrelenting vision of the future was released upon the world. Although Alien was really a 50's 'B' movie pretending to be a mainstream movie, the visual skills of its director, its sets and top-notch cast made the movie a huge success.

Ridley Scott, who directed the film, was just beginning his top of the hill period going on to direct Bladerunner a few years later. He recently made his ace comeback with Gladiator last year.

Alien takes the basic story of hapless crew thawing out an alien lifeform and being stalked by it. This is pure 50s B movie hokum but Alien bread new life into this largely ( at the time ) dead genre.

Firstly, the film is so darkly atmospheric, it literally sucks you into its shadowy depths from the first establishing shot. Even now, this first film in the series is scarier than the others. Why? I believe its the stark, jarring musical score and the wise decision of Scott not to "show too much" of the creature.

Ridley Scott has stated that his real love is "creating worlds" on film and he certainly does this with Alien. He builds a convincing portrait of deep space travelers and the cold, antiseptic environment they inhabit. Even space seems warm compared with the fluorescent-lit bays of the ship, Nostromo. When the crew wakes from large incubators in their scanties, we really believe they've been asleep months or years. The crew being Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton, Veronica Cartwright and Yaphet Kotto.

Scott drops us right into their lives and makes us relate to them through their hopes, fears and politics. Not easy when you consider these guys won't even be born for another 200 years or so. We can relate to them because their concerns are universal ( underpaid, overworked, the engine room - pilot divide and so on )

From the moment the crew are prematurely woken from deep sleep to inves
tigate a signal coming from a strange planet, Scott starts to build a sense of dread and foreboding. He manages to give all of the crew unique, yet familiar personalities and also uses the crew to give voice to his social commentary on class and capitalism. You began to see that Scott has layered his B-movie film with far more adult themes. These conversations also serve to give depth to the various characters, making their inevitable deaths at the hands of the alien, that much more powerful.

The alien itself is probably one of the finest "monsters" ever conjured up by Hollywood. Or more acurately, HR Giger the swiss artist, ( what must his nightmare look like if he dreams this up awake ? ) The creature feels alive, organic, real and way way scary.

Alien remains one of the most terrifying and visually stunning films ever produced by Hollywood. Like the best scary movies, its dark lighting, magnificent sets and moody direction give this film a powerful kick best watched in the dark ( preferable with someone close to cuddle/grab/console in the scary bits ).

The DVD has got a well designed interactive menu ( still one of the best as far as I am concerned ) original trailers, deleted scenes, outakes, a commentary from Scott, artwork and photogalleries, original story boards, alternate soundtrack ( an unusual option ) and a separate soundtrack.

All in all superb additions but unless you are a real movie buff or dedicated fan of the movie, like me you will access them once and just watch the movie again and again with perhaps the commentary getting an airing every once in a while.

The transfer is not the best with both sound and picture to my mind not quite as crisp as it could be. Reading a couple of the other reviews here I might have just got a "dull" copy. But saying that, it is by no means unwatchable and still better than VHS. The sound is Dolby Digital and the film is 2.35.1 widescreen.

Summary: