Alien

Interesting. I'll tell you WHY this is a LOT more credible than other horror films. "Scream" sort of had the same idea decades later, but the scares are legit because the victims aren't exactly acting totally stupid. Some of 'em like Brett are. But the only reason the Alien gets as far as it does is because it has a ringer and a mole protecting it. It's not plot-related stupidity that they don't get rid of the fucking thing while they still can. They're being manipulated into not doing that.

There are only seven cast members in the film, and I know them all from other later stuff. Usually when watching a horror film the victims are D-list teenagers you've never heard of and never acted again. Alien has genuine tension because I know all these people from elsewhere. Literally every last one of them.

I have to admit it pisses me off that Tom Skerritt is billed before Sigourney Weaver. But it's like that in the film too. The only person who makes good suggestions is Ripley. And the men ignore her. It's on-brand the main actress for this huge franchise is underbilled for somebody like Tom Skerritt who's current career is such a punchline he's made fun of himself in the comedy "Ted". That's studio politics in 1979, and that's ships' politics in the far future. And none of it surprises me in the least.

Speaking of the far future, they'll have some janky-ass computers way out then. Old sci-fi movies are usually HUGE misses about that sort of stuff. But I mean even the self-destruct sequence here seems outmoded. The Enterprise's self-destruct sequence is not only much cleaner. But the ship isn't blowing up while you're trying to get to the escape pods. Seems counterproductive to have that happen and defeats the purpose.

I've heard people criticize Ripley for going back for the cat. "They couldn't JUST give feminists a kick-butt heroine. They had to make her JUST like a typical soft woman and go back for the cat." First of all, Ripley doing that, gets exactly zero people killed. People die WHILE she's doing it, but it's unrelated to that. And actually caring about a damn pet? I would like to believe a male cat owner would do the same thing. It's a human, understandable reaction, and a GOOD one, and not remotely a foible.

I will admit this. I probably would have given up the cat myself only because it was always running off and impossible to catch. I would have given it up as more trouble than it was worth in a life-threatening situation just based on its erratic behavior. The fact that Ripley actually SAVES the cat anyways is why she's a hero and I am not.

You want a credible horror film? Give the killer an inside man. It's just that easy. 4 stars.