OxfordPress.com

By ELEANOR RINGEL
Cox News Service

"It lacks humanity," complaind a bearded young man that the conclusion of 20th Century Fox's new film "Alien."

True enough, but whatever "Alien" lacks in humanity, it more than makes up for in monster. And monster is what is terrifyingly effective -- or effectively terrifying -- picture is all about.

The movie might be subtitled "Blue Collars in Space." Gone are the shiningly antiseptic interiors of the ships in "Star Wars" and "Star Trek," gone are "2001's" sooaring space symphonies; gone are "Close Encounter's" questing intellectuals who want to conduct singalongs with extraterrestrials. In their place is a seven-person crew on a battered space tug, hauling 20 million tons of mineral ore toward home. The ship looks cluttered and lived-in -- a twisting labyrinth of dusty, dirty pipes, littered with cigarette wrappers and coffee cups.

Lacking the outer space equivalent of a truck stop, these hard drivers spend the trip in "hypersleep" cylinders.

Until ...

An alien signal from a nearby planet is intercepted by the ship's computer, programmed to investigate any and all such transmissions. Awakened, the crew gets out to explore the desolate planet, finding out too late that what they thought was a distress signal was actually a warning. One of the astronauts is unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and through him, an alien "whose structural perfection is matched only by its hostility," invades the ship, leading to gross encounters of every conceivable kind.

The monster is as horrifying and hungry as Bruce the Shark, and as messy as little Linda Blair prumped full of pea soup. Anyone with fond memories of the old EC Comics from the '50s -- the ones whose excesses brought about the Comic Book Code -- will be in hog heaven.

Speaking of the '50s, sci-fi buffs will probably recognize elements from their favorite bug-eyed monster movies from that decade, most noteably, "It, the Terror From Beyond Space."

However, "Alien" is really more of a horror story, perversely pure and shockingly simple. It happens to take place in outer space, but it could just as easily be set on a tramp steamer in the tropics, a snow-bound country inn, or any available old dark house. Any place beyond outside help where people are trapped while a creature mangles them.

Two plot twist I found a little too weak were first, having one crew member turn out to be a surprising sort of traitor, and, second, an inordinate concern for the ship's cat. Every time someone wandered off chirping, "Here, kitty," you knew it was time for the alien to tuck his napkin under his chip. As an animal lover, I applaud the sentiment, but as a movie lover, I wish they's found another device to isolate the monster's next meal.

"Alien" is hardly an actor's movie, but the British-American cast -- Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton, Veronica Cartwright and John Hurt -- do extremely well within the confines of their minimal characterizations. Ms. Weaver is especially impressive in her screen debut.

The movie's real stars are its striking visuals, mostly designed by Swiss artist H. R. Giger, and some stomach-churning, heart-stopping special effects. Director Ridley Scott ("The Duelists") has added to "Alien's" unforgettable look by filtering bias shots through incense smoke and by the use of heavy back-lighting.

Like its monster, "Alien" is a disturbingly single-minded organism. Its sole function is to give audiences a nerve-wracking couple of hours in the dark. Playing on everyone's worst fantasies about jellyfish, and malignant things gnawing at our innards, and malevolent beings all teeth and claws and drool. "Alien" will upset your mind and upset your stomach.