One of the most unique aspects to this story, in terms of how space travel was usually portrayed, these were not "astronauts" working for a government, nor were they in some kind of quasi-military organization like star fleet, but just merchant marines, people working for a paycheck. That had never been explored before in a movie featuring space travel. Star Wars was still in a unique category all its own but the element that Star Wars lends to this movie is the idea that spaceships can be dirty and grimy. Star Wars was the first to do that and this film takes that concept to its logical conclusion. Working class people, working in space.
Another amusing story that I think you will enjoy. I was at a science fiction convention when they were promoting Aliens (when it was about to come out). The guy showed us photos from the set and some shots of the actors and told us some little bits of what to expect in the film. After the presentation - they asked for questions from the audience and a lot of hands went up. The first person called on asked "What about Jonesy?! Is Jonesy OK?!" There was a lot of speculation that the alien had impregnated Jonesy and worry that this was how the alien would return in a sequel. The person at the mic was confused by the question and someone came over to whisper information. Then he said, "Oh... the cat. Yeah, don't worry... Jonesy is fine." There were many sighs of relief. He then asked for the next question. Not a single hand went up.
That last scene of her sleeping. Her hand resting on her chest looks like a face-hugger alien. I notice that when I saw it in the theater but nobody ever comments on it.
I cannot overstate how revolutionary this film was for design, cinematography, and especially tone and atmosphere. And the depiction of these people as workers-not dashing explorers but people just doing a job-was a huge change for the genre.
i think the scariest thing about this movie is the way that the monster seems to be permanently grinning and having such fun terrorisng and slaughtering everybody- the first kill where(in the directors cut) it is merrily swinging waiting for harry dean stanton to fall into its trap-when dallas is killed the alien is waiting happily in the shadows with its arms out as if it has been playing hide and seek with him - then before it kills veronica cartright it stands right next to her just looking in her face seeming to enjoy her terror- and then finally on the shuttle where it just just seems to be waiting in its own good time as if it seems to enjoy her not knowing when the inevitable attack will come-
Actually, birds in eggs *do* have umbilical cords to the web of vessels lining the inside of the egg (that's how they receive oxygen through the egg shell). It's why it's critical to NOT help a bird hatch; if a vessel is cut before the umbilical dries out the bird will bleed out.
One thing I love most about Aluen is the crew. “The Space Truckers” as they were called. Originally conceived as as military crew(later used in Aliens) it was changed as sort of “road weary” truckers in space looking for salvage contracts to make a living. The cast reflects this mismatch of people who’d never choose to work together. Some are older or smaller or taller, but all feel lived in and real. The bickering is real. The futility of the gig is real. Ridley Scott promoted this air of natural disorder…talking over each other and working the nerves to an authentic effect you never see in films, let alone sci-fi. This was not the case in Alien:Covenant. Oh wow…young pretty millennials in space. It was eye roll inducing.
@30:58, you ask how did they already know about the alien to send Ash to get it. It was never explained, but remember it only took mother a matter of hours to deciphered the transmission enough so that Ripley could tell it was a warning and not an SOS. Who knows how long the company studied that message before sending them out there. You should watch the sequel, it's really good.
In the book, the conversation with Ash's head is somewhat longer, and in it he reveals that the company had long since intercepted and translated the alien message, and knew exactly what they were getting the Nostromo crew into.
One of the very nice (horrifying) touches is when the chest burster punches through and you hear the distinct crunch of the sternum fracturing. Terrifying.
8:45 My favorite part in the movie is when they find the skeleton of a HUGE alien on the other ship. I would love to have an entire room designed just like that!
It makes a lot of sense that the creature is ok in space for a while. Even humans can survive in space for short time periods and these creatures are quite a bit tougher.
Cool production fact, many of the really wide shots of the crew roaming around in their space suits early on, were played by Ridley Scott's young children. Their small size made the practical sets look even grander in scale.
FUN FACT - When this movie came out, the only big name in it was John Hurt. This movie actually pulls the same technique as Psycho... where they give you John Hurt as the main character... and then KILL him early on in the movie giving you a subconscious sense of uncertainty as you now don't know who to follow... and the presumption is that most people will turn to an authority figure... in this case, the captain. So who gets killed soon after? That's right! Captain is killed... leaving you subconsciously scrambling on who to follow in the film It's a really clever technique to add on to the level of fear in the film.
The Captain is killed off screen, no less. They even make it a point that there was no blood or sign of him. So plenty of the audience at the time thought he'd surely show up last minute to save Ripley and the day. Nope. He's dead.
ANOTHER FUN FACT - The blue mist that hovered above the alien eggs was created with blue lasers borrowed from none other than Pink Floyd, who used them in their concerts at the time.
@@MDestron2282 deleted scene actually shows him being transformed into an egg pod. Ridley Scott clearly didn't see the aliens just as big termites, they were unknowable biomechanical horrors from space.
One thing I always appreciated about this, the first page of the script that they used to sell and cast the movie had a paragraph that said that the characters were not written to specify gender or race to allow for whatever direction the casting ended up taking. Ripley wasn't necessarily written as a woman, but when Sigourney Weaver came to their attention they went in that direction. The stuff about everyone ignoring the second officer and letting Kane back on the ship was there, but it took on another layer if Ripley was a woman who everyone kind of disregarded. Yaphet Kotto (Parker) was encouraged to push Weaver's buttons day-to-day so that their interactions became a bit more charged, and they're clearly having a bit of fun with that here and there. He also behaved a bit 'aggressively' toward Veronica Cartwright and made a point of bonding and only hanging out with Harry Dean Stanton, all of which paid off during the group scenes as you can see if you keep an eye out second time through. Weaver and Cartwright decided between them that their characters didn't like each other, and allowed that to inform everything between them. Nobody hated each other or anything like that, and I never heard anything that suggested Kotto or anyone else took any of this beyond acting technique. Hope not, anyway. It's not clear how much Ridley had to do with any of this - he wasn't too experienced with actors at this point beyond hiring great ones and letting them do their thing, which some directors with a lot more experience than he had in the late '70s never learn. The internet tends to give more credit for enlightened gender politics to "Alien" for having Ripley be a woman but I'm not sure it was anything other than finding an amazing performer that they could get cheap and abiding by the 'final girl' thing which had been established in horror movies for a while when this movie was made.
19:38 -- The actors read the scripts, but the first take was shot with multiple cameras to capture their reactions when they saw the chest effect for the first time. Veronica Cartwright didn't expect to get blood in her face and didn't like it. She was surprised and disgusted, so yes, her scream was real. Yaphet Kotto's reaction and facial expression were also real. He wasn't expecting to see that much "blood" busted and be all over the place like that, at all.
