The horror genre has had quite the story to tell, evolving from humble beginnings in the silent era all the way to present day. All along the way auteurs from all over the world have given us things that haunt our dreams and inspire our nightmares. Today, we'll be talking about one of those films. A classic horror movie that came at a high point of horror cinema. A film that would erupt a world of possibilities and that oddly enough, spawned from a comedy and evolved into one of the greatest science fiction horror films ever made.
So if you’re like me and you enjoy film and the impact and emotions they convey then grab a glass of your preferred liquid and join me for the next little while. For me that’s a glass of warm mug of hot chocolate. So sit back, relax, and let’s talk about the love of film. Welcome to Glazed Cinema.
Well, it's that time of year again. A time to put on a cozy sweater, bundle up with a soft warm blanket, enjoy a hot beverage, and watch movies that scare us. That's right, it's Spooktober again, which can only mean one thing. It's the season of the horror genre. This season we'll have not one, not two, but three horror movies to celebrate and today we're starting off with a classic. A movie filled with suspense, tension, and of course scares.
Our movie begins in space as a very large spaceship approaches. Text appears introducing us to the vessel. It reads:
“Commercial Towing Vehicle: The Nostromo. Crew: Seven. Cargo: 20,000,000 tons of mineral ore. Course: Returning to Earth.”
As the text fades The Nostromo flies slowly above the camera. As we get a look at its underbelly we soon venture inside the ship as we explore the interiors. We see hallways inspired by Tarkovsky’s Solaris, a mess hall, and more spaces that will come into as the plot unfurls. The camera continues to explore until we find ourselves in the bridge looking at a helmet. The room is dark, empty, and lifeless until a computer screen monitor and its control center light up. Lines of text begin to appear, which are reflected onto the helmet’s face shield across from it. As quickly as the text and light has appeared it goes away as the computer shuts off once the message concludes. In another hallway lights turn on and a door opens as the crew is awoken from their hyperbaric sleep. All seven crew members rise one by one and get tressed in their uniforms. After a meal the captain briefs them about the message that was received, which prompted the wake up call. A distress message, which they’ve intercepted from a nearby planet…a distress signal that they can’t ignore.
So, with their new mission in mind all seven members chart a course for the source of the signal to help whoever is in need. When they land on the foreign planet with its strange environment they soon learn they’ve found much more than they bargained for.
Alien is a science-fiction horror film from the great directing mind of Ridley Scott. There has been a lot written, filmed, and documented about the making of Alien as its a classic and a milestone of sci-fi horror. One aspect that intrigued me about the making of the film though was the writing of the screenplay. It turns out that Alien was connected to several projects in different ways, all stemming back to the writers. Perhaps even more interesting is in its original inspiration…a student comedy film.
Well before Ridley Scott and HR Giger got involved in building the movie we know and love today a group of USC students had just wrapped on a student film. The movie, which was supposed to be for their college credit actually got a theatrical release and went from being an impressive student film to a bad theatrical film. The movie, titled Dark Star was a satire on 2001: A Space Odyssey, written by Dan O’Bannon and directed by a young man from upstate New York named John Carpenter. O’Bannon wanting to achieve more though wanted to remake Dark Star in a way that would turn his comedic script into a horror film. At the time he had about twenty-nine pages written, most of which was Act One of this new project. In conversing with other creative minds he met Ronald Shusett who saw potential in the project. Shusett also expressed interest to O’Bannon on working on a movie for a book Total Recall for which he had the filming rights to. Ultimately they agreed to make Alien first because it would be a lower budget picture and would be less involved to make as they envisioned it like Dark Star taking place almost entirely in one location.
In the midst of all this excitement though O’Bannon was called on from a Producer in Paris to help with making a movie on Dune. While in Paris he met an artist named HR Giger and was struck by the paintings and sketches he was seeing. His mind went from Dune, which wasn’t going so well to his Dark Star project. After the Dune project fell through the writer was back in LA with less money and put all his attention into his remake project alongside Shusett. Together they came up with the rest of the idea of the movie and settled on the title Alien.
Shopping around the script they got an approval from New World Pictures. New World Pictures was a production studio founded by one of the greatest and influential minds in cinematic history, Roger Corman. Corman made a career making low budget movies and giving young creatives the chance at making movies. A lot of legends and greats have worked with Corman in the past including Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, James Cameron, Jack Nicholson, Charles Bronson, and Francis Ford Coppola to name a few. So working on a Corman picture was a big deal. Before the papers were signed though a mutual friend Gordon Carroll called asking them to hold off as he could get them a deal at major studio and after some deliberation and negotiation a deal was signed with 20th Century Fox. The one idea that got them the studio backing was how the Alien would enter the spaceship, which is famously the chest-bursting scene.
