Alien (1979), Director: Ridley Scott, rated R for sci-fi gore, violence, language

In space no one can hear you scream.

Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ - perfect

DML Top 50 #24a - Dad's Full (Spoiler) Review and Deep Dive of Alien

"Wait a minute. If we let it in, the ship could be infected." - WO Ellen Ripley

Why watch this? It introduced cinema sci-fi to a xenomorph and Sigourney Weaver.

Plot Summary: The crew of a commercial space tug, Nostromo, is awakened from cryosleep to investigate a distress signal from a nearby planetoid. They discover a derelict spaceship and a lower chamber filled with strange eggs. When one of the eggs is disturbed, a deadly extraterrestrial creature comes aboard the Nostromo and proves to be quite lethal.

Dad's Preview: In the wake of Star Wars (1977), this film gave audiences a very different sort of alien encounter. Director Ridley Scott went to great lengths to create a futuristic space setting anchored in realism. The creature they encounter is what you might call a "worse case scenario" - deadly, unmerciful and all but indestructible. Sigourney Weaver, in her first starring role, steals every scene as a strong, confident, capable leader in a crisis. There are lots of scary moments as the crew tries to find the alien, only to realize that it is hunting them.

Brandywine Productions; 20th Century Fox