Directed by Ridley Scott (1979)
by Sandy DeVito

A few weeks ago I was spending an evening with some friends and we were discussing what movie we should watch. We all had decided it should be some kind of horror film as autumn was just around the corner (and now it's here!), and someone asked me what my favorite horror film is. I'm known among friends as someone who has a taste for such things, and my answer was, without hesitation, "Alien." The reaction was a positive one, but one person said, in an argument I've heard before: "That's not a horror film." I proceeded to name a few other favorites (Fright Night, Rosemary's Baby, etc.) and we all moved on with the conversation, without really revisiting Alien or the obviously dissenting opinions. But it's kind of been nagging me ever since, because I really, truly believe Alien to be the purest kind of horror film, in fact, the best horror film of all time. And I feel a desire to defend that view.