Product Details

• Actors: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton
• Directors: Ridley Scott
• Writers: Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon
• Producers: David Giler, Gordon Carroll, Ivor Powell, Ronald Shusett, Walter Hill
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, THX, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: June 1, 1999
• Run Time: 117 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (537 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000ILDD
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,983 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Alien" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A landmark of science fiction and horror, Alien arrived in 1979 between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back as a stylishly malevolent alternative to George Lucas's space fantasy. Partially inspired by 1958's It! The Terror from Beyond Space, this instant classic set a tone of its own, offering richly detailed sets, ominous atmosphere, relentless suspense, and a flawless ensemble cast as the crew of the space freighter Nostromo, who fall prey to a vicious creature (designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger) that had gestated inside one of the ill-fated crew members. In a star-making role, Sigourney Weaver excels as sole survivor Ripley, becoming the screen's most popular heroine in a lucrative movie franchise. To measure the film's success, one need only recall the many images that have been burned into our collective psyche, including the "facehugger," the "chestburster," and Ripley's climactic encounter with the full-grown monster. Impeccably directed by Ridley Scott, Alien is one of the cinema's most unforgettable nightmares. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

The terror begins when the crew of a spaceship investigates a transmission from a desolate planet, and discovers a life form that is perfectly evolved to annihilate mankind. One by one, each crew member is slain until only Ripley is left, leading to an explosive conclusion that sets the stage for its stunning sequel, "Aliens."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

262 of 274 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't listen to the "official" reviews which appear above, March 29, 2000

By 

Josh Leman (Littleton, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alien (DVD)

Amazon's reviewer calls this movie overrated and drawn out, while the Leonard Maltin movie guide review seems a bit baffled that some people like this kind of entertainment. Don't listen to either of them. Alien is, quite simply, one of the best movies ever made in both the sci-fi and horror genres. Those who complain that the film takes too long to get going suffer from some kind of cinematic attention span disorder; Ridley Scott draws his scenes out because he wants to build tension and establish a sense of realism before introducing H.R. Giger's terrifying creation. Unfortunately we can all see that the monster is just a guy in a suit during the closing sequences when Scott finally lets us see what the big slimy nemesis really looks like, but otherwise the film hasn't aged a bit since it came out two decades ago. The DVD is great too, with excellent picture quality and a really great commentary track, despite some disastrously inappropriate menu screens (the interfaces are all CG-rendered glitz, which really doesn't go with a movie known for its slow, elegant, quiet suspense). Anyone with any interest in horror or science fiction films in general should pick up this classic immediately.

73 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alien - A true Sci-Fi treasure in the genre!, January 19, 2004

By 

K. Wyatt "ssintrepid" (Cape Girardeau, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alien (The Director's Cut) (DVD)

"Alien" is one of the most intense Sci-Fi thrillers to have ever graced the silver screen or the home theater in any format! It is the film's intensity that provides such an incredible draw to this extraordinary film. If you're looking for a lot of action, this film is not really what you're looking for; "Aliens" is where the intensity and action comes into play in the line of Alien movies; the whole theme behind "Alien" is to scare to pants off of you with extremely intense scenes and if you've never seen this movie before, it may very well do just that! Never before in the history of this genre had there been a film of this magnitude and few have matched it in it's intensity since.

Now, with this latest release, fans of "Alien" are treated to the best release of this film yet. The very first thing you'll notice when you put this DVD into your player is that you have the option of playing either the 1979 Theatrical Release or a 2003 Director's Cut. The 2003 Director's Cut is preceded by an interesting introduction by Ridley Scott himself. This cut is put together seamlessly and the additions to the film add just that much more flavor to the film, making it that much better. The only downside to this edition and I believe this just stems from the time in which this film was made, was the audio. Despite having the options of THX and 5.1 Dolby Surround or 5.1 DTS, the audio playback just isn't what it should be.

Copious amounts of credit and accolades go to the incredible cast for this outstanding cinematic treasure! Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that "Alien" is "the" movie that made Sigourney Weaver a star, I would say that it was the one that made her a superstar! And since the release of this film and the following three in the Alien legacy, she will forever be known for these roles and probably very few others, except maybe her role in "Ghostbusters."

