Last year I bought the Alien Quadrilogy DVD (what a stupid name!). There are 9 DVDs in this set, so I still haven't finished watching them to this day (almost there). I will start my movie reviews with the 4 Alien movies and the recent Alien VS Predator. I don't even remember the first time I watched Alien, I was still a kid. But watching it again this year, I was blown away. This is a truly scaring movie, and its influence is felt in many subsequent movies. At first it feels like a classic sci-fi movie, but as soon as we get to the chest buster scene, we realize this is something else. The chest-buster alien doesn't even compare to the ones in the sequels, but the impact of that scene is very profound. The creature design is both simple and effective. It's exactly what pops on your mind when you think of evil (apart from Dr. Eeeevil). Only HR Giger's twisted mind could have come up with this design. I also like the various stages of the alien, from the egg, the face-hugger, the chest-burster, to the full alien. A feeling of anxiety and fear possesses you while watching this movie. You know most of the characters are going to die, yet you still are surprised and scared when it happens. And just when you thought Ripley was safe, the alien comes back. The directory of this movie is Ridley Scott, who also directed Blade Runner, Gladiator etc.. Not a favorite director of mine, but Alien is his best movie after Blade Runner, in my opinion. Movie Score: 8/10 The second DVD is full of documentaries on the making of Alien. The most interesting to me, is the origin of the story. How it started and how it was modified. Also of note the creature design documentary. It's been a few months since I watched this, so I can't give too much details, but I do know I was satisfied with the amount and quality of information of these extras. DVD Extra Score: 7.5/10

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 at 11/22/2005 03:24:00 PM.