Alien (The Director's Cut)
Katara Cinema
/ Feature Narrative / United States of America, United Kingdom / 2003 / Colour
In English / Arabic subtitles
Rated: Mature subject matter. Not suitable for minors. Individuals under the age of 18 are not admitted into cinemas.
- Come back soon to see screening dates
Synopsis
“In space,” threatens the tagline for Ridley Scott’s sophomore feature, “no one can hear you scream.” But since 1979, we have all screamed anyway as a result of the film’s eponymous extraterrestrial – a menacing beast with a calculating mind and a serious drive to survive. Rather than mindlessly killing its human prey, this acid-blooded monster violates our bodies, using us not for food but as live incubators for its offspring. Live, that is, until it’s hatching time.
Apart from a brief landing on a particularly inhospitable planet, all of ‘Alien’ takes place aboard the spacecraft Nostromo, which is returning to Earth from deep space. Claustrophobic despite its immense size, the ship features both labyrinthine industrial spaces for the alien to prowl – and more homey living areas, which the monster invades with horrifying results.
‘Alien’ strikes just the right balance of horror and sci-fi to produce two solid hours of increasing dread. Slow pacing gives the film its sense of panic, while the just-folks nature of the ship’s crew ensures that everyone in the audience feels the threat of imminent attack. A hit with critics and a box-office success, ‘Alien’ won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, launched the stellar career of Sigourney Weaver, and spawned three sequels, the recent prequel ‘Prometheus’ and an upcoming sixth addition to the franchise.