Article Contest Voting

[rhett]

The “Alien” Explanation: 4 Films of Horror, Science, and One of the Other

ALIEN
“Alien” was conceived by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shussett. O’Bannon had previously worked on John Carpenter’s sci-fi spoof, “Dark Star.” He liked the story, but the film ultimately failed as both a spoof and a thriller, mainly, according to Shussett, because the alien looked like “A big beach ball.” Why couldn’t someone develop an alien flick where the most important aspect was the alien? One that had mood. One that had something you could be truly terrified of, in the cold, dark reaches of the place where no one can hear you scream…

O’Bannon had a problem with movies where the monster just snuck on board and was allowed to take out the entire ship. And who wouldn’t? It’s the future; people should be smart, right? Ha ha, WRONG. While it is ultimately the majority of the group’s idiocy that gets them knocked off, the way it comes about sprung from a stroke of genius.

Shussett, while trying to get some sleep one night after developing the first part of the story with O’Bannon, couldn’t stop thinking, “How does it get on the ship?” He thought, and thought, and thought some more, and then!… No, he didn’t figure it out, he fell asleep. AND THEN! He dreamt it, he saw the sequence. He woke up, ran to O’Bannon’s room, and said, “I’ve got it.” “Well, let’s hear it,” Dan said enthusiastically. “The alien, screws the guy.” As you can imagine, the next word out of O’Bannon’s mouth was, “…. What?” “The alien bursts out of the egg, grasps onto the guy’s face, plants his seed on him and they take him on board, and then it bursts out of the guy’s chest!” So the $64,000 dollar question is, “What were the next two words out of O’Bannon’s mouth?” I’ll tell you, they were, “… That’s…. genius.”

So, thanks to that one incredible scene, that the cast and crew pulled off so well that it’s tough to watch, incredible pacing, the fact that almost nothing happens for the first 20 minutes, and one of the more frightening technologically-involved scenes of all time, which, amazingly, the studio added, “Alien” became not only the break of Sigourney Weaver and James Cameron, but also one of the most beloved sci-fi films of all time. In the now infamous “Chest-burster” scene, viewers of the first run in 1979 were so frightened, many of them they fainted, ran out of the theater and/or vomited in the lobby. The scene is so difficult to watch because of the way it is portrayed, that even though it was the sole reason the film was produced, many theaters cut it out of the first run.

A film that was supposed to be a cheap indie B-monster flick, has such power in its presentation, that for 25 years it has freaked out audiences like few others, and it doesn’t even really qualify as a “horror movie.” That, and its given new meaning to the term, “Labor pains.”

ALIENS
Picking up some 55 years after the events of “Alien,” its first sequel falls more into the category of “Action-Adventure” than it’s predecessor. That’s not to say it doesn’t still have some of the emotional power of the first film in the series, but it’s almost an entirely different kind of movie. Almost none of the claustrophobia fully survives, traded instead for a more traditional sci-fi/action crossbreed. It’s still a fine movie. And the production value is astonishing.
After being in hyper-sleep for 50-odd years, Ripley has awakened in the hands of the company she works for, but tried to kill her to get a hold of the… um…. Organism, all those years ago. If you are watching the good version, Ripley is soon reminded of her 10-year-old child…. Who has died since she has last seen her. This aspect, while never mentioned in the first film in the series, adds tremendous meaning to the bond Ripley shares with the last surviving member of the colony which has been taken over by the… um… “Species of Doom.” This is getting tough.

Uh, right, so, Ripley is sent on a mission with a gang of grunts to take out the species once and for all. What she doesn’t know is (cue the dramatic music), when Weyland-Yutani, or, The Company, as they call it, said they were going to “Take them out,” they really meant “For a sandwich and glass of Pepsi.” They want to experiment on them, no matter what that means. There’s a massacre of half the soldiers, and the rest start to realize just what they’re up against. The last remaining soldier and an android get onto a ship, and Ripley goes looking for Newt, the little girl. She finds her, and another,
more enraged female. The Alien Queen.

