In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream

In 1979, Director Ridley Scott put the teeth into science fiction. Derived from a script written by Dan O’Bannon that was largely based on the 1958 movie It! The Terror from Beyond Space, Alien followed the horror of seven space travelers trapped aboard their vessel with a vicious beast that preyed upon them, one by one. Drawing upon the influences of H.R. Geiger’s bizarre artwork, the alien in question was both fascinating and frightening.  It was well beyond anything previously seen on film.

The film is slow and suspenseful. It begins with the crew of the space towing vehicle “Nostromo”, being awakened early from suspended animation midway during their return trip to Earth. They have been roused to investigate an unknown radio signal detected by their onboard computer, the ship’s master control system nicknamed “Mother” (voiced by Helen Horton). The signal originates from a remote planet, LV-426.
 

On the surface, they discover an alien derelict ship, resting among the rocks of an otherwise lifeless landscape. Led by Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Kane (John Hurt) and Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) enter the alien wreckage.  In its interior, they discover the corpse of a large alien, the apparent victim of some wound that burst its bones outward. The corpse rests forever, staring with dead eyes through a telescope.
 

In the lower chambers of the ship, they discover a hive of eggs protected by a strange layer of mist. Kane climbs down among the eggs and disrupts one.  It opens and a thing latches onto his helmet. Using biological acid, it burns through and clamps itself onto Kane’s face, smothering him into unconsciousness. Dallas and Lambert rush the wounded Kane back to the Nostromo.
 

The Nostromo lifts off and continues on its return journey to Earth. Kane remains incapacitated for a couple of days until, suddenly, the creature releases itself and crawls away to die. Kane seems weakened but fine. Only during dinner, is the truth revealed. Kane starts convulsing and then falls across the table. His chest bursts apart and an infant alien pushes its way out of his body. It snarls at the humans and then rushes away into the darkness.

After jettisoning Kane’s body, Dallas leads the rest in hunting down the alien. The crew quickly learns that the creature, called a Xenomorph (Greek term meaning “foreign shape”), has quickly grown to a vicious bug-like thing larger than a man. Armed only with flamethrowers, the crew hunts the beast throughout the labyrinth of their ship. They soon realized that they aren’t hunting the alien. It is hunting them and is moving freely through the shift’s ventilation system.
 

In one of the film’s key scenes, Dallas crawls into the airshafts with a flamethrower to try to drive the alien into an airlock where it can be shot into space. The alien outmaneuvers him and drags him off into the darkness.
 

After the loss of Dallas, crewman Lt. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) takes command and rallies her shipmates to face the monster until the ship’s doctor, Ash (Ian Holm), attacks her. She is saved by Parker (Yaphet Kotto) who smashes a canister across Ash’s head. The head knocks off revealing Ash to be a semi-organic robot. They repair the robot and interrogate him.

Ash reveals a sinister secret. The Nostromo was directed towards the alien signal by a representative of their parent company who hoped to bring a specimen of the alien back as source material for their bioweapon’s program division. After this development, Ripley initiates a new tactic. She opts to self-destruct the ship and escape in the long-range shuttlecraft.
 

The alien interferes with her plans. While Ripley is activating the self-destruct sequences, the alien attacks the remaining crewmembers, leaving the ship’s cat as Ripley’s only remaining companion. Ripley grabs the cat and escapes in the shuttle as the Nostromo erupts in a mass of energy.
 

Yet, all is not well with the escape. During the confusion, the Xenomorph stowed away aboard the shuttle. Confined with the monster, Ripley slips into a spacesuit and blows the shuttle’s hatch, sucking the alien into space.  Ripley and the cat enter a hybernation chamber and drift through space awaiting rescue.

COMMENTARY:

Alien has some amazingly good scenes that deliver a terrific impact. The dark interiors provide a surrealistic feel that contributes to the overall effect. Martin Bower’s model work provides an array of believable hardware that increases the “reality” of the entire setting. The entire film is a true tale of horror emphasizing the feeling of being trapped with nowhere to run, facing an overwhelming threat with no weapons or substantive defenses.

The spacecraft “Nostromo” (“Our Man”) was named after Joseph Conrad’s novel. That book told a story of human isolation, with people paralyzed by uncertainty and suffering. Technically, the towing vehicle and its refinery platform remain one of the greatest innovations of science fiction filmmaking. Alien was the second film to show spacecraft that looked “used”, following Star Wars: “A New Hope”. Unlike Star Wars, the Nostromo was a fully functional ship whose every element was recognizable as something needed to perform a specific task.

The hybernation chambers, combined with the ship’s suggested faster-than-light capabilities, gave the impression of space explorers lost in the vast, vast sea of space and amplified the idea that the crew wasn’t going to receive any help or rescue.

In modern times, the main computer center that controls “Mother” is antiquated but charming, requiring its users to use keyboards without even the aide of a mouse. The displays are green-screen text readouts with beeps.

Concurrently, the crew we see are ordinary people. They aren’t the superheroes of most science fiction tales. Rather than following the Star Wars template, which presented a comic book tale visualized into reality with stunning special effects, Alien based its universe largely on the 1978 role-playing game “Traveler.” This created a setting showing underpaid workers facing intense danger with varying degrees of bravery and skill. In the end, only Ripley and the cat survive. The tale is chilling, as long as its implications aren’t thought out too deeply. Some shortcomings are obvious plot devices, like having the shuttle, the lifeboat for the Nostromo whose crew numbers seven, restricted to only being able to support three passengers. Apparently, the designers decided that nobody should abandon their ship unless over 50% of the crew were killed.

Director Ridley Scott’s passion for liberal concepts also arises in the film.  Although they are fairly well hidden, they remain key to the foundation of the story. In this universe, big business is evil and the rich only become rich by exploiting the workers. Capitalistic ideas are as much to blame for the demise of the Nostromo crew as the alien itself. “The Company” opts to gather an alien specimen by setting up the expendable Nostromo crew rather than sending an elite commando force to snag such a creature directly. They do this for greed and nothing more, intent on creating some super-weapon from it.

Yet, these flaws are easily overlooked and Alien remains a damn good horror film.

– written by Russell Sanders