Why do we love ALIEN......really

90 minutes of teeth is good enough for me lol.

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I totally agree, that's the only reason I enjoy Alien. I think that the Story and Acting were pretty irrelevant and boring - they wasted so much good time on it, it was ridiculous - I couldn't even understand what the point of doing that was. I have said, all along, that film would have been just as good if they had just focussed on the xeno's teeth for 90 minutes - and a lot of people agree with me. It would probably better, actually, without all the need for that stupid talking and then some people walking from here, to there, and back again: I mean, seriously, what the Hell were they trying to prove? It slowed everything down. I hope Ridley Scott listens to the true fans this time 'round and just keeps what's actually most important.

I love Alien because its a great movie.

But what makes it great freezehim?

Just because a movie has the xenomorph creature in it does not keep it from becoming a steaming pile of shit - and there's a few movies out there that prove it. I'm grateful that Ridley has chosen to explore the space jockey mythos. When I first saw ALIEN I was fascinated by the appearance of the SJ and I was sure it would figure heavily into the movie's plot later. Finally they're getting around to it and I'm excited about it. Like Ridley pointed out, the Alien xenomorph creature has been done to death.

But we still never found out where they came from and why..........and i dont think Prometheus will explain this either.

I think it will.

well said RickK If 90 minutes of teeth were all it took to make a great alien film, Alien Resurrection would be a great film...instead its garbage. I love Alien for all the reasons that some of you guys mentioned was irrelevant... Its a horror movie. Its not a scary action film. The grittiness of the environment, the detail and development of the characters and theyre relationship to one another are all what makes it a great movie. And its layers and mysteries are great. The things that RS doesnt explain, having the restrain not to reveal things that probably wouldnt reveal themselves throughout the course of the events is great. It leaves so many places to go with the story. The scariest scene in any of the movies to me is the scene with Dallas in the shaft. I love how he realizes that the whole situation is his fault (at least he thinks it is, not knowing how Ash has manipulated things), and delegates himself to go into the air shafts, but knows he's in trouble, asking Mother "what are my chances?" The fact that they had Lambert directing him through the ventilation, with her panicky way of speaking when she gets scared, and Dallas's eventual turn to panic, saying "I want to get the hell out of here", still scares me. There's nothing about the other movies that does that. I dont however understand why RS wont make consecutive films in this franchise. It seems like he cant hand the baton off fast enough.

For me it's a matter of all the primal fears that we see the characters are forced to face against unthinkable horrors. Alien forces you look at that unseen terror just waiting for you around the next corner or just down the dark corridors, aside from the amazing sets and the fact that even by today's standards and modern special effects it's a movie that still looks and feels great for its age but the sense and feel ( or essence ) of the first movie is something that was lost to the later sequels, but I'm sure that Ridley understand this and Promy might not have the same tight corridors or the same claustrophobic settings but be reassured the horrors are there.

Alien is a great horror film because it pushes all of the fear buttons. Rape and disembowelment and clostrophobia and helplessness in the face of evil and extreme violence. You have nowhere to run away to and the monster is a kind of suicide bomber, you can't kill it without destorying your ship. Then there is all of the sexual imagery to make people uncomfortable, at least back then. The imagery of a big dick with teeth bursting out of a guys chest and snarling nastily! Then it grows into a bigger dick with two sets of nasty teeth. All great reasons to be scared.

@yhms, I agree...two other things that really makes that scene so scary to me is the extreme claustrophobia of being in that vent shaft with him like it's pressing in on you and don't forget about the music score while he's in the shaft...it's both tension packed and at times eerily mournful...almost like it mimics the fact that he knows he is doomed...I especially like the one shot where Lambert looses his signal and tells him to look around him that it has to be somewhere near by...when he looks up and you see what to me seems like a quick shot of a moving shadow against a piece of machinery is just plain spooky...RS was a master at creating these types of feelings for the viewer...none of the other sequels came anywhere close to replicating these disturbing feelings with the viewer imo..

@giger, right. anytime you take the character whom the audience has accepted as the leader, badass, and most likely to survive, and break him down like that, its scary. lamber says "get out of there!", and he drops the flame thrower and starts moving, though he can only move at a crawl because of where he is, and it just adds to the tension. i also love the way the shaft doors open and close in that scene...the dirty, greasy sound, its so creepy. the scene in the prometheus trailer with the floor opening up in the pilot chair room always makes me think of them.

