1) Alien
So, we get to the granddady of the series: Alien. In reality, there could be no other number one, and unless Alien: Covenant is absolutely mind-blowing, this will remain my favorite for a long time to come. Some might find it depressing that a film made in 1979 about a single alien stalking the crew of a single space ship still hasn’t been bettered by any of its sequels. But how do you improve upon perfection that’s delivered so effortlessly?
It’s the tautness of Alien that stands out. It doesn’t waste a frame and its slow, conscious opening is designed to lull you into a false sense of secu- and wham!
The story is clean, precise, with no extraneous details. Astronauts awaken from cryo sleep and are ordered to investigate a radio signal from a nearby planet. A small team is set onto the bowels of the planet where one of them is impregnated with an alien embryo, and unbeknownst to anybody, carries it back aboard the Nostromo. When the chestburster makes its escape (in one of the more gruesome scenes of cinema history), it grows into a full-bodied Xeno and proceeds to stalk the crew, picking them off one by one.
H.R. Giger’s incredible design marked out Alien as a cut above almost any film of its kind, and it’s a singular vision that stands tall today. The Nostromo is a cramped, claustrophobic space and the alien is a terrifying foe that’s projected perfectly on screen. The cast, meanwhile, includes terrific actors like John Hurt and Ian Holm, while a script by Dan O’Bannon applies a novelist’s eye to narrative, first letting us get to know these characters, then making us care about them, before finally plunging them (and the audience) into unimaginable terror.
It’s a shame later films have tried to tease out this magic with explosions, guns and wisecracking, because Alien is at its best when it’s focused on pared-back thrills that turn your blood cold.