FILM

Every Friday and Saturday night at 11:55pm, it's another Midnight Movie Classic at the Landmark River Oaks Theatre.

Friday-Saturday, May 1-May 2:  Alien.

Synopsis:  After answering an SOS, a crew encounters a merciless, horrifying creature aboard a space tanker.  The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which stalks and kills the crew of a spaceship.  Alien garnered both critical acclaim and box office success, receiving an Academy Award for Visual Effects,  Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Ridley Scott, and Best Supporting Actress for Veronica Cartwright,  and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, along with numerous other award nominations.   It has remained highly praised in subsequent decades, being inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2002 for historical preservation as a film which is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"] and being ranked by the American Film Institute in 2008 as the seventh-best film in the science fiction genre.

The success of Alien launched a media franchise of novels, comic books, video games, and toys, as well as three sequel and two prequel films. It also launched Weaver's acting career by providing her with her first lead role, and the story of her character Ripley's encounters with the titular Alien creatures became the thematic thread that ran through the sequels Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), and Alien Resurrection (1997).  The subsequent prequels Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) diverged from this theme in favor of a crossover with the Predator franchise.

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Stanton, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto

MPAA Rating: R

Run Time: 1hr 56mins

Release Year: 1979

Country Of Origin: United States