I love this film not only because of the story and acting, but because of how this film differentiated itself from other sci-fi films of the time(Star Wars, Star Trek-TMP). It was a story about ordinary people facing an extraordinary adversary. There was nothing fancy about the film; it truly depicted how life would be for people like these. The way Alien was done, one could argue that the filmmakers could have set this story on present-day Earth. And since they were miners, put the Alien deep in the mine, and go from there...They sort of went for that idea in Alien 3, but the execution just didn't work. In the end, the way the film was shot and edited, plus the fact that Alien didn't overdo it with the gore(despite Kane's death), as well as the fear of the unknown, made this film such a classic. I would hate for anybody in Hollywood to try and remake this remarkable film.

I love Alien because of the suspense. It's very similar to John Carpenter's The Thing where you have a small group of people trying to survive in a closed environment. Alien really sh*t me up as a kid and it still makes me jump out of my seat 30+ years later, especially the seen where Dallas gets it in the tunnel

Alien was the "mother" of all sci-fi horror flicks, in that it gave birth to a new generation of sci-fi horror films. Alien would be the sensei, and all these other films the students, none of which have come close to dethroning it.

Now theres an image... Ridley Scott is like the crusty old Mr. Miagi then. And he is telling J.J. Abrams to..... WAX ON, WAX OFF Cool!

Both our fascination and fear of the unkown draws us in....we want to explain what we don't understand, but at the same time, we have an instinct for self preservation. Alien was an exploration of our darkest fears in a mostly unknown universe. The acting was key to Alien's success and longevity.....the Xeno had only a brief few minutes at best of screen time. This fact alone debunks those who would wish for a mindless Xeno based prequel. Prometheus will be a rare Gem for Sci Fi enthusiasts.

Ridley Scott wouldn't even fart in J.J. Abrams general direction. Besides, Abrams is too busy trying to be a second rate Spielberg to take lessons from Scott.

I think what differentiates Alien from not only its sequels (all shit), is that care and thought went into it. He made a piece of quality that has and will stand the test of time. It lulls you into thinking not a great deal will happen, and then smacks you in the teeth with what was then horrifying (and still is unsettling on repeat viewings). A lot of thought went into the xeno too, but unfortunately the sequels and avp have ruined that. Now is a chance to repair the damage. The first think i like about prometheus is its captured my imagination, and gets complete strangers talking to one another. Thats a great thing.

said it before and i will say it again, while yes, resurrection and requiem are garbage and I am the first to "pile it on" those films, the truth is none of us would be here either, not only if hadn't been for O'Bannon, but also, if not for the fact that to do so, we must have ALL found at least ONE THING in each of those first four films that we absolutely loved or liked a heck of a lot. In my case despite the fact I hated the creature at the end of it and I hated the shoddy production values considering how out of synch the dialogue is in that entire birth scene, the bottom line is that I just Loved the way they drank scotch in space, that we found out "They Swim", the banter between Ripley and Johner, that perfectly weaponized wheel chair , The Betty, and I have wanted auto loading guns up my sleeves since I saw it as well.

I saw Aliens first, and was fascinated by the whole idea, then I saw Alien and was mesmerized. I would watch it over and over and over again. I couldn't get enough. I wore the VHS tape out.

i loved alien cause the xeno was handsome ;)

I think weve all had a "crap our pants" moment at one point in our lives while watching Alien. The way this movie engaged the viewer, acting, score, special effects, the sets, the 'creature' are all elements that take part in why we love this film so much. Why its one of the top rated films on IMDB ever. This film stands the test of time. I only recently (im ashamed to admit) watched the full Directors Cut on bluray and i felt my Alien experience was magnified. IT LOOKS GREAT! for a 1979 movie. Actually looks better then some films coming out today. The way it submerses you into this sci-fi universe so perfectly. I hate nothing more then lousy CGI effects that completely throw me out of the movie. I.e. the Thing! (not John Carpenters version the new one). Those lousy CGI effects ruined the entire experience for me We love Alien cuz its replay value is phenomenal. It looks great, its engaging story. It stands the test in time and might possibly get better with age :P

@yhms, spot on..what I really dig about that air shaft seen is that it's not what you see but what you ***think*** you might have seen ...like my example of the moving shadow...was it? who knows but it sure gives the impression and thus the creeps b/c now your mind is playing games on you...or is it? the scene where he puts his hand down and there is the saliva slime and he knows it is close by...it's all tension packed!! I keep coming back to the music b/c it really is somber in this scene like he knows his fate but feels the a resigned sence of obligation as captain to do what he must...

