Flashback: Alien (1979) – Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror classic is an existential drama in deep space

Time has been kind to Ridley’s Scott’s Alien since its release in 1979. What was initially regarded as a science fiction/horror genre work – albeit a superior one – now plays like an existential drama that just happens to take place in deep space.

An example of what commercial cinema can aspire to, even on a limited budget, the film boasts an intelligent script, careful perfor­mances, clever special effects and well-crafted sets. The titular alien, which was designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger, and is only partially glimpsed throughout, remains the most elegantly vile creature to ever grace cinema screens.

The alien is still scary enough to inspire nightmares, but the film’s success is the result of a tight, organised script that appears simple, even though it was the product of many rewrites by different writers.

Sigourney Weaver, an unknown actress whose indomitable performance made her a star, plays Ellen Ripley, the warrant officer on the commercial spaceship Nostromo.

When the Nostromo picks up an SOS that suggests a new alien life form, it’s contractually bound to investigate. Unfortunately, the SOS turns out to be a warning, and the ship is invaded by a highly evolved, saturnine beast search­ing for human hosts for its offspring. As the crew are picked off, Ripley must try to outwit her nemesis.