Like so many of the movies on this list, Alien is a picture in which absolutely every aspect of production is firing on all cylinders - unlike some, however, it moves at such a calm, deliberate pace, that nothing ever comes across as being too "showy." Which is to say, Ridley Scott's horror/sci-fi hybrid - which acts somewhat like a slasher movie in space with a terrifying alien creature picking off crew members on a space vessel one by one - seems to linger in a sort of void, inching ever close to the next terrible incident, but never overstating or overplaying it. The confidence at which Scott renders his movie is astounding, but credit where credit is due; the production design elements are astounding - space isn't clean and shiny like you'd expect hundreds of years in the future, but dark, grimy, and super depressing. The crew of the Nostromo come as the results of brilliant, careful casting; John Hurt and Yaphet Kotto, among others, make their characters feel well-rounded, even though we don't learn that much about them. And at the centre of it all, Sigourney Weaver, who has never been better (or more iconic).
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