The Alien Queen has 2 people inside it, and 6 more puppeteering the legs and head. It is truly a sight to behold, especially when it’s ripping Lance Henrikson (the android), in half, while hanging onto the ship. The androids in the “Alien” series are fueled by a sort of white fluid. It’s made up of yogurt and milk. Well, under the hot studio lights, drinking milk and yogurt can be pretty… sickening. Lance got sick as a dog but couldn’t stop the shoot; it’s a miracle they didn’t have to keep cleaning up vomit. So, back on track, Ripley fights the queen alien in a sort of robotic lifting suit. There’s a guy behind her using the limbs, who’s about 7 feet tall. So now you’ve got 2 bodies fighting each other, but there’s actually 10 people in and controlling the scene. It’s an amazing sequence, and a great way to lead the saga into its proposed final chapter, on a new planet, in a new environment, in a new artistic vision of fear.

ALIEN3
Now nearing its proposed final chapter, the Alien saga was set to go back to the original formula: 1 monster in a claustrophobic setting. The question was, "Where would that claustrophobic environment be?"
Vincent Ward was the proposed director for Alien3. He designed a sort of church, which was the whole of a man-made wooden planetoid. The structure would have a core that would control the environment and gravity.
The idea for Vincent Ward’s Alien3 was that on this planetoid, in the far reaches of space, Monks kept life at the “Bare essentials” level. They would have no weapons besides farming implements, and so they would be no match for the alien, now known to the world as a Xenomorph, when it got loose. The idea was for them to lure it into a glassmaker, and kill it with the molten glass. But the structure wouldn’t work the way it was conceived, since gravity wouldn’t affect something that small and hollow in space, and so the production had to be canned.

The production crew had already invested countless dollars and time building enormous sets, so they couldn’t start over. There was an absolutely horrid re-write, and literally every person on set-construction walked off the project.

David Fincher, an unknown director, was hired by Fox to take hold of the production. He decided to use the already-constructed sets, and make the church into a prison, paint all the structures brown and rusty and so-forth, and build new sets to go along with the existing ones.

So, all the set-builders returned, and they used Ward’s original idea to have Ripley be impregnated by the Xenomorph in hyper-sleep. This added tension, as The Company soon found out about Ripley’s, um… “Child,” and tried to persuade her into having it removed. She knew what they were going to do, and she couldn’t let The Company allow the Organism to escape and cause a new sequel. She spreads her arms, and falls into the molten lead she and the remaining inmates had just melted the Xenomorph in. But that didn’t stop Fox…

ALIEN: RESURRECTION
The main character is dead. The species that puts the entire Universe at risk is extinct. And the studio still finds a way to make another hundred million bucks. Don’t you just love creativity?

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, a French indie director who had never made a Hollywood feature, was noticed by the Fox executives for his incredible cinematography, and called in for a meeting. Jeunet had no idea why they wanted him to do the new Alien, but he went along with it.

When he got the job, he went out and rented a bunch of blockbusters from over the years, and then, of course, Alien. He counted the total number of camera placements in the film, and got about 800. As opposed to the typical Hollywood blockbuster which has about 1600. He wanted to match the pacing of the common action-adventure film, and so he went for the larger number.
So, fast-forward a couple-hundred years from Alien3. The Company’s still thriving from all of their ships, but they’re trying to bring Ripley back. Well, not so much Ripley as what was inside her when she died. They make an absolutely perfect specimen, and surgically remove the Xenomorph. Lo and behold, that wasn’t such a good idea.

It’s the oldest story: Alien is extracted from the clone of someone who died 200 years ago, it grows up, gives birth to a dozen babies, and they escape. Man, I hate when Hollywood uses the same stuff over and over again. Anyway, Ripley saw it coming, and so did the obligatory android-who-we-don’t-know-is-an-android, played fairly by Ms. Hollywood Shoplifter Wynona Ryder.

