It won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, it made $200 million dollars against an $11 Million dollar budget, it put Ridley Scott and Sigourney Weaver on the map, it's considered to be the scariest motion pictures ever made, it spawned 3 Sequels 2 spinoff films and 2 crossover films.
RIP the cast members of Alien (1979) Helen Horton (November 21, 1923 - September 28, 2007), aged 83 Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 - September 15, 2017), aged 91 Sir Ian Holm (September 12, 1931 - June 19, 2020), aged 88 Yaphet Kotto (November 15, 1939 - March 15, 2021), aged 81 Sir John Hurt (January 22, 1940 - January 25, 2017), aged 77 Bolaji Badejo (August 23, 1953 - December 22, 1992), aged 39 You will always be remembered as legends.
@@bigalthetank The cast member who played Jones is likely dead as well. Cats have an average life expectancy of 12-18 years, although there is a record of one cat living to 38.
famously, none of the cast had seen the effects that would be used for the "chest-burster" sequence so their response when filming would be as genuine as possible.
Sort of. No one had attempted an effect like it before, so no one knew how it was going to look. The producers and writers were especially nervous, because the chestburster scene was literally the only reason the movie got made. But the cast did know that the alien was going to pop out of Kane's chest. They filmed to the point where they got John Hurt on the table, then everyone but Hurt was told to break for lunch (John Hurt needed to be glued into the rig). Tom Skerrit stayed to watch the effects guys work, so he had a better grasp of how it was going to be done, but still didn't know all the details. The rest of the cast came back from lunch, saw John Hurt crouched under the table in his underwear and the fake torso on the table, the puppeteers crouched under the table with him, the crew all wearing raincoats and all the equipment covered in plastic, and buckets of blood (not fake, sourced from local butcher shops) strewn around, so it was pretty clear what was going to happen. Veronica Cartwright was told "You'll get a little blood on you," but had the misfortune to stand in the path of one of the blood jets, getting a bunch sprayed right in her face. So yeah, her cry of "Oh God!" was genuine shock and surprise. And she was surprised enough to stumble backwards, hit the couch with her legs, and topple over. There's an outtake on a making of documentary showing her fall back, her cowboy boots in the air. But she got up and carried on with the scene.
13:40 my favourite thing about that scene is that there is a shot looking up at the chains where you see the entire alien in frame, but he's so well hidden in plain sight that you dont realise it
The first minutes of this movie is such a masterpiece of getting the viewer into the correct feeling of suspense that is central to the rest of the movie.
@Big Chap It just wouldn't because modern Hollywood is ADHD flavored, they can't make a film without having something explode or jump out every few seconds - and good set up is right out.
"That big of a blast?" You have to remember that it's not just the Nostromo that's blowing up. The refinery that the Nostromo was towing, containing all of the mineral ore being processed into fuel, also blew up as well, along with the Nostromo's nuclear reactor.
@@SamuelBlack84 You actually may. Sound is a vibration of a matter. If the explosion threw a serious shockwave towards you, its safe to assume it contained some material.
@@pavelslama5543 Perhaps you would hear wreckage hitting your ship, but you wouldn't hear an explosion in space as it needs air to carry the sound and space is a vacuum
I wonder if.....??.....the shockwave in the aftermath of that blast would travel for miles and either disrupt or even poison any nearby planet's atmosphere(s).
'Is it going to do the Hello My Baby skit?' That was one of the funniest reaction lines I've heard. Straight from someone who has seen Spaceballs before Alien.
“And now he has a flamethrower. The monster has a flamethrower.” LMAOOO “Nevermind. He didn’t take the precious commodity.” That definitely a situation I had never considered, thank you for inventing a new fear for me!
"Not the pasta sauce! He's rolling in the pasta sauce!" That's definitely a unique reaction to the burster scene! Oddly, I'm don't handle horror well, but somehow I haven't ever found this movie very scary. Cool designs though.
"Sigourney Weaver looks like a baby!" Weaver said more recently that she watched this again and thought she looked unformed, that her face looked like a huge scone with three small raisins in the middle of it. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
This movie was my first sci-fi horror film. I didn't even know such a genre existed. I naively went to see it in the theater when it was first released with the expectation that I would be watching an enjoyable sci-fi adventure. I was so wrong! As I was leaving the theater, I remember thinking, "That wasn't a sci-fi movie. That was a horror show!" It really freaked me out.
You're the first person I've seen who says "the alien now has a flamethrower" after it gets Dallas. Reminds me of the original ending where the alien was supposed to bite Ripley's head off, then make a final log entry in her voice.
"Reminds me of the original ending where the alien was supposed to bite Ripley's head off, then make a final log entry in her voice." Got anything to back that up? Never heard/read anything about that
Also; I remember watching an interview with Gieger, the artist who came up with the initial concept art for alot of the alien planet, had described the idea for what would become the Xenomorph from a very specific night terror he had. He would keep a sketchbook by his bed to draw his nightmares. And the Prototype of the Xenomorph was one of these terrors
Interestingly, the initial concept for the Terminator was also drawn from a nightmare, a fever dream James Cameron had while ill that featured a metallic humanoid skeletal robot rising up out of an inferno, which informed the famous scene at the end of the first Terminator movie after the T800 crashes the fuel tanker and is caught in the blast. Two of the most influential sci fi movies of that time, released within five years of one another, and both are literal nightmares committed to celluloid.
I love this movie, especially the beginning. Seeing that alien ship, the jockey, it's all done so well to convey "Well, _that's_ new." Straight Lovecraft vibes.
@@lesleyrussell8200 The situation bears striking parallels, I agree. I meant more the aesthetic and ambiance. The baseline shift from "Why is this ship empty?" to "Why is this ship?" They didn't just stumble on something mildly incongruous, some small novelty, they hit a gen-u-ine patch of "Well, I'm an ant on a keyboard" existential frameshift.
@@brucemaximus3797 for example in predator 87 its the same, hes the wolfman shapeshift of dracula in the demeter,the predator jumps of a space ship at the begining and then the crew are the soldiers,..the predator can turn into invisible like dracula
Hey, I saw thins in the theater in 79. I was 13. My best friend's mom took me and his sister. I had been sheltered a bit from Horror by my parents (Only child) and this was my first experience. And what an experience it was. People screamed, vomited, ran. His sister ended up in my lap. Never had a girl that close to me before. She cried my shirt collar damp. I lost my composure enough to actually yell *Get out of the way!* at the screen during Parker and Lambert's death scene. My parents were not best pleased about the nightmares I had.
During the sequence where Ripley is rushing back to disarm the self-destruct, she rounds a corner in the dark with a light directly ahead and the silhouette of a person is seen. It was a film crewperson who was standing in the wrong place unaware they were visible to the camera. When during editing it was noticed, the question of removing the shot came up because reshooting weeks after production had ended was impossible. Ridley Scott looked at it, thought about it a bit and said, "Just leave it in". What a legend.
Saw this on opening night .... knew nothing about it .... thought it would be a fun movie to watch on LSD .... got the last seat in the theater , on THE VERY FRONT ROW .... and then , after recovering my blood-pressure , we had to walk home thru the dark neighborhood where street-lights kept shutting off just as we reached them .... this memory STILL freaks me right out !!!!
DAYS OF HEAVEN, THE GODFATHER, THE DEER HUNTER, STAR WARS, CRIES AND WHISPERS, THE DEVILS, THE BLACK STALLION, BARRY LYNDON and thousands of others would like to have a word with you. :) As would the rest of cinema history since 1920.
Extreme attention to detail and design, as well as management of funds. There are space-based movies that came much later that look worse simply because they were made faster, cheaper, and with less quality.
The way people underestimate the Xenomorphs is very odd to me. It wasn't injured or weak. It was hitching a ride. Find a spot to squeeze in and wait for more murder opportunities. Killing Ripley when she first came onboard the shuttle would have been like gutting your cab driver.
