The look of the Nostromo in this film is mainly like a huge refinery, or oil platform in space, with dirt, steam and pipework everywhere.. The only exception is the crew areas, which has some softening comforts. So this is space as an industrial project. The alien horror is iconic, and the film captures well the claustrophobia and fear of the untrained crew as they battle a hunter which out classes them in all but technology. A Classic.

I'm not the biggest fan of horror, though I did watch a few slasher movies, including Wes Craven's Scream 1 and Child's Play (with Brad Dourif), but considering I love sci-fi, this is my favorite of the horror sci-fi flicks. I still have the VHS tape of this one and I watched it again on blu-ray and enjoyed it. It does have a lot of creepy moments, and that dinner scene was spoofed in so many other films, TV shows, books, and such, but it made its point. This movie was the catalyst for the Alien saga and this, along with its sophomore outing, are the only Alien films I'll watch. And I'll pretend that the Alien Versus Predator films never existed. I especially loved the sets and the creature itself, courtesy of the late HR Giger. This actually worked for me.

This movie does not even need a review, if you have not seen it yet for some insane reason, do not mind the date of the title, it definitely is not outdated by any stretch of the imagination. Just to have written a few words about Alien as if you would need any convincing to watch this brilliance; in Alien, Sigourney Weaver creates possibly the most badass female protagonist character ever (in a believable and fun-to-watch way, not the trying-to-be-trendy, trying-to-have-a-message boring feminist way as is the current trend) and fights with possibly the most interesting sci-fi creature in movie history

I can definitely understand the rating Alien has, however, watching it now, the problem isn't the special effects (they're fine and clearly amazing for their time), rather, the problem is how drawn out the story feels.It takes around 40 minutes for Alien to start. Before that is a long winded journey of suspense and discovery, then after it finally really starts, there's more of the same at too many parts. For instance, a longer time than necessary is spent looking for the cat (Jones), right before Brett is killed, and that time itself was directly preceded by another sequence filled with too much shadowing.The pacing wouldn't be such an issue, if at least the suspense was able to live up to it. The coolest part by far is when the parent alien was attached to Kane. It was ominous and appropriately nightmarish. Thereafter, especially given Dallas's constant nonchalance, the film feels, lengthy.Also, we never really get to fully see the alien in its entirety, and maybe that was by design, but because of the pacing, I found myself needing something in the film to look forward to, and since the story was already a far gone conclusion, it left the spotlight on the alien.This may seem like a negative review, however, I did enjoy this film, though it lost my full attention at some points due to its near inactivity, or seemingly sedate flow. I'd love to give it more, however my experience of it just can't allow it. 6/10.