Ridley Scott knew exactly what he was doing with the trailer in 1979: no showing of any of the actors, no action scenes, no plot points... absolutely nothing. All the trailer did show was an egg; with the title slowly spelled out like the title card at the beginning of the movie, a crack appearing in the egg with eerie green light spilling out of it, and the quote at the bottom of the screen, "In space, no one can hear you scream." Everyone went to the theater completely blind, and got the shock of their lives!
When you hear Ripley whispering something hard to understand at the end, she is actually saying "you are my lucky star" over and over. At the theater, they gave away buttons with that written on them. Still have mine!
I think one of the best parts of the film is that the titular Alien isn't the antagonist. The Company is. The alien is more like a force of nature the company want to exploit so they put everyone in harms way. Great writing and I love the slow build tension.
That's why I find it mindblowing that Dan O'Bannon, who wrote the first draft, hated this part of the script, added by Ronald Schusett. He wanted only the alien part, no company or androids. He called it a "traffic accident." Personally, I think he might have been jealous that he didn't come up with this himself.
@@henrikmikaelkristensen4784 O'Bannon was similarly pompous over *Total Recall,* saying Arnold Schwarzenegger was miscast, the film needed more comedy and less violence, and that it didn't have a proper ending. He comes off as someone who's needlessly hard to please.
@@henrikmikaelkristensen4784 I kind of agree with Dan myself. The whole company thing was, at its most basic level, injecting politics into a movie where they weren't needed. It's a tired trope anyway, the big evil company. Profits = bad, capitalism = bad, blah blah blah. Just STFU and show me the damn alien eating people's faces.
Yes. And that Ash is not only 'alien' to being truly human but alien to truly sympathising with humans desire to, you know, live. And simply having a 'day job' in space is alien to us.
"Ash why did you stop them from killing it?" Well, at that point you have to remember you can't just stab the thing the way Parker wanted to, or you would compromise the hull and vent your air out into space.
One of the cooler production details is that they made the sets almost entirely practical in terms of interaction- almost every button, switch and lever could be pushed/pulled/flipped/physically interacted with (and often actually did something, like turn a light on or off, etc). They weren't just dummy molds and set decorations glued into place. Lent things a sense of functionality to both the viewer and the actors in their performance.
Also the set was built so that it was laid out exactly like it would be for real. Corridors were linked and there was only one entry and exit to the set. Gave the actors the feeling they were really in a spacecraft. This film is always in my top three best films ever made. A true masterpiece of cinema and a great story. The special effects still look amazing today.
Fun Fact: During Brett's death scene, they couldn't get Jones to hiss when the alien appeared, so they brought in a German shepherd and had it standing behind a sheet of cardboard. When they pulled it away, revealing the dog, Jones hissed.
"God damn it, Ash, what the fuck?! So far he hasn't done a single helpful thing!" I had to actually pause the reaction so I could finish laughing at that comment.
A seen-it-all viewer is boarding the "Nostromo." This movie makes you "jumpy," even though you're a Horror fan? You are in for a ride, Mr. I-know-the-Seventies SF.;) The Company is sending the equivalent of a freighter crew to "do science" on an unexplored planet! 8:30 The Space Jockey, a mystery for decades. 10:56 Second Officer Kane = Zapp Brannigan. 11:56 Just raised eyebrows? For other first-timers, this is a genuine jump scare 12:20 This conversation has become iconic, due to recent events. 13:12 The Face Hugger, grossing out audiences for years. 14:19 This answers the "why don't you just cut off him?" question. 17:19 A Props dept. work of ART, made of sea animals. 18:40 Kane's last meal. 19:50 The Xenomorph, scaring audiences for over 40 years. 22:52 Say hello to Bolaji Badejo. 25:53 You're in command, Third Officer Ripley. 28:11 In 1979, this was my "WTF? Ash ISN'T Human!?" moment. 29:58 Most didn't see this coming. 33:45 I've read that Lambert is standing in for us, the audience. 36:00 Escape route cut off, stop Destruct to gain time for Plan B. 39:22 Sigourney Weaver was OK with "going natural," but that would have raised the rating to X. 40:48 Tonight's entree on the shuttle "Narcissus" is Steamed Xenomorph in Shell. 41:47 Correction, Char-Broiled Xenomorph. This and the next movie made newcomer Sigourney Weaver a major movie star. Along with Linda Hamilton, they became Action movie Badasses. "Jennifer Lawrence?" Who is that? Uh-oh, you haven't officially reacted to "The Terminator" (1984)?
This movie has a Star Wars connection. The song that Ripley sings "You are my lucky Star" is from the movie Singing in the Rain and was performed by Gene Kelly and Carrie Fisher's mom Debbie Reynolds.
The acid burning through the floor effect was done with styrofoam. If you take a styrofoam cup and poor acetone in it, the cup will bubble and dissolve.
The company was not aware of the alien's existence beforehand. There was simply a standing order in the event that an alien life form might be encountered.
Not true at all. They were fully aware of what was in the script and had seen the chestburster puppet. What they didn't know was *how* the effects were going to be done, and how much animal blood and guts would be used in the scene. What freaked them out was the smell and having the blood fountains aimed right at them and getting hosed with it.
@@reidmason2551 Yeah, there's an uncut version of that scene where you can clearly see Veronica Cartwright stumbling backwards and falling on her ass (just after her reaction "Oh God" you see in the final cut) because she got hit right in the face by one of the blood jets
The Ash as a robot I don't think was in the original script idea, but the producers wisely thought the film needed another level of complexity and added it in.
Alien is a masterclass of tense scifi horror. Aliens is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of how to make a sequel. The way it builds off of the original, but switches genres a little into more of an action/horror film - just superb.
