League of Movies (Second Edition | Week 04): ALIEN

"In space no one can hear you scream"

With one simple yet iconic tagline, Alien became one of the most well-known franchises in the world, capturing the attention of many and grossing over 200 million dollars in the box office.

I still remember when I watched this cult classic in the cinema, it took my breath away and kept me on the edge of my seat. I knew I was watching something special, a movie that would shake the industry and be remembered in years to come.

Alien is a science fiction horror film written by Dan O'Bannon and directed by Ridley Scott that started a franchise in which its most recent film is Alien: Covenant in 2017.

The movie is about the crew of the starship Nostromo, who is suddenly awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey back home in order to investigate a distress call from an alien vessel. However, this mysterious alien creature that seemed harmless at first would wreak havoc into the ship and compromise the safety of the entire crew.

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An Iconic Hero

I consider one of the movie greatest appeals to be the casting of Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, the warrant officer aboard the Nostromo, this among the beautiful yet terrifying design of the creature and the masterful writing and directing of Weaver as the main character, made Ripley one of the most iconic female leads of all time.

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Even though in today's day and age female character leads have gained much more attention due to the female empowerment movement in the movie industry, Ellen Ripley's importance is immense, as back then it was rare to have a female protagonist in a science fiction movie, much more so as she appeared to be skilled, intelligent and had a really charming personality. She was without a doubt a badass, however, the writers were never afraid to showcase her terror in the situation she was facing and she never did anything that could be considered "impossible" as each one of her actions was believable and thus, she has never been considered a Mary Sue character, a term used to refer to female characters that are so competent and perfect that makes them completely unrelatable to the viewer, as they never fail at anything and don't even struggle while facing a seemingly impossible task.

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The Terrifying Alien

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Even though the lore involving the grotesque creatures that appear in the movie have been expanded in later entries, I would like to focus on their debut, their first appearance in what I consider the best entry in the franchise.

The alien creature, also known as a Xenomorph, was designed by Swiss surrealist artist H. R. Giger, who had previously made a variety of paintings involving nightmarish creatures in a monochromatic palette, in a style that he liked to call "biomechanical", where he introduced designs based on organic creatures meshed with mechanical parts.

[Necronom IV, Giger's 1976 surrealist print that was the basis for the Alien's design]

This creature was deemed a perfect basis as it was not only terrifying yet beautiful, but also because its design had sexual connotations that would work amazingly with the concept that the movie was going for. These aliens' main focus was to reproduce, introducing embryos inside their hosts regardless of their sex, said embryos would turn into a newly born alien that would kill the host by bursting through its abdomen.

An amazing concept this movie had, was the life cycle of the alien, as it grows more menacing as time passes by, acquiring new forms and designs until reaching the fully grown one. You don't have the time to stop being terrified by an alien creature because it would turn into a new one as the movie goes on.

We are first introduced to: Facehugger as it attaches the alien embryo into its victim via the victim's mouth.

Later on in one of the most iconic scenes of the movie we are introduced to: ChestBurster. The newly formed baby alien.

And finally, we are introduced to its Adult Form.

Despite the common use of CGI in most films involving creatures, practical effects and makeup usually hold on better to the passage of years. One of the director's best decisions involving this film was that this creature was usually shot in dark settings as if to not show it fully and thus, evoking a sense of mystery and dread surrounding it.

In horror films, it's important to not show the creature too much, because if you do so, the viewer feels less scared with each shot. One of Alien's biggest strengths is that it recognizes this and thus, we only see the creature in its entirety a handful of times, and many of the shots, as I previously stated, were in dark environments. I personally think that in later installments of this franchise, the creatures were shown far too often, and thus, this iconic design was used in so many movies that it was no longer scary.

A Cult Classic

The design of the creature and how it is used is without a doubt one of its greatest strengths, as well as the amazing cast that managed to flesh out an amazing story despite its simple premise.

The claustrophobic atmosphere that can only be achieved in space is amazing, there is literally nowhere to run to as the crew is stuck in the spacecraft. Their only escape is to get rid of this horrifying creature and stop it from coming back to earth with them.

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This movie is regarded by many as one of the greatest movies of all time, having influenced many other films as well as being considered a cult classic in its genre.

Despite its many years, this movie truly holds up. I recently watched it with my daughter who was absolutely enthralled by it, it reminded me of that time I watched it at the cinema. I really recommend watching it if you haven't already, it's an amazing experience that you won't forget.

This is an entry for League of Movies (HIVE WRITING CONTEST): Second Edition | Week 04 - "Unleash the Monster" sponsored by @wiseagent