iceblade997
Member
On May 5th 1979, Alien arrived on the big screen and terrified audiences world wide making over 104 million dollars while
being produced on a budget of just 8 million. With simple but effective advertising it proved a huge financial success for
20th Century Fox. A newcomer, Sigourney Weaver became a super star overnight and Ridley Scott gained huge respect from his
peers and critics for his directing talents. Over the years Alien had come to be regarded as one of the best horror and science
fiction films making many top ten lists. It started a franchise that has continued to this day with endless merchandise and video
game tie ins. On home video it earned over 40 million in rentals and in the early 90's received a special edition laser disc, then
eventually releasing on DVD and Blu Ray with extensive behind the scenes material and documentries.
Ridley Scott is able to create a rich believable world in Alien that feels Lived in. Choosing all
characters in the breakfast scene to talk over one another to the long eerie establishing shots that
perfectly set the tone for the rest of the movie.The atmosphere is pure genius. Gothic, claustrophobic and sometimes baroque.
The use of light and dark is beyond description, the use of sound is as creepy as it gets.
Ronald shusett suggested one of the crew members be implanted with an Alien embryo that would
later burst out of him. Feeling that this would be an interesting plot device by which the Alien
would get aboard the ship.
During the scripting process Dan O'bannon always pictured HR Giger's Alien design. Gigers work had a
profound effect on O'Bannon. He had never seen anything so horrific and at the same time so beautiful as
his art.
"It's got a great defense mechanism... you don't dare kill it."
Harry Dean Stanton (Brett). The man you've seen in everything, about to
meet his demise with onlooking Jonesy.
"Its interesting that people say, How great it is a woman is the one who survives.
I think that Ripley survived because she had the attributes necessary to survive. She wouldnt
give up and had the ability to go into overdrive. The thing I thought was the most interesting
about Ripley when I read the script was heres a woman who lived her life very much by the book
and believed that rules existed for a reason. But when the Alien appears theres nothing in the
book to go by and she has to react only from instinct, and thats very hard for her."
Thanks for reading and be sure to watch your favorite Alien film or game today!
Share your fond memories of The Original or sequels.