Ryder’s character is part of a crew of violent… uh… actually; I’m not really sure what they do. But anyway, they get on board the main ship, and of course, the aliens escape, and start raisin’ all sorts of hoopla on them and the scientists. They start to be picked off one by one, and then a weird feeling “Ripley” gets leads to the best scene of the film: She, being the 8th attempt at a clone, looking at the other 7. Some of them look like mutated Xenomorphs, some of them look like mutated Sigourney Weavers, and before long, #8 makes it so they all are very toasty.

The film is an action extravaganza, and is very different from the slow, claustrophobic atmosphere of Alien 1 and 3. Not to say it’s bad, but it’s a lot more like Aliens than Alien, which some die-hard fans may not have appreciated. And aside from the “clone” scene, there’s really not much to remark about. Save for maybe the brief moment Ripley shares with the Xenomorph who thinks she’s her mother, it’s pretty much a standard sci-fi effects show, made better by the superb cinematography by Jeunet.


The Alien films have always been great, and with the new Alien VS. Predator flick having taken in the amount it did at the box office, we should be expecting a true Alien 5 pretty soon. I’d personally like another in the style of 1 and 3. It’d be nice to have, once again, a bunch of stuff for the true cinema buffs, as well as an equal amount for the action crowd. No film in the series is bad, and when you’re getting into your fifth sequel, that’s something you should always be thankful for.

[maskull]

another submission after I've already voted. that's not really fair for the person who wrote #11.

[baggio]

quick question who wrote all of these entries?

also even though I have seen every movie listed. The writer or writers succeeded to give away most plots, secrets , endings, etc...

Feel kind of bad for anyone who hasn't seen some of these movies.

[rhett]

Originally Posted by baggio

quick question who wrote all of these entries?

also even though I have seen every movie listed. The writer or writers succeeded to give away most plots, secrets , endings, etc...

Feel kind of bad for anyone who hasn't seen some of these movies.

Originally Posted by rhett

Some of the submissions are from members of the forum, and some are not, but please do not ask who did what, because we won't tell until after the contest.

You've read all the articles and spoilers, but not the very first post in the thread? Tsk tsk.

[baggio]

Originally Posted by rhett

You've read all the articles and spoilers, but not the very first post in the thread? Tsk tsk.

whoops, sorry I didn't realize it answered my question right there.


But what about potential spoilers?


You know whats wierd to me? They all have that feeling they are from the same writer. At first I thought one person wrote them all. Very similar writing.

[rhett]

I put a disclaimer in my first post, so if people don't catch it, it's on their own conscience.

[tobaccoman]

I too feel #11 got a bit screwed over, I didn't even see that one until after I had voted. I didn't realize there were more on the next page. It was also one of the better ones, IMO.

[Shannafey]

How about extending this contest another week? You had the articles for months now, and then put the contest up on a holiday weekend, where a lot of posters will be away!! It's a bit unfair!

[rhett]

This contest is for you guys, so it doesn't matter to me when it closes. I'll leave it open another week, that should rectify any problems people have with the holiday weekend or with the "screwing" of #11.

The new close date is July 12th, 2005.

[rhett]

The contest is now over, and congratulations go to forum member allmessedup, whose Dead Men Walking [and Running] - Why We Still Love Zombies article took the top prize. Honorable mentions go to Marcx for placing second with Dario Argento and his Failure to Slay America and Shannafey for placing third with The Horror of Generation X: A Retrospective Look at Horror Fandom from the 70s Until Today. allmessedup will be receiving a 40 dollar gift certificate, and you all will likely see his contributions here in the future. Thanks all for taking the time to submit articles, it was a pleasure.

Great job guys! Allmessedup can I borrow $20?

Congrats, allmessedup!

[marcx]

Allmessedup nice job!

And thanks to whoever voted for mine!

[allmessedup]

Thanks everyone...

[dwatts]

Congrats!