It was also dying... the alien at the end was discolored and sluggish. Thats what got forgotten in the other movies the human alien is basically an unkillable bio-mechanical killer but really short lived like a worker ant or bee, Lives long enough to find some victims to turn into eggs (yes in deleted scene Dallas and the Old Engineer are found and they are slowly turning into eggs to pop out new face hugger when someone comes along and the cycle continues)... no Queen needed. Also the original Alien in the right light you can see a human skill inside the head, although it early versions it was ALOT easier to see... when they got rid of that in Aliens i was annoyed since it was one of the most unnerving parts about it..
@@NZBigfoot That is the behavior when there is no queen. To continue the cycle the worker could convert victims into a new egg for a queen producing face hugger.
Vicky, The chest bursting reaction of the cast was real as they were kept in secret of what or how it was gonna happen and Veronica Cartwright (Lambert) was really freaked out with being sprayed with so much blood.
There's an outtake of Lambert backing up as the blood begins to spray and she flips backwards over one of those bench seats and you see her boots go sticking up in the air. Quite funny.
You should look up the trailer. It's one of the greatest trailers I've ever seen. it tells you NOTHING, absolutely nothing. You go into it blind. It's splendid. _"In space...no one can hear you scream."_
I love that you play as Ripley’s daughter Amanda in Alien Isolation. It was SUCH a beautiful game and lovingly recreated the universe in game. I wish there was some way to make a sequel in that same style.
I had a theory that when Burke told Ripley her daughter was dead that he was lying in order to give her more incentive to go back to Acheron. I mean, it is the Conpany after all and they obviously wouldn't tell her the truth. That would give room for s sequel
Rest in peace, John Hurt and Sir Ian Holm (Kane and Ash, respectively). Edit: "Is it gonna do the "Hello, my baby" skit?" Somebody's definitely seen Spaceballs.
There's actually a cut scene where they find Dallas' corpse. He's missing his shoes, and on his shirt the alien has written "Now I have a flamethrower... ho ho ho." 😏 One of the great sci-fi films of all time, and my #1 favourite movie when it comes to design. Everything feels so handmade and tangible, and it's a perfect example of how limitations of technology can be turned into something far more effective, absorbing and satisfying than a big ol' CG f*** fest. Roll on your reaction to Aliens, I say! You'll be watching the special edition, right? Right?!
This movie came out when I was in junior high school, my friend was forbidden to go see it by his mum as they knew kids who got nightmares about it, of course we then had to go see it :) I didn't get nightmares LOL
Having played Alien Isolation probably took away so much from the surprise factor... though, I guess, it was a pleasant series of callbacks to retroactively recognize. Now you just need to watch the sequel in the extended director's cut (or whatever it's called) and actually get some fresh impressions :P. EDIT: your logo fell out of your wiggling circle on the outro screen :P!
He was in the cockpit and probably pressed the button while walking across the console. Just like a cat walking across your keyboard under your nose while your at the computer.
Outland uses all the same props and design aesthetic. There are no xenomorphs but there are amoral space corporations with no concern for the wellbeing of their employees. It stars Sean Connery and I recommend it as part of the expanded Aliens film universe.
I'm glad someone else reaffirmed my pointless love for the self-destruct activation sequence. Unrelated side note, the reason the alien acts so subdued by the end of the film is because it's entire life cycle is hyper accelerated. Just like how it went from "birth" to fully grown almost immediately, by the time Ripley is on the escape shuttle it's already near the end of its natural lifespan.
Stunning, true. But this is Ridley Scott who also did Blade Runner whose visuals still impacts cinematography today. Blade Runner became the blueprint for decades for dystopian urban decay.
@@davidt7482 true, I now it's Ridley, he's from South Shields in N E England and about 11 miles down the River Tyne from house, he's one of the most famous Tynesiders ever. His films always have a great use of light in them and just have that 'Scott' look to them, what I really mean about how much it has aged well in the quality of the set design and cinematography, compare it to the later films in the franchise (and the numerous copies of the film and its sets in other films) and the quality of the image on screen (even more so on the 4K remaster) still look amazing even in todays High Def world. Aliens (1986) for example looks grainy and murky in Blu-Ray in comparison (something to do with Cameron's choice of film stock at the time).
"She looks like she's been shopping in the child's section." Is for me, one of the most funniest things I've heard on TH-cam for many a year. A dig thanks for making me laugh, I needed it.👏👍. All the very best, Trev from East London UK.
I saw this 2nd day out when I was 14. The line at the theater went around the building. The audience wasn't ready for this. This was in the wake of Star Wars and I think most people were expecting something similar.
Fun fact: one of the writers, who wrote the original draft and then screenplay of Alien, Dan O’Bannon made a crazier sci fi film called Dark Star that he originally made in college. It’s pretty much a B-movie level of sci fi and is sort of more of a comedy. I’d recommend this one as well, because it’s just fun and to me should be sort of part of the Alien universe canon with its connection with the writer. He also plays a character in the film. IIRC he once said in an interview that Alien was an attempt to make a more serious version of Dark Star with better effects, tech and much bigger budget. The game did a great job of recreating the unease of the latter half of the film, I also loved how they included Ripley’s last msg before going into cryo sleep, the way she punctuates saying Ash, because of him being… well how or what he is, just sends chills up my spine with that subtle change in Weaver’s voice as she says his name is just fantastic.
O'Banon did the VFX for Dark Star, directed by John Carpenter. That job got him hired on Jodorowsky's Dune where he met Moebius. They made the comic "The Long Tomorrow" which was source material for the "Harry Canyon" segment of the Heavy Metal movie, and provided much of the visual inspiration for Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner." Moebius did most of the designs for Alien that Giger didn't do, which included most of the Nostromo and the human's tech. Syd Mead was the lead designer on Blade Runner. Mead and Moebius worked together on Tron.
I saw Dark Star by pure chance during the early 1990's on cable, and thought it was the best low-budget I had ever seen. I even have it on DVD which I found years later in the $1 bin at Blockbuster. I felt like I had found treasure that no one else knew about.
@@williammartin8151 yeah, I for the longest time I felt that way too when I told people about it, no one had any clue what I was talking about. I first watched it on some badly used VHS that came to me somehow I don’t quite recall, the video distortions on it only added to its charm and the type of film it was… I later found a “cleaner” DVD copy that I shared with everyone I could.
Not an alien per de, but the boy from “It’s a GOOD Life.” The powers of a god, but the ego, sense of humor, and lack of self-control of an infant. The townspeople don’t even know if he has abducted the town from the universe, or eliminated the entire universe outside the town. That’s just the beginning.
I know he didn't make the original suit, but Stan Winston's creations are better looking and more terrifying than almost anything made today. Just look at his original Predator suits compared to the newer ones. It's crazy how much more detailed and realistic they looked. Another terrifying creature he created that not many people know about is the "Kothoga" from The Relic.
19:14 The cat's the genius leader of the crew who has all kinds of inside knowledge about the xenomorph!!!!!! He's the most important one to get to safety!!!!!!!
this series spawned a whole lore about Xenomorph castes and biology. it has had so many crossovers as a result. the primary issue is their ability to tank so many things, ranging from freezing cold to blistering heat, and really their strength is comparable to superhumans. the queens and queen mothers, kings, etc. are even stronger, and the assimilation of host DNA into the individuals is why they can be the stuff of nightmares for anyone
Here are some films some of the main actors have been involved in that I recommend: Sigourney Weaver - Copycat (1995) Tom Skerritt - Contact (1997) John Hurt - The Skeleton Key (2005) Veronica Cartwright - Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) Ian Holm - eXistenZ (1999) Harry Dean Stanton - Christine (1983)
I saw The Skeleton Key the other day, a very good movie. Not much of a speaking role for Hurt though, but he generally acts brilliantly as a man in distress. Another movie I recommend is "Lucky" with Harry Dean Stanton. It was his last ever movie before he died.
