Melding two classic genres - science fiction and true horror - ALIEN is the haunted house movie of the decade. In space. Where no one can hear you scream. Even still, there's a while lotta screaming going on. Especially that Veronica Cartwright - oh man! Y'know, I don't even FEEL like rescuing you with all that yelling and puffy-eyed crying and snot running down your nose and stuff...

The greatest thing about ALIEN is that it is such a departure from the space movies of its time. Every other space adventure of this era (from 1977's STAR WARS to 1979's STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE and TV's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 1978) was a flip, childish vision of "science fantasy," whilst writers Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, with director Ridley Scott, went about creating a true "science fiction" story, using a device as old as Vincent Price - the spaceship as haunted house.


- in space. The tagline for ALIEN is classic: In space, no one can hear you scream. Even so, there's an awful lot of screaming going on...


A space adventure s that is truly disturbing, like a horror movie, like apsychological thriller - that scene with Ash, firstly the fact that he's a disembodied head with that electronic voice was disturbing, but then his attitude toward the alien, his admiration for it. "You admire it" is that the line? that was scar y too - he felt less empathy towards the species he was modeled after.