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ALIEN (1979 DIRECTOR'S CUT) Director- Ridley Scott Cast- Sigourney Weaver (Ripley), John Hurt (Kane), Tom Skerritt (Dallas), Veronica Cartwright (Lambert) Rated- R Runtime- 1 hour, 55 minutes Reviewed By- Josh Cartwright The Lowdown After receiving a distress signal from an unknown planet, the crew aboard the Nostromo (a commercial spaceship) take off to investigate. Once they arrive, the crew discovers strange life forms have laid eggs on the planet (yeah, aliens). One of the aliens manages to hitch a ride on the Nostromo and proceeds to kill the crew one-by-one. My Take There's really nothing bad I can say about Ridley Scott's masterpiece. The film is a classic and an all-out good time for sci-fi and horror buffs such as myself. "Alien" has spawned three sequels and has become a cult phenomenon over the years. So what makes it work? Let's take a deeper look and see. First off, "Alien" is masterfully directed by Scott. For a man that didn't like monster movies, the guy pulled it off and made a very frightening movie. Scott sets the tone perfectly and delivers the horror goods to near perfection. The dark, claustrophobic feel of "Alien" hits the viewer hard at the right times and manages to take a conventional theme and bring it to life in a very scary and effective way. Scott is able to create a tension-filled movie with tons of dark vibes and creativity. I loved the overall mood of the film and the atmosphere created by Scott and the crew is second to none. "Alien" is dark and dreadful, yet very subtle in its approach. This isn't your normal sci-fi flick, this baby is scary and packs a punch. I also loved the characters we're given in "Alien", you're never sure who's gonna make it and who's not. The actors each give credible performances and each bring something fresh to the table. The actors are all given ample screen time and the impact is felt by the viewer when one of these guys goes down. Kudos to the cast in "Alien", these guys played the parts perfectly. I also gotta give props to the behind-the-scenes crew for the film. The set designs and overall production of the film is remarkable. H.R. Giger's alien design is one the more memorable creations in cinema history but the entire crew brought something exciting to the film. The Nostromo, the alien, the eggs, the effects.....it's all extremely effective and impressive. Let's not forget the infamous chest busting scene...WOW! Even though this review was written after seeing the 2003 Director's Cut, not much has been changed from the 1979 version of the film. We're given some additional footage that was deleted from the original but not much else. A couple of scenes did manage to stick out with one being a scene where Ripley discovers Dallas near the end of the film. I thought the scene was very powerful and it reminded me of what we would later see from James Cameron in "Aliens". In the end, you can't find a better sci-fi/horror flick than "Alien". The flick has everything you could want, a super-cool alien, awesome production values, excellent acting, lots of horror gore and a master behind the camera. "Alien" easily deserves its status as a classic. I couldn't possibly give this flick anything less than a perfect rating of four stars.