Alien Anthology [Blu-ray] [1979] [4 Disc Set]

It’s hard to see just where the Alien Anthology Blu-ray boxset could have been improved. Nominally a collection of the four main films in the franchise, what’s actually been bundled together here is one of the finest DVD or Blu-ray boxsets to date, boasting a series of features that genuinely go into a lot of depth about the movies themselves.

And what movies they are. Alien and Aliens are both exceptional pieces of cinema, and rightly regarded as classics in their own right. Alien 3, meanwhile, has to be classed as an interesting and muddled failure, yet it’s still got a lot to like about it. Alien: Resurrection? It’s perhaps the least ambitious of the four films, but in the early stages at least, it’s still with merit.

Each of the films is presently strongly, surprising given the variable DVD versions of each we’ve seen to date. But it’s the mammoth package of extras that set a template for pretty much every other Blu-ray boxset on the market. Spread across six discs, you not only get two cuts of each film, but you get extra features that are as impressive as they comprehensive. Presented brilliantly, it’s an unmissable box set, and you get at least two all-time classics as part of it. --Jon Foster

Alien
In the first chapter of the terrifying Alien saga, the crew of the spaceship Nostromo answers a distress signal from a desolate planet, only to discover a deadly life form that breeds within human hosts. Now the crew members must fight not only for their own survival, but for the survival of all mankind.

Aliens
The terror continues as Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story about the alien encounter is met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of high-tech marines back to LV-246... and this time it’s war.

Alien 3
In the third chapter of the terrifying sci-fi saga, Ripley’s crippled spaceship crash-lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by former inmates of the planet’s maximum security prison. But an alien was aboard her craft... and soon the body count begins to mount.

Alien Resurrection
Terror is reborn in the stunning conclusion to the Alien sci-fi saga. Two hundred years have passed since Ripley made the ultimate sacrifice on Fiorina 161, but now a group of scientists has cloned her--along with the Alien queen inside her--hoping to breed the ultimate weapon.

Special Features:

• Audio commentaries by directors Ridley Scott, James Cameron and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, various cast and crew members
• Introduction by Ridley Scott (Alien - Director's Cut only) and James Cameron (Aliens - Special Edition only)
• Final theatrical isolated scores: Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Elliot Golenthal and John Frizzell
• Composer's original isolated scores: Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner
• Deleted and extended scenes