I could go on and on about why i loved the franchise (not AR mind). The orginal movie was dark, a thriller kind of movie it had a tense feel to it, like The Thing had. After that Aliens took the Xeno and made a action movie from it and love or hate that movie, i think it put the Xeno on the Map. For me the Xeno was a very interesting Monster design, it was very unique at the time. The whole Alien Cycle, the Acid for Blood i even liked the idea of a Queen. As for Predator that movie was great aswell for how it was done, but the Alien in that was really not as unique only unique things was maybe that he borrowed cloaking Tech from Star Trek and had Heat Detecting Vision and other modes. Both really cool Monsters mind.

I liked Alien from the beginning because it was that kinda horror suspense/SciFi that was missing till then. There are many other good ones, but in addition to that it is : - smart and beautiful photographed ( the beginning scene when the camera wanders through the ship, many still scenes ( like parallel in The Thing), when you just look at the scenery and strange, modernistic but old tech ) - intelligent character development - a typical Scott´s realism - the demonic, dark, powerful and still hiding Xeno

..double...

@Giger I youtubed that scene to see what you were talking about, and yeah, its creepy. just before that, right after Lambert loses the signal on the xeno on the tracker, Dallas startles and whips his head around like he thought he heard something, he looks down a few tunnels, and then the slight shadow/reflection moves above him, and thats when he starts to freak out, and you remember all those times you were in a dark place when you couldnt watch your back, and thought you heard something. the thing with aliens was how it depicted the aliens as an "army". to make them so elusive in such large numbers, JC made them much smaller than in alien, and we got subtle glimpses of them from the start, snatching up marines and poking their heads into places (i liked the first glimpse when a marine glanced over one in the wall with a flashlight without knowing what she was looking at). it took away from the monster concept for me. also, the ease with which the marines killed them once they got them in an open fight (which the original alien would have never done) took away from the aliens power. in Alien, Ash tells them they cant kill it. obviously they dont have any guns, and theres no reason to not think gunfire would kill it, but thats part of whats great about Alien, that they didnt have the option. Alien made us feel like there was one thing out there and if it caught up with you you were toast...in aliens it was more a matter of running out of bullets and walls to put at their backs.

I wish RS would have done "The Thing" re-make (the original is vastly superior for character development) instead of Harry High School Carpenter.....the special effects were just silly. If you haven't read "Who Goes There" by J Campbell, then please do....I still say the definitive version of this film has NOT been made. Alien was such a film but will most likely be surpassed by Prometheus, in terms of absolute scope and cinematic grandeur. I just hope the characters are well developed and put through Hell!!

I love Alien because their is a bit of Kubrickism (2001) in it. I am an avid believer/supporter of "space exploration" be it our own solar system or beyond. For this reason, I loved the video games Dead Space 1 & 2 because it reminds me a lot of what I love in Alien/Aliens. Deep space exploration, deep space mining, deep space colonization (some being penal is fine, gotta start somewhere). I KNOW this is where we are headed in reality. However.... I'm 40 and I'm not going to be able to be a part of this adventure (as I would have hoped back in the 70/80s) because things are going waaaay to slow. Governments have their hands tied behind their backs trying to fix the problems we have on this planet. Corporations? I don't see any getting all that interested (primarily due to stock-holder interest on fixing Earth and their retirements). In addition, their is not a lot of money to be made in colonization (look at the example of all the failures of England's attempts (I'm British, BTW) what with the colonial states declaring independence and the common-wealth back-firing on them now making England a refuge for all of the countries it brought it - deserved, though, in my opinion), especially at the beginning when you're pumping lots of investment capital just seeing your colonies perish, ships destroyed mid-journey, etc. So, I love Alien/Aliens and movies inspired by it because THAT is all I will live to see of my even greater love, "space exploration". "My" Forecasted Timeline (based on current activities): 2020 - Governments involve corporations in deeper manned space travel 2025 - Man lands on Mars (astronomically expensive) 2030 - Colony established on the moon (for future, cheaper Mars mission send-offs) 2035 - Construction of re-usable ship completed for manned Mars exploration 2040 - Small Colony on Mars attempted - failure - all perish (moon colony growing and thriving (ore profits seen); vacations to moon now available) 2050 - Another colony on Mars attempted - half survive before next supply shuttle arrives 2060 - Martian colony thriving. Ore mining established. Profits are starting to be seen; vacations to Mars now available 2070 - Moons of Jupiter & Saturn heavily probed. Preparations being made for manned exploration(s) 2075 - Disastrous results with manned explorations beyond Mars 2100 - Small colonies established on several moons orbiting Jupiter & Saturn; ore profits beginning to show signs 2113 - Alien 426 appears in holo-theatres, scares everyone to death, further space exploration ceases; humans content to never leave their solar system 2245 - Manned exploration past our solar system begins (heading to Alpha Centauri) 2305 - Alpha Centauri reached - All aboard have perished in cryo-tubes

