'Alien' reissue pleases Kotto

Actor Yaphet Kotto knows what makes a movie scary — and it isn't the sight of limbs being hacked off or puddles of fake blood or close-ups of other gross-out makeup/special effects.

Kotto believes in the fright-movie tactics used by the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock: "He knew that what isn't seen is much scarier than what you could possibly see on screen. What's in your imagination is many times more terrifying."

That's why Kotto is glad that the 1979 science-fiction horror movie "Alien," in which he played crewman Parker, has returned to theaters. (The release of a special "director's cut," which includes five minutes of material cut from the original release, opened on Wednesday.)

"I know it has a few bloody moments," the 65-year-old Kotto said during a telephone interview from Toronto, "but most of what happens in the movie is left up to your imagination. I think it's a classic that looks even better when you look at the awful stuff they're making now."

In fact, Kotto believes that "Alien" stands up well alongside such other undeniable classics as 1951's "The Thing (From Another World)" and 1975's "Jaws." As with those films, "Alien" keeps its title character under wraps through most of the film. "Having seen what he looked like in real life, I can tell you he was really scary.

"But I'm glad (director Ridley Scott) only let the audience see him for moments at a time — and never really full-on. He's even scarier that way," Kotto said with a chuckle.

The 1973 James Bond film, "Live and Let Die," and "Alien" were the films that propelled the gravelly voiced character-actor to fame. But it's "Alien" of which he is most proud. "This was the first science-fiction film with a really strong black character. And even though he's pretty abrasive at first, Parker eventually becomes one of the most heroic characters in the film. That was huge."

Consequently, Kotto is thankful for one of the restored scenes in this new director's cut, in which we "get to see Parker in action. It makes him appear even more heroic."

Still, Parker takes a backseat to Sigourney Weaver's Ripley, who eventually became the heroine of the film and all its sequels. "In that, it was really a ground-breaking movie as well."