Blind Spot Review: Alien (1979)

We’re way out of our comfort zone this month. I think we’re getting braver, but neither Jenna or I watch horror movies. It’s not even the movie itself that’s so bad, it’s trying to go to bed that night that’s the worst! Also, whilst I won’t speak on behalf of Jenna on this point, I don’t do too well with space movies. They tend to be far too clever for my simple mind to follow. Star Wars is the exception!  I'm good with space movies but as someone who lives alone horrors are a big no no, even with someone.  Its the countless nights afterwards when I have to check every cupboard and nook and cranny in my house before I can 'safely' go to bed!  

Which I guess is why Alien (1979) was the perfect choice for our Blind Spot list. I mean, that’s what it’s all about, right? We teamed up for this one, also joined by my fiance, who somehow claims to love this movie despite being a bigger wuss than I when it comes to horror and also appearing to not know what was going to happen!

Thanks to the super helpful opening scene, I can actually explain the plot of this. A commercial towing spacecraft carrying 20,000,000 tons of mineral ore, named Nostromo, is on it’s way back to Earth, along with it’s 7 crew members. The inside of the Nostromo is quiet, until the crew are awoken by the ship’s computer system, Mother. Turns out, they’re not even close to home. Mother has altered their course after picking up a distress signal from another planet, and the crew are forced to investigate, much to the annoyance of some of them.

There’s so much tension between the crew members here that I’d happily watch them all together completely away from the Sci-Fi components of this movie. Speaking of the crew though, there are some huge names here, some that I embarrassingly only knew once I’d looked them up, too. Collectively, we have Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt), Chief Engineer Parker (Yaphet Cotto), Engineering Technician Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm) and last but certainly not least, Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver).   I recognised a few of the faces but the only name (other than Sigourney Weaver) I knew was Harry Dean Stanton (because he is Pretty in Pink's dad!!) - we are terrible aren't we....

There are trust issues left, right and centre, grudges held over wages paid, and at some points this crew is on the verge of mutiny. I got so engrossed I forgot what we were watching for a while!

Oh! How could I forget the final crew member, ginger cat Jonesy! Within the first five minutes I felt the need to warn the others, this cat is gonna be an ass. And he was! He was indeed! He got the second biggest jump scare for sure, the little furry bugger. I was rooting for him, though!  I was not!!  Can you spot the one of us that has pets?

Thankfully, this wasn’t nearly as scary as I feared it would be, but I think that’s just the movie’s age. I do imagine this would have been terrifying when it first came out, and some of the final scenes where Ripley was walking alone around the ship with the flashing lights and the ominous music had me quite tense.  I have to admit, I'm not sure that I would personally count this as a typical horror, it had the jumps but I didn't spend the whole time with my head behind a pillow.  In fact due to a long day of bridesmaid dress shopping I nearly dozed off a few times!!

I expected a bit more from this, I seem to do the same thing every time and forget to account for movies aging.  I don't think they have the same impact on us watching for the first time in 2016 as they did for the guys watching it when it came out.  The cast were really great and there were some significant twists that I didn't see coming, at all.  I loved Sigourney Weaver, she was everything I had heard she would be, a strong lead characters, no sidekick here.  My guess is I will get to experience more of her strength in the rest of the films I have yet to see.

I’m really glad I watched Alien. It’s not my go-to movie of choice at all but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve since heard from colleagues around my office that the second movie in the series is even better. Is that the general consensus?  My Dad agrees...