Alien Retrospective Part I: 45 Years of Movie Magic

 

New Directive: Watch Alien (1979) & Aliens (1986) before preceding.

Spoilers ahead. You have been Warned.
 

This year I had the privilege of watching Alien in the movie theatres for the first time. I had seen the film a few years earlier, as one of my pandemic movie nights. But that had been on a small, 30 inch TV in the basement of a shared complex - the same complex where turning on the microwave would pop the breaker directly connected to the basement power lines. Needless to say, Alien is a very different experience when at any time a roommate's midnight cravings could shut down the movie. I watched Alien twice with that setup - the first time alone, the second time with my roommates because I wouldn’t shut up about it. Both times the televisions speakers where nearly blown out by the high dynamic mix, and both times, I was entranced by the film.

 

It was a magical experience both times. The first time, I didn’t expect the fourth act of the film. The Nostromo shutdown sequence is so riveting that you never see it coming, and it's genuinely the perfect scare. The second time, my roommates all failed the Jones test - begging Ridley to abandon the demon cat and save herself. To my roommates credit, Jonesy does have a few more jumpscares than even the Xenomorph. 

 

I remember seeing social media posts from friends watching Alien in theatres for its 45th anniversary and wishing it was playing near me. So many of my movie theatre experience comes from the big releases, because there is only one multiplex near my home, and it rarely screens smaller releases. I was shocked when I saw Alien had also returned to my theatre - February was a pretty small month for new releases save Dune: Part II - and I immediately purchased a ticket to watch the film in the biggest format I could. 

 

I begin with this anecdote for many reasons. Firstly, I need to establish my love for these films - and secondly, I think there is something odd in revisiting classic horror films. Horror movies are built on emotional vulnerability and being ‘shocking’ - an emotion that is often lost on rewatch. And additionally, parts of these movies are at their scariest when the audience cannot truly rely on their vision to tell a complete story. As video essayist Harry Brewis states, the VHS format elevates horror movies because the flaws of the format force viewers to use their imagination to fill in the gaps - and that uncertain imagination is far more terrifying than what we can see. In rewatching Alien on the biggest, clearest format with the most pristine digital release of the film to date, I was risking ‘ruining’ the scares of Alien for myself. I wouldn’t be tense with the fear of an electrical failure shutting down the movie. I was going to be in a far more comfortable chair than the old cheap couch stuck in university dorms. I was entering a new realm of Alien which would remove the unnerving barriers of my habitat in favor of a 4K projection with the highest quality audio mix. In that new setting, where I expected to fall out of love with Alien, I had a revelation. 

 

Alien

Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, is a tent-pole Science Fiction movie. It shouldn’t be surprising that it’s stuck around this long in the cultural consciousness - the film is oozing with atmosphere, and Jerry Goldsmith’s eerily absent score amps up the tension. Alien is not all too different from the B-movies of the 1950s and 1960s - but what manages to elevate the film is how deeply restrained it is. The film doesn’t have world ending stakes for Earth - at least, not initially - and it is far more limited in how large of a space the Alien can terrorize. But those moments of restraint allow its greatest aspect to shine through: the Production Design.

H.R. Gieger’s monster design for the xenomorph is the mark of a true horror icon. The creature is a blend between technology and biology in a deeply discomforting way. Perhaps the greatest example of this is from the derelict spacecraft - its hallways are round, with no firm edges. The walls are layered with what appear to be tubes, but it isn’t made of a material known to Earth. Moisture permeates these ‘machines’ in a way that feels deeply alive. The Alien is never dead - everything associated with the Derelict craft is merely sleeping, waiting to pounce. That feeling is brought to fruition in the film's final act, where the Xenomorph is literally sleeping in the tubing of the Nostromo. 

 

Alien is a movie that becomes vibrant in its highest resolution. The art direction from Roger Christian and Leslie Dilley is firmly realized by Production designer Michael Seymour, and it makes for the most tangible science fiction vessel of all time. There is a creativity to the design of the Nostromo that goes beyond feeling practical into something… ethereal. There’s the petal design of the Nostromo’s cryo-sleep pods. There’s the ‘in case of emergency’ helmet that reflects the computer in the bridge. There’s the chain room. All of these elements are deeply necessary to creating a world that feels far larger than what we see on screen. And all of these could threaten to isolate the audience from the characters, if it weren’t for the inclusion of deeply familiar props on the Nostromo. There’s the dunking bird that seems to stay awake in lieu of the sleeping crew. There’s the bowls of cereal and food that serve as conversation points for our characters. And of course, there is Lambert’s every present cigarette. Every piece of the production serves a grand purpose - bonding the audience to the crew of the Nostromo; isolating the audience from “the company”, and creating distrust between the audience and the Xenomorph. 

