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Kane dead and the crew to find a way to capture and kill it.

The film has always fascinated me. Perhaps it's because of my morbid, over-active imagination. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once said "without imagination there is no horror." It's a sentiment I totally agree with. After all, for a horror film to work the viewer has to actively lower their guard. It's a natural human response to defend against what is inherently frightening. That's why, as children, horror more easily creeps into the psyche. Our ability to suspend our disbelief is a choice adults make that children do not. Horror movies are more effective to those with the ability to draw on their own imagination and allow the monster in through the door. Tom Skerritt, who plays Dallas in the film, says that Alien plays on "those fears that show up when we're dreaming those nightmares." It certainly does. Alien looks like a nightmare, feels like a nightmare, and sounds like a nightmare. It is at once a fascinating examination of basic human fears, a damning assessment of technological advancement, and a re-engineering of the genre. Quite simply, it is a terrifying, multi-layered horror movie that is supremely well-made.

Part of the film's success is H.R. Giger's concept art. He was brought into the project to design the Alien creature both in its "face-hugger" form and birthed form. He also designed the interior of the alien spacecraft and the dead "Space Jockey" found by the Nostromo's crew. The idea of the nightmare visualised on screen is seen most clearly in Giger's work. His artwork is driven by Freudian paranoia and looks almost like the convergence between human and machine. His visions are informed by that bridge between the real and the unreal. Indeed, when Dan O'Bannon first met Giger, the surrealist offered him a slip of tinfoil filled with Opium. O'Bannon asked Giger why he took the drug. Giger told him that it was to escape his visions. O'Bannon replied: "But that's only your mind." To which Giger answered, "That's what I'm afraid of."

This idea is extended by director Ridley Scott. Scott wasn't first choice for the film and openly despised science-fiction. But, his work was informed in large part by a visual sensibility. He wasn't interested in actors. Scott believed that good actors didn't need much direction or motivation, and if he could assemble seven experienced actors for Alien, he could concentrate on the set, the art direction, and the photography. When the script had been finalised

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