In 1979, a movie hit theaters that changed the way we look at horror. That movie is Alien. While I never was able to feel its full, claustrophobic impact, in theaters, I still have great respect for this timeless masterpiece. Signourey Weaver and Tom Skerritt star in Ridley's Scott Alien.

The plot is simple: People find aliens. Aliens kill people. But the movie flows magnificently from beginning to end. The opening sequence has no movement other than a computer coming to life, and, after several, silent minutes, one of the humans wake up. And then they are eating breakfast. It is the calmness before the storm.

Furthermore, the entire movie creates a feeling of dread and suspense. As the crew cascades through an alien ship and stumbles across a series of alien pods, the audience knows something is going to happen; they just don't know when. It doesn't come too soon because that would be a waste; no, the director waits until the point where the audience is twitching in their chairs, knowing that any second something is going to spring out. And it does.

Then the real fun and horror begins. The man who has been attacked by the small alien is brought back aboard the ship, and once again, the audience knows that is asking for disaster. But who would have suspected that the creature would have come out of his body (right through the flesh) and grow to be larger than a man, and probably the nastiest, most realistic looking alien ever created. As people begin to die, the ship becomes a giant playground, dark and narrow with no place to run or turn.

Signourey Weaver has her landmark role in Alien; no doubt this, and Aliens, are her peak movies. She may have done respectable jobs in other films but she will always be remembered as the one from Alien.

While Alien may have lost some of its strength on a television screen, it continues to dominate as one of the most horrific movies ever conceived, and will be for years to come.

Review by Erik Samdahl.