Figure 1. Alien Poster.

Introduction to film Directed by Ridley Scott in 1979, Alien was an iconic Science Fiction Horror that pushed the boundaries of film design into the modern day and brought completely new and alien design to the Science fiction genre. Alien's seismic effect on the genre was prefigured by its stark, minimalist poster, but the sheer come-andget-it confidence gave a clue that something was about to explode. (Newman, 2006)(See figure 1.) Here Kim Newman describes the poster as being almost like a dare, where the viewer isnt given a lot of information about anything apart from the tagline, In space no one can hear you scream. So the film becomes a sort of challenge to science fiction audiences everywhere with its are-you-ready-for-this attitude and deep set horror roots.

Figure 2. Nostromo corridor.

The design of the commercial towing spaceship Nostromo and all its endless corridors, rooms, spacesuits, blinking lights and retrofuturistic computer interfaces fell on the shoulders of Concept artist Ron Cobb who gave the ship a feeling of claustrophobic realism as can be seen in Figure 2. Ridley Scott brought in Swiss surrealist artist H. R. Giger to design everything alien about the film, from the spacecraft to the horrific creature itself, Gigers design was, unsurprisingly, totally unique and completely alien. A little about the plot On a return journey to earth the crew of seven intercept a distress beacon of unknown origin from a nearby planet. Upon investigation the crew accidentally unleash upon themselves a truly horrifying creature which systematically hunts them down one by one and kills them. Throughout the entirety of the film the audience is kept on the edge of their seats by the unrelenting peril of the unknown. One of the great strengths of "Alien" is its pacing. It takes its time. It waits. It allows silences. (Ebert, 2003) Here Ebert enforces the point that Alien is not an all-guns-blazing film with explosions around every corner because that would destroy the subtlety and mystery of the Alien. Its a big ship and its the build up to the action, the anticipation of an event that really gets the audience on the edge of their seats. Throughout the majority of the movie the spaceship itself plays a sort of eerie mechanical heartbeat to carry the tension from one scene to the next. Again Roger Ebert suggests that the alien is capable of being just about any monster the story requires. Because it doesn't play by any rules of appearance or behaviour, it becomes an amorphous menace, haunting the ship with the spectre of shape-shifting evil (Ebert,

2003) An example of Eberts point is the numerous stages of the Aliens transformation which keeps us very much in the dark as to exactly what it looks like or what it is capable of. The film is very clever in this aspect, showing us only little bits of the Alien so we are more scared by what we thought we saw than what we actually did see. As the movie progresses the scenes get increasingly darker in contrast with bright lights that flash up suddenly or unexpectedly when an open electric wire sparks out of the blue.

Figure 3. Alien.

Figure 4. Chestburster

The viciously sexual aspect of Gigers work combined with his terrifying, biomechanical design of the phallic Alien and the thrusting, stabbing motions with which it kills its prey, either with its second mouth (see Figure 3.) or its long powerful tail hint

very heavily towards the horrors of male rape. The phallic baby alien from the legendary Chestburster scene (figure 4.) is implanted orally by the face hugger into the body of Kane (John Hurt) and its painfully explosive emergence through his ribs in a coat of blood hints at the physical and mental trauma of the birth of an unwanted baby. The scene where Lambert (veronica Cartwright) is killed depicts the alien towering before her crying form with a distinctly human silhouette before it slowly slides its tail up the inside of her legs. (See Figure 5.) This is possibly one of the most controversial scenes of the film as the undertones of the brutal sexualisation are twisted to hint at being more of human trait.

Figure 5. Alien and Lambert

List of illustration

Figure 1. Alien Poster: http://alexmovieman.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/alien%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85/ Figure 2. Nostromo Corridor: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/305210/a-few-words-about-alienanthology-in-blu-ray/90 Figure 3. Alien: http://www.muveez.com/news/897/classic-xenomorphaliens-returning-for-prometheus Figure 4. Chestburster: http://www.oddfilms.com/blog/movierecommendations/13-scariest-movie-moments/ Figure 5. Alien and Lambert: http://celluloidzombie.com/2011/03/04/life-cycle-the-birth-anddeath-of-the-alien-saga/

Bibliography

Ebert, Roger: (October 26th, 2003) http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031026/REVIEWS08/310260301/102 3 Newman, Kim: (December 30th, 2006) http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/ReviewComplete.asp?FID=9531