Although everyone skips over how they have the same beats in the opening and final parts. Both open with slow quiet panning about a spaceship to reveal the actors and set the scene and both end with a huge explosion ( the Nostromo and the Refinery), a fake ending broken by the alien popping back up which leads to the final fight and both aliens being blown out a door into space. Two different takes on the same set up 😃😃
Bear in mind this was Ridley Scott's second movie he directed Alien (1979) followed by another iconic masterpiece movie ''Blade runner''1980, however before all that, he directed ''The duelist'' (1977) a most underrated film, never quite made it successfully and financially on the audience, that does not in anyway slights the film, his previous work was in advertising TV . commercials so this was his first ever hollywood movie, a period drama, set in the napoleonic times, the film is about two warring french cavalry officers, with the antagonist who won't let up after a slur against his honor was made, keeps challenging the other officer to duels forbidden by Napoleon, based on a true story starred Keith carradine and Harvey keitel(antagonist) both actors when initially approach for the role, were very reluctant to play a 19th century french cavalry officers, because being american might not pull it off and look ridiculous, however both actors pulled it off, one of the most interesting aspects of the movie , is how much he went to town on getting it right, the setting, the uniforms etc. Ridley scott being Ridley scott , went for authenticity big style , ridley spent thousands of dollars on commissioning the correct uniforms of the time period, the correct cavalry reigment both french officers served in , a company in italy produced the uniforms correct in every detail including the sabers they were real weapons of the time, not ''copies'' or stage props , a deal was struck , ridley scott later did a reaction to this movie years later, and he explained the deal with italian company that made the uniforms, but to cut though that scott handed over the uniforms back to the company that produced them i would strongly recommend this movie also , talking of ridley scott films, he has just released details of his latest film, and ironically this is set in the 19th century, the story of Napoleon himself .
Correction: We’ve known that AI can’t be trusted since 1968. Go and watch “2001: A Space Odyssey”. It was a revolutionary film that influenced every movie about outer space that followed it.
Just want to say... It's interesting that you noted how Scott "resisted the urge" to mimic the A NEW HOPE opening with the Star Destroyer when in fact the whole inspiration he had to get into big budget theatrical film making and indeed doing some project like ALIEN (A space based sci fi film) was him being in a theater and watching Star Wars for the first time and being blown away by the opening Star Destroyer fly by shot. He's talked about this in a few interviews which I am sure you can find.
The entire cast is gold. Veronica Cartwright is in another ‘70’s horror movie: “The Invasion of The Body Snatchers,” with Leonard Nimoy, Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum. Funny, everyone nowadays think of Ian Holme as Bilbo, but for us GenX types, he’s always been Ash. Check out the movie trailer for “Alien.” It gives away nothing. When we saw this in the theater in 1979, we had no idea what was coming. Nobody knew who HR Giger was and, of course, the Xenomorph was not embedded in pop culture. This movie scarred and delighted an entire generation.
It's not that the company KNEW about this alien BEFORE HAND. It's just that they standard putt a (robotic) science officer in ALL of their mining and other ships just in case there was ANY alien found anywhere by anyone of them. That's why they made rules the crew HAD to investigate the (possible alien) signal.
I've heard that according to Ridley (long before he made Prometheus), the company had deep space probes pick up the alien signal and decoded it, and so they decided to intervene the flight plan of the next space truck that passed close to it (it says Nostromo rerouted) and put Ash in it at the last second. The contract clause is a different thing.
I don't think that interpretation is supported given the film takes a moment to highlight that Dallas had a previous science officer he knew well who was last minute replaced by Ashe. I think the implication there was that the company was aware of the possibility that LV-426 had something on it of alien origin. Given the time it takes to travel space in this universe I also think this implies Weyland-Yutani planned this for sometime. They knew the Nostromo's return route would come close enough to pick up the signal and that SAP to investigate would then be in play, with Ashe there to ensure the retrieval of anything of importance.
"Spaceship water" - that room he's in there is holding one of the ship's landing legs. As for the water dripping down: It's moisture from the air condensing on the cold metal. I got that from the novel. Back in the olden days when there was no video yet (or at least not everybody had one) after a movie was out of the cinema you sometimes had to wait for years and years for a chance to see it again. So novels about movies were much more popular than they are today. What else could you do? Well, some movies were released, extremely cut down, on super 8. I once saw an official 20 minutes version of Star Wars that way. :D Some movies would come out as record with the abridged audio track of the film plus a narrator - kinda like a radio play version. I had the German record of Disney's Jungle Book, for example. And then finally home video arrived. It was so great! All those prawn movies alone! And I had a friend who had a collection of all the most horrible horror movies back then and lent them to me - even the ones on the "you're a criminal if you expose kids to this" - list. :D All the video nasties, Italian horror shlock, massacres committed with power tools and all that. :D
One of the most scariest thing in this movie, is the fact that the Alien is never showed entirely. That is one psychological trick to us, because the human race is scared to the unknown, and the fact we never saw the entire form of the alien in a single shot, adds more psy-horror to every situation. And, of course, this was premeditated.
Alien was written by Dan O'Bannon who would in 1985 direct one of the greatest zombie movies of all time The Return of the Living Dead, which you should definitely react to.
Congratulations on watching the gold standard for horror/sci-fi. I remember watching this in Jr. High in the early 80's. Talk about mind blowing and life changing. Your next task is to watch the gold standard for action/sci-fi: Aliens. Great reaction.
It's amazing how Alien and Aliens after all these decades are still such big influences on other SF to this day. E.g. if you look at the "Zillo Beast" episode of The Bad Batch that you reacted to earlier this year, it drew _heavily_ from Alien.
Note that the Alien didn't burn up when blasted with the shuttle's thrusters, it was blasted back but not burned up. Just something to remember should you even watch Alien 3.
41:00 "Whatever she's doing is not working." Yes it is. Modern aircraft and spacecraft like space shuttles, rockets, and the ISS, keep cabin air pressure at about 11-12 PSI. That's less than sea-level on earth. More like Denver-level. I assume sci-fi spacecraft would do the same thing. it's much, much safer, cheaper, and more efficient. Just opening the hatch might not blow it into space. Not enough to make much wind. So first she vented a whole bunch more air into the cabin to raise the air pressure as high as she could. More air, more wind, more force to blast the alien out the door.
I've lost count of how many times I've seen this movie. One of my top three favorite films of all time. When I was in college in the mid-90s, I made my dad watch Alien with me. He didn't say a word or make a sound the entire time, but once the credits started rolling, he looked at me and just said, "GodDAMN!"
It's one of the few perfect movies that will forever stand the test of time. It still looks and feels better than most sci-fi movies of modern days. You'll probably like the sequel as well. I'd recommend the director's cut. It adds some important context to understand Ripley's motivation better towards the finale of the movie.