FYI: That other female is Veronica Cartwright, whose sister was in the "Lost in Space" TV series and Veronica was in "The Birds" and "The Sound of Music" In an interview, she commented that her character was the only smart one, "She just wanted to get the Hell out of there."
The screenwriter for this, Dan O'Bannon had an earlier film that he made with another Hollywood Horror legend, John Carpenter. Called Dark Star, it was originally a student film from when they were both attending the University of Southern California. It's very much a rough draft for many concepts he later fleshed out in the script for Alien, such as the whole "Space Trucker" aesthetic and there being a problematic alien that the ships crew has to chase through service areas of the ship (slthough the difference between the alien in Dark Star and the xenomorph is like night and day). Unrelated to that, I also strongly recommend the book: Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo. It retells the story from Jones' perspective.
Lambert was frozen with fear, that's why she didn't move or try to run when the alien approached her and Parker. And Parker couldn't use the flamethrower because Lambert was there.
I remember when Wonder Woman came out and all the critics were all "finally a strong female lead".....Uh...We had a strong female lead character for 40 years...Her name is Ellen Ripley.
The directors cut of this movie introduced the idea of "egg morphing". In a cut scene when Ripley is going through the ship she finds Dallas still alive, but being slowly dissolved and turned into a face hugger egg. She looks around and sees what's left of Brett, almost fully formed into a new egg. I always thought that was a neater idea that the whole queen hive thing.
Fun fact: No one knew what was going to happen to John Hurt aside from John Hurt. The other actors just were told something was going to happen and to just react. When you see the blood burst, the reaction by the actors was genuine. Of course all was known by the time they got to the actual chest burster... but for that first blood pop - look at their reactions.
No that is an age old myth, they all knew about the chest-burster scene, they just didn't know that there would be a high-pressure burst of blood as well.
Seeing the "Making of" the chest-burster scene in a documentary was amazing. The cast didn't fully know how it was all going to go down and the horror on their faces is quite real.
Basically everything in Alien Isolation originates from this very film! Every corridor, the doors, the computer screens, the music, the sound effects, everything. But Alien isolation, the actual story of the game, is also a direct sequel to this film as well. As you probably recall, you play as Amanda Ripley, which is the daughter of Ellen Ripley of this movie! Fifteen years after this film ended. I am actually surprised you didn't remember this story has androids since the game is filled with it. Mostly with the working-Joe's, a much primitive android that gives you so much problem in the game. But Amanda had a far more advanced android colleague in the game as well & unlike Ash he was a good person. If you've never seen Aliens, the movie sequel, I can't stress or convince you enough to see it! It's literary considered by fans & critics to be one of the best sequels ever made in movie history, & with good reason! If one likes Alien you're gonna love Aliens! If you think Ripley was bad-ass now, just wait! And since you are such a fan of Alien Isolation you MUST, & I do mean MUST watch Aliens in the extended version! Because there is a reference to Amanda Ripley in that film, hence why she is the lead character of the game in the first place. Also, the longer version gives you so much more to the film anyway. Your channel will profit if you watch Aliens for us, trust me. Many will watch it with you.
fun fact, this was only Sigourney Weaver's 3rd movie at this point additionally, her character was originally supposed to be male but they loved her audition so much that they changed the character for her
and in the sequel, as James Cameron was writing it, he had her picture on his desk the entire time. She wasn't a guaranteed hire, but he wrote it for her.
That’s not true btw, the characters were originally written as ‘anon’ and ungendered in the original script. Which btw isn’t unusual in big budget commercial movies as the producers want to keep their options open in terms of hiring the most famous/commercial actors possible. Not sure why it’s mentioned so much in relation to this film. I have been a fan for years and this is quite recent thing that people are now interested in a lot. Possibly because of the interest in ‘strong female characters’, but then I don’t think that’s all that recent actually.
@@Tensen01 She auditioned for Ripley and then months passed and the casting director called her to say, "You got the part!" But the casting director didnt know that she had auditioned for Ripley, all she knew was she had been cast as Lambert. Or maybe just decided not to tell her it wasnt the part she wanted. In any case, Cartwright didnt find out until she showed up for wardrobe fittings. She wasnt happy about it. Lambert was "too weepy" she said.
I saw this in the theater when this first came out. There was no internet back then and no spoilers but I read somewhere that there was a robot in the movie. As I watched the crew I was trying to figure out which one was the robot. When I saw Sigourney Weaver trying to decode the transmission by looking at a screen of 1's and 0's I decided she must be the robot. She logically stuck to the quarentine rules and wouldn't open the air lock.Even the character's name fit, "Ripley" as in Believe it or Not. So I was REALLY surprised when the robot turned out to be Ash.
I actually only first watched this the other week, even though i've consumed plenty of Alien media before that. It still holds up so well. Crazy good atmosphere, unique and scary. The Ash scene alone is just spooky to watch, even if you can't tell he's synthetic, something just seems 'wrong'. It's great.
Their depiction of space life reminds me of life on board a submarine. It's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic because everything is cramped and restrictive. I'm sorry you don't like spiders. They eat all the bugs in your bedroom while you sleep. That's definitely a plus in my book.
The xenomorph is the second best predator on that ship. Jones can take it and knows, he's just sadistic and only likes Ripley. This was his way of getting rid of the rest of the crew
To be fair, the Seegson models don't look like Ash, so I'm not surprised that Vee was surprised. The Weyland-Yutani androids are much more... human-like. For better or worse. ~lol~
@@erinhaury5773 oh I know. But she seemed surprised by the notion of robots in this world *at all* but she went up against them constantly in Alien: Isolation.
@@erinhaury5773 They are but there is a Weyland-Yutani android in the game, Christopher Samuels. Of course one probably have to watch the movie before playing the game to make that connection and remember that tiny detail.
You will now notice the "ship and crew" introduction throughout much of scifi, which was inspired by this take. It took me a while, but i realized that a lot of gritty, scifi movies that open a story with a ship and her crew tend to have sprinkles of this. My favorite thing about the sci-fi genre is the subtle homage to previous works, especially Alien. Space Oddessy is another common reference.
They killed off the "cast" in order of name recognition. Weaver, a basically unknown actor... was the last standing... and a woman at that... everyone in theatres basically expected no survivors at that point. Also the blast... was basically a nuclear reactor meltdown, go boom. They used music/sound, and silence incredibly well. They also barely showed the alien leaving it more to the imagination of the audience because the director didn't want it to "just be a man in a costume." The marketing "catch phrase" was "In space no one can hear you scream" and... well yeah.
For me, the scariest part of Alien was the suspense of not seeing the whole creature until the very end, and even then, we didn't get a real clear view of it.
Funny story from my media teacher: One time she went to see Alien in theatres, someone in the audience was shouting in a somewhat high pitched voice "Leave the damn cat!". Got a good laugh out of the class
Thumbs up! I first saw Alien on HBO when I was only about 7 yrs. old so you can imagine the trauma it left on me at the time! I really enjoy your lively reaction to the scariest movie I've ever seen.
This movie will always hold a special place in my heart, my late uncle gave it to me when I turned 13 so we stayed up to watch it that night and I didn’t sleep for a week afterwards
This is one of Ridley Scott's very first films, and the atmosphere and tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. I love Ripley as the hero, especially because she's not wonder woman. She's the voice of reason, she's terrified, yet she finds a way to do what has to be done.
@@razorfett147 I love the movie but that’s a vast exaggeration. Ripley is really a plot device character, there really isn’t that much to her. I think the current interest in ‘strong female characters’ explains a lot of the hyperbole about the Ripley character.
@@HkFinn83 Ripley was a great character long before the current gender manicism trend. And i speak of her as a full character arc across all 3 films. Not just this one
Your smile during the commentary after the tense face even in the end of the movie is priceless 😂 Well that's really the power of the movie and the concept too, I believe. Even with outdated special effects as they are today in 2022.
You're exaggerating. It was in the script, and of course they knew that something like this was up when they saw the setup with John Hurt's head sticking up from a hole in the table and the fake body on top. Still, the splatter of blood and the reality of the creature must have been a shock.
