Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Alien Review








Alien


Release Date: 6th December 1979 – Australia


Production Companies
Brandywine Productions

Distribution
20th Century Fox Australia


Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror

Rating: M

Runtime: 117 minutes
                139 minutes
                (director's cut)


Budget: $14,000,000

Box Office Gross: $188,034,787 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
After a routine mission, the crew of the spaceship Nostromo are on their way back to Earth when they receive a distress call from an alien planet. They land on a world so desolate that they start investigating an abandoned spacecraft, and one picks up a life form that proves deadly. Soon, the creature now on board the ship wreaks havoc with dire consequences.


Cast
Tom Skerritt – Dallas
Sigourney Weaver – Ripley
Veronica Cartwright – Lambert
Harry Dean Stanton – Brett
John Hurt – Kane
Ian Holm – Ash
Yaphet Kotto – Parker
Bolaji Badejo – Alien
Helen Horton Mother (Voice)

Crew
Director – Ridley Scott
Story/Screenplay/Visual Design Consultant – Dan O'Bannon
Story/Executive Producer – Ronald Shusett
Associate Producer Ivor Powell
Producers – Gordon Carroll,
David Giler and Walter Hill
Casting Director: USA – Mary Goldberg
Casting Director: UK – Mary Selway
Production Designer – Michael Seymour
'Alien' Design – H.R. Giger
Concept Artists – Ron Cobb, Jean 'Moebius' Giraud and Chris Foss
Art Directors Leslie Dilley
and Roger Christian
Assistant Art Directors – Jonathan Amberston and Benjamín Fernández
Set Decorator Ian Whittaker
Costume Designer – John Mollo
Director of Photography – Derek Vanlint
Camera Focus: Main Unit – Adrian Biddle
and Colin Davidson
Production Manager – Garth Thomas
Production Executive – Mark Haggard
First Assistant Director – Paul Ibbetson
Assistant Directors – Raymond Becket
and Steve Harding
Stunt Coordinator – Roy Scammell
'Alien' Head Effects Creator – Carlo Rambaldi
Special Effects Supervisors – Nick Allder
and Brian Johnson
Special Effects Technicians – Guy Hudson,
Phil Knowles, Dennis Lowe, Roger Nichols,
Neil Swan, David H. Watkins, John Hatt
(Uncredited) and Philip Sharpe (Uncredited)
Small 'Alien' Forms Co-Designer and Maker –
Roger Dicken
Supervising Model Makers: Miniature Effects –
Martin Bower and Bill Pearson
Director of Photography: Miniature Effects –
Dennis Ayling
Special Graphic Effects – Bernard Lodge
Editors – Terry Rawlings,
Peter Weatherley and David Crowther
(Director's Cut)
First Assistant Editor – Les Healey
Sound Editor – Jim Shields
Re-Recording Mixer – Bill Rowe
Re-Recording Assistant Mixer – Ray Merrin
Advertising and Publicity Consultants –
Stanley Bielecki and Charles Lippincott
Music – Jerry Goldsmith
Conductor – Lionel Newman


Awards

1980 Academy Awards
Best Visual Effects – H.R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi,
Brian Johnson, Nick Allder and Dennis Ayling (Won)
---------------
Best Art Direction – Michael Seymour,
Leslie Dilley, Roger Christian and Ian Whittaker
(Nominated)


Review
ALIEN is the first instalment of a franchise that started with a big scream. However, Ridley Scott's interpretation of an alien-life form, known as the Xenomorph, was hell-bent on the destruction of humanity until the main character, Ripley, comes along to fight against the monster. This character was Sigourney Weaver's breakthrough role in a big hit that was the basis for her stellar acting career. ALIEN features the famous and probably the most gruesome scene involving John Hurt's character and the Xenomorph. I'll leave you to see it if you believe me.

The film is a landmark for science fiction, taking the genre to a new level not explored since the 1950s. For this, I considered ALIEN a great terrifying feature. If you enjoyed it, try James Cameron's action-oriented sequel, Aliens.

Star rating: (4/5) Good Movie

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