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76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
xx
Fantastic Mr. Fox
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
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39
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78
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61
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66
Afterschool
xx
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58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
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62
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55
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76
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86
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13
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70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
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75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
66
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Alien: The Director's Cut
EMAILPRINT20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Universal acclaim
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 34 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Horror | Sci-fi | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Dan O'Bannon (also story)
Ronald Shusett (story)
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 29, 2003
Running Time: 116 minutes, Color
Origin: UK
Summary
RATING: R for sci-fi violence/gore and language
Starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto
For the first time in nearly a quarter-century, Alien returns to the big screen with a digitally remastered special edition of director Ridley Scott's science fiction/horror classic. (Fox)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: A Good Year Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem American Gangster Black Hawk Down Blade Runner: The Director's Cut Body of Lies G.I. Jane Gladiator Hannibal Kingdom of Heaven Matchstick Men Thelma & Louise White Squall
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
This is the breakout role for Sigourney (née Susan) Weaver, whose iconic presence still propels this ride beyond the scores of substandard imitations that followed. Why see it on the big screen? Because it's bloody brilliant.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Feels like a streamlined improvement on the original.
Read Full Review >Empire Chris Hewitt
With the visuals and soundtrack given a wax and polish job for the big screen, Scotts masterful use of shadows, framing and sound has never been more terrifying. No matter how many times youve seen this, youll still be hiding behind your fingers at every conceivable juncture.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Pay attention to the enhanced detail audible in a new six-track sound mix, which may be the most important cleaning job of all; silence and Jerry Goldsmith's score have never twined so hauntingly.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
This edition -- clean and tight as Scott would have it -- presents a strong case for Alien as both the greatest horror film and the greatest science-fiction film ever made.
Read Full Review >Slate Michael Agger
The scariest movie in history is actually a bit shy. The subtle, romantic score by Jerry Goldsmith is what keeps the tension at a simmer.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Kevin Carr
This is a five star film because it is one of the most perfect science fiction thrillers of all time.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole
The best thriller of 2003 was made in 1979.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
I recognize how few horror movies I've seen before or since that ever manage to capture such a tangible feeling of menace.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Watching it again reminded me how remarkably the sound engineers did their jobs. Listen to the subtly amplified heartbeat - Ripley's? the ship's? - that pulses under the soundtrack through the last 15 minutes.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
A landmark film, the unnecessary tinkering has not perceptibly harmed its overall effectiveness and it's a special Halloween treat to see it digitally spruced up and on the big screen for the first time in 25 years.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Despite years of imitators, sequels (some great, some not so), and edited-for-television broadcasts, Alien has lost none of its power, and the big screen only intensifies its impact.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
Twenty-four years later -- digitally spruced up, with some scenes shaved and others padded with previously cut material -- Scott's film still shreds nerves.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Alien, even with some scene tinkering that has left this "director's cut" one minute shorter than its original release, is still one of the creepiest, scariest, most shocking films ever.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
What's most unusual about the original 24 years later, though, is its elegant minimalism.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Mostly it's worth seeing Alien, which established Scott as an A-list director, in a theater because his brilliant and often expansive visuals have always worked better on a big screen than on video.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The most important features of this "new" version are the digital cleaning of the print and the re-mastering of the sound. There are a few added scenes, but they are mostly insignificant and have been previously seen (at least by fans of the movie) on the laserdisc or DVD releases.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
And while this director's cut doesn't really differ all that much from the original 1979 release, it contains a few minutes of never-before seen footage, including one serious bitch slap and an entire scene in which Ripley stumbles upon a few not-quite-dead crew members whose terrible fates foreshadow James Cameron's 1986 sequel.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The overall effect is about the same -- slow start, then escalating suspense and violence. Today's shock-movie fans will enjoy shrieking at it, and others should skip it. In space, no one can hear you ask for your money back.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ron Stringer
Unfortunately, fulfilling an apparent need to assert absolute control over his early successes no matter the cost, the director has gone ahead and loused up his 1979 masterpiece of gothic sci-fi horror.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
This is no restoration but a revision...If there's a difference in overall quality, I'm unaware of it. Dave Kehr calls this 1979 feature "an empty-headed horror movie with nothing to recommend it beyond the disco-inspired art direction and some handsome if gimmicky cinematography.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Timbuck 2 gave it a0:
This movie can never bee made into a decent film, it will always be pathatic and nothing but fake gore, annoying script and stupid scares...awful in every way...no match for "The Descent".
howie h. gave it a10:
Excellent, stylish, suspenseful flick.
Roman S. gave it a10:
All-time fave (if not the second part) and I never got tired watching it over and over again (after having bought an Alien Quadrilogy box set).
Ray X. gave it a10:
A great sci-fi suspense flick. I remember seeing it the first time and being scared in my seat not when the alien popped out but in the following 20 minutes or so when you didn't know where it was in the ship.
Dan C. gave it a 10:
One of the most suspenseful films of all time!
Pat C. gave it a 9:
The slaughterfest that occurs two-thirds of the way through is literal overkill, but the hot-wiring of the science officer is one of the wierdest other-worldly things ever put on film. The plot line development from the beginning to the establishment of the alien out of control on the spaceship is a finely honed masterpiece of editorial pacing and actualization. So, except for digressing into milking the fright of the audience, this movie is 2 hours of non-stop worship and praise of the audience's attention. As for the director's cut, it may improve or degrade the original release, which as presented should be memorialized here without consideration of later touch-ups or blemishes.
Charles H. gave it a 10:
One of the best horror/sci-fi films of all. Too bad the majority of entries in these genres (including the Alien sequels after Aliens) aren't as good. As for all of the crying about Mr. Scott's editing changes, the original theatrical version is included on the DVD.