This is a rumor that pops up on every Alien reaction, and it's not correct. The surprise was that none of them expected to be showered with blood and animal entrails, but they knew what scene they were filming.
Aliens isn’t even close to being better. acting and characters in that movie are atrocious, aside from Ripley, Hicks, and maybe Bisbop. it’s a cool story, but has caricatures of soldiers and what not, Alien had at least memorable performances and relatable people, not body bags with zero personality. Not on the same scale as Alien, but a fine movie, it’s a good follow up but definitely not better than the original.
@@kleverstudios the point of aliens is not to be all dramatic with characters, the point is straight forward the plot is to wipe what's left out its a great sequel 3 tried to be like the first and failed I completely disagree with your view of aliens and to disagree even more it's just as good if not better you spend a majority of time with the marines that didn't die earlier it's my favorite of these films.
Alien is just the perfect movie and the start of my favorite franchise. I hope you will do the entire series! The second is another classic, but the rest of them, while not perfect, are each very unique in their own way and still highly enjoyable.
Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection had the misfortune of following two of the most perfect movies ever made. It's impossible to live up to those expectations. Alien Resurrection actually pulled it off and is my second favorite in the franchise after Aliens, though.
@@jeremyfrost2636 Yes exactly. For me Alien 3 is my second favorite after Alien. But I enjoy all of them (except AvP-R). I appreciate that they all try to do something different without copying what came before.
What I like about this movie is uh EVERYTHING. It's easily my favorite horror movie of all time and has clearly stood the test of time based on how freaked out it still makes people. Aliens is also S-tier but is more of an action movie and not pure horror. (Still scared the fuck out of me when I saw it in theaters tho) Just make sure you watch the DIRECTORS CUT of Aliens when you watch it. It has tie-ins to Alien Isolation that are not in the theatrical release.
It won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, it made $200 million dollars against an $11 Million dollar budget, it put Ridley Scott and Sigourney Weaver on the map, it's considered to be the scariest motion pictures ever made, it spawned 3 Sequels 2 spinoff films and 2 crossover films.
It also spawned countless cheap B-movie ripoffs lol.
Dont forget the video games lol
200 million back then is equivelant to 1 billion today.
2 sequels, and only if we’re exclusively talking about the Assembly Cut. Resurrection doesn’t exist.
It spawned one great sequel and a mountain of crap.
If you think Signorney looks young, look at Ash. That's Bilbo Baggins from Lord of the Rings
He really went There and back again.
And the actor who played Kane gave Harry Potter his wand......
@@nateman10 Yep, he was only 3 feet tall in LOTR
And Brett gave Bruce Banner some clothes.
And Parker helped take down Freddy Krueger.
RIP the cast members of Alien (1979)
Helen Horton (November 21, 1923 - September 28, 2007), aged 83
Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 - September 15, 2017), aged 91
Sir Ian Holm (September 12, 1931 - June 19, 2020), aged 88
Yaphet Kotto (November 15, 1939 - March 15, 2021), aged 81
Sir John Hurt (January 22, 1940 - January 25, 2017), aged 77
Bolaji Badejo (August 23, 1953 - December 22, 1992), aged 39
You will always be remembered as legends.
Sigourney Weaver really is going to be the last survivor
Ripley really IS the last survivor.
You forgot Jones 🐱
@@bigalthetank The cast member who played Jones is likely dead as well. Cats have an average life expectancy of 12-18 years, although there is a record of one cat living to 38.
@@Blazingstoke Well, of course she will. She's Ripley!
famously, none of the cast had seen the effects that would be used for the "chest-burster" sequence so their response when filming would be as genuine as possible.
Veronica Cartwright (Lambert) got a face full of the blood and slipped in it… she was exceptionally pissed off 😆
@@CoffeeMatt10 Yeah, her exclamation of "Oh, god!" wasn't really acting.
The cast walked on set and saw John Hurt concealed under a prosthetic chest. “Ignore the puppeteer,” he said.
Sort of. No one had attempted an effect like it before, so no one knew how it was going to look. The producers and writers were especially nervous, because the chestburster scene was literally the only reason the movie got made. But the cast did know that the alien was going to pop out of Kane's chest. They filmed to the point where they got John Hurt on the table, then everyone but Hurt was told to break for lunch (John Hurt needed to be glued into the rig). Tom Skerrit stayed to watch the effects guys work, so he had a better grasp of how it was going to be done, but still didn't know all the details. The rest of the cast came back from lunch, saw John Hurt crouched under the table in his underwear and the fake torso on the table, the puppeteers crouched under the table with him, the crew all wearing raincoats and all the equipment covered in plastic, and buckets of blood (not fake, sourced from local butcher shops) strewn around, so it was pretty clear what was going to happen. Veronica Cartwright was told "You'll get a little blood on you," but had the misfortune to stand in the path of one of the blood jets, getting a bunch sprayed right in her face. So yeah, her cry of "Oh God!" was genuine shock and surprise. And she was surprised enough to stumble backwards, hit the couch with her legs, and topple over. There's an outtake on a making of documentary showing her fall back, her cowboy boots in the air. But she got up and carried on with the scene.
13:40 my favourite thing about that scene is that there is a shot looking up at the chains where you see the entire alien in frame, but he's so well hidden in plain sight that you dont realise it
I never see it.
That shot is only in the Directors cut, which she didnt watch.
The first minutes of this movie is such a masterpiece of getting the viewer into the correct feeling of suspense that is central to the rest of the movie.
@Big Chap It just wouldn't because modern Hollywood is ADHD flavored, they can't make a film without having something explode or jump out every few seconds - and good set up is right out.
"That big of a blast?" You have to remember that it's not just the Nostromo that's blowing up. The refinery that the Nostromo was towing, containing all of the mineral ore being processed into fuel, also blew up as well, along with the Nostromo's nuclear reactor.
You wouldn't hear an explosion
@@SamuelBlack84 That's true. “I space, no one can hear you scream." 😂 lol But the Nostromo sure made quite a racket.
@@SamuelBlack84 You actually may. Sound is a vibration of a matter. If the explosion threw a serious shockwave towards you, its safe to assume it contained some material.
@@pavelslama5543 Perhaps you would hear wreckage hitting your ship, but you wouldn't hear an explosion in space as it needs air to carry the sound and space is a vacuum
I wonder if.....??.....the shockwave in the aftermath of that blast would travel for miles and either disrupt or even poison any nearby planet's atmosphere(s).
'Is it going to do the Hello My Baby skit?' That was one of the funniest reaction lines I've heard. Straight from someone who has seen Spaceballs before Alien.
Don't forget John Hurt was in that scene as well.
“And now he has a flamethrower. The monster has a flamethrower.”
LMAOOO
“Nevermind. He didn’t take the precious commodity.”
That definitely a situation I had never considered, thank you for inventing a new fear for me!
Bruh...
Yeah she had me rolling when she said that 😅
Maybe it saved it for later when it's not in the mood for "RAW" meat. I'll bet there is a few missing jars from the galley of BBQ sauce.
Imagine Ripley opens a door and there’s Dallas’s body in a chair and written on his shirt is “Now I have a flamethrower. Ho ho ho!”
You know you're in trouble when you're up against an opponent who looks at a flamethrower and decides "Nah, I can totally win without that."
I was 15 when this premiered. Scared the living crap outta me. I stole the movie poster out of the marquee and it resides on my wall to this day.
That poster will be incredibly expensive now, a real collectors piece.
Fella, you have a 'holy grail' in your possession.
You're my hero!
10 here. Nightmare for years.
We have him!! - FBI
"Not the pasta sauce! He's rolling in the pasta sauce!" That's definitely a unique reaction to the burster scene!
Oddly, I'm don't handle horror well, but somehow I haven't ever found this movie very scary. Cool designs though.
