Alien: The Director's Cut (Two Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [1979]

I must confess to not finding this film scary in the slightest scary. As a result, I have been more interested in the first half, in which Scott deftly creates atmosphere and foreboding, and the intelligent script sets up the relationships between the characters with great subtlety. The film becomes a little more formulaic after the ‘chest busting’ scene, but there are still surprises, and I admire he way that Scott is content not to play all of his cards at once, never really revealing the alien completely. The film’s originality and brilliance are undoubtable.

The picture and sound on this DVD are uniformly excellent. The picture has been specially cleaned up, and the refined sound allows us to appreciate the dramatic contrasts that are created with the minutely detailed sound effects, particularly in the contrast between the noise of the planet, and the eerie silence of the ship.

Ridley Scott provides an interesting and informative commentary, in which he explains technical aspects of the film, as well as explaining how certain problems were solved within the budgetary constraints. He is full of anecdotes about the shooting of the film and about working with the excellent actors.

Other extras include some deleted scenes, most interesting of which is a scene in which Ripley visits the alien cocoon.... It is easy to see why many of the scenes were left out of the finished film, as many are slightly superfluous, and in many cases, the characterisation which they were intended to bring is easily achieved in the completed film.

As well as some slightly repetitious trailers, there is some brilliant conceptual art work from H R Giger and others, and perhaps most surprising of all is the amazing set of storyboards drawn by Ridley Scott, which were good enough to convince the studio to double the film’s budget. There is also a set of production stills which effectively show the process of making the film.

Another rarely encountered feature is the option of isolated music track, which showcases the wonderful score by Jerry Goldsmith (although its similarity to his score for the same year’s ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’ did put me off slightly), as well as the option for production sound track, which includes eventually unused music and pre mixed sound as the actors heard it, and it throws up a few previously unheard surprises.

Overall, this is a very good DVD of a very good film; perhaps my only wish is that there had been a ‘making of’ documentary. Ah well, you can’t have everything. Read more ›

There's more to it than that of course, including an intriguing subplot about the venality and greed of "The Company" who want to study the Alien, and many long lingering shots of the, admittedly stunning, set design. But it's the set up of the scares that's the important thing about this movie.

As a monster movie it has few peers.

It all starts very quietly. The crew of the Nostromo, a deep space cargo vessel, are woken from hypersleep by their computer.

"Mother" wants them to investigate a distress signal on a previously uncharted planet, and Ian Holm's science officer is strangely keen on the idea.

We find out why when the investigating shore party find the remains of a huge alien spaceship. The pilot, a giant alien, is long dead, its skeleton strangely buckled as if exploded from within. John Hurt goes down into the bowels of the alien craft, and in one of the great SF scenes of all time, finds a nest of alien eggs. He foolishly gets too close to one, and it hatches, releasing a face-hugging alien that wraps itself tightly around Hurt's head, refusing to let go.

When they get Hurt back to the Nostromo, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is reluctant to break quarantine to let them on board, but Ian Holm's science officer overrides her, and Hurt is taken to the medical bay.

Sometime later, the facehugger seems to fall off Hurt's head and he wakes up, seemingly recovered. The crew decide on one last meal before returning to hypersleep.

So as not to spoil one of SF cinemas great shocks, I'll just say that it's about now that the alien makes it appearance, a sharp toothed monster with concentrated acid for blood and a very mean disposition....

And the real shocks start to pile up as one by one the crew are picked off by the alien, until Ripley is left to fight the menace alone.

This film changed the look of SF movies for ever. Ridley Scott was a graphic artist, and his attention to detail and eye for a great visual shows in the set design and cinematography. The corridors of the Nostromo are like a series of dark caves, and the strobe-lit chase scenes have the quality of your worst nightmares.

The film was groundbreaking in other ways as well - Sigourney Weaver became one of the first females to carry a major blockbusting movie, (and has gone on in the sequels to an even stronger screen presence)

It also created one of the great SF monsters. Giger's creation went on to become a worldwide phenomenon in comics, models, tie-in novels and posters, almost as well known as those other icons King-Kong and Godzilla.

The recent DVD issue also contains a deleted scene that afficionados have been waiting for - Ripley encounters the first case of alien cocooning when she discovers what the monster has been doing with the crew members it has been taking. It's a pity this scene was deleted, as it explains parts of the second film, and also provides motivation for Ripley's hate of the monster more than just emphasising her fear of it.

To today's audience the first half of the film may seem far too leisurely - there are no establishing shocks in the first reel, and little action until they get into the alien ship. But Scott handles the rising tension brilliantly, and once the alien makes an appearance, it's a white knuckle ride with few equals.

Just don't have lunch before watching it for the first time. Read more ›