Alien: the Director's Cut (1979) dir. Ridley Scott
If, as Satyajit Ray once said, Beethoven's quartets show the perfect way to shape time, then Alien is the 17th Beethoven quartet. Scott brilliantly uses chapters of time to ratchet up the suspense. I'm no newbie to horror films, but I ended up clutching the side of my seat in fright. Although the actors' haircuts may date the movie, its message isn't dated at all. In the emptiness of the universe, humans not only have to confront their existential angst and the hell of other people, but also the physical terror of the universe.