September 2004

Alien

• Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto
• Director: Ridley Scott
• Music: Jerry Goldsmith
• Theatrical release: 1979
• DVD release: 2003
• Video: Widescreen (anamorphic)
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
• Released by: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

In space, no one can hear you scream.

On its way home to Earth, the deep-space mining ship Nostromo picks up an urgent call for help from a recently colonized planet. When they arrive, all they find is a giant desiccated life form and hundreds of leathery, egg-shaped objects. When Kane (John Hurt) takes a closer look, an alien attacks him by clinging to his face. Dallas (Tom Skerritt) and Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) bring Kane back to the ship, where Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), citing company policy, refuses to let them back aboard. Ash (Ian Holm), the science officer, violates Ripley’s order and lets the three humans -- and the alien -- board the Nostromo. And the mayhem begins.

When Alien vs. Predator came out last month, it got me thinking about Hollywood’s cautious and unadventurous dependence on sequels, and how, when the box-office returns of such sequels as Predator 2 and Alien: Resurrection begin to decline, the script writers start combining the stories. There’s nothing new about this. Recently we had Freddy vs. Jason, and we can go back to 1944 and The House of Frankenstein, which gave us the trifecta of Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man. All of these films take what was originally a decent film and run it into the ground. I don’t mind if the Hollywood hotshots ruin some franchises. Seven Andy Hardy films? I never cared about the first one.

But Alien vs. Predator frustrates me because Alien is a brilliant film, full of revolutionary ideas and groundbreaking innovations. When it was first released in 1979, there was no shortage of frightening films, but most were made on small budgets and consigned to drive-ins or low-rent movie houses. Some of the best, such as Halloween or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, had enough visceral power to make audiences literally jump out of their seats, but mainstream Hollywood had abandoned truly bloodcurdling horror and science fiction. Instead, they’d moved to the posh, upbeat, PG-rated Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Viewers accustomed to seeing cute aliens like Chewbacca, or such happy endings as Richard Dreyfuss walking off hand in hand with an alien, had no idea of the malevolence they were in for when they went to see Alien. Sure, the film’s tagline, "In space, no one can hear you scream," raised expectations of some white-knuckle moments. But no one was prepared for the scene -- you know which one I’m talking about -- that really did make audiences scream.

But horror and shock value alone aren’t enough to make a great film. Jeepers Creepers can make you jump. Alien is much more. Its most frightening characteristic is the story’s slow, disciplined pace. For a director with only one film (The Duelists) under his belt, Ridley Scott demonstrated astonishing artistic talent. Perhaps we can chalk it up to his education at the Royal College of Art, London; maybe it was the result of directing hundreds of commercials. Whatever it was, Scott developed the story with careful rhythm and depth, never rushing a climax, always careful to introduce some calm before the chaos as he relentlessly built to the climax.

The one thing you can always count on in a Ridley Scott film is dazzling visuals. Scott knew he wanted an eerie yet striking look for Alien. He had served as the art director on many BBC series, so he knew what he was looking for in another art director. His pick was Roger Christian, who had worked on Ken Russell’s Mahler, a bizarre film with a unique visual style, and who had just won an Academy Award for Star Wars. Working together, Scott and Christian fashioned a darkly thrilling look that attracts you into its crevices. They also brought in Swiss artist H.R. Giger.

Giger’s conception of the Alien itself is the real star of the film. Filmgoers used to 1970s science-fiction films such as Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Logan’s Run -- even Star Wars -- had never seen anything like this acid-blooded killing machine. After seeing Giger’s 1977 techno-erotic art book, Necronomicon, Scott had decided to hire the artist to help develop the monster, as well as some of the planet where the Nostromo’s crew makes its stop. Giger unleashed his id on the project, and Scott was clearly unafraid of the corporate censors -- in its first appearance (chapter 15), as an indigestion-inducing infant, the alien looks like a phallus with silver teeth; when it murders Lambert (chapter 26), it looks like nothing so much as a giant penis rising between her legs. The creature was bizarre, innovative, and the most frightening thing anyone had ever seen on screen, which is why we’re now seeing it pitted against the Predator in a film of low production values. The alien may be a tough creature, but she can still be raped by a Hollywood producer.

Alien also made a star of Sigourney Weaver. As the scrappy Ripley, she served as the prototype of the kick-ass babes who showed up in later Scott films, such as G.I. Jane and Thelma and Louise. Weaver had had little film experience but a good deal of stage background when she came to Alien. She had some trouble with the dialogue (listen to her obvious discomfort using the word fuck) and never seemed to fit in with the rest of the crew, but there was something both vulnerable and strong about her that made her appeal to men and women alike. What finally made her a star was her ability to credibly portray someone fighting for her life.

Finally, kudos to the recently departed Jerry Goldsmith. Among aficionados of film music, his name is up there with John Williams and Bernard Herrmann, and Alien is one of his best. At least, that’s what most of the world thinks. Goldsmith disagreed. Alien occasioned a deep rift between Goldsmith and Scott when the director cut several passages and replaced them with other pieces Goldsmith thought were inferior. Goldsmith’s concept for the opening was lush and romantic; Scott and his crew wanted something more threatening. Goldsmith, furious, complained to everyone who would listen, but Scott stood his ground -- correctly, I think. The whole story is told to great effect on the bonus DVD.

20th Century Fox’s new DVD version of Alien includes a director’s cut with a difference: it isn’t Sir Ridley’s preferred version. The Hollywood producers asked him to do a director’s cut with most of the deleted scenes reinstated for a limited theatrical run, to help build audience anticipation for Alien vs. Predator. But Scott feels that the 1979 version is essentially perfect (remember what I said above about the film’s perfect pacing?). Here’s what Scott says about it:

"Upon viewing the proposed expanded version of the film, I felt [it] was simply too long and the pacing completely thrown off. . . . However, in the interest of giving the fans a new experience with Alien, I figured there had to be an appropriate middle ground. I chose to go in and recut that proposed long version into a more streamlined and polished alternate version of the film. For marketing purposes (my emphasis), this version is being called ‘The Director’s Cut.’"

This is probably the first director’s cut whose director warns you away from it. It’s shorter than the original; the only real addition is the disclosure of what happened to Harry Dean Stanton’s character. The good side of all these attempts to prop up Alien vs. Predator is that 20th Century Fox invested some real money in restoring Alien’s visuals (as well as the visuals of the other three Alien films). Scott himself worked on the restoration intermittently for over a year. The result is a crystal-clear remastering with exceptional detail in all those dark crevices. Close-ups of the actors look almost hi-def in the depictions of the fine details of their skin.

Anyone who has even a passing interest in Alien will find here a treasure trove of extras. Each version of the film has a full-length audio commentary with virtually everyone involved, except Yaphet Kotto and Ian Holm. Disc 2 includes three and a half hours of extras, many of which are riveting, especially the story of the skirmish between Goldsmith and Scott, and a multi-angle look at the "Chestbuster" sequence.

Ridley Scott recently told the Japanese DVD magazine Famitsu Wave that he is interested in directing Alien 5. That would be a sequel to look forward to.

...Wes Marshall
wesm@hometheatersound.com

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