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 se...