Alien

In Space no one can hear you scream...

...they might not be able to hear you scream in space, but boy I sure tried anyway. I’ve been fascinated with Alien ever since I saw the teaser for that movie as a child and it scared me like hell.

And ever since I had my first glimpse at that poster I wondered: what is it this Alien egg is floating above and what hideous terror is hiding underneath that leathery shell? I still do wonder, about the ground part that is, beats me what it is supposed to be.





I always, or rather until I watched the movie, thought that Alien would be taking place on Earth and used to have dreams about amorphous alien beings that can take any shape or form, sliding down dark alleys … in short, I expected the movie to be more like Roger Corman’s Mutant or the alien in Campbell’s Who goes there?




Naturally, the first time I watched that movie all the sexual innuendos where totally lost on me (although I never had a doubt about Giger being some kind of sexual pervert after looking at some of his non-alien work) and that’s part of the fun of returning on board the Nostromo every so often, I find that there is always something to pick up on that I missed or didn’t put as much weight on, that and Alien is a prime example of cost effective movie making.





The other parts I enjoyed more or less, but non of ‘em to the degree of the original; there’s something about that first scare you never forget, something you secretly cherish just as much as the first kiss. Aliens (fitting artwork that sets the correct mood for the change in direction, the follow up posters where just deviations of the original, that did their job but don’t strike me as anything exceptional) did a great job at mostly retaining the feel of the original and yet going for something different, Alien III played a back to the roots tune that is marred by some odd FX but offers interesting characters and lays the ground for Ripley’s drastic change in Alien Resurrection a movie which I mostly adore for its off beat atmosphere.


On a last note:
AvP and AvP II manage a strange feat, one is entertaining but spoiled by a too bland poster motive and the other offers a entertaining poster motive but nothing beyond that, wanna take bets what AvP III would have brought?