I just saw this film again on the recent BBC broadcast. It remains intense even after having seen it a dozen or so times over the years. I created the perfect conditions which is important, it was night, the lights were out, safe from 1 little lamp and most importantly there are no commercials on BBC to take you out of the experience.
The slow brooding build up and then the unmatched intensity and despair after Kane's demise it's just perfect. The pacing of the original is extraordinary good. In recent years TV usually plays the director's cut but BBC did the original and I think it is better.
It is rare when a film consists of only memorable scenes. The med bay scenes have always stood out. The anxiety, and uncertainty of the crew but also the calmness of that same crew trying to figure out how to save Kane. That electronic whirring sound throughout those scenes is both foreboding as calming. That's one thing this film has nailed, the sound effects are unbelievably good. It plays out slow so we as viewers can settle in and assess the situation. Modern films tend to opt for quick cuts and chaos which makes me restless. Alien feels cosy yet intense, like a nightmare and a good dream at the same time.
How long is the alien on screen? Maybe 2 minutes? Yet it feels present the entire time. CGI has ruined monsters, what was once mysterious has now turned into normalcy. The creativity needed to make a man in a suit scary will never return because of technology. Scenes of terror have been put aside for scenes of action because animators can do anything they want now thanks to that technology.
It puts a strain on creativity as it only leads to bigger and bolder. What cannot be seen is scarier which is why ghosts are more terrifying than monsters but Ridley Scott made the alien appear as a ghost and that is genius filmmaking.
As for the posted video it is a nice time capsule, almost ancient, the very polite answers of the kids, the world has changed a lot.
It's nice to see how much hype the film got initially. It must have been very exciting for movie enthusiasts to experience the 70s, the gap between the golden age of Hollywood and the realism (in both acting a in effects work) of the late 60s to early 80s movies must have been eye catching. Science fiction films were finally being taken seriously and got good budgets to work with and horror directors adopted the less is more approach to create unique and scary films.
