Alien

     During the 1970s, a new wave of space movies started that would eventually lead to the modernization of one of the most popular genres and most popular film franchises of all time. The influx of films set in galactic territory contained such franchises as Star Trek, Star Wars, and the Alien series. In 1979, prestigious director Ridley Scott, created one of the most unique and revolutionizing films of it's time and genre. Unlike Star Wars and Star Trek, Ridley Scott's Alien steered away from the more upbeat and vibrant elements of the space films of it's time, and set itself in a more intimidating and sinister version of space than previously seen in cinema. Many would argue that Alien set the archetype for sci fi horror films to come in the following year and even modern cinema. Ridley Scott's rendition of space was a dark and menacing place where audiences felt as though something could be lurking around every corner of the deep dark galaxy. Alien was a very important film in that it changed the way modern sci fi directors think today and really created an icon that is the alien in that film.
     At it's time, Alien contained two major stars to be in the American film industry. Not only was Tom Skerritt, most known for his role in Top Gun, one of the lead space goers in Alien, but the true protagonist in the sci fi horror was Sigourney Weaver, who would later become one of the most famous actresses in modern cinema. After her role in this film, Weaver's popularity sky rocketed and her career took off from Alien. Throughout the film, there is a sense of dread and unease that something horrible is going to happen and that is one of the best parts about the movie. As some say, fear is the best character, and the sense of fear that comes from the ambience of being on an isolated ship in deep space really strikes it's viewers. One of the most memorable things about this movie is the tagline, which read, "In space no one can hear you scream", and that perfectly describes what works so well in this movie. As each of the characters makes the decision to wander into the bowels of the ship where some unknown terror is awaiting them, a sense of anxiety is transferred to the audience as we know something bad is out there and the characters in the film might not know what awaits them. This sense of dread stays until the end when the protagonist and true hero, Weaver's character fulfills the "hero" role and defeats the alien creature, which is something that none of the other characters could do. The fact that this woman was able to step up and solve the problem not even the captain of the ship could do went against most prior situations in popular film where it was a male who was the real hero, not a female. This movie not only made popular the sci fi horror genre in general, but also was the first major film to use a female as the action star/hero. Ridley Scott has gone down in history as one of the most revolutionary directors for the science fiction genre as a whole and popular culture would forever be changed because of his works, Alien is not merely another sci fi horror film, but a work of art that sculpted the way similar films were created over the next few centuries.