There's was pasta sauce on the table? 🤔 I was too busy watching an alien popping out of a dude's chest at the time 😁
Italians are watching the Alien? :D
"Is it gonna do the 'hello my baby' skit?" 🤣🤣
Should've been in the bleedin' film..!!!!
"Sigourney Weaver looks like a baby!" Weaver said more recently that she watched this again and thought she looked unformed, that her face looked like a huge scone with three small raisins in the middle of it.
Looking forward to the rest of the series.
Her ass was unformed, too. It was MIA.
That’s … that’s a unique description… we truly are our worst critics. I’d never ever think to compare the beautiful Weaver to a scone.
I hapen to love scones!
@@joeb918 I mean, scones are good so... lol I agree she is beautiful!
Sigourney Weaver was a lot younger when this came out...in 2037, I believe
This movie was my first sci-fi horror film. I didn't even know such a genre existed. I naively went to see it in the theater when it was first released with the expectation that I would be watching an enjoyable sci-fi adventure. I was so wrong! As I was leaving the theater, I remember thinking, "That wasn't a sci-fi movie. That was a horror show!" It really freaked me out.
Did you really? Oh gee! That's amazing "This channel doesn't have any content"
“Horrorshow, my brothers!”
I expected Star Wars.
@@verneinnhel3279 Yep. Instead, we got Star Horror.
Whoever did the models for the eggs, facehugger, xenomorph did a wonderful job, I have really hard time seeing props, they look so real.
You're the first person I've seen who says "the alien now has a flamethrower" after it gets Dallas. Reminds me of the original ending where the alien was supposed to bite Ripley's head off, then make a final log entry in her voice.
I'm getting Duke Nukem vibes from this comment
"Reminds me of the original ending where the alien was supposed to bite Ripley's head off, then make a final log entry in her voice." Got anything to back that up? Never heard/read anything about that
“Now I have a flamethrower. Ho. Ho. Ho.”
If true, that means an immortal classic came _that close_ to competing with _"Plan 9 From Outer Space"_ for the "Shlockiest Move Ever!" title!
Yeah, that was the point I which I stopped watching this "react".
Also; I remember watching an interview with Gieger, the artist who came up with the initial concept art for alot of the alien planet, had described the idea for what would become the Xenomorph from a very specific night terror he had.
He would keep a sketchbook by his bed to draw his nightmares. And the Prototype of the Xenomorph was one of these terrors
Not to mention the very intentionally looking phallic shape of the xenomorphs head.
Giger*. The alien is based off his Necronom IV painting.
Now thats starting to sound like the movie "The Babadook".
Interestingly, the initial concept for the Terminator was also drawn from a nightmare, a fever dream James Cameron had while ill that featured a metallic humanoid skeletal robot rising up out of an inferno, which informed the famous scene at the end of the first Terminator movie after the T800 crashes the fuel tanker and is caught in the blast. Two of the most influential sci fi movies of that time, released within five years of one another, and both are literal nightmares committed to celluloid.
ooooh
I love this movie, especially the beginning. Seeing that alien ship, the jockey, it's all done so well to convey "Well, _that's_ new."
Straight Lovecraft vibes.
thats not from lovecraft,..alien 79 was copied from stokers DRACULA the last voyage of the demeter,....
@@lesleyrussell8200 The situation bears striking parallels, I agree.
I meant more the aesthetic and ambiance. The baseline shift from "Why is this ship empty?" to "Why is this ship?"
They didn't just stumble on something mildly incongruous, some small novelty, they hit a gen-u-ine patch of "Well, I'm an ant on a keyboard" existential frameshift.
@@lesleyrussell8200 Now that I didn't remember! I commend your taste in literature.
@@brucemaximus3797 well thanks but i didnt read to much only a few ones,im totally in the horror cinema
@@brucemaximus3797 for example in predator 87 its the same, hes the wolfman shapeshift of dracula in the demeter,the predator jumps of a space ship at the begining and then the crew are the soldiers,..the predator can turn into invisible like dracula
Hey, I saw thins in the theater in 79. I was 13. My best friend's mom took me and his sister. I had been sheltered a bit from Horror by my parents (Only child) and this was my first experience. And what an experience it was. People screamed, vomited, ran. His sister ended up in my lap. Never had a girl that close to me before. She cried my shirt collar damp. I lost my composure enough to actually yell *Get out of the way!* at the screen during Parker and Lambert's death scene. My parents were not best pleased about the nightmares I had.
what a roller coaster for you!!!
@Destiny Nope. In fact, I haven't seen Valerie in about 20 years. We did date though for awhile. Long time ago.
@Destiny Would have made a nice story though.
@Destiny Yes, We had a mutual crush from I guess when we met. I was very shy, she instigated a lot. I was 15 before I kissed her.
During the sequence where Ripley is rushing back to disarm the self-destruct, she rounds a corner in the dark with a light directly ahead and the silhouette of a person is seen.
It was a film crewperson who was standing in the wrong place unaware they were visible to the camera.
When during editing it was noticed, the question of removing the shot came up because reshooting weeks after production had ended was impossible.
Ridley Scott looked at it, thought about it a bit and said, "Just leave it in".
What a legend.
Saw this on opening night .... knew nothing about it .... thought it would be a fun movie to watch on LSD .... got the last seat in the theater , on THE VERY FRONT ROW .... and then , after recovering my blood-pressure , we had to walk home thru the dark neighborhood where street-lights kept shutting off just as we reached them .... this memory STILL freaks me right out !!!!
One of the best films ever.
Of course the only black guy ends up dying. Can't let him live. No sir!
@@trhansen3244 so?
@@trhansen3244 everyone in the movie dies. what's your point lol. he lives longer than most of them
@@sirfijoe450 I watched the movie and the white girl survives.
@@trhansen3244 yeah. She’s the only one. Everyone else dies in these movies. There’s only ever one survivor.
It still insane how good this looks for being a movie made in the 70's.
DAYS OF HEAVEN, THE GODFATHER, THE DEER HUNTER, STAR WARS, CRIES AND WHISPERS, THE DEVILS, THE BLACK STALLION, BARRY LYNDON and thousands of others would like to have a word with you. :) As would the rest of cinema history since 1920.
Extreme attention to detail and design, as well as management of funds. There are space-based movies that came much later that look worse simply because they were made faster, cheaper, and with less quality.
classic
The computer was technically called the MU/THUR System. “Mother” was a nickname.
They upgraded from Windows 11, which was called FUCKR
The way people underestimate the Xenomorphs is very odd to me. It wasn't injured or weak. It was hitching a ride. Find a spot to squeeze in and wait for more murder opportunities. Killing Ripley when she first came onboard the shuttle would have been like gutting your cab driver.
It was a baby, that is why it was playing with the food.
It was also dying... the alien at the end was discolored and sluggish. Thats what got forgotten in the other movies the human alien is basically an unkillable bio-mechanical killer but really short lived like a worker ant or bee, Lives long enough to find some victims to turn into eggs (yes in deleted scene Dallas and the Old Engineer are found and they are slowly turning into eggs to pop out new face hugger when someone comes along and the cycle continues)... no Queen needed.
Also the original Alien in the right light you can see a human skill inside the head, although it early versions it was ALOT easier to see... when they got rid of that in Aliens i was annoyed since it was one of the most unnerving parts about it..
@@NZBigfoot That is the behavior when there is no queen. To continue the cycle the worker could convert victims into a new egg for a queen producing face hugger.
Mad props to her use of "Hello My Baby" reference!
Vicky,
The chest bursting reaction of the cast was real as they were kept in secret of what or how it was gonna happen and Veronica Cartwright (Lambert) was really freaked out with being sprayed with so much blood.
Added tidbit, the blood was real blood. Pig's blood, though.
All the camera equipment and such were covered w plastic the actors were kept in the dark on what would happen.
There's an outtake of Lambert backing up as the blood begins to spray and she flips backwards over one of those bench seats and you see her boots go sticking up in the air. Quite funny.
