Alien: 20th Anniversary Edition (1979)

Directed by Ridley Scott

Produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler & Walter Hill

Starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto

1979. Walter Hill. Dan O'Bannon. Ridley Scott. Sigourney Weaver. H.R. Giger & biomechanics. Carlo Rambaldi, Roger Dicken and Jerry Goldsmith. In the scheme of things, the cinematic melding of science fiction and horror never really did get any better than this, but boy didn't it usher in a cavalcade of imitators! Even now, over twenty years later, the obligatory rehash pops its ugly extraterrestrial head up as a reminder of just how influential Scott's film has been since it first appeared. Drawing its influences from such disparate elements as A.E. van Vogt's 1939 story "Discord In Scarlet", John W. Campbell's short story "Who Goes There?", Edward Cahn's "It! The Terror From Beyond Space" (1958), Mario Bava's "Planet Of The Vampires" (1965), Joseph Conrad and Giger's own "Necronomicon", Scott's film is a milestone. Even as recently as "Event Horizon" (1997) and "Supernova" (2000), its after effect can still be felt. And after three sequels, it still stands head and shoulders over its successors (with David Fincher's entry remaining closest in spirit and claustrophobic power). So, while everyone else is extolling the virtues of the first "Star Wars" DVD, I much prefer to wind back the clock and take a look at a classic that closed a decade, opening a much more deadly universe for adult audiences.

In the not too far flung future commercial towing vessel the "Nostromo" is carrying it refinery cargo of 20,000,000 tons of mineral ore back to Earth when it intercepts a distress signal. Automatically awakening its crew from their hypersleep capsules, the ship's computer brings the operation back on line prematurely. The seven person crew is made up of First-officer Ripley (Weaver), Ship's Captain Dallas (Skerritt), Kane (Hurt), science officer Ash (Holm), ship's navigator Lambert (Cartwright), and engineers Brett (Stanton) & Parker (Kotto). After petty bickering between Dallas and the engineering crew as to payment for the unscheduled diversion, it is agreed upon to investigate the signal and set foot on alien terrain to trace survivors. Once settled on the hostile terrain of the originating planet of the signal, Dallas, Kane & Lambert form a landing party to track the source of the beacon. Discovering the remnants of a derelict space-craft, the signal proves to be interminably dated, and worse…it unscrambles as a warning, not a distress call. Exploration of the derelict vessel leaves Kane in the clutches of an unknown organism. One that, once adjourned to the safety of the Nostromo, mutates and evolves into something far more hostile than the planet's inhospitable atmosphere.

Twenty years later, the most remarkable thing about Ridley Scott's film is how well it still holds up. The visual and mechanical effects may not be quite up to the standard that many modern genre fans are used to, but for this small compromise the film more than makes up with the creation of mood, thick claustrophobic atmosphere, and a genuine sense of terror. As with Carpenter's previous year's "Halloween" (1978), Scott effectively uses the widescreen framing to create menace, and subtly drenches key portions of the frame in shadow (a trick that generates a subconscious feeling of unease in the viewer). Adding incomparably with Scott's command of the visual is the marriage of Derek Vanlint's cinematography and Michael Seymour & Roger Christian's Production design. One compliments the other quite beautifully, Vanlint capturing the cold aesthetics and darkened corridors, Seymour & Christian creating claustrophobic sets that seem to close in on the actors, and the viewer.

Dan O'Bannon, David Giler & Walter Hill's script in thematically little more than Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Niggers" melded with a haunted house movie, set in space, yet it works so well for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the characters are well-written, have believable dialogue, and interact like "real" people. If you're to tell a story, you always have to sell the audience on believing your characters, which Scott does admirably here. The effects, though sometimes crudely achieved, are used sparingly and to maximum shock effect. The "dinner sequence" is to "Alien" what the crucifix scene was to "The Exorcist", a scene that delivers a powerful jolt due to its unexpectedness, and the savage way in which it punctuates the gradient build-up of its mounting horrors. Nick Allder, Roger Dicken & Carlo Rambaldi's work set a precedent that has since become an industry standard, though seldom ever matched.

Jerry Goldsmith's goes largely against the grain of a traditional horror score, instead playing out as lyrical and rhapsodic, in opposition of the perfunctory crash-boom-bang-scare 'em scores we are used to. Scott plays Goldsmith's score off of extended passages of silence (but for effects and dialogue), another ploy that creates unease in the viewer (as a film's score generally dictates to the viewer aurally where their emotions should be at any given moment). Terry Rawling & Peter Weatherley's editing is one of the true stars of the film, alternating between static shots and staccato shots with great skill, equally engaging passages of reprieve against the brutality of the scares. "Alien" remains a tense, tightly-woven horror film that still manages to pack a punch today. Modern fans may find some of the effects a little hokey and the film lacking in gory incidence, but the sustained tension of the piece from the moment Hurt encounters Giger's "face-hugger" is a lesson that could be well learnt from for any number of filmmakers populating the genre at this point in time. Afterall, a good horror film should scare, not read like an effects' man's portfolio.

For a film of its vintage, "Alien" scrubs up pretty well on Fox's 20th Anniversary disc. Per its original theatrical engagements the film is letterboxed at an aspect ratio of 2.35, and the DVD edition has been anamorphically enhanced to boot. Clarity is exceptionally good, colour is well rendered, and detail levels are particularly good. Blacks and shadow detail are also so quite remarkably reproduced (as they should be, considering much of the film takes place in the dark), so a big pat on the back all round to the lads at Fox for doing such a sterling job with the transfer on this one. The audio is a nice and creepy 5.1 remix from the original six track materials (don't forget, "Alien" was exhibited theatrically in 70mm & Dolby 6 track where available!) that sets the mood well enough to warrant getting up mid-movie and switching the lights on. It occasionally highlights the limitations of the source materials, but unless you know what you're listening for I doubt you'll even notice! A rather spanky edition of a great movie, methinks! J

And talk about your Extra features! Fox have crammed as much as disc-space would permit them to make a 20th Anniversary disc something special for the collector. Film-wise, there's an animated and exhaustive audio commentary by Ridley Scott which is quite a delight to listen to, considering the number of instances that he comments on how good the film still looks. The feather's in YOUR cap there on that one, Ridley m'boy! Additional audio options are similarly quite special: Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful score is presented in an Isolated form, and there's also the interesting inclusion of an Alternate score with production (ie: direct) sound which makes for a marked contrast to the finished sound mix. Hmmm, where to next? Okay, there's 10 Deleted Scenes, that are mostly additional character development but number ten is the jewel in the crown. Yep, it's the legendary "Cocoon" scene (and you'll see exactly why Ridley cut it)! In addition to these are 2 Outtakes (one an alternate version of Brett's death scene, the other a lucky excision), and 4 Trailers (2 teasers, 2 release trailers). Then you get into the Stills galleries (Concept Art, Storyboards, Production photos & Poster design) which might take hours to go through as there's literally hundreds of them! Round the whole thing out with Cast & Crew biographies and a couple of hidden features (nice additions off the Main Menu, but you can all have a bit of fun poking around for them as I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise!), and you've got about the best version of "Alien" available for the time being!

International specifications are: PAL format disc; English language only audio with available subtitles in Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish & English for the Hearing Impaired.

Review by Mike Thomason

© 2001, Icon In Black Media