It's the idea of the xeno and the sj that elevate the Alien movie, with just enough skin shown to keep you interested. The suspense combined with our imaginations can do so much more to involve us in the Alien Universe. I hope Prometheus carries on this tradition and doesn't go Slasher on us:O)

Alien scared me in a weird way that I couldn´t accept, when I watched it for the first time as a 10 year old - probably because of the sexual connotations of the monster. I guess as a homosexual the sexual connotations hit my feelings of deviance like a sledgehammer. This bizarre creature that was human and yet not, looked like nothing I had ever seen before and really scared me. It doesn´t anymore, because it has lost its ability to draw on my fear of the unknown and it´s now familiar and inconized. The story behind the mysterious space jockey is still (luckily) unknown, which is why I am so pleased that Ridley Scott opted to follow this road. Someone in here wrote that "Alien" was just the opener, I couldn´t agree more.

for me its because i was into aliens and UFOs from a very early age. huge x-files fan, the original V series, fire in the sky, star trek, so on. alien and aliens played right into that, and they made more of an impression on the then other alien themed sci fi because the creature was so much different from anything i have ever seen. it wasnt a "grey" or a human with a little make up and a weird outfit, it was a full on unique creature. i was/ am also very into beasts like dinorsaurs and monsters, along with demons and mythological creatures. i felt the alien had a bit of all of those things in it, guaranteeing i would love this thing from head to toe.

Im going to be honest now, this was a difficult decision. Im gonna have to go for the fact i felt like i knew the crew of the Nostromo, and i felt for them. The Xeno obviously was an amazing feature of the film. I also loved, even how far fetched it may be, the fact it was so realistic. A L I E N = Greatest movie ever made...next to blade runner...

@belladonna Same as me then.... i am a bit of a Sci Fi Geek, and also like anything to do with fantasy and Sci Fi as well as UFOs I have actually seen the TR3..... and caught a few odd things on Video.

@BigDave NICE! i think "geek" works to describe me as well :) i believe ive seen 2 ufos so far, one in England and one in the desert in the US. my gramma saw that big ass phoenix arizona one that hovered over the city. it wasnt long before i moved there, im pissed that i missed it!

for me, ALIEN (as a whole) is a great work of cinematic art the story / tone / design / direction are what do it for me the NOSTROMO is the 9th character of that film, it's the first impressions that we see, and we get to know that "character" first off yes, no doubt the creatures are what seal the deal in regards to bringing all the elements together, and work so well in unison with said elements i well understand what Scott meant by saying that having the alien in a film is really played out, and that it's time for a new type of creature to thrill / chill us perhaps ALIEN isn't your taste, better that you watch all it's inferior sequels and that AvP crap to better satisfy your taste

"huge x-files fan, the original V series, fire in the sky"...belladonna...I think I love you....

"I think that the Story and Acting were pretty irrelevant and boring - they wasted so much good time on it, it was ridiculous - I couldn't even understand what the point of doing that was. I have said, all along, that film would have been just as good if they had just focussed on the xeno's teeth for 90 minutes - and a lot of people agree with me. It would probably better, actually, without all the need for that stupid talking and then some people walking from here, to there, and back again: I mean, seriously, what the Hell were they trying to prove? It slowed everything down. I hope Ridley Scott listens to the true fans this time 'round and just keeps what's actually most important." allinamberclad...I almost don't know how to respond this, this nonsense......'Alien' is one of the greatest sci-fi films and one of the greatest horror films ever made, simultaneously......to suggest that it's boring or is slowed down by dialogue and or that you're a true fan because you see the 'real' value in 'Alien' rather than the writers. director and editor who made it is beyond ignorance....... When you can admit, "I couldn't even understand what the point of doing that was"...there are no surprises there...