@@Lethgar_Smith she slipped in the blood that had sprayed onto the floor. She was not best pleased, to say the least, about that whole scene 😆
They knew what would happen, the only thing they didn't know was that there would also be a high-pressure spray of blood.
You should look up the trailer. It's one of the greatest trailers I've ever seen. it tells you NOTHING, absolutely nothing. You go into it blind. It's splendid. _"In space...no one can hear you scream."_
I love that you play as Ripley’s daughter Amanda in Alien Isolation. It was SUCH a beautiful game and lovingly recreated the universe in game. I wish there was some way to make a sequel in that same style.
I had a theory that when Burke told Ripley her daughter was dead that he was lying in order to give her more incentive to go back to Acheron. I mean, it is the Conpany after all and they obviously wouldn't tell her the truth. That would give room for s sequel
Rest in peace, John Hurt and Sir Ian Holm (Kane and Ash, respectively). Edit: "Is it gonna do the "Hello, my baby" skit?" Somebody's definitely seen Spaceballs.
Yaphet Kotto passed away in February.
@@shainewhite2781 March, you mean.
March 2021.
Yahet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton are also dead.
@@thereturningshadow Geez!!! So many people from this franchise are dead!
Seeing this when it first came out was an incredible experience!
There had never been anything like it before.
There's actually a cut scene where they find Dallas' corpse. He's missing his shoes, and on his shirt the alien has written "Now I have a flamethrower... ho ho ho." 😏
One of the great sci-fi films of all time, and my #1 favourite movie when it comes to design. Everything feels so handmade and tangible, and it's a perfect example of how limitations of technology can be turned into something far more effective, absorbing and satisfying than a big ol' CG f*** fest. Roll on your reaction to Aliens, I say!
You'll be watching the special edition, right? Right?!
Die Hard movie? :P
Lol nice. Best wishes to Bruce Willis and family.
This movie came out when I was in junior high school, my friend was forbidden to go see it by his mum as they knew kids who got nightmares about it, of course we then had to go see it :) I didn't get nightmares LOL
LMAO
yipee kay yay in space lol
Having played Alien Isolation probably took away so much from the surprise factor... though, I guess, it was a pleasant series of callbacks to retroactively recognize. Now you just need to watch the sequel in the extended director's cut (or whatever it's called) and actually get some fresh impressions :P.
EDIT: your logo fell out of your wiggling circle on the outro screen :P!
VKunia : "How did the cat get on the coms?!"
Cats litteraly walk on the table just under your eyes. They know were the center of our attention is on.
He was in the cockpit and probably pressed the button while walking across the console. Just like a cat walking across your keyboard under your nose while your at the computer.
"Oh, you are disturbing something that should NOT be disturbed, man!"
Well, if they don't, the movie just kind of sits there, you know?😊
Outland uses all the same props and design aesthetic. There are no xenomorphs but there are amoral space corporations with no concern for the wellbeing of their employees. It stars Sean Connery and I recommend it as part of the expanded Aliens film universe.
Outland is an excellent movie. And yes they used the costume and model makers from A L I E N. Thats why it feels like its in the same universe.
Another funny detail that I noticed when watching that movie was that they used pocket calculators as the key locks on the doors :)
I'm glad someone else reaffirmed my pointless love for the self-destruct activation sequence.
Unrelated side note, the reason the alien acts so subdued by the end of the film is because it's entire life cycle is hyper accelerated. Just like how it went from "birth" to fully grown almost immediately, by the time Ripley is on the escape shuttle it's already near the end of its natural lifespan.
Still for me the best of the whole franchise, it has aged amazingly well and still looks stunning for a film from 1979!
Stunning, true. But this is Ridley Scott who also did Blade Runner whose visuals still impacts cinematography today. Blade Runner became the blueprint for decades for dystopian urban decay.
@@davidt7482 true, I now it's Ridley, he's from South Shields in N E England and about 11 miles down the River Tyne from house, he's one of the most famous Tynesiders ever. His films always have a great use of light in them and just have that 'Scott' look to them, what I really mean about how much it has aged well in the quality of the set design and cinematography, compare it to the later films in the franchise (and the numerous copies of the film and its sets in other films) and the quality of the image on screen (even more so on the 4K remaster) still look amazing even in todays High Def world. Aliens (1986) for example looks grainy and murky in Blu-Ray in comparison (something to do with Cameron's choice of film stock at the time).
"She looks like she's been shopping in the child's section." Is for me, one of the most funniest things I've heard on TH-cam for many a year. A dig thanks for making me laugh, I needed it.👏👍. All the very best, Trev from East London UK.
It was the 70s after all
I saw this 2nd day out when I was 14. The line at the theater went around the building. The audience wasn't ready for this. This was in the wake of Star Wars and I think most people were expecting something similar.
Fun fact: one of the writers, who wrote the original draft and then screenplay of Alien, Dan O’Bannon made a crazier sci fi film called Dark Star that he originally made in college. It’s pretty much a B-movie level of sci fi and is sort of more of a comedy. I’d recommend this one as well, because it’s just fun and to me should be sort of part of the Alien universe canon with its connection with the writer. He also plays a character in the film. IIRC he once said in an interview that Alien was an attempt to make a more serious version of Dark Star with better effects, tech and much bigger budget.
The game did a great job of recreating the unease of the latter half of the film, I also loved how they included Ripley’s last msg before going into cryo sleep, the way she punctuates saying Ash, because of him being… well how or what he is, just sends chills up my spine with that subtle change in Weaver’s voice as she says his name is just fantastic.
O'Banon did the VFX for Dark Star, directed by John Carpenter. That job got him hired on Jodorowsky's Dune where he met Moebius. They made the comic "The Long Tomorrow" which was source material for the "Harry Canyon" segment of the Heavy Metal movie, and provided much of the visual inspiration for Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner." Moebius did most of the designs for Alien that Giger didn't do, which included most of the Nostromo and the human's tech. Syd Mead was the lead designer on Blade Runner. Mead and Moebius worked together on Tron.
Don't forget John Carpenter directed Dark Star.
I saw Dark Star by pure chance during the early 1990's on cable, and thought it was the best low-budget I had ever seen. I even have it on DVD which I found years later in the $1 bin at Blockbuster. I felt like I had found treasure that no one else knew about.
@@ravenwind1062 his first film even
@@williammartin8151 yeah, I for the longest time I felt that way too when I told people about it, no one had any clue what I was talking about. I first watched it on some badly used VHS that came to me somehow I don’t quite recall, the video distortions on it only added to its charm and the type of film it was… I later found a “cleaner” DVD copy that I shared with everyone I could.
The Xenomorphs are still the most terrifying aliens through out Sci-fi history.
Yeah, I have hard time coming up with anything more viscous and deadly than a Xenomorph.
The "death" entity in Final Destination 1 (haven't seen the others) seems a bit scarier to me... (not scifi)
Not an alien per de, but the boy from “It’s a GOOD Life.” The powers of a god, but the ego, sense of humor, and lack of self-control of an infant. The townspeople don’t even know if he has abducted the town from the universe, or eliminated the entire universe outside the town. That’s just the beginning.
I know he didn't make the original suit, but Stan Winston's creations are better looking and more terrifying than almost anything made today. Just look at his original Predator suits compared to the newer ones. It's crazy how much more detailed and realistic they looked. Another terrifying creature he created that not many people know about is the "Kothoga" from The Relic.
I was going to say The Shrike, but yeah, xenomorph acid blood would make short work of him.
Honestly didn’t expect her to watch this. After the sequel I wonder if she would watch The Thing, it’s one of my favorites.
I love The Thing! So good: a must watch.
I really want to watch The Thing, but I really don't want to watch The Thing alone.
@@SuperDud3ed It is a gnarly film.
Agreed. Yes please.
The Thing might be a little too traumatizing for her. Most women can't handle it. And most liberal birthing persons.
Alien isolation is the perfect bridge between the first movie and the second. The sequel Aliens is amazing especially the directors extended cut.