Once 20th Century Fox was involved Ridley Scott was appointed director, HR Giger was brought in to assist in the art department, and a cast was assembled to bring the characters to life. Of the characters cast were seven people with various skills including 2 engineers, a medic, a captain, and a humanoid android to assist the crew and ensure their mission stays on task.
The characters of the film are also well cast and each actor feels well suited for their role. Tom Skerritt plays Dallas, the Nostromo’s captain and does a great job portraying the calm and collected leader. Veronica Cartwright plays Lambert, the ship’s Navigator who is smart, sensitive, and anxious. John Hurt plays Kane the ship’s executive officer while Ian Holm plays Ash, the ship’s science officer who is very methodical, analytical, and by the book. Then there’s the dynamic engineering duo of Brett and Parker played by Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto respectively. The two engineers and mechanics are inseparable and always seem to be complaining about their pay or just grumbling in general. Finally, there’s Ripley a warrant officer, played by Sigourney Weaver. Ripley is among the voices of reason on the ship and helps to assist Dallas in maintaining a clear directive. Sigourney Weaver plays her phenomenally as a strong, smart, independent, and resourceful woman. The movie also excels in its atmosphere and art direction, a lot of that thanks to the artists mentioned earlier, H.R. Giger. Giger was a Swiss artist of fantastic realism who depicted surreal extraterrestrial atmospheres and creatures, culminating in his book the Necronomicon. It is from that book that drew the attention of the Alien crew and more specifically Ridley Scott, who hired Giger to design the Alien itself. Giger's work also became the inspiration for a lot of the environmental design of the movie as well, particularly that of the foreign planet. Prior to Giger's involvement nobody had any concrete ideas or direction on what the alien creature should look like. They had tossed a few ideas around sure, including a shaved orangutan, but none of them were of real substance. Giger with his creative mind drew up what would become the Alien and hit it out of the park.
Apart from Giger's creative influence there were also influences pulled from previous sci-fi and horror films. The interiors of the Nostromo harken back indirectly to Tarkovsky's Solaris and Kubrick's 2001. The hallways with the circular, almost claustrophobic hallways with exposed metal and circuitry seem to be a mix of Solaris and Giger. At the same time though the mess and communal spaces have the sort of polished, smooth, and bright atmosphere of 2001. These interiors mixed with those of the Alien planet, which almost seem organic and creepy provide a great mix of emotions and provide the right atmospheres at the right time. With 2001 themed communal spaces there's a feeling of safety while the hallways feel very isolating, and the foreign planet is all too unfamiliar, creepy, and odd to where you never really feel at home or alone. These aesthetics coupled with the art direction and terrific acting make fantastic moviemaking.
I first saw this film when I was around thirteen years old and was blown away by it. My dad loves Alien and I was introduced to it as a great horror movie and boy was it. It was filled with suspense and had snippets or humor and looked fantastic.
There are a lot of great scenes with this film, but my favorite part is when Dallas goes to capture or kill the Alien, which he does by navigating the air vent system. I won’t spoil anything, but that sequence is in my opinion a masterclass of tension building. From the visuals, the lighting, the music, the acting, it’s got everything.
Alien was released in 1979 and when it hit theaters it was an overnight success. It truly became an event of the summer with people flocking to theaters to see this new horror film with the cool poster. People couldn’t stop talking about it and during its run in theaters racked up an impressive 186 million dollar box office. That number is equally impressive when juxtaposed with its ten million dollar budget.
The success of Alien would spawn an entire film franchise which would see six other movies with Aliens arriving in 1986 and the latest, Alien: Romulus arriving just earlier this year. Some even gave directors an opportunity to direct their first Hollywood movie. Maybe most notably being David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s effort with Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection respectively. Other works were also spawned from the movie including several video games on various consoles, comic books, and board games. It’s pretty amazing what can spawn from one idea and Alien and the franchise that followed is a great example of that.
Alien is a movie that came from humble beginnings and grew into an instant classic. It’s influenced countless filmmakers and has entertained fans for generations and will undoubtedly continue to do so. If you’re a fan of horror, sci-fi, or suspense, and have never seen Alien…I highly recommend giving it a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
If you’d like to watch Alien for yourself you can find it on a variety of streaming services. At the time of this recording you can find it on Hulu. Hulu is a streaming service with options ranging from movies, TV, and sports.
Lastly you can find Alien on other services including GooglePlay, Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, and Microsoft Store for $3.99 to rent.
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