I really enjoy your reactions. I’m also jealous that you have never seen so many classics! The Thing, Silence of The Lambs, Alien! You’re so lucky to get to see these movies for the first time …
Tech aboard Nostromo looks dated, but truth is that's the hardware you want in space hardware. Buttons, switches, dials and big bulky screens that withstand abuse. Not a iPad that breaks or cracks
In the original script it was an all male crew. None of the parts were rewritten to accommodate the female actors. None of them have first names. Ashe, Ripley, Lambert, Parker....heck, even the cat is Jones. Saw it in the theater - the only jump scare that got me was the alien coming out of the black vent - glad it wasn't in 3D but was still glad I wore the brown pants. Guess what happens in Aliens. The actor for my favorite character in that film isn't listed in the opening credits
I couldn’t help commenting when you asked how they did the effect of the floor boards disappearing; pour nail polish remover on styrofoam and it just disappears.
The water Brett waiks through is presumably, condescension forming on the factory coolant system. Since it's distilled it's pretty safe. Though that leads me to another question. Maybe because I'm desended from a long line of mechanical engineers. If the giant platform the refinery is built on is not designed to make planet fall, why isn't its cooling system tied to the absolute zero of space?Hmmm. I saw Alien at the drive in when it came out. I soooo identified with Ripley singing to herself to keep her brain from freezing up the way Lambert's did. Because it's the first it's my favorite movie in the franchise, the second is a different genre that builds on the first, in an unexpected, marvelous way.
It's condensation from the heat of the landing leg, which is the big structure Brett walks under. The whole place is supposed to open down when the ship touches ground.
37:40 "Ash said it can survive in extreme conditions, does that include outer space?" Probably not for much longer than we can, but maybe. The real question though is whether a nuclear explosion is too extreme for it. OK, that's not a question. Nothing survives that.
Prior to Star Wars Scifi films tended to have SMALL budgets. Alien cost 11 Million (57 million today) a horrendous budget for films expected to make only 10-20 million in return
If you live near a downtown restored theater, they will often do a classic movie night and a double-feature of 'Alien' and 'Aliens'. The movie plays really well on the big screen in a dark theater so it is worth the immersive experience.
I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a reaction to this film quite as much as yours. Your insight into film combined with your jump skills. Perfection. The sound design from the first moment in this film is wonderful. The ship breathes and there’s always a subtle heartbeat.
Ah, Alien. An entire franchise dedicated to the concept that human beings, when you get right down to the soul and centre of them, are *phenomenally* stupid.
It's not about that. The Company are human beings and they're greedy, remorseless, and inquisitive. They're not stupid. The prisoners in Alien3 weren't stupid (at least some weren't). They were unlucky to be near the alien. If anyone's stupid, it's Ripley herself for choosing to get close to the alien again in Aliens. I appreciate that characters in Prometheus were stupid though. But it's a series more about not putting your trust in those who have power over you, and the psychopathic yet organised viciousness of nature red in tooth and claw that can render you powerless.
unpopular opinion: I like Alien more than Aliens that being said I truly enjoy almost every movie in the franchise, even the one with Winona Rider lmao
Not unpopular. Alien, the OG, is a much better film than Aliens simply because all the style and lore was created here. For Aliens, Cameron had a blueprint and much bigger budget that he threw at CGI and explosions. Aliens is a fine film and excellent sequel, but my admiration is for the original film that changed the landscape of sci-fi horror.
Didn't realize you had this channel, too! This is awesome. I actually just streamed "Alien: Isolation" last night. If you watch the sequel, "Aliens", also, I highly recommend playing that game after seeing both films. Incredible survival horror game.
I don't know if you'll clock this comment, but I HIGHLY recommend the Director's Cut of the sequel "Aliens" No spoilers; the extra scenes give some excellent context for the story and one of them happens to be my favorite suspenseful scene in SciFi. I will die mad that they left it on the cutting room floor for the theatrical release.
This film is not only one of the best sci-fi films ever made, but one of the best horror films ever made. 2001 meets Star Wars meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre! It just gets better every time I watch it!
I find it funny how many reactors know the tropes without having seen the movies that spawned or popularized them. Not saying this to call anyone out, I'm saying it because the ideas have obviously spread so far that people are starting to forget where they came from.
BTW, the scene in the mess hall where the alien erupts from Kane's chest was done blind. The rest of the cast were not informed about the chestburster prior to filming so their reactions would be genuine.
What strikes me about this movie is how clunky and awkward the dialogue and the performances are. It gives a fantastic sense of realism while also feeling just a tad bit unnerving.
Giger is definitely my favorite artist if I had to pick one. Alien and Aliens are absolute masterpieces. I just wish more reactors would keep the film on screen more.
One of the most unique aspects to this story, in terms of how space travel was usually portrayed, these were not "astronauts" working for a government, nor were they in some kind of quasi-military organization like star fleet, but just merchant marines, people working for a paycheck. That had never been explored before in a movie featuring space travel.
Star Wars was still in a unique category all its own but the element that Star Wars lends to this movie is the idea that spaceships can be dirty and grimy. Star Wars was the first to do that and this film takes that concept to its logical conclusion. Working class people, working in space.
From a certain perspective, 'Alien' is simply a story about saving a cat.
Another amusing story that I think you will enjoy.
I was at a science fiction convention when they were promoting Aliens (when it was about to come out). The guy showed us photos from the set and some shots of the actors and told us some little bits of what to expect in the film.
After the presentation - they asked for questions from the audience and a lot of hands went up. The first person called on asked "What about Jonesy?! Is Jonesy OK?!" There was a lot of speculation that the alien had impregnated Jonesy and worry that this was how the alien would return in a sequel. The person at the mic was confused by the question and someone came over to whisper information. Then he said, "Oh... the cat. Yeah, don't worry... Jonesy is fine."
There were many sighs of relief.
He then asked for the next question.
Not a single hand went up.
That last scene of her sleeping. Her hand resting on her chest looks like a face-hugger alien. I notice that when I saw it in the theater but nobody ever comments on it.
I cannot overstate how revolutionary this film was for design, cinematography, and especially tone and atmosphere. And the depiction of these people as workers-not dashing explorers but people just doing a job-was a huge change for the genre.
@@moon-moth1 And Parker _didn’t_ die first!
"...but you have my sympathies!" that little smirk/smile..... Brilliant writing and acting.
i think the scariest thing about this movie is the way that the monster seems to be permanently grinning and having such fun terrorisng and slaughtering everybody- the first kill where(in the directors cut) it is merrily swinging waiting for harry dean stanton to fall into its trap-when dallas is killed the alien is waiting happily in the shadows with its arms out as if it has been playing hide and seek with him - then before it kills veronica cartright it stands right next to her just looking in her face seeming to enjoy her terror- and then finally on the shuttle where it just just seems to be waiting in its own good time as if it seems to enjoy her not knowing when the inevitable attack will come-
Q: "Why would you stop him from killing it?" - Grizzled Wizard
A: "Acid for blood" - Every Alien fan ever
Actually, birds in eggs *do* have umbilical cords to the web of vessels lining the inside of the egg (that's how they receive oxygen through the egg shell). It's why it's critical to NOT help a bird hatch; if a vessel is cut before the umbilical dries out the bird will bleed out.
