All Critics (86)
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Top Critics (16)
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Fresh (86)
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Rotten (3)
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DVD (44)
It is depressing to watch an expensive, crafty movie that never soars beyond its cold desire to score the big bucks.
An old-fashioned scary movie set in a highly realistic sci-fi future, made all the more believable by expert technical craftmanship.
An empty-headed horror movie with nothing to recommend it beyond the disco-inspired art direction and some handsome, if gimmicky, cinematography.
A genuine fright classic.
These things no longer surprise or tantalize us as they once did. In a very short time, science-fiction films have developed their own jargon that's now become a part of the grammar.
Alien will upset your mind and upset your stomach.
Alien has power, elicits terror, and the acid blood scars your consciousness.
It remains a benchmark of extra-terrestrial horror, and gave us a bona fide A-list star in the shape of Sigourney Weaver.
My favorite film of all time is one of the finest blu-rays in my collection.
The monster itself is still one of the flat-out scariest ever designed for the movies.
Ridley Scott's Alien is nothing short of a masterpiece. Technically brilliant, tense, horrifying and visually breathtaking, there's not a moment in this B-monster movie that doesn't excel well beyond the usual genre trappings.
Dated, but still scary. Not for younger kids.
Science fiction horror doesn't get any better than this.
It's a chilling, slow-paced, space horror movie using the same formula as the B-films of the 1950s.
Alien proved that material derided as B-movie fodder could be handled with finesse and glossy production values, without diminishing the thrills or polishing over the hard-edged horror.
Better than most of today's big budget sci-fi/horror films.
It certainly doesn't look like a 24-year-old movie.
The limited strengths of its staple sci-fi horrors always derived from either the offhand organic/ Freudian resonances of its design or the purely (brilliantly) manipulative editing and pacing of its above-average shock quota.
There's nothing terribly complex or original about the movie, but it is distinguished by its clever and innovative use of B-movie staples in a hi-tech setting.
This scary feature breathed new life into the horror genre, launching a length film franchise and introducing to audiences a major actress, Sigourney Weaver, in a tough role typically allotted to men.
A movie masterpiece. And on the big screen, the chestburster scene just kills.
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