Comments on: Horror Plus Sci-Fi: Alien

By: Ridley Scott Describes Alien Prequel to Empire Online « MovieDriver

Ridley Scott Describes Alien Prequel to Empire Online « MovieDriver — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:57:37 +0000

[...] was talking with director Ridley Scott recently about his return to Alien, the sci-fi plus horror film that first catapulted him to fame. Earlier this year, the news broke that Scott would be coming [...]

By: Ridley Scott Describes Alien Prequel - Screen Rant

Ridley Scott Describes Alien Prequel - Screen Rant — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:39:14 +0000

By: Halloween Beasts of Horror: The Animals That Scare Us - Screen Rant

Halloween Beasts of Horror: The Animals That Scare Us - Screen Rant — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:41:31 +0000

[...] We’ve run several articles this month discussing horror films from multiple genres (Comedy, Sci-Fi, Thriller) and then we covered a list of “fun for everyone” Halloween [...]

By: The Pitt Man

The Pitt Man — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:26:42 +0000

Horror and sci-fi? Event Horizon was a descent mix. Sam Neill at his finest creepiness.

By: Matti

Matti — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:35:22 +0000

So Tim “Cloverfield”, Do you mean that also what helped you choose “Alien” as the film to see that night in 1979 was the fact that it was directed by Ridley Scott?

That kinda amazes me, because he was a total nobody that had only made one movie that basically no one had seen.

By: Matti

Matti — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:56:49 +0000

I remember that the writers wrote this note to the script: “Characters are men, but two of them could be women”. But when a studio executive(?) suggested that the LEAD should be a woman, O’Bannon (writer) hadn’t even thought of THAT character to be a woman.

Mike E, I know exactly what moment you mean. It’s so great. Alien moves very slowly, and the cut is like a second long. So so haunting with the arms infront of it. That is maybe the best cut in the film. We really haven’t seen the beast clearly before that.

Dallas’s scene is scary when the other spot (aliens) starts to come towards him, but we (and he) doesn’t know from which way.

By: Ken J

Ken J — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:09:19 +0000

@Mike E

No problem man! I wasn’t saying anything bad about it, just thought it was kind of funny. I imagined a toy train going “choo choo” and then chomping two guys’ heads off, lol.

By: cantizzle

cantizzle — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:50:43 +0000

always fascinating to find out facts, such has the Ripley role was supposed to be man. any idea how that change came about.
the ending scene with her in her underwear as she climbs into a space suit would have been nowere near as cool if it were a man.

By: Mike E.

Mike E. — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:25:01 +0000

excuse me for not having English as a mother tongue!

it seemed the appropriate word to use.. like when a child does a train motion.

By: Ken J

Ken J — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:59:26 +0000

The way you explain it is so funny, like choo choo??

By: Mike E.

Mike E. — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:21:20 +0000

Weird for me, the scariest part of Alien was when Lambert and Parker get killed, while Ripley is off getting the shuttle ready…

We see the Alien briefly, walking toward Lambert, seen from the side (it only really shows on a large screen with perfect lighting. on TV for some reason, it sort of washes out in the dark). The Alien seems to be doing a “choo choo” sort of arm movement, very mechanical, as it advances on Lambert.

That, for some strange reason, just SCARED THE POOP out of me. Worst part is, even now, 30 years later, it STILL scares the poop out of me!

By: clive2

clive2 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:22:47 +0000

This superb classic is in my top 3 movies for downright fright! ‘Aliens’ and the 1963 version of
‘The Haunting’ are the other two. I have seen the film many times and I agree with all the other comments about certain scenes in the film. Excellent and so SCARY!
Mike E. (above) commented on the films music and sound effects. I could not list them, but I know there were at least a dozen other films that copied that creepy combo of sounds in future films.
Totally IMPRESSIVE! My favorite scene is different from any I have read. When Ripley finds she is not alone in the escape pod, as she decompresses the pod the lights reflect hauntingly on her space helmet. She begins , very softly at first. singing, nearly under her breath, an old 1920′s song called,
VERY appropriately ‘You Are My Lucky Star’! AMAZING!
No other film before or since has creeped me out more. Just as the Alien is reflected in her helmet she slams her fist down on the emergency decompression control….and well, see the film if you haven’t, to find out what happens! LOL!

By: dannyboy

dannyboy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:09:18 +0000

I did find a video of the Alien walking the crab walk, as was it was supposedly to walk like. I’m sure glad they changed that, it looked horrible.
But this movie and Aliens are my 2 favor

By: The Big Dentist

The Big Dentist — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:30:59 +0000

Yeah, it’s a shame that Jodorowsky version of Dune never got made, with Giger’s designs for the Harkonnen homeworld and Dali playing the Emperor! I’d kill to have seen that. I love the story that Dali wanted to watch Giger’s girlfriend cop off with some other guy, the impotent old goat!

By: Lord garth, Formerly of Izar

Lord garth, Formerly of Izar — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:48:54 +0000

Dentist

I have that one as well as another. I love his twisted visions. Him and and Dali. Mad genius!!!

By: The Big Dentist

The Big Dentist — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:01:19 +0000

Necronomicon’s a good one as well, Lord garth. There are three paintings in there – Necronom II, IV and V – from 1976 that are basically the alien that ended up on the screen, even if II has, er, “male members” coming out of its mouth rather than that tongue with the extra set of teeth on it. Even though I think the aliens were shot better in Cameron’s sequel, I agree about the actual look of them in the original. I preferred the smooth, translucent head rather than the ridged one.

By: Lord garth, Formerly of Izar

Lord garth, Formerly of Izar — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:26:20 +0000

Scarriest production designs of all time in the masterful work of H.R. Geiger. The Alien looked best in the first film. The initial designs were essentially ripped off by Fox and Hacky FX artists and he was given nothing for blatant ripoffs of his designs not just for the Alien but his bio-mechanical sets, Facehugger, ect. I believe he came back and designed the Alien for III. The whole space Jockey set was just awesome. If you have not seen many of the conceptual designs you should pick up Geiger’s Alien. A Book of his paintings. They are about as f–king twisted and mad genius as it gets

By: stoner

stoner — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:09:54 +0000

Let’s just hope that the UFO’s buzzing around don’t have pets like the Alien…we will have to call on Bigfoot to rid the planet of this pest.

By: The Big Dentist

The Big Dentist — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:18:41 +0000

With you on the Ash front. That bit where Ripley discovers the “crew expendable” info, leans back and he’s sitting right next to her with that horrible placid smile: “There is an explanation for this, you know…”

By: The Big Dentist

The Big Dentist — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:41:16 +0000

All the moments people have mentioned above, plus the first view of the “pilot” fused into its chair. In particular the way the shadows change as the camera stays on a closeup of its face, playing with audience expectations: did it just move? Is it going to come back to life? Quite creepy imagining what the creature was like when it WAS alive, too. Also the first impression you get of the sheer scale of that egg chamber Kane’s lowered into, curving off into the distance, and the unanswered question of the actual purpose of cultivating an insane number of these things.

For all Giger’s brilliance, the alien did end up looking a bit too much like a man in a suit for me when Ripley blows it out of the shuttle. Another classic moment there with her terrified singing as she straps herself into the seat, incidentally. That’s something I think Cameron actually did better in Aliens: the shots of the “drones” were so brief and from so many angles that you didn’t know exactly what you were looking at half the time (in a good way).

Mike E, I didn’t know Scott had replaced some of Jerry Goldsmith’s score. His Planet Of The Apes is my all-time #1 film soundtrack.

Darren, I reckon the alien was thinking “Wish I had some eyes. What’s that damn yowling sound?”