Today’s Prayer Focus
MOVIE REVIEW

Alien

MPA Rating: R-Rating (MPA) for unspecified reasons.

Reviewed by: Brett Willis
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating: Very Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Adults
Genre: Sci-Fi Horror Thriller
Length: 2 hr. 4 min.
Year of Release: 1979
USA Release: May 25, 1979
Relevant Issues
Box art for “Alien”
Aliens (extraterrestrials)

What does the Bible say about intelligent life on other planets? Answer

Are we alone in the universe? Answer

Does Scripture refer to life in space? Answer

Questions and Answers about The Origin of Life

Featuring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto
Director Ridley Scott
Producer Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill, Ronald Shusett
Distributor Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Trademark logo.20th Century Studios, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company

This film stands out from the general Sci-Fi crowd in terms of convincing acting and good (for its era) special effects. Also, it avoids the occult/supernatural themes found in many Sci-Fi stories. Sigourney Weaver’s character Ellen Ripley wasn’t first-billed in the original, but she took center stage in several sequels.

Sometime in the far future the Nostromo, a mining ship owned by The Company, is returning to Earth from another star system, hauling 20 million tons of ore. (It’s not clear in these films whether “The Company” is just a private mega-corporation or whether it’s also an interstellar version of the CIA; we do learn that The Company has a bio-weapons division, and that it sometimes uses treachery and deceit.) The crew of seven (five miners and two spaceship-maintenance men) is in hypersleep; the shots of the sterile, computer-guided ship have an atmosphere like that of “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

A signal beacon, possibly alien in origin, causes the computer to wake the crew and to pilot the ship to the beacon’s source on an unexplored planet. Company policy requires making contact with alien life-forms whenever possible. A search party finds a derelict alien ship with a giant mummified pilot still sitting at the controls, apparently killed when his chest burst open. The ship also carries a cargo of one-foot-high eggs; things really start happening when one of the crew gets too close to the eggs. The rest of the film becomes a “haunted house” story.

The alien, created by H.R. Giger, is a complex organism: a xenomorph with “alternation of generations.” The “sporophyte” generation [the “Face-hugger” form] hatches from an egg, vaguely resembles a crustacean and implants an embryo of the (presumably) “gametophyte” generation into any available host. The gametophyte [the “Warrior” form] bursts from the host when mature, grows rapidly to human size, and has aspects of a reptile and of an insect or arachnid. The alien (both forms) also has some formidable fighting characteristics, both offensive and defensive. In short, it’s the stuff that nightmares are made of. The tagline is “In space, no one can hear you scream.”

Content Warnings

Profanity is steep, with several uses of f* and other language that we might expect from “miners.” There are several bloody deaths, including a chest-bursting scene which was often imitated in later Sci-Fi “cheapies.” The deaths, and the brief views of the alien, are typically handled with quick cutaways; so the scariness is based more on suspense than on grossness. An expanded version of this film uses outfootage showing a “cocooned” victim (cocooning is an important element in the first sequel). In addition to the alien attacks, the crew is also threatened by the Company’s policies.

There’s no sexual content. However, during dinner one of the men makes a joking reference to oral sex (aimed at one of the women). The ports of the alien ship are shaped like human female genitals (I didn’t consciously notice this until I read about it in the Sci-Fi movie magazine “Fangoria”; those wishing to accuse someone of seeing things that aren’t there should contact the magazine, not me). And the film’s climax has an element borrowed from typical “scary movies”: a woman in skimpy underwear runs into the alien and reacts by hiding in a “closet” (normally that’s not a good tactical move, but in this case it is).

Social Grooming

It’s hard to remember now how radical it was in 1979 to cast two of the five miners as female. The constant portrayal of certain themes in movies has often helped to bring them to pass in real life.

Violence and scariness aside, the very act of showing an alien creature feeds into the public’s hunger to find out that we’re not alone in the universe. That hunger was created when we as a society philosophically “killed God off;” the quest for aliens is partly a search for a God-substitute, and for meaning for our own lives. I don’t recommend this film series unless the viewers are mature enough for the adult material AND already have their questions on origins resolved so they can treat this as the pure fiction it is.

Sequels: “Aliens” (1986); “Alien3” (1992); “Alien: Resurrection” (1997), “Alien vs. Predator” (2004), “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem” (2007)


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Positive
Positive—I can see how this movie was considered horrifying when it first came out! It still is! Although a little slow in the first half hour, the rest of the movie is complete with suspense which is almost unbearable at points. Sure, some of the crew do things that are dumb, but the film is trying to show normal people in horrible situations. Most normal people don’t think clearly in situations like that. Anyway, a couple of disturbing scenes, the “f-word” is used a couple of times, and it’s very scary. Overall, a wonderful start to an awesome series. Make sure the lights are out when you watch it!
My Ratings: [Very Offensive / 4½]
Jonathan Johannsen, age 19
Positive—Basically, this is a haunted house movie set in outer space. The main departure from other science fiction adventures is that a heroine is responsible for trying to save the day. Several good jump-out-of-your-seat scares, but most of them are pretty gross, especially a scene involving a crew member who discovers that something is disagreeing with his stomach. This is not for small children or very squeamish viewers.
My Ratings: [Very Offensive / 4½]
Hillari Hunter, age 39
Positive—I know this is an old movie, but I watched it recently with my teenage son. I couldn’t remember much of it, so I stopped off on this site to check for nudity. Happily, there was none stated… until I had to holler “Close your eyes! Close your eyes!” while viewing. During a conversation Ripley has with Ash, the background wall is covered in nude photos of women in various poses. It takes a moment to notice as you are looking at Ash who is speaking. But it is a prolonged scene, cutting from Ripley to Ash repeatedly, so if at first you didn’t notice, you are given ample time to see it.

I fast forwarded the scene but it’s disappointing that it is in there and caught me off guard. I of course expected violence, and fortunately the creature, while scary, did look fake in many scenes, so I wasn’t too worried about the violence, but I don’t want my teen child seeing naked women. That’s something I’d like to shield him from as long as I can. Just wanted to mention it for other parents who may look up this old “classic.”
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
Andrea, age 42 (USA)
Comments from young people
Positive—Alien. This sci-fi horror movie is a classic. Its great and provides some scares. Mild spoiler. My favorite part was when the chest burster came out of the guys stomach. This is a great movie. The aliens were so cool.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 5
Ty, age 13 (USA)