 

For a film made on an $11 million dollar budget (roughly $50 million dollars in 2024), Alien never feels low-budget. Alien is full of analog solutions to large problems. One such solution is the deployment of child actors to make the derelict spaceship seem bigger. Another is the inclusion of the cut between the prop dismembered Ash and Ian Holm hiding in the floor. And how can I forget the Chestburster scene, a sequence that captured the genuine scares of the entire cast, with terrific practical effects. Even the lesser effects still translate well to the big screen - the Xenomorph is very slow in Alien, and at times, it seems to be rolled forward through a conveyor belt. It’s mechanical in a way that it’s predecessors have left behind - but it manages to add layers to the film's bitter portrayal of corporate technologies that leave humans behind. 

 

Alien is a masterpiece in filmmaking, and that goes far beyond its expert production design - but to me, it’s the production design that takes this simple story and elevates it into another dimension. 
 

Aliens

Aliens, directed by James Cameron, is a completely different beast from its predecessor. The film is a completely new genre, as a military action movie. It may be set in the far future, but aesthetically, this is the most 80s crew. The pilot is so badass she wears aviator sunglasses, despite the planet often being soaked in dark blue. Sergeant Appone wakes up from cryo sleep in his pajamas, and without hesitation, reaches for a cigar to smoke. Private Hudson has a million memorable lines (“It’s Game over man, Game over!” is a personal favorite), and Vasquez is a rule-breaker who is snarky enough to hold her own with the boys and their frequent sexist remarks. 

 

What I appreciate most about Aliens is its creativity. It’s a film that returns to LV-426, but it doesn’t feel derivative in its return. The settlement provides a wholly new location to become deeply familiar with, and new challenges for our expanded cast. Additionally, Aliens puts the legwork in to change its cast members for the better. Ripley is an iconic character in Alien - she forms the straight-woman for the audience to follow as the mission begins to go sideways. Her by-the-book nature provides the perfect dramatic thrust when Muther & the company prove to be less than trustworthy, and her ingenuity makes her a protagonist you want to see succeed in that first film. Less is more in Alien, and that works in ensuring the audience doesn’t feel too attached to any one character before the onslaught begins in the Nostromo. 

 

But here, in Aliens, we know Ripley is our main character. The audience has a whole movie with Ripley, and that means Aliens has a lot of legwork to do to bring new ideas to the franchise. I’ve heard a lot of people praise the Director's cut for extending Ripley’s role in the world through the added weight of her being a mother - with a daughter she left behind for 57 years. I do find that additional characterization extremely fascinating through Aliens use of a found family - Newt and Hicks become the family Ripley lost from the company, and Ripley regains her motherhood through the destruction of the parasitic Mother Xenomorph.

 

But I like the Theatrical Cut more - because Aliens becomes a film about trauma survivors finding comfort in each other.

 

Alien is a series that has always been a bit… provocative in its production design. I didn’t discuss it above, but the series is known for its alien design that is intentionally phallic. The Xenomorph reproduces through an assault on the head of a target - it’s hands gripping the head of it’s victim, impregnating it’s victim with an unwanted child of violence that will kill its host in the process of becoming another xenomorph, hellbent on repeating the process. It’s a deliberate allusion to sexual assault - only this time, the spawn of the attack can be born from man or woman alike. Alien spares no expense with this imagery - Ash uses adult magazines in his attempt to suffocate Ripley, and idolizes the xenomorphs abilities ad nauseum. It's deeply, deeply troubling, and adds so much to the horror of Alien - the body of a victim losing all autonomy to bring something terrible to life. Alien is a science fiction movie that taps into a well known fear, and transgresses social norms to highlight the very real concerns that are so often overlooked in discussions of sexual assault victims. This discussion can only come from the masterfully disturbing creature design of H.R. Geiger - and Aliens taps into that fear in creating new character arcs for Ellen Ripley, Newt, and Hicks. 

