One of its funniest moments is when the shuttle craft is damaged on impact with the moon, and the captain radios the two engineers to ask how long repairs will take. “Seventeen hours, tell him,” mumbles Brett in the engine room. “At least 25 hours,” says Parker into the radio, speaking for anyone who’s ever had to meet a deadline. But there are countless moments like this one, countless throwaway reminders that, as far as the characters are concerned, this isn’t a fantastic adventure, it’s just another day at the office.

Alien, it is often said, is a Freudian film about sex and reproduction and the fears that come with them. But it’s also about the camaraderie and irritation that come with being stuck in a confined space with your fellow staff members. It’s about the pecking order, the salary disputes, the grumblings about canteen food, the remarks about who is sitting in who’s favourite chair. And it’s about the coffee – always the coffee. “You had Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton, a sort of double act below decks,” Scott told Bafta in 2018. “And they give it that working class problem.”

No other horror or science-fiction film has captured the humdrum reality of doing a day’s work for a day’s pay with such accuracy. For that matter, perhaps no film of any genre has. There may be sitcoms that depict these everyday frustrations and interactions as deftly as Alien does. But in the cinema? The most authentic ever film about earning a living could well be the one with a giant, slimy, acid-blooded extra-terrestrial monster.

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