“Most terrifying part isn’t even the xenomorph”: Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’ Outsmarts Its Own Villain By Inserting 1 Nightmarish Arc That No One Can Explain

Directed by Ridley Scott, 1979’s science-fiction horror movie, Alien was based on the story by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. The movie follows a crew of commercial space tugs who find themselves facing a deadly and aggressive extraterrestrial creature after they come across a mysterious spaceship. The cast included Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean, and more.

Upon its’ release, despite receiving mixed reviews, the movie was a box office success and earned an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Over the years, Alien has been regarded as one of the greatest and most influential science fiction and horror movies of all time. The movie’s success helped the franchise spawn into other movies, books, video games, and toys. Fans pointed to one character from the movie whose existence is hard to explain.

Fans note Ridley Scott’s Alien a perfect example of ‘cosmic horror’

Fede Álvarez’s highly anticipated science fiction action-horror movie Alien: Romulus was recently released. Serving as an interquel between 1979’s Alien and 1986’s Aliens, Alien: Romulus opened up to positive comments from the critics and the audience.

But what fans have dug up from the past are some fascinating details from filmmaker Ridley Scott’s Alien. The story follows a group of seven people who come across a derelict spaceship on an uncharted planet. The seven people then find themselves fighting against a terrifying deadly, aggressive extraterrestrial. A fan account on X (@TheFirstOkiro) wrote,

The most terrifying part of the first Alien movie isn’t even the xenomorph. It’s the space jockey. It’s just there. A horrifying remnant of something that no one inside the film can even explain.

According to AVP Central, Space Jockeys are Mala’Kaks, who are an elusive race of large, sapient extraterrestrial life forms and are most notable for experimenting on Xenomorph species. The publication explained that the creature is almost the size of a human upon birth, which is indeed terrifying.

ScreenRant describes that Space Jockey appeared with an elephant-like trunk, his chest violently ripped open from the inside out at some point. The X user noted that the first alien movie is a perfect example of cosmic horror, adding that the movie just keeps on creating more questions of existential dread and terror.

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They added that there is no comfort or adventure in the movie, but just the knowledge that humanity is insignificant compared to what lies beyond the stars. Another user added that the movie is a great and realistic approach to humans coming upon alien technology.

Alien: Romulus set to receive the franchise’s second-biggest opening

Highly awaited Alien: Romulus was released on August 16, 2024, and according to reports by CBR, the movie is now eyeing the second-biggest opening in the Alien franchise. With preview screenings and sales on Friday, the movie has grossed over $18 million already. It is now predicted to gross reach about $40 to $42 million over the weekend.

The movie currently holds an 86% score from the audience and 81% from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes. But there is a section of viewers who have expressed that the movie is dull, disappointing, and derivative. But Ridley Scott believed in Fede Álvarez as he shared with the LA Times.

Fede is a surge of energy, and I had to step back and let him do it. Fede had a blueprint firm in his mind, and his script was pretty clear. It was also long, but the screenplay is always long. And so we got into that a little bit.

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Ridley Scott expects that the filmmaker has another movie up his sleeve because he is confident that Alien: Romulus is going to do well. He concluded that Álvarez had a streak of brilliance.

Alien: Romulus is playing in cinemas.