Alien (1979)

Fig 1: poster 

At its core Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) has the same narrative as most slasher horror films, some seemingly unstoppable force is killing everyone with their signature weapon (the xenomorph’s second mouth). What sets alien apart is the cinematography, use of the enigma, and gender reversals.

Roger Ebert says “One of the great strengths of "Alien" is its pacing. It takes its time.” This point is absolutely true, Alien is a very slow movie because of this. When the alien is introduced the pace becomes slower, this is because of the use of the enigma to make the xenomorph seem scarier because of the suspense of waiting. The music helps elevate the suspense with a high pitch score whenever the xenomorph is on screen or when it is close to killing someone.

Vincent Canby says “Mr. Scott is a very stylish director” This very true in terms of cinematography. Riddley Scott uses a very stylistic approach to film; this can be seen in the establishing scene, as the camera navigates around a futuristic looking ship in to a rub filled with cryostasis pods in what looks like a flower formation. The mise en scene in Alien is very interesting, the lighting become lower key when the alien is introduced, possibly to add to the enigma. The character are dressed in uniform, does not help when trying to define a main protagonist. The editing is very slow and only really speeds up whenever the alien is about to strike. The camera shots are prolonged focusing on facial expressions to convey emotions

Brian Eggert stated “Violent psychosexual connotations go further to instil terror and unease, as the human being’s participation in the alien life cycle amounts to non-consensual reproduction or rape” The face hugger can be seen as a inter species rapist forcing a innocent human to become the egg to its proverbial seed. It is also interesting that a man is the one being raped, because it emasculates and through penetration causes metaphorical castration. At birth the xenomorph is very phallic, this further pushes the idea rape and could make a viewer feel more uneasy.

In conclusion alien is a great film, the techniques it uses to evoke emotion and make the viewer feel uneasy are very well done. The enigma makes the xenomorph fell less like a man in an suit and more like a horrific creature whose only goal is to kill and survive. 

Illustrations list
 Figure 1: Poster-http://www.deepfocusreview.com/reviews/images/alien.jpg

Figure 2: Sigourney Weaver -http://www.deepfocusreview.com/reviews/images/alien.8.jpg

Figur 3:alien birth-http://www.deepfocusreview.com/reviews/images/alien.4.jpg

Bibliography

Roger Ebert (2003)- http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-alien-1979 (Used 23/10.2014)

VINCENT CANBY http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950CEED61439E732A25756C2A9639C946890D6CF (Used 23/10.2014)

Brian Eggert http://www.deepfocusreview.com/reviews/alien.asp
(Used 23/10.2014)