19:14 The cat's the genius leader of the crew who has all kinds of inside knowledge about the xenomorph!!!!!! He's the most important one to get to safety!!!!!!!
this series spawned a whole lore about Xenomorph castes and biology. it has had so many crossovers as a result. the primary issue is their ability to tank so many things, ranging from freezing cold to blistering heat, and really their strength is comparable to superhumans.
the queens and queen mothers, kings, etc. are even stronger, and the assimilation of host DNA into the individuals is why they can be the stuff of nightmares for anyone
Here are some films some of the main actors have been involved in that I recommend:
Sigourney Weaver - Copycat (1995)
Tom Skerritt - Contact (1997)
John Hurt - The Skeleton Key (2005)
Veronica Cartwright - Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
Ian Holm - eXistenZ (1999)
Harry Dean Stanton - Christine (1983)
I saw The Skeleton Key the other day, a very good movie. Not much of a speaking role for Hurt though, but he generally acts brilliantly as a man in distress. Another movie I recommend is "Lucky" with Harry Dean Stanton. It was his last ever movie before he died.
My favorite sci-fi horror film. Like a Jaws in outer space!
Thanks for always getting the volume balance between you and the film's audio, perfect. Very important.
FYI: That other female is Veronica Cartwright, whose sister was in the "Lost in Space" TV series and Veronica was in "The Birds" and "The Sound of Music" In an interview, she commented that her character was the only smart one, "She just wanted to get the Hell out of there."
Veronica was also in the movie The Witches of Eastwick.
Veronica was also in an episode of The Twilight Zone.
Don't forget the first remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978)
@@Cau_No Yeah. She showed her talent to stand and scream there too. :P
5:46
If you don't know fans used to call that the "Space Jockey" until they eventually changed it to "Engineers".
If you'd like more retro sci fi movies, "2001 a space odyssey" is definitely a must.
"It's time to get a new job. Worst bosses ever." I love that comment. 😀
The screenwriter for this, Dan O'Bannon had an earlier film that he made with another Hollywood Horror legend, John Carpenter. Called Dark Star, it was originally a student film from when they were both attending the University of Southern California. It's very much a rough draft for many concepts he later fleshed out in the script for Alien, such as the whole "Space Trucker" aesthetic and there being a problematic alien that the ships crew has to chase through service areas of the ship (slthough the difference between the alien in Dark Star and the xenomorph is like night and day).
Unrelated to that, I also strongly recommend the book: Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo. It retells the story from Jones' perspective.
Lambert was frozen with fear, that's why she didn't move or try to run when the alien approached her and Parker. And Parker couldn't use the flamethrower because Lambert was there.
Don’t let Grogu near those eggs!
It's cool that the android twist still got you. I thought for sure you'd connect him to the "Working Joe's" from Isolation.
I remember when Wonder Woman came out and all the critics were all "finally a strong female lead".....Uh...We had a strong female lead character for 40 years...Her name is Ellen Ripley.
Sarah Connor also
Critics didn’t actually say that.
There's a new "finally we have" every decade, about alot of different things.
The directors cut of this movie introduced the idea of "egg morphing". In a cut scene when Ripley is going through the ship she finds Dallas still alive, but being slowly dissolved and turned into a face hugger egg. She looks around and sees what's left of Brett, almost fully formed into a new egg. I always thought that was a neater idea that the whole queen hive thing.
Fun fact: No one knew what was going to happen to John Hurt aside from John Hurt. The other actors just were told something was going to happen and to just react. When you see the blood burst, the reaction by the actors was genuine. Of course all was known by the time they got to the actual chest burster... but for that first blood pop - look at their reactions.
No that is an age old myth, they all knew about the chest-burster scene, they just didn't know that there would be a high-pressure burst of blood as well.
Seeing the "Making of" the chest-burster scene in a documentary was amazing. The cast didn't fully know how it was all going to go down and the horror on their faces is quite real.
Basically everything in Alien Isolation originates from this very film! Every corridor, the doors, the computer screens, the music, the sound effects, everything. But Alien isolation, the actual story of the game, is also a direct sequel to this film as well. As you probably recall, you play as Amanda Ripley, which is the daughter of Ellen Ripley of this movie! Fifteen years after this film ended. I am actually surprised you didn't remember this story has androids since the game is filled with it. Mostly with the working-Joe's, a much primitive android that gives you so much problem in the game. But Amanda had a far more advanced android colleague in the game as well & unlike Ash he was a good person.
If you've never seen Aliens, the movie sequel, I can't stress or convince you enough to see it! It's literary considered by fans & critics to be one of the best sequels ever made in movie history, & with good reason! If one likes Alien you're gonna love Aliens! If you think Ripley was bad-ass now, just wait! And since you are such a fan of Alien Isolation you MUST, & I do mean MUST watch Aliens in the extended version! Because there is a reference to Amanda Ripley in that film, hence why she is the lead character of the game in the first place. Also, the longer version gives you so much more to the film anyway. Your channel will profit if you watch Aliens for us, trust me. Many will watch it with you.
“You always know a working Joe”
@@CoffeeMatt10 You are acting hysterical
9:31, the innards for the Facehugger here are actually a seafood variety, including clams and mussels
Ripley stripping down to her underwear was actually not Ridley Scott’s idea. It was Weavers, if I remember correctly.
It seemed to have the desired effect, which was that the female viewers felt vulnerable.
Yeah, she wanted Ripley to be as vulnerable as possible for the final encounter. I'd say she hit the nail on the head with that one.
"Self-destruct manual ASMR" is a phrase I never thought I'd hear, but I'm so glad I did.
fun fact, this was only Sigourney Weaver's 3rd movie at this point
additionally, her character was originally supposed to be male but they loved her audition so much that they changed the character for her
and in the sequel, as James Cameron was writing it, he had her picture on his desk the entire time. She wasn't a guaranteed hire, but he wrote it for her.
That’s not true btw, the characters were originally written as ‘anon’ and ungendered in the original script. Which btw isn’t unusual in big budget commercial movies as the producers want to keep their options open in terms of hiring the most famous/commercial actors possible. Not sure why it’s mentioned so much in relation to this film. I have been a fan for years and this is quite recent thing that people are now interested in a lot. Possibly because of the interest in ‘strong female characters’, but then I don’t think that’s all that recent actually.
@@HkFinn83 This, and in fact, Veronica Cartwright had originally been hired to play Ripley, before Sigourney auditioned.
@@Tensen01 She auditioned for Ripley and then months passed and the casting director called her to say, "You got the part!" But the casting director didnt know that she had auditioned for Ripley, all she knew was she had been cast as Lambert. Or maybe just decided not to tell her it wasnt the part she wanted. In any case, Cartwright didnt find out until she showed up for wardrobe fittings. She wasnt happy about it. Lambert was "too weepy" she said.
If Ripley were male, the underwear scenes would have been really difficult to watch.
I saw this in the theater when this first came out. There was no internet back then and no spoilers but I read somewhere that there was a robot in the movie. As I watched the crew I was trying to figure out which one was the robot. When I saw Sigourney Weaver trying to decode the transmission by looking at a screen of 1's and 0's I decided she must be the robot. She logically stuck to the quarentine rules and wouldn't open the air lock.Even the character's name fit, "Ripley" as in Believe it or Not. So I was REALLY surprised when the robot turned out to be Ash.
Ridley Scott has a knack for creating tension in a film, especially this one.
*used to have a knack... Then he brought out those god awful prequels and proved he's become a money loving hack.
"He puts the little hula dancer on the dash . . ." That's the type of reaction that keeps me coming back!
I actually only first watched this the other week, even though i've consumed plenty of Alien media before that. It still holds up so well. Crazy good atmosphere, unique and scary. The Ash scene alone is just spooky to watch, even if you can't tell he's synthetic, something just seems 'wrong'. It's great.
Their depiction of space life reminds me of life on board a submarine. It's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic because everything is cramped and restrictive. I'm sorry you don't like spiders. They eat all the bugs in your bedroom while you sleep. That's definitely a plus in my book.
