Alien

One of my favorite movies is the extraterrestrial horror classic Alien.  While this may seem like an odd choice, the story line and directing by Ridley Scott makes this a must see for all film buffs. Alien is a science fiction thriller that follows protagonist Ellen Ripley and the rest of the Nostromo crew as they encounter an alien species that inhabits the ship.  The alien begins to hunt the crew one by one until there is only Ripley left, but she’s not going out without a fight. 

            Very similar to Jaws, Ridley Scott used an editing technique so that we hardly ever actually see the alien and instead just see glimpses of it in the dark.  The film also has a very slow pace from the beginning and kind of builds momentum throughout the story.  Another interesting thing about the film is the way it uses sound, or lack thereof.  Dialogue isn’t even heard for the first 6 minutes.  It really gives meaning to the film’s tagline “In space no one can hear you scream”.

            I love what Ridley Scott did with this film.  He took a very simple concept and gave it a simple foundation, with hardly any audio and slow pacing.  While that ramps up a bit as the movie goes on, the film still manages to get the fear across to the audience with a perfect blend of horror and science fiction.  Not to mention, Sigourney Weaver kicks butt, as one of the greatest female heroes in cinematic history.