The first major change from the previous film is the inclusion of Ripley’s first name - now revealed to be Ellen, and with that reveal is the lasting horror of the first film's assault. We are introduced to Ellen in a scene that blends into a nightmare - Ripley is no longer just a warrant officer aboard the Nostromo, but a real person experiencing severe PTSD from the assault and unable to confide in anyone who can make a tangible difference. Ripley spends a majority of the film's opening hour being ignored or dismissed by every other person in authority - the company doesn’t believe that the Xenomorph attack happened, and the space marines dismiss her as just a terrified civilian. With that framing, it’s easy to see Aliens as a movie about MeToo - despite being 30 years early to the party. Aliens is a movie built on being an ally and believing the victim - something that most of the space marine corps is unable to do. When the space marines finally land on LV-246, they find the abandoned colony with only one survivor - a little girl named Rachel, who prefers to go by the name Newt. None of the space marines are all too interested in Newt though, because she doesn’t speak. She, like Ripley, is dismissed immediately by higher authorities - and only Ripley, through repeated care, is able to reach out to Newt.
 

Aliens is a movie about allyship and listening to other survivors, and that is the role delegated to Corporate Hicks. There is a scene halfway through the film where Hicks gives Ripley a tracking bracelet, and immediately after this moment, Ripley chooses to give the bracelet to Newt. It’s a small action, but I think it speaks volumes that Ripley takes autonomy over the situation and Hicks is fully supportive of that decision when it comes back around later in the plot. Ripley is the protagonist of the film, and Hicks is an ally who pushes away his own agenda to aid Ripley in hers. Hicks is the first person to side with Ripley when Ripley suggests blowing up the nuclear reactor - an action that defines the rest of the film. 

 

The final characters I want to discuss are Burke and Bishop - two characters that ‘trick’ the audience in their first appearances. Burke is the company man who breaks the news to Ripley that she has been asleep for 86 years. It’s a devastating moment for Ripley, but more importantly, Burke is the only company man to believe Ripley’s story. He argues for Ripley, and tries his best to help clear her record during these meetings - and later, when the colony on LV-246 stops responding to messages, is the first to reach out to Ripley to help her get closure with the event. Burke, in these early moments, is endearing to the audience - if only because he is the only person to believe Ripley. 

 

Separate from this is the inclusion of the artificial person on the Space Corps team - Bishop. Due to our past experience with Ash, we are immediately weary of Bishop. Bishop is introduced to the audience employing a trick with a knife that puts Private Hudson in a dangerous spot, a moment not lost on Ripley. Additionally, when the corps has landed on LV-246, Bishop has a moment where he investigates the live face-huggers captured in the colony - a moment that echoes Ash’s research in Alien. Both the audience and Ripley distrust Bishop - the trauma from the Nostromo is not easily forgotten.

Of course, both of these beliefs are proven to be false - Burke’s interest in Ripley wasn’t for finding justice, but rather, for his own selfish gains. The Xenomorph is an enticing offer to the bio-weapons division, and Burke will use any means to get that paycheck. And in contrast, Bishop is by far the most self-sacrificial of the entire group - going as far as risking his life to ensure Ripley and Newt can survive. There is a sense of hope found throughout Aliens that was missing in Alien. That hope that a better world can exist, one where listening is the default interaction with others and not arguing. It’s a world without ego and built on Empathy. 

 

Aliens, in addition to having a spectacular story, has the same level of detail in its production design. It’s a different kind of science fiction movie - far more action oriented - but it still manages to slow down and make time for characters to create those small moments together. The colony on LV-246 is one of the best realized Science fiction bases, alongside Hoth Base from Empire Strikes Back - and as the team dive deeper into the base, we find far more presence of the biomechanical architecture. This is revealed as we are made aware of Burke's actions, thematically revealing the evil within the company - it worships the xenomorph, and that technology threatens to destroy all of humanity. This level of production design creates story, and when drenched in the deep blue lights of Adrian Biddle’s cinematography, makes for a phenomenal piece of pop-art. 

 

In Conclusion

In the wake of Alien: Romulus being released this week, now is the perfect time to return to Alien and Aliens. These movies are near perfect - and the Alien (1979) 4K transfer is truly phenomenal. The ideas within these two movies have never felt more timely than now - we are in the wake of a world crumbling under the pressure of corporations which prioritize profits over our own survival. 

 

These two movies haven’t aged a day since they were released, and for those of you who haven’t seen them, I hope this article inspires you to find these timeless pictures. For the rest of you, I hope this mess of words created a new perspective for watching these movies, and appreciating them as I do.