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

Director: Ridley Scott

Summary: Director Ridley Scott's breakthough film, an immensely successful blend of horror and science fiction, is a classic in both genres and spawned a host of sequels and imitators. Starring Sigourney Weaver as warrant officer Ellen Ripley, ALIEN focuses on the crew of the space cargo ship Nostromo, which lands on a moribund planet in response to a faint SOS. Inside a crashed ship, the crew members come upon strange pods, one of which spews forth a repellently fleshy insectile creature that locks on to the face of the unlucky Kane (John Hurt). Despite Ripley's advice, science officer Ash (Ian Holm) allows Kane to return to the ship, where the creature finally releases its grip. Soon, however, in one of the film's most infamous scenes, one of its offspring explodes horribly from Kane's stomach and scurries away. Dallas (Tom Skerritt), the vessel's captain, leads the others in a search for the rapidly growing, acid-dripping alien before it can cut them down one by one. A triumph of art direction, set design, and special effects, ALIEN gains much of its impact from the contrast between the bleak, antiseptic beauty of the space vessel's interior and the primordial horror of the alien, a brilliantly original fusion of insect, man, and machine designed by Swiss surrealist painter H.R. Giger. The top-notch cast also includes Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, and Harry Dean Stanton.

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The Alien Quadrilogyis a nine-disc box set devoted to the four Alienfilms. Although previously available on DVD as the Alien Legacy, here the films have been repackaged with vastly more extras and with upgraded sound and vision. For anyone who hasn't been in hypersleep for the last 25 years this series needs no introduction, though for the first time each film now comes in both original and "Special Edition" form.

Alien(1979) was so perfect it didn't need fixing, and Ridley Scott's 2003 Director's Cut is fiddling for the sake of it. Watch once then return to the majestic, perfectly paced original. Conversely the Special Edition of James Cameron's Aliens(1986) is the definitive version, though it's nice finally to have the theatrical cut on DVD for comparison. Most interesting is the alternative Alien3(1992). This isn't a "director's cut"--David Fincher refused to have any involvement with this release--but a 1991 work-print that runs 29 minutes longer than the theatrical version, and has now been restored, remastered and finished-off with (unfortunately) cheap new CGI. Still, it's truly fascinating, offering a different insight into a flawed masterpiece. The expanded opening is visually breathtaking, the central firestorm is much longer, and a subplot involving Paul McGann's character adds considerable depth to the story. The ending is also subtly but significantly different. Alien Resurrection(1997) was always a mess with a handful of brilliant scenes, and the Special Edition just makes it eight minutes longer.

On the DVD:Alien Quadrilogyoffers all films except Alien3with DTS soundtracks, the latter having still fine Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. All four films sound fantastic, with much low-level detail revealed for the first time. Each is anamorphically enhanced at the correct original aspect ratio, and the prints and transfers are superlative. Every film offers a commentary that lends insight into the creative process--though the Scott-only commentary and isolated music score from the first AlienDVD release are missing here--and there are subtitles for hard of hearing both for the films and the commentaries.

Each movie is complemented by a separate disc packed with hours of seriously detailed documentaries (all presented at 4:3 with clips letterboxed), thousands of photos, production stills and storyboards, giving a level of inside information for the dedicated buff only surpassed by the Lord of the Ringsextended DVD sets. A ninth DVD compiles miscellaneous material, including a Channel 4 hour-long documentary and even all the extras from the old Alienlaserdisc. Exhaustive hardly beings to describe the Alien Quadrilogy, a set which establishes the new DVD benchmark for retrospective releases and which looks unlikely to be surpassed for some time. --Gary S Dalkin

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen, 16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Theatrical And Directors Cut Of The Film, Directors Introduction To 2004 Version Of The Film, Ridley Scott And Crew Commentary On Theatrical Version, Featurettes, First Draft Screenplay, 2 Pre Production Galleries Art Of Alien Screentest Footage, Art Of Alien P
Year:	1979
Release Date:	March 6, 2006
Runtime:	116 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	2522501034
Keywords:	Special, Alien, Two, General, Edition, Cut, Wide, Screen, Fiction, Science, Horror, Discs, Director's, Sci, Fi
Genre:	Science Fiction