


The film was a substantial hit, critically and commercially, that burrowed itself deep in the cultural consciousness and started a decades-long film franchise. (Spoiler alert: The story doesn’t end well for most of them.) Released by 20th Century Fox, it is a claustrophobic horror film about the crew of a small outer-space vessel that encounters an unwelcome, nonhuman stowaway that has come to be known as the xenomorph.

The original “Alien” was directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O’Bannon.
