Subhuman's '70s Cinema Selections: Alien

[Aonaran]

Watched it on cable the other night. And after having sung the praises of Aliens over the years for being the overall better movie in every sense, I'd forgotten how much of a jewel the original is. Especially compared to what passes for scary movies these days, Alien is a brilliant piece of well-plotted, well-crafted horror filmmaking. The buildup to when the creepy alien shit starts going down is perfectly paced, and the fact that the alien is only briefly glimpsed throughout the movie is about 99% of what makes it so scary. It's such a quiet movie, too - it's not afraid to give the audience a breather and let a bit of contemplative suspense-building into the mix before the next onslaught of terror, which itself only lasts a few minutes. Aliens is pretty much non-stop action in comparison, which does offer its own pleasures, but if you're in the mood for something overall less steroidal Alien is the way to go. Rent it again, it's probably been a while since you've seen it.

Subhuman's Rating: 4/5 bell-bottoms

Brilliant piece of cinema and one of Ridley Scotts few truly great films. Oh, and Sigourney Weaver with a 70s hairdo and skimpy panties might just be my favorite of all things.