Alien (1979)
Directed by Ridley Scott · Cinematography by Derek Vanlint
R117 min65 frames
HorrorScience Fiction
In space no one can hear you scream.
Stills, screencaps & shots from Alien
16 of 65 frames — the full set is searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, color and mood with a free account.
Alien — official trailer
What is Alien about?
During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed.
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O'Bannon, based on a story by O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett. It follows a commercial starship crew who investigate a derelict space vessel and are hunted by a deadly extraterrestrial creature. The film stars Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto. It was produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill through their company Brandywine Productions and was distributed by 20th Century-Fox. Giler and Hill revised and made additions to the script; Shusett was the executive producer. The alien creatures and environments were designed by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger, while the concept artists Ron Cobb and Chris Foss designed the other sets.
Second paragraph from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where can you watch Alien?
NetflixStream
fuboTVStream
Netflix Standard with AdsStream
Amazon VideoRent
Apple TV StoreRent
Google Play MoviesRent
YouTubeRent
Fandango At HomeRent
US availability for Alien (1979). Data by JustWatch, listings on TMDB. Availability changes — check the provider for current listings.
Who stars in Alien?
Who made Alien?
What does the cinematography of Alien look like?
Across 65 sampled frames, Alien builds its coverage from close-ups (35% of the sample), with medium shots (31%) carrying much of the rest. Cinematographer Derek Vanlint keeps 74% of it in soft, low-key light. 63% of the frames play at night or in the failing light of dusk. Anamorphic glass shapes the frame. Focus stays shallow in 65% of the frames, isolating subjects from their surroundings.
What is the color palette of Alien?
The dominant colors across the sampled frames of Alien (1979) are #0f1010, #2f2e2f, #4d4d4c, #0f1926, #d2d1d0, #f4f5f6 — measured from the per-frame color data FrameThrower extracts for every film.
#0f1010#2f2e2f#4d4d4c#0f1926#d2d1d0#f4f5f6
See the full Alien colour palette — every hex with its share, plus warmth, saturation and luminance.
Alien ranks in
A reference database for filmmakers
FrameThrower is a fully machine-searchable film database and visual reference library — all 65 frames of Alien (1979), and 5,000+ films besides, indexed frame by frame and readable by AI. Search it in plain language, from a reference image, or by colour; call it from an API, an MCP server or an SDK. It's the reference layer for making the next movie.
Techniques in this film
More films by Ridley Scott
Cast, trailer and streaming data from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.