Crew of a spaceship intercepts a distress signal and set down on an unknown planet to investigate. One of the crew members is attacked and infected by a mysterious alien lifeform. After a small while guess what happens to come bursting from his chest? Yes it's a nasty alien and it's up to the crew that includes Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) to hunt it down in a game of cat and mouse.

A gloomy and somewhat moody sci-fi/horror this does have a few inventive moments (the infamous chest bursting scene being the best sequence in the entire film) but is way too slow-paced and surprisingly dull.

Notable for introducing us to the character Ripley and the nasty aliens but it's just not entertaining.

Joins John Carpenter's remake of The Thing as a well loved genre favourite that I just didn't like too much.

So popular it spawned video games, comic books, action figures and various other tie-ins.

Followed by Aliens and two other sequels. (Chris Hartley)

Directed By: Ridley Scott.
Written By: Dan O'Bannon.

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt.