Scene of the month: May 2015 - "Alien"

The iconic chest-burster scene is the first big, gory, scary moment in the 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien. The film's biggest strength is its pacing. Director Ridley Scott isn't in the business of jumping right in for cheap scares. He builds the story up to this point, and when it hits, it's all the more effective. Having been impregnated by an alien egg, Kane (John Hurt) isn't expected to make it much longer. And while he's the first to die, he's cleared of the initial threat. It seems as though he's fine, and the irony of the scene that makes it work so well is that the crew is actually celebrating the fact he made it out. And then, in the middle of the party in one of the most gut-wrenching displays in the history of cinema, the creature that will make life a living hell for those aboard the Nostromo births itself through his chest...