One thing I love most about Aluen is the crew. “The Space Truckers” as they were called. Originally conceived as as military crew(later used in Aliens) it was changed as sort of “road weary” truckers in space looking for salvage contracts to make a living. The cast reflects this mismatch of people who’d never choose to work together. Some are older or smaller or taller, but all feel lived in and real. The bickering is real. The futility of the gig is real. Ridley Scott promoted this air of natural disorder…talking over each other and working the nerves to an authentic effect you never see in films, let alone sci-fi. This was not the case in Alien:Covenant. Oh wow…young pretty millennials in space. It was eye roll inducing.
Alien. I misspelled the damn title of the movie. Forgive me, dearest Wizard.
@30:58, you ask how did they already know about the alien to send Ash to get it. It was never explained, but remember it only took mother a matter of hours to deciphered the transmission enough so that Ripley could tell it was a warning and not an SOS. Who knows how long the company studied that message before sending them out there. You should watch the sequel, it's really good.
In the book, the conversation with Ash's head is somewhat longer, and in it he reveals that the company had long since intercepted and translated the alien message, and knew exactly what they were getting the Nostromo crew into.
One of the very nice (horrifying) touches is when the chest burster punches through and you hear the distinct crunch of the sternum fracturing. Terrifying.
8:45 My favorite part in the movie is when they find the skeleton of a HUGE alien on the other ship. I would love to have an entire room designed just like that!
How the hell has TH-cam just now recommended this channel to me? Been on your Kyle Katarn channel for years!
It makes a lot of sense that the creature is ok in space for a while. Even humans can survive in space for short time periods and these creatures are quite a bit tougher.
Cool production fact, many of the really wide shots of the crew roaming around in their space suits early on, were played by Ridley Scott's young children. Their small size made the practical sets look even grander in scale.
FUN FACT - When this movie came out, the only big name in it was John Hurt. This movie actually pulls the same technique as Psycho... where they give you John Hurt as the main character... and then KILL him early on in the movie giving you a subconscious sense of uncertainty as you now don't know who to follow... and the presumption is that most people will turn to an authority figure... in this case, the captain. So who gets killed soon after? That's right! Captain is killed... leaving you subconsciously scrambling on who to follow in the film It's a really clever technique to add on to the level of fear in the film.
The Captain is killed off screen, no less. They even make it a point that there was no blood or sign of him. So plenty of the audience at the time thought he'd surely show up last minute to save Ripley and the day. Nope. He's dead.
ANOTHER FUN FACT - The blue mist that hovered above the alien eggs was created with blue lasers borrowed from none other than Pink Floyd, who used them in their concerts at the time.
@@MDestron2282 deleted scene actually shows him being transformed into an egg pod. Ridley Scott clearly didn't see the aliens just as big termites, they were unknowable biomechanical horrors from space.
One thing I always appreciated about this, the first page of the script that they used to sell and cast the movie had a paragraph that said that the characters were not written to specify gender or race to allow for whatever direction the casting ended up taking. Ripley wasn't necessarily written as a woman, but when Sigourney Weaver came to their attention they went in that direction. The stuff about everyone ignoring the second officer and letting Kane back on the ship was there, but it took on another layer if Ripley was a woman who everyone kind of disregarded.
Yaphet Kotto (Parker) was encouraged to push Weaver's buttons day-to-day so that their interactions became a bit more charged, and they're clearly having a bit of fun with that here and there. He also behaved a bit 'aggressively' toward Veronica Cartwright and made a point of bonding and only hanging out with Harry Dean Stanton, all of which paid off during the group scenes as you can see if you keep an eye out second time through. Weaver and Cartwright decided between them that their characters didn't like each other, and allowed that to inform everything between them. Nobody hated each other or anything like that, and I never heard anything that suggested Kotto or anyone else took any of this beyond acting technique. Hope not, anyway. It's not clear how much Ridley had to do with any of this - he wasn't too experienced with actors at this point beyond hiring great ones and letting them do their thing, which some directors with a lot more experience than he had in the late '70s never learn.
The internet tends to give more credit for enlightened gender politics to "Alien" for having Ripley be a woman but I'm not sure it was anything other than finding an amazing performer that they could get cheap and abiding by the 'final girl' thing which had been established in horror movies for a while when this movie was made.
19:38 -- The actors read the scripts, but the first take was shot with multiple cameras to capture their reactions when they saw the chest effect for the first time. Veronica Cartwright didn't expect to get blood in her face and didn't like it. She was surprised and disgusted, so yes, her scream was real. Yaphet Kotto's reaction and facial expression were also real. He wasn't expecting to see that much "blood" busted and be all over the place like that, at all.
Ridley Scott knew exactly what he was doing with the trailer in 1979: no showing of any of the actors, no action scenes, no plot points... absolutely nothing. All the trailer did show was an egg; with the title slowly spelled out like the title card at the beginning of the movie, a crack appearing in the egg with eerie green light spilling out of it, and the quote at the bottom of the screen, "In space, no one can hear you scream."
Everyone went to the theater completely blind, and got the shock of their lives!
When you hear Ripley whispering something hard to understand at the end, she is actually saying "you are my lucky star" over and over. At the theater, they gave away buttons with that written on them. Still have mine!
I think one of the best parts of the film is that the titular Alien isn't the antagonist. The Company is. The alien is more like a force of nature the company want to exploit so they put everyone in harms way. Great writing and I love the slow build tension.
SPOILER ALERT: That’s true of the sequel as well.
That's why I find it mindblowing that Dan O'Bannon, who wrote the first draft, hated this part of the script, added by Ronald Schusett. He wanted only the alien part, no company or androids. He called it a "traffic accident." Personally, I think he might have been jealous that he didn't come up with this himself.
@@henrikmikaelkristensen4784 O'Bannon was similarly pompous over *Total Recall,* saying Arnold Schwarzenegger was miscast, the film needed more comedy and less violence, and that it didn't have a proper ending. He comes off as someone who's needlessly hard to please.
@@henrikmikaelkristensen4784 I kind of agree with Dan myself. The whole company thing was, at its most basic level, injecting politics into a movie where they weren't needed. It's a tired trope anyway, the big evil company. Profits = bad, capitalism = bad, blah blah blah. Just STFU and show me the damn alien eating people's faces.
