Critic's Grade: A+

Close your eyes for just a moment (after reading this, of course), and try to think of any other scene from any other horror movie that manages to shock the hell out of us as much as that in Ridley Scott's "Alien," in which a man's stomach bursts open in a frenxy of blood, as he gives birth via unwanted caesarian section to a rather nasty extra-terrestrial. The picture is all at once shocking, eye-opening, gasp-inducing, and utterly unforgettable, much like the overall film itself; once you've seen it, you'll be lucky if you can forget it.

Scott's second feature film, following his rather quiet debut with "The Duellists," is equal parts science fiction fodder and horror masterpiece, a movie that despite its flaws has become one of the all-time great classics of the genre for its much-copied methods of scaring the socks off of its viewers. Watching the movie in the year 2003, I can attest to the fact that nothing has changed: even in the presence of imitators like 1998's "Deep Rising" and the far-worse 2002 entry "Jason X," which attempt to reproduce the setting and payoffs that made this baby such a powerhouse, the thrills, chills, kills, and spills of "Alien" remain wholly intact.

The movie is a cross-section of golden horror oldies and the far-off futuristic space setting of the science fiction genre. We're cast into deep space, where we encounter the Nostromo, a commercial mining/towing vehicle on its way back to earth with a hefty cargo of mineral ore. With a crew of only seven aboard (played by Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto), and an out-of-the-way SOS signal that leads them to an off-course planet for an investigation, things are only just beginning to take shape.

Scott takes a big chance in starting things at a slower rate than most of his competition. Just as the teen horror movies of the late 70's and early 80's were beginning to take form, jump tactics like those found in the moribund "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" franchises were quickly becoming the rage, as well as cliched. Scott, however, takes a different approach. Much of what takes place in the first half of the film is slow-moving and wandersome, stopping to take long glances at exterior shots of the Nostromo as it glides through space, or to examine the intricacies of the alien vessel they encounter once they reach the source of the SOS call. Those in the market for something fast and frivolous guaranteeing an instant horror movie orgasm will find Scott's pacing too lethargic and muddlesome, but in fact, it is this attention to details that enhances the experience and sets us up for events to come.

Take, for example, the portion of the movie beginning within the alien vessel, in a chamber where thousands of egg-shaped objects are being stored. When Hurt's character becomes overpowered by what's inside one of the eggs, an octopus-like creature that adheres itself to his face completely, the crew has no idea how to control it. When cut, it bleeds extremely potent acid that prevents them from killing it, lest they should risk a hull breach. Soon after, it leaves its host as mysteriously as it arrived, once Hurt is awake, all seems well again. This all takes place over the course of nearly half an hour, as Scott uses this passage of time to further increase our unease, our tension, and our insatiable need to find out what happens next.

When all hell breaks loose, and the real predator begins its rampage aboard the Nostromo, the fight for survival begins. At this point, the movie abandons most of its sci-fi origins and delves straight into 100-percent horror fare, with Scott choosing once again to build up suspense and shocks with incredibly lengthy periods of waiting before the alien rears its head (or heads, if you will). Hailing to the golden rule that what we don't see can incite fear moreso than that which we can, he uses to its utmost advantage the elements of shadow and light to create an atmosphere of wildly intoxicating intensity. With a vast and extremely dark setting at his command, Scott flirts with shots of his characters set against backdrops of complete darkness, using moving shadows, steam, water, sound effects, and low-lit, claustrophobic settings to exact a state of primal fear over the audience; the effect is nothing short of mind-blowing.

One thing I happened to notice throughout is Scott's refusal to reveal much of the alien creature in its entire. The only shots in which we capture a glimpse of its full figure are seen from a distance, while those more intimate shots of its mouth-within-a-mouth mechanism and slime-covered limbs are captured in such a way that it requires the audience to fill in the blanks surrounding them. This works in the film's favor: the intention here is obviously to grab our attention through the menacing feel of the creature's presence, rather than have us gasp in simultaneous fright and awe over nifty creature effects and design work.

If there's one thing the movie suffers from, it's a lack of character development, and how many horror movies are guilty of this is perhaps a question for the ages. The actors, credible as they may have been or did become prior to and after "Alien" (Skerritt already had an impressive track record, while Weaver was an unknown), are merely playing cardboard cutouts of expendable characters required to do little else besides spout sci-fi jargon, punch buttons, and search for a way out of their predicament while waiting to become the next blue plate special. This blemish doesn't really take away from everything that is good about the movie, nor does it enhance it; it all depends on whether or not you want more from them.

For me, it wasn't too bothersome; in retrospect, the fact that Scott is able to generate suspense and terror even when we don't much care about the characters is a testament to his incredible skill and hold on the material. He takes bold steps in crafting the film, making unusual choices that ultimately prove to be effective in generating a significant scare factor above most others of its kind. "Alien" is that rarest of horror movie breeds, a monster picture not built around a monster, but around genuine thrills. And odds are you'll never think of a C-section the same way again.

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