Alien: The Director’s Cut

Just in time for Halloween, the 1979 sci-fi thriller that put director Ridley Scott, star Sigourney Weaver and oozing, pus-dripping special effects on the map is back in a spiffed-up “director’s cut.” The movie is unchanged; the “additional scenes” amount to about two minutes, introducing the “cocoon” plot element that would take center stage in the sequel Aliens. The movie remains a throwback to the cheap pulp fiction of the 1940s (bug-eyed monster menaces nubile, half-naked girl), and it’s still one of the most overrated, albeit influential, movies of the 1970s (Aliens remains far superior). On the plus side, the original has aged with surprising grace; despite the rise of digital video and home computers, this movie’s concept of the future is still a convincing one. It certainly doesn’t look like a 24-year-old movie.