Yes. And that Ash is not only 'alien' to being truly human but alien to truly sympathising with humans desire to, you know, live. And simply having a 'day job' in space is alien to us.
They couldn't stab it because it has acid for blood. That's why Ash stopped Parker...besides his nefarious reasons of course.
"Ash why did you stop them from killing it?"
Well, at that point you have to remember you can't just stab the thing the way Parker wanted to, or you would compromise the hull and vent your air out into space.
One of the cooler production details is that they made the sets almost entirely practical in terms of interaction- almost every button, switch and lever could be pushed/pulled/flipped/physically interacted with (and often actually did something, like turn a light on or off, etc). They weren't just dummy molds and set decorations glued into place. Lent things a sense of functionality to both the viewer and the actors in their performance.
Also the set was built so that it was laid out exactly like it would be for real. Corridors were linked and there was only one entry and exit to the set. Gave the actors the feeling they were really in a spacecraft. This film is always in my top three best films ever made. A true masterpiece of cinema and a great story. The special effects still look amazing today.
“Seeing Bilbo Baggins playing a sociopath android is everything.” 😂😂😂😂😂
Fun Fact: During Brett's death scene, they couldn't get Jones to hiss when the alien appeared, so they brought in a German shepherd and had it standing behind a sheet of cardboard. When they pulled it away, revealing the dog, Jones hissed.
"God damn it, Ash, what the fuck?! So far he hasn't done a single helpful thing!" I had to actually pause the reaction so I could finish laughing at that comment.
They deleted the scene in which Jones tells the Alien, Dude your f*cked, you better get on the shuttle .... 😂😂😂
You're the FIRST PERSON I've watched who watched this who took note of Jones hissing and such and realized what it might mean!!!! Good on you!!!
A seen-it-all viewer is boarding the "Nostromo." This movie makes you "jumpy," even though you're a Horror fan? You are in for a ride, Mr. I-know-the-Seventies SF.;) The Company is sending the equivalent of a freighter crew to "do science" on an unexplored planet! 8:30 The Space Jockey, a mystery for decades. 10:56 Second Officer Kane = Zapp Brannigan. 11:56 Just raised eyebrows? For other first-timers, this is a genuine jump scare 12:20 This conversation has become iconic, due to recent events. 13:12 The Face Hugger, grossing out audiences for years. 14:19 This answers the "why don't you just cut off him?" question. 17:19 A Props dept. work of ART, made of sea animals. 18:40 Kane's last meal. 19:50 The Xenomorph, scaring audiences for over 40 years. 22:52 Say hello to Bolaji Badejo. 25:53 You're in command, Third Officer Ripley. 28:11 In 1979, this was my "WTF? Ash ISN'T Human!?" moment. 29:58 Most didn't see this coming. 33:45 I've read that Lambert is standing in for us, the audience. 36:00 Escape route cut off, stop Destruct to gain time for Plan B. 39:22 Sigourney Weaver was OK with "going natural," but that would have raised the rating to X. 40:48 Tonight's entree on the shuttle "Narcissus" is Steamed Xenomorph in Shell. 41:47 Correction, Char-Broiled Xenomorph. This and the next movie made newcomer Sigourney Weaver a major movie star. Along with Linda Hamilton, they became Action movie Badasses. "Jennifer Lawrence?" Who is that? Uh-oh, you haven't officially reacted to "The Terminator" (1984)?
H. R. Giger. That's all that needs to be said. He pioneered the "bio-mechanical" style.
A perfect combination of artists - Giger, Ridley Scott, Weaver.
This movie has a Star Wars connection.
The song that Ripley sings "You are my lucky Star" is from the movie Singing in the Rain and was performed by Gene Kelly and Carrie Fisher's mom Debbie Reynolds.
Out of all the connections to Star Wars you pick that one.
The acid burning through the floor effect was done with styrofoam. If you take a styrofoam cup and poor acetone in it, the cup will bubble and dissolve.
FINALLY an intelligent reactor! I've seen this movie countless times and still learned something new! Great commentary!
He didn't resist. The "Flyover Top shot" is there, right at the beginning. :)
The company was not aware of the alien's existence beforehand. There was simply a standing order in the event that an alien life form might be encountered.
The cast wasn’t given a script. When the alien came out, they had no idea. True reactions
Not true at all. They were fully aware of what was in the script and had seen the chestburster puppet. What they didn't know was *how* the effects were going to be done, and how much animal blood and guts would be used in the scene. What freaked them out was the smell and having the blood fountains aimed right at them and getting hosed with it.
@@reidmason2551 Yeah, there's an uncut version of that scene where you can clearly see Veronica Cartwright stumbling backwards and falling on her ass (just after her reaction "Oh God" you see in the final cut) because she got hit right in the face by one of the blood jets
The Ash as a robot I don't think was in the original script idea, but the producers wisely thought the film needed another level of complexity and added it in.
"Aliens" is even better. Can't wait for THAT reaction!
Imagine seeing this in a theater in 1979!!!! Holy fuck it was 100 times scarier cause people weren't used to this kind of stuff!
i love how the subtitles have Parker's last words to Lambert as "Get ready to roll!"
I can’t overstate how stumped i am with the fact that you haven’t seen Alien, one of the most iconic and revolutionary sci-fi horror films ever made.
Alien is a masterclass of tense scifi horror. Aliens is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of how to make a sequel. The way it builds off of the original, but switches genres a little into more of an action/horror film - just superb.
Although everyone skips over how they have the same beats in the opening and final parts. Both open with slow quiet panning about a spaceship to reveal the actors and set the scene and both end with a huge explosion ( the Nostromo and the Refinery), a fake ending broken by the alien popping back up which leads to the final fight and both aliens being blown out a door into space. Two different takes on the same set up 😃😃
Bear in mind this was Ridley Scott's second movie he directed Alien (1979) followed by another iconic masterpiece movie ''Blade runner''1980, however before all that, he directed ''The duelist'' (1977) a most underrated film, never quite made it successfully and financially on the audience, that does not in anyway slights the film, his previous work was in advertising TV . commercials so this was his first ever hollywood movie, a period drama, set in the napoleonic times, the film is about two warring french cavalry officers, with the antagonist who won't let up after a slur against his honor was made, keeps challenging the other officer to duels forbidden by Napoleon, based on a true story starred Keith carradine and Harvey keitel(antagonist) both actors when initially approach for the role, were very reluctant to play a 19th century french cavalry officers, because being american might not pull it off and look ridiculous, however both actors pulled it off, one of the most interesting aspects of the movie , is how much he went to town on getting it right, the setting, the uniforms etc.