Director Ridley Scott, who has directed some of the most influential films in just over the past quarter century, deserves high praise and acclaim for "Alien" and the direction he took this film in. There are several directors out there that may have made as many or more films than he has but few have enjoyed the success he has had and a lot of that success can be directly attributed to the work he did on this film!

The Premise:

Although never clearly defined as to when, it is the future and America has expanded Earth's atmosphere and is sending mining ships out there... The Nostromo, a civilian mining vessel is making the return trip home from an expedition and the crew is in cryo-freeze for the trip home but "Mother" the ships computer wakes them up to investigate what appears to be an alien SOS message.

As the crew goes through the necessary steps to investigate the signal on a small planetoid, the tension builds right to the moment that Kane (John Hurt) is deep within the bowels of the alien ship and is leaning over what appears to be an egg...

What follows from there is most certainly one of the most intense Sci-Fi thrillers ever to have been brought to the silver screen. I highly recommend this exceptional film to any and all who're fans of movies in this genre. {ssintrepid}

Special Features:

For those that have been waiting for a special edition DVD of "Alien" with all of the bells and whistles, this edition is most assuredly it!

-1979 Theatrical Version (Deleted/Extended Scene Index) (Alien Vs. Predator Teaser Trailer)
-2003 Director's Cut (Ridley Scott Introduction) (Deleted Footage Marker)
-Full Length Audio Commentary with Director Ridley Scot, Writer Dan O'Bannon, Executive Producer Ronald Shusett, Editor Terry Rawlings, Actors; Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and John Hurt (Both Versions) +
-Behind the Scenes Featurettes:
*"Star Beast: Developing the Story"
*"The Visualists: Direction and Design"

*"Truckers in Space: Casting"
*"Future Tense: Music and Editing"
*"Outward Bound: Visual Effects"
*"A Nightmare Fulfilled: Reaction to the Film"
*"Fear of the Unknown: Shepperton Studios, 1978"
*"The Darkest Reaches: Nostromo and Alien Planet"
*"The Eighth Passenger: Creature Design"
*"The Chestburster" Multi-Angle Sequence with Optional Commentary by Ridley Scott
-Sigourney Weaver Screen Test with Optional Commentary by Ridley Scott
-Still Photo Galleries
-Deleted & Extended Scenes

88 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Iconographic Horror, August 21, 2002

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alien (20th Anniversary Widescreen Edition) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

ALIEN received mixed reviews when it debuted in 1979--largely from science fiction critics, who accused it of being little more than a sort of "Friday the 13th in Outer Space," a blood-and-gore horror flick given a futuristic twist via some problematic special effects. But while these accusations have more than a little truth, it has been an incredibly influential film--and even today, in the wake of CGI effects, it still holds up extremely, extremely well.

The story is well known: the crew of an interstellar craft responds to what seems a distress signal, only to encounter a remarkably lethal alien life form that boards their ship and sets about picking them off one by one. Some of the special effects are weak (the alien spacecraft and the android "revival" are fairly notorious). There is little in the way of character development, the film has a fairly slow pace, and the story itself is predictable; you can usually guess who is going to die next.

BUT. The art designs are incredible: the entire look of the film, from the commercial nature of the spacecraft to the iconographic alien itself (brilliantly envisioned by Giger) is right on the money. Director Ridley Scott encouraged his cast to ad lib from the script, and the result is a shocking sense of realism--and the somewhat slow pace of the film and the predictablity of the story gives it a sense of relentless and ever-mounting paranoia that is greatly enhanced by the tight sets and camera set-ups. With its odd mixture of womb-like organics and cold mechanics, ALIEN is a film calculated to send even the most slightly claustrophobic viewer into a fit of hysteria.

The entire cast, led by Tom Skerrit and Sigorney Weaver, is very, very good--and the film abounds with memorable images and scenes ranging from John Hurt's encounter with the alien egg to Skerrit's search of the ship air ducts to Weaver's terrifying race against time as the ship counts down to self-destruct. Seldom has any film been so consistent in design, cast, direction, and out-and-out fear factor, and although certain aspects of ALIEN are open to legitimate criticism the end result is powerful enough to bring it in at a full five stars. A word of warning, however: you'll need to send the kids to bed for this one. And you'll probably be up half the night afterward yourself! Recommended.