Simone's reaction to the chestburster was pure 1979 audience. Love your watch-alongs!

i love how George said "...doesnt consider the human factor." at 11:30 . The writers did the best job possible to hint all throughout the movie that he is an android and still masking it behind reasonable human behaviour. masterpiece of writing and cinematography in its entirety.

The Alien's design is very deliberately invoking disgust and fear.  It was based on a design by HR Giger and meant to evoke primal fears, particularly of sexual violence.  Simone's reaction is precisely what the makers were aiming for.  It remains one of the creepiest monsters ever created.

In space no one can hear you scream.
The greatest movie tag line of all time.

Okay so here's what happened, I (George) was being a dumbass and mixed up Alien with AlienS last week, and accidentally released the 2nd movie first. Sorry for the confusion! Dont worry, we definitely watched it in the right order.

The reason Ripley and Parker were upset with Brett for letting Jones the car go was that they were tracking the aien using movements and having the cat running around complicates looking for the Xenomorph. They were not upset because they didn't realize it was a cat.

I saw this film in the theater in 1979. My best friends mom took me along with him and his sister to see it on a Saturday afternoon. My strict parents would never have allowed it. This was the first R Rated film I ever saw. It changed my life completely. It was my real introduction to Horror. I was already a sci fi fanatic with my head in the clouds cause of things like Star Wars, Close Encounters, Star Trek and Marvel Comics. This showed me that space could be a terrifying nightmare as well. I never felt such a sense of foreboding and dread in my life as I did looking at the derelict alien spacecraft. And things just got worse from there. I will never forget the audience reaction to the chestburster scene. I love watching people see this film for the first time now.

As someone who has been re-watching this movie regularly for over 40 years it was honestly so delightful to watch people actually experience the terror for the first time.  It's still amazing after all these years and it's awesome to see young people are still impressed by the super practical effects.  Have fun with Aliens!

HR Giger was the genius behind the xenomorph's design and there are not enough compliments to describe the magnificent effect it created, capable of appealing to a deep and primal fear, the source of the most horrible nightmares. However, the brilliant work of Carlo Rambaldi, who was responsible for bringing it to "life", is often underestimated.

i just love that a movie more than 40 years old still have the power to horrify, Simone's reaction to the chestburster is definitely one for the books

I saw ALIEN on Saturday, May 26th 1979 the day after its initial release. The audience was not prepared for what we were about to see, and for nearly 2 hours, everybody went berserk! It was one of the scariest movie experiences of my life!

The reason it looked "so great" for 1979 was because Ridley Scott decided to film the movie in 70 mm instead of 35 mm; this gave the cinematography incredible detail and clarity making the viewer feel as though he were standing inside the scene.
Of course, his decision increased the budget, significantly but his return at the box office was WAY MORE than just compensatory.🤑

"That looks great for 1979!"

Two reasons for that, first and most important everything in this movie is real.  The miniature Nostromo model is several feet across and extremely detailed.  The fossilized pilot set is real but they used kids in spacesuits to make it look huge.  The Alien is a really tall skinny guy in a suit.

Also this movie has been expertly re mastered to HD.  Like I saw the 4k remaster in theaters for the 40th anniversary in 2019 and I was blown away how good it looked.  I kept thinking "Holy shit this looks like it was made last week."

There was no comparison to the screaming in the big dark theater when 'Alien' came out. The posters gave no clue. Just a weird egg shape . But minute by minute as the journey progressed, the tension and the heart rate climbed. People cringing down into their seat trying not to look, but they have to watch to see which way to run, in case they had to jump out of the way.  Every heart was pounding!  The actors were required to spend each day of shooting IN the ship mock up. and did not know where it would come from once the cameras were live. And Ridley Scott did not tell them what was about to happen when the alien  burst out of the first victim. Their reaction was not acting. It was real! A really good way to give us all a heart attack !

"Is this gonna be scary?"
"Noooo..."

You're sick, dude.

My Uncle was the Art, lighting, and set director for this movie and it was where he got his first Oscar nomination.  His other work is a lot less scary hihihi

"There's a scene where something's running around on the ground."

Oh, my sweet summer child...

lol i spit out my drink when she asked 'is this gonna be scary?'

You were commenting about the ship set a lot. You might be interested to know that it was built as a single set so the actors would really feel like they were in a ship in space.

Yaphet koto has one of the best, understated funny lines in the whole movie: 'It's got a wonderful defense mechanism: you don't dare kill it.'