Ridley scott being Ridley scott , went for authenticity big style , ridley spent thousands of dollars on commissioning the correct uniforms of the time period, the correct cavalry reigment both french officers served in , a company in italy produced the uniforms correct in every detail including the sabers they were real weapons of the time, not ''copies'' or stage props , a deal was struck , ridley scott later did a reaction to this movie years later, and he explained the deal with italian company that made the uniforms, but to cut though that scott handed over the uniforms back to the company that produced them i would strongly recommend this movie also , talking of ridley scott films, he has just released details of his latest film, and ironically this is set in the 19th century, the story of Napoleon himself .
12:05 fun fact, animals that hatch from eggs do have umbilical cords ;)
Correction: We’ve known that AI can’t be trusted since 1968. Go and watch “2001: A Space Odyssey”. It was a revolutionary film that influenced every movie about outer space that followed it.
Just want to say... It's interesting that you noted how Scott "resisted the urge" to mimic the A NEW HOPE opening with the Star Destroyer when in fact the whole inspiration he had to get into big budget theatrical film making and indeed doing some project like ALIEN (A space based sci fi film) was him being in a theater and watching Star Wars for the first time and being blown away by the opening Star Destroyer fly by shot.
He's talked about this in a few interviews which I am sure you can find.
The sound design won an Oscar
The entire cast is gold. Veronica Cartwright is in another ‘70’s horror movie: “The Invasion of The Body Snatchers,” with Leonard Nimoy, Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum.
Funny, everyone nowadays think of Ian Holme as Bilbo, but for us GenX types, he’s always been Ash. Check out the movie trailer for “Alien.” It gives away nothing. When we saw this in the theater in 1979, we had no idea what was coming. Nobody knew who HR Giger was and, of course, the Xenomorph was not embedded in pop culture. This movie scarred and delighted an entire generation.
Alien and The Thing are the Best Sci-Fi Horror Movies ever made.....Great Reaction.
It's not that the company KNEW about this alien BEFORE HAND. It's just that they standard putt a (robotic) science officer in ALL of their mining and other ships just in case there was ANY alien found anywhere by anyone of them. That's why they made rules the crew HAD to investigate the (possible alien) signal.
I've heard that according to Ridley (long before he made Prometheus), the company had deep space probes pick up the alien signal and decoded it, and so they decided to intervene the flight plan of the next space truck that passed close to it (it says Nostromo rerouted) and put Ash in it at the last second.
The contract clause is a different thing.
I don't think that interpretation is supported given the film takes a moment to highlight that Dallas had a previous science officer he knew well who was last minute replaced by Ashe. I think the implication there was that the company was aware of the possibility that LV-426 had something on it of alien origin. Given the time it takes to travel space in this universe I also think this implies Weyland-Yutani planned this for sometime. They knew the Nostromo's return route would come close enough to pick up the signal and that SAP to investigate would then be in play, with Ashe there to ensure the retrieval of anything of importance.
This was my parents' favorite date movie. My dad is a big scifi geek and my mom likes horror. Alien has such a good mix of both.
4:57 That's what I love about 80s/90s Star Trek, the heavy use of physical models and matte paintings just has a certain quality to it.
"Spaceship water" - that room he's in there is holding one of the ship's landing legs. As for the water dripping down: It's moisture from the air condensing on the cold metal. I got that from the novel. Back in the olden days when there was no video yet (or at least not everybody had one) after a movie was out of the cinema you sometimes had to wait for years and years for a chance to see it again. So novels about movies were much more popular than they are today.
What else could you do?
Well, some movies were released, extremely cut down, on super 8. I once saw an official 20 minutes version of Star Wars that way. :D Some movies would come out as record with the abridged audio track of the film plus a narrator - kinda like a radio play version. I had the German record of Disney's Jungle Book, for example.
And then finally home video arrived. It was so great! All those prawn movies alone! And I had a friend who had a collection of all the most horrible horror movies back then and lent them to me - even the ones on the "you're a criminal if you expose kids to this" - list. :D All the video nasties, Italian horror shlock, massacres committed with power tools and all that. :D
One of the most scariest thing in this movie, is the fact that the Alien is never showed entirely. That is one psychological trick to us, because the human race is scared to the unknown, and the fact we never saw the entire form of the alien in a single shot, adds more psy-horror to every situation. And, of course, this was premeditated.
Alien was written by Dan O'Bannon who would in 1985 direct one of the greatest zombie movies of all time The Return of the Living Dead, which you should definitely react to.
Congratulations on watching the gold standard for horror/sci-fi. I remember watching this in Jr. High in the early 80's. Talk about mind blowing and life changing.
Your next task is to watch the gold standard for action/sci-fi: Aliens.
Great reaction.
40:20 "What about Jones? His cat carrier is not hermetically sealed."
Luckily, he's in the sleep pod which is hermetically sealed.
It's amazing how Alien and Aliens after all these decades are still such big influences on other SF to this day. E.g. if you look at the "Zillo Beast" episode of The Bad Batch that you reacted to earlier this year, it drew _heavily_ from Alien.
Thoroughly enjoyed your review! I saw 'Alien' opening weekend in NYC 1979. Folks actually applauded the 'chestbursting' scene! It was wild!!😁
Note that the Alien didn't burn up when blasted with the shuttle's thrusters, it was blasted back but not burned up. Just something to remember should you even watch Alien 3.
Does anyone remember the tag line when the movie came out?
"In space, no one can hear you scream." Perfect IMO.
interesting trivia, riply fails to deactivate the self destruct quiet possibly because she reads the french instructions with are missing steps.
41:00 "Whatever she's doing is not working."
Yes it is.
Modern aircraft and spacecraft like space shuttles, rockets, and the ISS, keep cabin air pressure at about 11-12 PSI.
That's less than sea-level on earth.
More like Denver-level.
I assume sci-fi spacecraft would do the same thing.
it's much, much safer, cheaper, and more efficient.
Just opening the hatch might not blow it into space. Not enough to make much wind.
So first she vented a whole bunch more air into the cabin to raise the air pressure as high as she could.
More air, more wind, more force to blast the alien out the door.
Never watched Alien- "gasp"
Reason for never watching Alien- "oh yeah, thats 100% solid, totally understand" 😂😂😂
One of my top 5 favorite movies. No other movie handles sustained suspense so well.
