I Watch Films: Alien

 

Alien

Is there anything left to say about this classic science fiction horror film that has not already been said? The Nostromo, a space-tug, is bringing a cargo back to earth when it detects a signal. It wakes the crew who investigate an alien space ship. On board are eggs which react to their appearance; a creature emerges and grabs one of the crew, eating through his helmet. Bringing him back aboard they can’t remove it, then it removes itself and he seems fine, only for a new creature to emerge from his chest. It grows and hunts down the crew, leaving only one survivor. Along the way we discover that one of the crew is an android, and he is following company orders to return the alien lifeform, even if that costs the lives of the crew.

There’s something to be seen here about how the two engineers are on half-shares compared to the flight crew, a class division amongst the crew. And also how few there are for such a huge vessel (the Nostromo itself is moderately large – large enough for the alien to hide – let alone the giant barge/refinery they’re towing). The company have cut costs, and then created an artificial divide in the crew to argue over the scraps they offer. And more than that, the company are willing to risk the entire crew (of course) but also the regular, normal profit from shipping ore, for the wild and dangerous risk of investigating a mysterious signal. Is the real monster… capitalism?

An alien with acid for blood that wants to eat people (and the ship’s cat) is also a monster though, and it's not capitalism, it's a murderous, carnivorous rape-adjacent organic weird movement creature of opaque intentions. The great long, round, gleaming eyeless head, the mouth that extends and extends, the tail that whips, all those are threatening. Yet more so is the ability to stay hidden, to attack from ambush. The busy 1970s engineering corridors offer cover, as though it is designed as a habitat for it. Or as a space-faring parasite, perhaps it is designed for spacecraft. There are worse things out there than the company.

The company is very evil though.

Watch This: Superb science fiction haunted spacecraft with side of body horror film
Don’t Watch This: Just people making bad decisions in bad circumstances