The xenomorph is the second best predator on that ship. Jones can take it and knows, he's just sadistic and only likes Ripley. This was his way of getting rid of the rest of the crew
This totally sounds like a cat though.
Didn’t even flinch when Brett was taken right of front of him.
@@jeremyfrost2636 I'm a vet tech, it's my job to know my enemy
@@likecrazyhorse Blurry wants you to know that as long as the thermometers are rectal, that feeling of animosity is mutual. 😂
"Is he going to do that "Hello, my baby" skit" ..... OMG, you're killing me. I had forgotten that Muppet parody ... thanks for reminding me : )
I absolutely love this movie, it's one of my personal favourite horror films.
"Is it going to do that 'Hello, my baby' thing?" *Best Southern drawl* You're so precious.
"They have androids??"
Isn't like... half of Alien Isolation dodging androids?
Yeah that comment confused me. I mean she is *flabbergasted.*
To be fair, the Seegson models don't look like Ash, so I'm not surprised that Vee was surprised. The Weyland-Yutani androids are much more... human-like. For better or worse. ~lol~
@@erinhaury5773 oh I know. But she seemed surprised by the notion of robots in this world *at all* but she went up against them constantly in Alien: Isolation.
@@erinhaury5773 They are but there is a Weyland-Yutani android in the game, Christopher Samuels. Of course one probably have to watch the movie before playing the game to make that connection and remember that tiny detail.
You will now notice the "ship and crew" introduction throughout much of scifi, which was inspired by this take. It took me a while, but i realized that a lot of gritty, scifi movies that open a story with a ship and her crew tend to have sprinkles of this.
My favorite thing about the sci-fi genre is the subtle homage to previous works, especially Alien. Space Oddessy is another common reference.
They killed off the "cast" in order of name recognition. Weaver, a basically unknown actor... was the last standing... and a woman at that... everyone in theatres basically expected no survivors at that point.
Also the blast... was basically a nuclear reactor meltdown, go boom.
They used music/sound, and silence incredibly well. They also barely showed the alien leaving it more to the imagination of the audience because the director didn't want it to "just be a man in a costume."
The marketing "catch phrase" was "In space no one can hear you scream" and... well yeah.
For me, the scariest part of Alien was the suspense of not seeing the whole creature until the very end, and even then, we didn't get a real clear view of it.
Oh, finally someone else who commented on the fact that Ripley's underwear was at least 2 sizes too small!
That was so absurd.
Yeah, just a weird choice. If the attempt was for some sort of sex appeal, it failed because it’s so off putting.
Great film. Back when we got relaSue's. heroines who grew as characters and weren't just perfect Mary Sues. Ripley forever.
15:30. That right there is a perfect jump scare.
Lambert “No not that way, the other way!”
Dallas: turns the other way
Alien: heyyyy, want a hug?
I loved the parody of this film, watching the first chestburster appear, put on a top hat and cane and start to sing and dance. Lol
Funny story from my media teacher: One time she went to see Alien in theatres, someone in the audience was shouting in a somewhat high pitched voice "Leave the damn cat!". Got a good laugh out of the class
Poor kitty.
Bringing the cat was a really bad idea.
Fun fact, when you said it would be hungry you're spot on! In the screen play and novel its said to have eatten basically all of their food reserves.
Highly recommend the sequel, Aliens. It's even better than the 1st one. After that, don't bother, just more of the same, but not done as well.
Thumbs up! I first saw Alien on HBO when I was only about 7 yrs. old so you can imagine the trauma it left on me at the time! I really enjoy your lively reaction to the scariest movie I've ever seen.
idc what anyone says I like all 4 of the original movies. I love the 4th
Alien Resurrection? It's the next best movie in the franchise after Aliens. That film is awesome.
This movie will always hold a special place in my heart, my late uncle gave it to me when I turned 13 so we stayed up to watch it that night and I didn’t sleep for a week afterwards
Director’s cut of Aliens is a must, *especially* for someone who has played the game.
What game??
@@mattchamberlain3005 Alien Isolation
Yes, absolutely!
Oh my gosh watching this movie again through your eyes was HILARIOUS OMG!!😆😆😆😆😂You had me Rollin’ kid!!😆
Great reaction! You should watch "The Thing" next. It's another classic alien horror movie
And then to complete the sci-fi horror trilogy, Event Horizon.
I'm not sure if Vicky can handle the thing.
What i like most about this film is that everything feels so authentic, which is not easy to do with a space movie.
This is one of Ridley Scott's very first films, and the atmosphere and tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. I love Ripley as the hero, especially because she's not wonder woman. She's the voice of reason, she's terrified, yet she finds a way to do what has to be done.
She feels like a real person, which is why she's one of the greatest characters ever put on screen
@@razorfett147 I love the movie but that’s a vast exaggeration. Ripley is really a plot device character, there really isn’t that much to her. I think the current interest in ‘strong female characters’ explains a lot of the hyperbole about the Ripley character.
Audiences were shocked that a woman would be the last survivor and the hero of the film. It started a trend.
@@HkFinn83 Ripley was a great character long before the current gender manicism trend. And i speak of her as a full character arc across all 3 films. Not just this one
Your smile during the commentary after the tense face even in the end of the movie is priceless 😂 Well that's really the power of the movie and the concept too, I believe. Even with outdated special effects as they are today in 2022.
Fun fact, the cast didn't know that the alien would pop out of someones chest. It was kept secret to get genuine reactions and it worked.
You're exaggerating. It was in the script, and of course they knew that something like this was up when they saw the setup with John Hurt's head sticking up from a hole in the table and the fake body on top. Still, the splatter of blood and the reality of the creature must have been a shock.
This is a rumor that pops up on every Alien reaction, and it's not correct. The surprise was that none of them expected to be showered with blood and animal entrails, but they knew what scene they were filming.
"Is it gonna do that Hello-my-baby-skit?"
Spoken like a true cinephile!
You’re definitely watching the second one, right? It’s honestly even better.
Aliens (1986) is a must and the special addition is highly recommended.
Not only is Aliens the best one, you can stop watching the series after that too. :)
Aliens isn’t even close to being better. acting and characters in that movie are atrocious, aside from Ripley, Hicks, and maybe Bisbop. it’s a cool story, but has caricatures of soldiers and what not, Alien had at least memorable performances and relatable people, not body bags with zero personality. Not on the same scale as Alien, but a fine movie, it’s a good follow up but definitely not better than the original.
It's not 'better', it's different. They're completely different types of films in the same universe.
@@kleverstudios the point of aliens is not to be all dramatic with characters, the point is straight forward the plot is to wipe what's left out its a great sequel 3 tried to be like the first and failed I completely disagree with your view of aliens and to disagree even more it's just as good if not better you spend a majority of time with the marines that didn't die earlier it's my favorite of these films.
H.R.Giger’s art designs and contributions to this film were amazing.
@VKunia I can’t wait till you get to Aliens (1986)! You should also check out Predator and The Terminator as well!
Yes!
Alien is just the perfect movie and the start of my favorite franchise. I hope you will do the entire series! The second is another classic, but the rest of them, while not perfect, are each very unique in their own way and still highly enjoyable.
Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection had the misfortune of following two of the most perfect movies ever made. It's impossible to live up to those expectations. Alien Resurrection actually pulled it off and is my second favorite in the franchise after Aliens, though.
@@jeremyfrost2636 Yes exactly. For me Alien 3 is my second favorite after Alien. But I enjoy all of them (except AvP-R). I appreciate that they all try to do something different without copying what came before.
What I like about this movie is uh EVERYTHING. It's easily my favorite horror movie of all time and has clearly stood the test of time based on how freaked out it still makes people.
Aliens is also S-tier but is more of an action movie and not pure horror. (Still scared the fuck out of me when I saw it in theaters tho) Just make sure you watch the DIRECTORS CUT of Aliens when you watch it. It has tie-ins to Alien Isolation that are not in the theatrical release.