And the technical filmmaking is superb.
I've lost count of how many times I've seen this movie. One of my top three favorite films of all time. When I was in college in the mid-90s, I made my dad watch Alien with me. He didn't say a word or make a sound the entire time, but once the credits started rolling, he looked at me and just said, "GodDAMN!"
It's one of the few perfect movies that will forever stand the test of time. It still looks and feels better than most sci-fi movies of modern days. You'll probably like the sequel as well. I'd recommend the director's cut. It adds some important context to understand Ripley's motivation better towards the finale of the movie.
As a 27 year old I noticed this too
on the cat games, my cat knows the one place in the apartment building he can reach that I can't and when he wants to stay out he hides there :>
I can’t believe this is your first time seeing Alien!
Really hope you had a good time mate :)
I really enjoy your reactions. I’m also jealous that you have never seen so many classics! The Thing, Silence of The Lambs, Alien!
You’re so lucky to get to see these movies for the first time …
Tech aboard Nostromo looks dated, but truth is that's the hardware you want in space hardware.
Buttons, switches, dials and big bulky screens that withstand abuse. Not a iPad that breaks or cracks
The alien wasn't hunting them, they were hunting it.
In the original script it was an all male crew. None of the parts were rewritten to accommodate the female actors. None of them have first names. Ashe, Ripley, Lambert, Parker....heck, even the cat is Jones. Saw it in the theater - the only jump scare that got me was the alien coming out of the black vent - glad it wasn't in 3D but was still glad I wore the brown pants.
Guess what happens in Aliens. The actor for my favorite character in that film isn't listed in the opening credits
I couldn’t help commenting when you asked how they did the effect of the floor boards disappearing; pour nail polish remover on styrofoam and it just disappears.
Never seen Alien? Blasphemous! On the other hand.. now you have an incredible universe to explore and I'm here for it.
my stepfather took me to the movie theater to see this when I was only 5 yrs old. I'll never forget this movie
The water Brett waiks through is presumably, condescension forming on the factory coolant system. Since it's distilled it's pretty safe. Though that leads me to another question. Maybe because I'm desended from a long line of mechanical engineers. If the giant platform the refinery is built on is not designed to make planet fall, why isn't its cooling system tied to the absolute zero of space?Hmmm.
I saw Alien at the drive in when it came out. I soooo identified with Ripley singing to herself to keep her brain from freezing up the way Lambert's did. Because it's the first it's my favorite movie in the franchise, the second is a different genre that builds on the first, in an unexpected, marvelous way.
It's condensation from the heat of the landing leg, which is the big structure Brett walks under. The whole place is supposed to open down when the ship touches ground.
37:40 "Ash said it can survive in extreme conditions, does that include outer space?"
Probably not for much longer than we can, but maybe.
The real question though is whether a nuclear explosion is too extreme for it.
OK, that's not a question.
Nothing survives that.
Prior to Star Wars Scifi films tended to have SMALL budgets.
Alien cost 11 Million (57 million today) a horrendous budget for films expected to make only 10-20 million in return
Actually Chickens do have a kind of umbilical cord that connects to the yolk that is their source of nutrition. Ron Cobb! Excellent!
If you live near a downtown restored theater, they will often do a classic movie night and a double-feature of 'Alien' and 'Aliens'. The movie plays really well on the big screen in a dark theater so it is worth the immersive experience.
I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a reaction to this film quite as much as yours. Your insight into film combined with your jump skills. Perfection. The sound design from the first moment in this film is wonderful. The ship breathes and there’s always a subtle heartbeat.
5:51 The wireframe renderings used for the ship display on approach are the first use of CG in film, iirc
Westworld's robot POV shots apparently are slightly older, but TRON was the real first CGI (purposefully printed on 35mm in high resolution) movie.
people post the dumbest shit 🤦♀
Ah, Alien. An entire franchise dedicated to the concept that human beings, when you get right down to the soul and centre of them, are *phenomenally* stupid.
It's not about that. The Company are human beings and they're greedy, remorseless, and inquisitive. They're not stupid. The prisoners in Alien3 weren't stupid (at least some weren't). They were unlucky to be near the alien. If anyone's stupid, it's Ripley herself for choosing to get close to the alien again in Aliens. I appreciate that characters in Prometheus were stupid though. But it's a series more about not putting your trust in those who have power over you, and the psychopathic yet organised viciousness of nature red in tooth and claw that can render you powerless.
unpopular opinion: I like Alien more than Aliens
that being said I truly enjoy almost every movie in the franchise, even the one with Winona Rider lmao
Not unpopular. Alien, the OG, is a much better film than Aliens simply because all the style and lore was created here. For Aliens, Cameron had a blueprint and much bigger budget that he threw at CGI and explosions. Aliens is a fine film and excellent sequel, but my admiration is for the original film that changed the landscape of sci-fi horror.
Didn't realize you had this channel, too! This is awesome. I actually just streamed "Alien: Isolation" last night. If you watch the sequel, "Aliens", also, I highly recommend playing that game after seeing both films. Incredible survival horror game.
(Next you should watch "Aliens" which is definitely the only film sequel ever made to this movie!)
I don't know if you'll clock this comment, but I HIGHLY recommend the Director's Cut of the sequel "Aliens"
No spoilers; the extra scenes give some excellent context for the story and one of them happens to be my favorite suspenseful scene in SciFi. I will die mad that they left it on the cutting room floor for the theatrical release.
As someone once described the movie, "haunted house in space." Love it.
This film is not only one of the best sci-fi films ever made, but one of the best horror films ever made. 2001 meets Star Wars meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre! It just gets better every time I watch it!
Please watch aliens also, make sure to watch the directors cut if you can, it adds some great details to the movie :)
I find it funny how many reactors know the tropes without having seen the movies that spawned or popularized them. Not saying this to call anyone out, I'm saying it because the ideas have obviously spread so far that people are starting to forget where they came from.
I think you might enjoy this entire franchise; all sequels, the newer prequels (Prometheus, Coventant) maybe even AVP.
BTW, the scene in the mess hall where the alien erupts from Kane's chest was done blind. The rest of the cast were not informed about the chestburster prior to filming so their reactions would be genuine.
Very impressed with your observation and deduction skills, sir.
What strikes me about this movie is how clunky and awkward the dialogue and the performances are. It gives a fantastic sense of realism while also feeling just a tad bit unnerving.
Giger is definitely my favorite artist if I had to pick one. Alien and Aliens are absolute masterpieces. I just wish more reactors would keep the film on screen more.