Friday Matinee

Alien: The Director’s Cut

Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning outer space chiller is a ruthlessly efficient Jaws-in-space scarefest that still serves as the benchmark for sci-fi horror. When the Nostromo crew is awakened from cryo-sleep during their long voyage home, they’re called to investigate a distress signal on a mysterious vessel. But what they find there is just the start of terror in Alien.

“Vibrates with a dark and frightening intensity.” – Roger Ebert

“A haunted-house movie set in space, Alien also has a profoundly existentialist undertow that makes it feel like a film noir — the other genre to feature a slithery, sexualized monster as its classic villain.” – Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com

“An old-fashioned scary movie set in a highly realistic sci-fi future, made all the more believable by expert technical craftmanship.” – Variety

Garret Mathany discusses Alien: The Director’s Cut on the New Beverly blog.