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| quote: | Originally posted by srussell0018
I meant the visually pretty, near-silent part. I agree with Eddie though, that it's almost more of a horror movie than a sci-fi movie. I guess I like that because I really enjoy those types of horror movies that are more anticipation, and less slashing. |
There's very little science fiction element to the first film; perhaps the cockpit on the derelict ship is the only truly fictional thing the movie proposes. We have no idea how such a contraption might work, or why this gargantuan creature might need such an elaborate and fantastic device to operate an apparently once-functional boneship of odious design, the counter-point being the eventual take-off scene just a few segments later where it takes an entire human crew just to adequately propel their space 18-wheeler off Acheron.
I like to think of the first Alien as a pure horror film in antithesis to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The original Chainsaw Massacre used a lot of sudden and grating sound effects to not only break its suspense, but to further it at the most disjointed times in what would essentially become canon for American and Italian Horror. Alien takes this concept and flips it on its head, as if to say that this killer is completely silent, it has no need for intimidation nor showy scare tactics, as it lacks any pathos whatsoever; It's horror is that which we instill ourselves with when we are quiet and alone, though the alien itself is, ironically, quite alien to this very concept. You know, like immigrants. 
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