The success of Arrival in 2016 could lead to an even bigger 2017 for alien movies, headlined by the upcoming Alien: Covenant. But Daniel Espinosa's upcoming sci-fi thriller Life has the star power to draw big audiences, and is teasing plenty of scares in the story of an International Space Station crew that discovers the first known extraterrestrial beings on Mars. With Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal leading the way in zero gravity, Life looks like a promising March release.

While the general synopsis of Life is known, not much has been revealed about the newly discovered alien life form that appears to end up terrorizing the space station crew. The mysterious organism is briefly seen in the Life trailer as part of a brief glimpse at what appears to be one of the scariest moments of the film. A new extended preview for Life shows a lot more of said scene, and it’s even more intense than it initially appeared.

In an extended preview of Life released on Tuesday by Sony Pictures, Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare) examines the organism with a wand that the life form eventually breaks, clutching Hugh's hand like a “firm handshake.” Panic gradually grows among the observing crew as the alien grabs tighter and starts to hurt Hugh. The crew frantically argues over what to do before the alien ultimately grabs Hugh’s finger and breaks it.

Life - Ariyon Bakare as Hugh Derry

The new clip is presented as an extension of Life's original trailer, showing most of the same scene while cutting out the rest of the initial preview. It’s unclear how much of the full scene, if any, was left out of the extended clip. Slightly more is seen of the mysterious alien life form, but it’s still unknown what it will look like as it rapidly grows and stalks the crew trapped with it aboard the space station.

This extended preview managed to reveal a gripping moment from Life without giving much more away about the film's titular alien life form or what happens from there. The scene in question looks as intense as advertised in previous teasers and is likely to be a major turning point for the crew as they figure out how to deal with the alien. The intensity of the scene in the extended preview - and lack of knowledge about the life form - sets up a potentially unpredictable plot line for the rest of Life's "alien vs. astronauts" battle.

As scary as the scene in the extended preview appears, there’s also the possibility that Life doesn’t get more intense than that. And as mysterious as the alien life form may be, the film needs to avoid falling into predictable genre traps to really be compelling. Producer David Ellison said that Life is a film for fans that are “incredibly hungry for stuff that feels original.” If Life is as unique and memorable as he promises, and the rest of it is as intense as the extended preview, then it has the potential for surprising success.

Next: Life Trailer #2

Source: Sony Pictures

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