Alien Forum

Combine Planet Of The Vampires and It! The Terror From Beyond Space with a dash of Doctor Who's "The Ark In Space" you pretty much have Alien's entire plot.

Alien is basically Halloween in space. The Alien itself is a very original piece of work though. 

@Pickle said:

Alien is basically Halloween in space. The Alien itself is a very original piece of work though. 

Pickle's right the movie concept is unoriginal but the actual Alien itself is. The movie just got real lucky and took off. I found the first movie a little dull just because of this unoriginal fact. The Franchise on the other hand has impressed me and I find the hand to hand fight scene between Dillon and the Alien in Alien3 one of the best scene in an alien movie.

Everything is everything else.

True, the Alien is a creative piece. It did took ingredients from aliens of older films to give birth to the Xenomorph, but I would still count it as original for brilllently putting them together.

@handbanana: 
You can say that most movies rip off one an other

@TheFaithfullyDeparted: 
If not films than books.  For example: Avatar is a blatant rip-off of  "Call Me Joe".

@handbanana: 
I think how they handle the Alien itself is what makes it so memorable, just the attention to detail on the monster makes it seem so realistic and therefore down right scary! (Just have a glance at the wiki creature design page) As the title suggests its all about the Alien and they made a bold statement calling it "Alien", they might of well had screamed this is the quintessential alien film! Also the evolution of the monster is a very compelling angle, they need us to evolve and grow stronger, it plays as a great dynamic throughout this Horror. But another aspect not to ignore that sets Alien apart is that fantastic sense/tone of dread, one by one it hunts them down; no one is safe. Space makes for a great backdrop as opposed to a house in a highly populated village in traditional horrors as Alien advertising so brilliantly puts it "In space no one can hear you scream".  
 

@HandsomeDead

said:

Everything is everything else.

Agreed, if you wanna go this route, you could find similarities in almost every plot but thats why there are many deferent directors/actors/producers, its about how you execute on that premise and turn it into something unique and special! 
 
Also I forgot to mention how it was one of the first films to have a strong female protagonist, that was helped by Sigourney Weaver's wonderfully tenacious performance. Wow forgot how much I liked this film!