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Horror with a pedigree
One of the best science fiction flicks of all time makes a quick stop in theaters before another home video incarnation. Despite its promising title addendum, Alien: The Director's Cut (R) doesn't offer much that hasn't been seen already on DVD; the extras have just been spliced into the film instead of becoming a special features detour.
Ridley Scott's 1979 release still holds up as one of the best science fiction horror flicks of all time. Basically, it's a haunted house in outer space; the crew of the cargo ship Nostromo is chased through darkened hallways by a memorable beast. But the film contains a elegant tension that most of its imitators failed to grasp, with more deliberate pacing and understated terror. It almost may be boring by today's standards for a new horror generation, but that's doubtful.
Sigourney Weaver's Ripley hadn't turned into a bold fighting machine yet; that characterization didn't blossom until James Cameron's sequel, Aliens. In fact, one of the few noticeable bits of extra footage indicates Ripley may not have been even the toughest female aboard. That's a scene when the other woman on the Nostromo, Veronica Cartwright as Lambert, slaps Ripley for obeying quarantine procedure instead of instantly saving a crew mate.
The only other notable extra footage shows Ripley discovering a nest where Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) and Parker (Yaphet Kotto) are being used as alien incubators. Scott said recently that he trimmed a few seconds here and there to pick up the pacing a bit, but it's nothing drastic.
If there's a previously underestimated pleasure to be found here, it's Jerry Goldsmith's marvelously economical music, a throbbing symphony of dread that stings viewers into jumping at the right moments. Other than that, Alien: The Director's Cut simply allows an opportunity to see a classic in its proper format; big, loud and in the dark. A
- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic