Set building is so much better than todays CGI. If you can find the cinema release version of 'Blade Runner', rather than the directors cut. It's another Ridley Scott masterpiece
For a 1979 horror science fiction movie this one is the gold standard other films in that category are measured against. And it usually wins against newer, better financed movies. The atmosphere was unbelievable. Oh. And the rolled up magazine was simply an attempt to smother Ripley. It was scripted to go into her mouth but in that take it wasn't rolled up enough. Scott used it because it highlights the fact that a synthetic robot that who is tasked to perform as the ships science officer is not trained in hand to hand combat and is basically making stuff up as he goes. And when I watched that at the cinema back in '79 I was tripping. I had no idea what he was doing. That white stuff leaking down his head. The rolled up magazine. Then when that guy knocked his head off and all that milky crap went everywhere....... My brain literally stopped. I had nothing. Androids were not really a big thing back then so to have one sudden pop up as a murderous science officer is something nobody had seen coming. So now you need to continue the alien franchise. Start the predator movies. And definitely check out Starship Troopers, Terminator and Jaws.
@philshorten3221 I loved the Ring movies and the Jeff Goldblum version of The Fly. They are great movies. But back in '79, Alien was pretty groundbreaking. But today's standards it's all pretty normal to tame. But it was right up there with the Exorcist for shock valve. Note. I did see people puke and pass out during a screening of the Exorcist. But it is what you think. Mostly, people were tossing their cookies at the scene when she in in the hospital, getting all sorts of invasive medical procedures done. Throw in a bit of squirting blood and a squealing girl under lights in a hospital gown, and people were being force-fed something that they were not expecting. Close up and horribly vivid medical procedures being done to a crying little girl. This was so unthinkable going into a cinema back in the 70s. Again. Tame by today's standards. But at the time, it was like a hand grenarde going off. Most people were stunned into silence. Some screamed. Some barfed. And a couple of snowflakes passed out completely. I remember feeling very uncomfortable watching this scene and still do to this day. Later, when all the demonic stuff was going on, there were a few jump scares and a couple of bits that were just gross to watch. But the medical and headspinning scenes were where all the action was at. I won't say more because these lads need to expand their horizons, and I would hope to see them react to The Exorcist one day.
When they landed, they didn't detach from "the main ship". The smaller ship IS The Nostromo. The larger part is the cargo. Think of the Nostromo as the cab of a semi-trailer with the back part as the cargo it's hauling. The cargo in this case is a huge mobile mineral refinery. The Nostrono is a long-range faster then light tug boat. The crew are basically interstellar truckers.
@@cherylsims5636 The shuttle Ripley escaped in is just a tiny lifeboat. The Nostromo itself is still a huge ship. You could see its massive landing legs when the crew left the ship on the planet.
The casting is so good here. I love how everyone looks like people instead of former models or Disney channel tweens turned actor. There is something very grounding about humans looking like average humans.
True. Even Sigourney Weaver, who is *ridiculously* gorgeous to this day, looks pretty normal. (Veronica Cartwright is quite a beauty as well, but her beauty was downplayed too.)
ineed, also they're not 20 somethings. They're also just ordinary people, not superheroes. This is aprticularluy why I like Lambert's character simplu becuase she's terrified (as we all here would be).
@@redcardinalistAgreed. Lambert is my favorite. We would all like to think we would act like Ripley but most of us, me included, would react like Lambert.
They were all big name actors at the time.. huge filmographies for Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto, Tom Skerritt & Veronica Cartwright.. Although Weaver headlined she was just beginning her own illustrious career... FYI the white liquid from Ash was internal fluid (blood not sweat)
Dudes, Ash was trying to shove a magazine down Ripley's throat to block off the air to her lungs. He was trying to suffocate her. The white milky stuff was his hydraulics. He was all soft, malleable material with no mechanical internal support. He needed all that tubing for movement. He started leaking because Ripley pushed him against the wall and caused a lesion.
Well, also, Ash is a bit twisted psychologically, which is possible for AIs in movies (and we may find in real life with the rise of AIs). The sexual/NC symbolism of trying to choke her to death with a porno mag was intentional. Androids can be a scary mirror of their human creators.
@@bfdidc6604Ash just had that method of suffocation modeled for him when the xenomorph shoved its ovipositor down Kane's esophagus. Everybody expressed fear that it would kill him. I doubt Ash was programmed with any libido that could lead to overt sexuality. If anything, he only got tumescent over the absolute physiological perfection of the alien.
The way I've always interpreted it is that Ash was so enamoured of the Alien that he was, in some clumsy, cargo-cult way, shoving something down Ripley's throat in imitation of the way the facehugger had violated Kane. It wouldn't be an effective method of actually killing her, but viewed fetishistically simply performing the action would make sense to him. (I'm also assuming that his tussle with Ripley disrupted his higher functions and he was functioning on some murkier, more atavistic android logic.)
Wrong wrong wrong. The director has stated this whole movie is about warping the body horror genre. And about rape and impregnation. That scene with the magazine was not meant to kill ripley. He was trying to rape her, but he doesn’t have the “equipment” to do so. “Mother” and the room they talk to her in is a play on the womb. Face huggers look like vaginas and chest bursters look like penises. The whole movie is about assault on bodily autonomy
@alastairmabbott7075 This is how I have interpreted it. As we know, the A2s always were a bit "twitchy." His programming was having an internal conflict.
1:08:51 Ripley is trying to turn the destruct system off because the Alien was between her and the shuttle entrance bay; so there was now way for her to escape. The reason she doesn't see the Alien when she goes back is becuase it's entered the shuttle.
About the character decisions: bear in mind that these are basically "truckers in space" - they aren't trained scientists or explorers. They do a job and they go home; Parker is worried about his pay and his bonus because he needs it to live - they're years away from home shipping stuff they have no interest in. They're doing it for pay, naturally Parker wants the most he can get out of the time he's lost (he may very well have been screwed over before). They're probably tired out emotionally, as seems to be the case as you watch them at the start. They just want to go home, and are not in a position to make intelligent decisions, not by training and not by current inclination ... and don't think the Company wouldn't have taken that into consideration.
See also - none of them backing Ripley, who wanted to follow proper quarantine (OH&S probably) procedure, versus Ash who just wanted to get going. I've said it before and I will say it again, Alien is the best OH&S PSA there ever was. This is what happens when you don't follow safety procedures!
One insane ending they almost used: The Alien kills Ripley in the final scene in the shuttle. You then somehow hear Ripley making her final report. The camera pans over to show the Alien having the ability to perfectly mimic her voice as it makes the final report. It suggests that the "perfect life form" would make it to Earth after all. THANK GOD they dismissed that ending!!!
I don't know, actually that has some sense to it. The fact that of all places the xenomorph decided to get into the shuttle like that, almost like it understood what the warning was for as if it had absorbed memories from Kane or the others it attacked. The OG ending does sound like something you would get in a Corman movie though, and ironically it's not a huge jump from what Ridley Scott gave us with the ending of Covenant.
Wtf that’s beyond stupid, I’m a huge Alien fan and watched every behind the scenes and any other documentaries about the production, never heard of that.
All the dripping water and moisture when Brett is looking for the cat is because he went into the landing gear bay, and the moisture is form the condensation accumulate4d on the landing gear that is retraced up into the bay ceiling, and that is also why there is all the chains in the bay was well. Similar to the safety chains on trailer hitch assemblies, etc. The reason Ripley ran back to try and shut off the sea-destruct system is because the alien was in the corridor blocking her way to the shuttle.
I loved how they did not name the sequel Alien 2, but just slapped a “s” on the end of the word Alien. I thought that was brilliant. The making of this movie truly changed the direction of sci-fi horror movies.
In the book the alien got so big so quickly because it was eating the raw food packages in the storage lockers. At one point they could have blown the alien out of the air lock, but Ash set off an alarm scaring it away from the area. In the extended version of the movie Ripley and Parker see the alien drag Brett into the tunnels, you also get to see what happen to Dallas and if you look closely the alien was fixing the walls of the ship to look like where Kane originally found the egg form of the alien. Oh, and by the way I think other than Ripley, Jones was the smartest of the crew he knows when to get the hell out when there was trouble. 😂😂
@@cherylsims5636 I read it in the novelization of the film. It was written by Alan Dean Foster in the year the film came out. Since the Alien franchise is still so popular you can still find it in print at libraries or for sale online. It is not out of print. 😊The book most of the time is better than the movie probably because we can imagine it better.
Alan Dean Foster had early access to the script so that the novel could be finished in time to release concurrently with the film. This detail likely existed and was dropped from the shooting script. Regardless, it is considered canon.
A theater in Montréal showed the first four films in a row on the 40th anniversary of this one, and I will never forget being in a room with diehard fans wanting to experience this again...
I'm 75 and I saw 'Alien' the day it came out in the theaters . It was like a 50's 'B' monster movie that was made as an 'A' movie , A LOT of work went into it , especially by Ridley Scott . We were mesmerized by how good it was, and it holds up well today . Ridley took a lot of shots of the 'Alien' out of the movie before it's release- which really worked in it's favor . Don't try to over-analyse this movie . A lot of aspects were used for effect , it does not all make 'complete' sense . In my opinion 'Alien' was an 'art' movie compared to the more popular 2nd movie - 'Aliens' Which was a well done 'popcorn ' movie adventure . ALIEN was the original --- and the monster was designed by the artist H.R. Giger . Audiences these days definitely have shorter attention spans . ( unfortunately )
And then when Cojo tries to explain who's in it I 100% expected him to say Arnold is in it. But then he describes the predator. I said to myself shiiiit I must be old then. 😁
Great reaction!! This was Sigourney Weaver's first major role in a movie, but all the actors were accomplished actors. Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, Ian Holm, and Tom Skerritt were all movie and television actors from the 50s and 60s. John Hurt, who played Kane, also received Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor for Midnight Express and The Elephant Man, respectively. Veronica Cartwright as a child actor came out in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Her sister, Angela, was part of the regular cast of the 60s series Lost in Space. I do recommend Aliens, but also more recent movies associated with the original such as Prometheus (also directed by Ridley Scott), and Alien: Covenant. Those are really good!
There's a deleted scene in this movie that reveals what happened to Dallas's body after he was attacked in the vent. Let's just say, if the alien were to catch you, you'd best hope it decides to kill you then and there because the alternative is far, far worse...
1:15:56 The actress playing Ripley came up with the idea of quietly singing to herself while attempting to defeat the Alien once and for all. Ripley was using it as a coping device while trying to defeat the Alien once and for all. The song is "you are my lucky star" from the movie "SINGING IN THE RAIN." The studio gave her grief for this. They couldn't do any reshoots (IDK why) and they feared they'd have to pay expensive royalties for the use of the song.
They probably "couldn't" do reshoots because Alien was a first-of-its-kind film (basically a pure man-in-a-rubber-suit B-movie monster flick script, but with a highbrow A-movie budget, cast and director; that combination of elements had literally never been done before) and the suits were likely extremely nervous about how lavish the production was getting on a new kind of film that might potentially flop. They'd already straight-up forbidden Ridley Scott from building the massive "space jockey" set-piece for one very brief scene, and he'd gone ahead and built it anyway.
@@tommcewan7936 They has a strong reaction when they saw the space jockey scene because they thought it was real scale. When in fact the people in that scene were kids moving around on a miniature set.
@michaelrogers2080 REALLY!? I'm a huge SW nerd and I didn't know Weaver tried out for Princess Leia! That's awesome trivia 👍👍 Did you know Harrison Ford was offered the role of Captain Dallas but he turned it down because he didn't want to play another space captain again for fear of being typecast. When the director (Ridley Scott) offered the lead in BLADE RUNNER, Ford almost immediately said yes. Mostly because he regretted turning down ALIEN.😁
Got to watch ‘Aliens’, the greatest sequel ever made for any franchise. Will answer all your questions and nail you to your chair! Fantastic reaction, thanks.
Meh. Aliens is more of a soft remake in a different genre, much like Cameron's other sequel Terminator 2 which also carries many plot beats of the original with a much more action oriented overall plot. People love to hate on Alien 3, but at least it is fairly original by comparison to the original film - something Aliens never will be despite the praise heaped upon it.
wow really? I was 8 at the time but they just don’t make them like these anymore. Did you see the TV double of Salem’s Lot with David Soul? Another masterpiece IMO ?
Always save the cat: Jonesy knew when the Alien was around: that's why he was growling in the shuttle. You need to pay attention when an animal you know behaves weirdly: they're telling you things. Always save the cat.
Its funny you say that, bc as I have daily anxiety and panic issues, and when its happening, one of my favorite tricks to check my surroundings, is to look at my cat. He gets skittish when we shout down the hall to ask each other a question, so he would NOT stick around if something scary were happening. So if I look over at him, and HE'S calm, I have zero reason to freak out and I'm safe and fine. And I know that with 100% certainty, if he's calm, we are completely safe and he doesn't hear, see, smell, or feel ANYTHING out of the ordinary, its JUST me. Its one of the most comforting things in the world to know that.
They make a lot of decisions we think are foolish because we've seen a million horror movies they haven't :D Also, this is basically the crew of a tugboat. They are towing a finished refinery unit back to earth. They aren't really equipped for this sort of thing or trained to deal with it. :D Ash wasn't trying to infect her, he was trying to suffocate her. Ripley had to try to turn the self destruct back off because the Alien was between her and the shuttle. The Alien wasn't sleeping in the shuttle, it was injured by Parker and trying to recuperate.
1. Tagline "In space no one can hear you scream" 2. Best explosion EVER 😱🏆💯(including Star Wars) 3. Dallas/Tom Skerritt also played Viper in "Top Gun" and Strawberry in "Up in Smoke". 4. Brett/Harry Dean Stanton had a very healthy resume. We lost him recently.😇 5. Ridley Scott is also known for directing the original "Bladerunner". 6. "Don't worry Parker, you'll get whatever's coming to you". Turns out to be prophetic. 7. Add me to the "Aliens" watch list.
What makes this, and other older movies good, is the reliance on story, character development, and cinematography. Today, you can bang out any old scifi movie with some CGI and big explosions. There's no heart to most of them. In the 70s and 80s, almost every effect was practical. Difficult to create and work with. Even dangerous to work with. Alien was, and remains today, a masterpiece in direction and story telling. A horror film without character development and story telling, is just a cookie-cutter monster flick.
"Today, you can bang out any old scifi movie with some CGI and big explosions. There's no heart to most of them" Rubbish. It is you who has little heart - but too much prejudice and hatred - and are thus unable to see the beauty in those movies as well. Ever thought about young brats who were brought up on said CGI and are thus laughing how "cheap" old, classic movies look? You are no better than them.
Parker did not panic. He did not shoot the flame thrower because Lambert wouldn't move out of the way. I want to believe that I would restrain myself and not flame up everything and everybody.
Yeah in this cut the edited out Parker and Rickey running into the room and then walking under the chains looking up and being drenched in Brett’s blood as they saw him being taken into the vents
The insides of the alien egg looks real because it IS real. If i recall correctly from the Behind-the-scenes, stomach linings and intestines of pigs or cows were used.
I saw this in the theater, and it was scary as fk. The whole audience was squirming and screaming in shock. You have to remember how good this looked then.... try to stop looking at it with today's eyes and imagine..... I know it's hard for you. Shit, this film still holds up today it was done so well.
@@SubterrelProspector Yes, I wasn't refuting that. The heat from the ore refinery, and condensation from the cooling systems would probably keep it rather sultry in those parts. Xenomorphs seem to be fond of such conditions.
Guys, I'm 40 mins in and this is a GREAT movie reaction. Cojo, of the hundreds of movie reactions I've seen, you're the first to mention and appreciate the orchestral score performed by a real orchestra. Very cool!
What made the sets so superb was this was the first movie where a spaceship was a piece of shit held together with duct tape, not some shiny futuristic environment. They were commercial truckers and the ship reflected that.
Guys I saw this in cinema when it was released and I still think it's one of the best horror films out there. Tom Skerritt who played Dallas was also Viper in Top Gun. Seriously the only thing on that ship with a functioning brain cell was the cat.
Also: This movie looked and sounded like nothing we'd seen before. It broke the mold of what to expect for scifi/horror and set the look and feel for everything that followed. An absolutely revolutionary film in those terms. It borrowed a lot from older films for the story and plot, but the level of craft set a new standard.
They don't, "answer to Mother," Mother is just the ship's computer. They just consult Mother for possible answers. However, Mother can not give full answer without enough data. It is of course possible that Mother has been programmed to withhold information on a need to know basis. To answer one of your other questions: after Ash is destroyed, Ripley speculates, "The Company wanted the Alien for the weapons division." This theme is expanded upon in later films.
I especially like seeing the reaction to my favorite movies in groups of friends. It's always much more fun, and varied. I never watch a reaction when I see that the person who is supposed to be reacting is more concerned with their own beauty and style. "I don't give a sh*t about the movie, but look how pretty I am, how well I paint my nails, and how daring I am with my hair." I really enjoyed your reaction, guys.
In retrospect, knowing that Ash was a robot i understand that everything he said was suspect, but still when he said "don't touch it" when the alien came out of Kane's torso made sense. Remember, harming it would have spilled acid all over the floor and could have killed them all.
By the way, when you asked what happened to Dallas was right at the moment when you would have seen his fate (but unfortunetly you didn't get those scenes since you were watching the theatrical version). And yes, Ripley tried to cancel the autodestruction because the alien was blocking the way. And you can be save with the cat because he's too small to be infected with a facehugger (that's why the alien let him be). I can't wait for Aliens since it's one of the best sequel of all time (with empire strikes back and terminator 2) and for me, I find it even more scary and stressful than the first one
I see! I wish we would've watched the director's cut. That would've cleared some things up during the reaction. Thanks for answering our questions and sharing knowledge with us. That's high praise for Aliens! I'll have to let the boys know you made that comparison. Now I'm even more excited! -Corey
@@RaggedyPack Don't mention it ;) I really appreciate your videos. But you know this praise is not only coming for me from pop culture itself. James Cameron is called the master of sequels for something since he made T2 and Aliens. And in pop culture there are only a few sequels of already great movies that are considered better (empire, godfather 2, T2, Aliens, etc ...)
@@RaggedyPackthe director has stated multiple times the directors cut is not canon. The only reason the directors cut exists is because the studio wanted to release a new version for one of the anniversaries of the original release. When they filmed this movie they didn’t film a lot of extra stuff. And when they wanted the directors cut he only had a bit of extra film and he included the infamous egg morph scene which is not canon. Ridley Scott has stated that the directors cut is just a cash grab and the theatrical version is the best presentation of his original idea. Do not bother watching the directors cut.
Hi guy’s 😊 this the first of your videos I have seen. I really like your style of reaction The second movie is as good as or better than this one. The sequel answers a lot of your questions. I hope you react to the the second one as well.
The most famous old sci-fi film is 2001 Space Odyssey from 1969. It's very slow (Stanley Kubrick) but it has lots to talk about and looks very good and realistic. It has a sequel.The most beautiful sci-fi film ever is Blade Runner from 1982 (Ridley Scott) but the final cut version from 2007 is the one to watch. It has a recent sequel too called Blade Runner 2049.
Great reaction! Another excellent sci-fi horror film from the late 70's is Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Similarly, it's got incredible sound engineering and the building up of the paranoia ambiance that few films have.
The 'Director's' cut, expands a few scenes, so you get to see how Parker and Ripley see what happens to Brett, and you get to find out what happened to Dallas and Brett after they were taken. It trims a few shots to squeeze in some alternate takes and additions- the alien 'distress' signal is heard and Kane draws a gun when the egg starts to react.
I’m late so this may have been explained already, but near the end Ripley was trying to deactivate the self-destruct. The reason she wanted to override it is because when she tried to get to the shuttle the first time, the alien was in the hallway leading to the shuttle and blocking her path. And she couldn’t risk torching it from that position because a fire in that corridor would have blocked her only escape route. The only option to ensure that she would not be caught in the detonation would be to override and reset the self destruct to give her more time, but she missed the cutoff window by a few seconds. At that point, she has no choice but to go back down the corridor where the alien was and try to get on the shuttle. When she goes back, it’s gone (cause it’s on the shuttle).
In the extended version, as Ripley is leaving for the shuttle, she passed Captain Dallas being cocooned in a nest the alien made on the ship. He asks her to kill him.
I don't want to tell too much, but I don't like the extended version of Alien. That scene with Dallas being cocooned tuns out to be impossible. We learn why in Aliens. Just think about where that egg here with Dallas supposedly came from.
@@Keyboardjeyep, just a cash grab from the studio and not even Ridley Scott likes the directors cut. He stated he cut that scene for a reason and it should’ve stayed cut. Only reason. It exists is because they didn’t film much extra film when they originally did the movie, and there was not much extra to include for the directors cut.
@@Keyboardjewell no not really, that was the original intended idea of the alien life cycle, that the alien could transform another host into an egg. Because it was never seen that gave James Cameron license to write a different life cycle of the alien.
Nice, thorough reaction. When you watch the sequel, MAKE SURE you watch the directors cut / extended version!!! More world building, more character background, and it is totally worth it! In the extended version of this movie, Parker manages to catch a glimpse of the Alien pulling Brett away into the airducts, explaining how he could tell it was huge. Ripley was letting out gasses (assumingly environmental gasses in liquid form, hurting the alien) into the pod in the end. Partly to get the alien out from its hiding, but also to create higher pressure inside the pod, so when she opened the door, the expulsion into space would be with greater force. The explanation and connection between Mother, Ash and getting the Alien, is not all that complex, and you have pretty much touched it already. But as it is also touched upon in the sequel (particularly in the extended version), let's just keep you in the dark here, and let you figure it out yourself.
This. 100% The Director's cut of Aliens is just that. It's Cameron's preferred version. It is, in his words, "like 40 miles of bad road." It's a also a masterpiece.
I disagree. The extended cut is better for fans not for first timers😊. The theatre cut is tighter and more mysterious. The extra backstory doesn't make it a better movie just more interesting for fans.
@AndrewWhite-ey2ep I'm sure you did. He's an excellent director. I still think the theatre cut is more punchy. The extended cut reveals too much at the start.
"Horror" as its genre is to invoke the feeling of a claustrophobic atmosphere, of suspense and anticipation of something terrible happening, usually with something supernatural or unknown (in a nutshell). "Horror" does _not_ mean jump-scares or gore, even though many people define horror as such. Jump-scares are mostly used to invoke a scare or disgust emotion of the audience and are therefore often seen as cheap, because it doesn't have a storytelling purpose. The best horror movies don't actually use many jump-scares or gore, but create that unsettling feeling that makes you go "Nope, get the hell out of here". Alien really nailed that feeling, just like The Exorcist and Halloween :) The jump-scares that _are_ appreciated are "functional" ones; where the jump-scare shifts the mood to one of relief to make the audience relax after a good suspense (like Ripley finally finding the cat), or to give a pay-off to something that has been built through suspense (like the facehugger jumping on Kane). None of the jump-scares in _Alien_ are meant to make the audience jump for the sake of it, but because they progress the story being told. Alien is called "horror" because it creates that particular atmosphere of suspense and anticipation, where you can just feel it's going to end horrible for the characters. It created the entire sub-genre of "sci-fi horror" because of that though, since it was the first _good_ "scary" sci-fi movie. And for a movie from 1979 it still holds up, over 40 years later. I'd say that's a really good accomplishment. Games like _Dead Space_ and _Prey_ exist because the makers were influenced by this movie and its sequel. It was _that_ influential. If you like this movie, then you'll also like the sequel, even though the sequel aims for a totally different "James Cameron" experience. The third movie is ... quite terrible. The fourth is more like a nice straight-to-DVD movie. Not a great movie, but it's a nice 'campy' movie. If you don't compare it too much to the first two movies it's an entertaining movie. Predator is also a great iconic movie, Predator 2 is also good - just _very_ different from the first one and it doesn't vibe with everyone expecting more of the same.
Yes, I saw it in the theater in 1979 and no one in my party questioned that Ash was a robot or android once we saw him convulsing and especially when we saw the wires. It made perfect sense. I was laughing at what you guys were coming up. Like WTF? Btw the chest explosion scene was a total shock and absolutely disgusting. It’s hard to believe, but back then those kinds of things were kept secret among people that had already seen it. Also, you had to wait in a line wrapping around the theater hoping to get a ticket and if it sold out, you’d have to buy for the next show and wait. Big movies played in very few theaters even in a big metro area. However they were much bigger in size. Totally different experience than today. This was the first movie where a space ship was dark, dirty, and industrial looking. Prior to this, they were bright, clean and pristine.
Find it fascinating that you guys didn't figure out that the room with the chains was filled with air ducts, and cooling systems...all that water was for cooling the engines. The master minds behind the computer, the protocol of the main order to bring back an alien, and the robot Ash actions was the company who owned the Nostromo...they wanted the Alien for a possible weapon.
Great Rreacton Guys!!!! I'm now 63 years old, so you can believe me when I tell you I saw this movie on opening day. I was about to turn 19. And get this: The only advertisement I saw was what was in the newspaper - I don't recall seeing any trailer before opening day. So I had absolutely NO idea of what I was getting myself into. I saw it at the Plitt Theater in Orange, California, last showing - and I would find out years later that an unknown person named James Cameron was in the same audience as he said he had seen it at an Orange County theater on opening day, last showing. And in my entire Movie Geek life I never felt more lucky to have been one of the first to see it - because NOBODY in that audience knew what was coming 55 minutes into the film. I don't recall any screaming other than a few yelps, but for me, I KNOW my eyes had to be as wide as saucers and my mouth was probably hitting the ground, and to this day this ranks as one of the biggest screen shocks I ever experienced. I was only anticipating that he would blow up from the inside (remember that line earlier in the film?), but was not anticipating a live creature to come out. As for the robot, blush, cough, cough, I never suspected until the head was knocked off - another great shock. When the scene started with the "sweating", I just didn't know what was going on, the previous victim didn't "sweat" before the creature popped out. But honestly, I think that got a bigger scream than the chest buster scene. But let's skip to the ending. The camera does that very slow pan to a sleeping Ripley, fade out, then the first credit. When the first credit came up, you would never hear such an exhale come from an audience. Hehe. Yes, it was the last showing so it near midnight when we left the theater, but we were all wide awake. By the time Sunday had arrived, it seemed like EVERYBODY knew about "the big scene", so that is why I consider myself lucky to have seen it on opening day. Me and the audience got the shock of our lives - and something we would never forget. Even through my shock, I knew in the seconds after the scene ended we saw something that was going to rank right up there with the Shower Scene from "Psycho" as one of the big iconic moments in cinema history. So sorry you guys weren't born yet. You really missed out on something.
You've never had an employer mislead you about their intentions ("We need employees in the office all five days a week: it promotes teamwork.")? The situation with MUTHUR and Ash manipulating the crew is fairly normal (and in a science fiction movie can be traced at least as far back as "Metropolis").
Yup. And threatening to dock their pay or that they'll lose their bonuses if they don't do something, or don't meet a deadline, or whatever. (The only unrealistic part is that Ash didn't get into the whole 'and you know if you cause too much trouble we might just not renew your contract next year, it's a really tough market out there too'.)
Ripley tried to turn off the self destruct cause the alien was in the escape pod. When she missed the shut off deadline she had to go back to the shuttle. Love these long form reactions
I was glad to see the sets getting some much-deserved love. Once the alien appears and all hell breaks loose, the production details are easy to ignore, but they're a big part of what makes the movie so realistic--and thus so terrifying.
You can experience this exact movie and its atmosphere through the "Alien Isolation" videogame. The main story in that game also connects "Alien" and "Aliens", it's the story of Ripley's daughter xD
It took forever for Scott to admit it, but this was nothing more then a remake of the 1958 film "It! The Terror from Beyond Space". A film that was just as creepy at times. A definite must watch!!
When this came out, the poster was simply an egg with the tag line “in space, no one can hear you scream”. That’s when the tension started so the gradual build up in the movie mad it so much worse.
Alien was full of suspense. Aliens is more action but I loved this one. Ripley was one of the first female badasses. Great movie and still excellent today
I saw Alien when it opened in 1979 in NYC! The theatre was packed and the line to get in circled the block. When the 'chestbuster' emerged from Kane the entire audience applauded! It was wild!!😊
Predator (HUGE film starting Arnold) was one of the MOST successful sci-fi films of All Time. Predator DOES NOT “have cables” in the back of its head. It COLLECTS PRIZES/trophies from its victims. From the guy with dreadlocks…yep, it stole his dreads. I guess it liked the look.
The white fluid was hydraulic fluid, it was basically Ash's blood - but its not blood its part of Ash's biological mechanics as he is synthetic not robotic in the traditional sense. He was not sweating in the prior scene Ripley had a tussle with Ash pushing him against the wall and he banged his head - again he was damaged, reflecting blood from a head injury but its not blood as hes a biological machine. He was attempting to suffocate Ripley with the magazine, the whole film is based on bodily invasion this again is a metaphor for that. Quite simply Ash was programmed to investigate and analyse the Alien, it was his core directive but was programmed to do it in secret - this caused conflict in his core directive to not hurt humans so it sent him mad or technically he malfunctioned. He is connected to mother the ships AI, so he is carrying out the directives from Mother . Mother has been programmed by the company - Weyland Yutani to seek out the Alien, they knew about the signal and probably the derelict ship - how much they knew is unknown. The crew is basically truckers in space, they are not military or anything like that they are just workers on a job wanting to get home - money has to be the motivator as they dont care they just want to get home after a long shift.
Deleted scenes (SPOILERS) Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) while trying to get to the shuttle to escape stumbles into the alien nest that the creature was creating in the Nostromo. Capt. Dallas was cocooned and morphing into an alien egg. Brett was already far gone was already turning into an egg. Dallas begged Ripley to kill him. Ripley killed Dallas with the flamethrower. Blowing up the Nostromo was the right thing to do! This scene was removed because Ridley Scott felt it interrupted the flow of the suspenseful ending. In the book and pre-production art Lambert died in a gruesome manner, impaled by the alien’s tail in her a.., as you guessed. Parker and Lambert were then torn to pieces and their body parts crammed into the air vents. The rolled up magazine was to be jammed into Ripley’s throat, intentionally meant to appear as a violent oral sexual assault. The overt sexual imagery and suggestions throughout the film was intentional. The ‘orifice’ entrance to the alien ship, the phallic shape of the alien’s head, the ‘inner mouth’ sliding in and out of the alien’s mouth, the milk gushing out of Ash’s severed head. Kane being ‘impregnated, by a tube down his throat. Oh, my! As far as I can tell you guys saw the theatrical version. The alien full body costume was so well done that actor Yaphet Kotto (Parker) hated it and wanted to actually fight the actor in it. Ripley was venting steam to flush the alien out of the pipes and ducts. The alien skeleton was called ‘the navigator’. It and the alien ship are of the same world, different from the eggs below and suffered the same fate as the Nostromo. None of the information above are spoilers for other movies, but are details for this first film, taken from books and interviews.
The Lambert part about impalement is not true man. In the book she DIES OF FRIGHT and where you can see the Alien's tail going in between her legs in the movie to suggest something to you, those boots and pants actually belong to Brett. There is a scene where you can see the Alien carry him up to the airshafts and the way it is holding him shows that what it does to Lambert in the final cut was supposed to happen to him.
So the whole deal with starting and resetting the self destruction sequence, when she first started it and ran to the life pod, the Aline was standing in between her and the life pod. She couldn’t set it on fire cause it would either go right at her, or right into the life pod. So she went to reset the timer to give her more time in hopes the alien would run off somewhere else. The problem is these things are really smart, smart enough to know that the ship was destructing and to try and find a place it could hide and live. When she starts the 10 minute timer, it is really 10 mins, everything we see on the screen happens in those 10 mins. Great way to build tension.
in the extended cut you see parker break in just as ash is taken upwards, that's how he knows. you see ripley find the live bodies glued to the wall with alien resin and brett is morphing into an egg. the Alien title also refers to the spaceship look (the look really is alien), the organic creature looks metal and has a name Biomechanics. the aliens metallic body gives it perfect camouflage. the android uses a real oil called suds oil, in factories it is pure white like milk and is used as a cutting oil in cnc machines. the wires and globes were fibre optics and synthetic muscles that contract to different voltage
“What is the alien was mimicking the cat?” Funny that…the original screenplay called for the xenomorph to kill Ripley by decapitating her, and then stating the final flight log in her voice. Good thing that didn’t fly.
I saw this in theaters in 1979 when I was 11. My dad took me. I don't think current day audiences can appreciate how unbelievably scary this movie was to see in a dark movie theater. The movie came out during the summer and there was no advance word on it. So the chest-burster scene scared the hell out of the audience I saw it with -- no one saw that coming. Also, if you take a close look at Parker's body at 01:06:09 he's sitting in a Lotus position with his legs crossed. What always creeped me out about that is his corpse is posed, not discarded. Did the alien actually pose him like that???
Lambert was the very exemplar of 'frozen with fear'. Scott restricted the view of the alien to allow the viewer to fill in the rest with their imagination. Good reaction guys. Really enjoyed it.
Don't know if anyone mentioned it but the scene where the alien burst from Kane's chest, the only people who knew what would happen were Ridley Scott and John Hurt. The rest of the cat saw it for the first time when it happened so the reaction was real. When the xenomorph killed Parker, the second mouth punctured his chest and ate his heart.
1) It is implied in this movie (but expanded on in the comics etc) that the "host" is not just an incubator for the species. It uses the host's genetic information in order to create a hybrid of itself that is already highly adapted to the host's environment. So in the case of a human host, while it retains its exoskeleton, acid blood and basic features... it is "shaped" similar to the host it was born from. But it takes "the best of the best" genetic information of the host and discards the junk DNA (which is why it was bigger than the human it came from). However, if the host was like a "cat" it would have feline attributes, if it was a snake, it would have snake attributes, if it was a dinosaur, it would have the attributes of that dinosaur etc etc etc 2) In a cut scene in this movie, it showed a scene where the Alien had raided the ships food storage room... with numerous "cast off skins" (like a snake). This explains how it got so big so fast. They deleted the scene because they wanted to surprise the audience by how big it had gotten after the chestburster scene. Apparently, even if there is no food available, its acidic blood allows it to digest other less nutritious things, like wood, rubber and even metal. Although it likely prefers meat. 3) During the "chestburster scene" they didn't tell the rest of the cast about the actual "bursting or blood squirting" part happening in that moment. So the actors reactions are half /acting half/genuine surprise and disgust. 4) The xenomorph tail can be used as a spear if facing something that is putting up a good fight, or to pull victims towards them. Also a lot of the "fleshy" scenes (like the facehugger autopsy etc) they used actual meat cuts and real animal organs to make it look more realistic. Apparently it smelled terrible after long shoots. Aliens do not show up on heat sensors or infrared at all (which is why you need to use motion sensors). 5) In another deleted scene it showed Ripley finding the captain (Dallas) alive and attached to the wall begging her to kill him. It appeared that he was kind of "melting" and starting to form an Alien egg out of his flesh. This concept was altered as the lore evolved in later stories (as seen in Aliens). 6) This is one of the movies where "characters sticking together" would not help. Kind of like 10 humans trying to take on a Terminator with their bare hands... it does not improve your chances at all. A xenomorph in a room vs 50 unarmed humans... the Alien is going to easily win. So "splitting up" actually increases your chances of survival because it can only be in 1 place at 1 time (unless you plan on sacrificing others by throwing them in front of the alien to make your escape or something). There is no such thing as "strength in numbers" when an Alien (or a Terminator, or a Predator) is involved, unless you are armed with some crazy powerful ranged weapons and you get them before they manage to get close. 7) Also "running" is pretty much pointless unless you have somewhere you can get to really fast and are able to close a door quick. Xenomorphs can outrun any human easy in a straight line or if there are no barriers in the way. They are far too quick. 8) Ripley was trying to turn off the self-destruct because the Alien was between her and the shuttle, so she had no choice. But since she was unable to turn it off she had no choice but to risk it and try for the shuttle again. 9) The Aliens don't technically "sleep" it is more that they kind of hibernate while waiting for something to do (when there is no obvious prey, or hosts to gather etc). 10) The vacuum and freezing temperature of space doesn't kill an Alien, (but it will freeze and be unable to move or function). But it wouldn't be able to survive re-entry into a planetary atmosphere (or likely the impact from height).
Great reaction guys! I think one difference between films then and films now is that modern films ALWAYS have a twist ending & post credit scene (to set up the next film). Back in the day, most films were made as one-offs. They usually didn't decide to make a sequel until well after the first film made enough money to justify it.
What is often missed today is this is the very first monster movie where the woman is not saved by the leader guy. First ever. It was amazing for that.
Parker felt he was underpaid and was dissatisfied, but he fought courageously and fearlessly against the Alien. He cared about more than just his check.
Yall are quickly becoming one of my favorite reaction channels. Loving GoT, AoT, Star Wars, Breaking Bad, and now my favorite sci-fi series of all time. Keep it up guys!
I was there in 1979 I was about to turn 11... And we saw it at FT Devens Mass. GIs were getting up in the movie, walking to the back of the base theater, and putting their backs against the wall... it was insane. I was not originally allowed to see the movie as it terrified my mother and Green Beret Step Father... My mother had to sleep with the lights on for a week. She eventually caved and let me see it when I told her I had read the book... Which by the way has much more in it... as usual. If you want to read it try to find a book published around that time 79-81 as the newer released have edited some of the interesting bits not seen in the film.
What's insane is that to us back then it was a "later style" of "new horror" that changed how horror and monsters would look from here on. This and "The Thing" created the future genre of special effects in horror. I remember it as being a new thing, and to hear you talk about it like it is an ancient thing says a lot about the trick of time. It's like to me 80s music is still "new wave" and "new". Yet it's retro and ancient.
The director didn’t tell any of the actors except for John hurt that the baby alien would be exploding out of his chest so he could get their genuine reactions, the other actress apparently fainted when it happened.
as i heard that story, they all knew "in principle" what should happen (partially hiding the actor and adding a fake body probably wouldn't have benn possible to do secretly), but they didn't know the details about all the blood and the emerging alien, and in addition something went wrong and caused a multiple of the intended (and maybe expected) blood spraying. thus their reactions were genuine shock.
The alien was between her and the shuttle so that's why she tried to stop the countdown (too late) - that was the scene when it was coming around the corner. The housecat is the 4th top feline predator in the world - the alien wasn't trying to kill it, it was fascinated with it. Also, the second set of jaws/teeth was based on the moray eel, which has a set of pharyngeal jaws, a second set of jaws located down the esophagus to grab prey after it's initially grabbed by the primary jaws and then quickly drawn down into the pharynx. The facehugger was based on parasitic wasps, which inject their eggs into the host, which will eventually die after it has been consumed by the baby wasps. This is part of the genius of the film - the most horrific characteristics of the Alien are based on characterists of actual earth species.
35:44 They actually went to a seafood restaurant & got mussels, clams, oysters & just dropped them right in. Then they airbrushed the whole thing with shadows & dark earth tones.
Lambert is portrayed by Veronica Cartwright, who played Penny the middle child of the Robinson family on the 1960s TV series Lost in Space. She was only a little older than me. I couldn't stand her. I realized later that was the writer's fault. She was either whining, weeping or sullen. The show wasn't on very long and I happily forgot about her . Then Alien came out and there she was again. IDK, maybe the director picked her because he remembered the old series.
Sister Angela was Penny in "Lost in Space" and also featured as one of the children in "Sound of Music" (I ALWAYS get the two and their resumes confused....). Veronica was in "The Birds" - she's the young sister, and has a wonderful monologue. She's also in " Witches of Eastwick".
Fun Fact: Ridley didn't tell the cast about the chest Buster, he said, "They're just going to see it." So when it busted from Kane's chest their reactions were all real. Fun Fact: Sigourney Weaver Was Almost Recast Because Of A Possible Cat Allergy. Jones was actually played by 4 different but identical-looking cats, each of which fulfilled different "dramatic" roles, the crew felt it would be easier to recast Ripley than to find another 4 identical cats. Luckily, it transpired that Weaver was not allergic to cats at all, and the reaction was to glycerin sprayed on her skin to simulate sweat.
To answer two questions, there’s a deleted scene where Ripley finds Dallas and Brett turning into eggs. Dallas barely conscious and says “Kill meeeee” so Ripley flames them. The other thing of worthy note is that the alien was supposed to explode from the heat and pressure of the engines blasting it but they didn’t have the budget. You can find that on the storyboards for the film Incase anyone doubts it. You hear a secondary explosion when ripley is looking out the window so I interpret that as the Alien blowing up.
(4) (movie facts) (1) the inside of the egg and the face hugger were made with real cow and pig guts to make it look more more realistic (2) none of the actors knew about the chest burster which they used real pigs, blood for (3) the actors that played the xenomorph had to wear ice shirts inside the suit so they wouldn’t overheat and pass out (4) xenomorph intentionally scare humans and then let facehuggers get them
45: 53 so my favorite thing to explain for the ship about the "Wet Area" is that is likely the Cooling tower section for the ship's core. the sudden expansion allows for a sudden decrease in pressure and temperature, thus allowing the loop to return to a liquid state. but this system underestimates that heat can buildup within a ship, so there has to be large radiators outside the ship to deal with that. problem is I never saw that sort of thing. Side note: xenomorphs grow absurdly fast, and yes, it has a pharyngal jaw that actually does the eating, sort of like a probiscis, but has enough power behind it to punch through roughly 1/8" of stainless steel. for anyone who doesn't know, that's generally considered to get to high commercial to industrial strength
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This movie was actually pretty scary! 😱
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Set building is so much better than todays CGI. If you can find the cinema release version of 'Blade Runner', rather than the directors cut. It's another Ridley Scott masterpiece
If you enjoyed the movie, and like gaming, check out Alien Isolation, rated as one of the scariest games of all time
For a 1979 horror science fiction movie this one is the gold standard other films in that category are measured against. And it usually wins against newer, better financed movies. The atmosphere was unbelievable. Oh. And the rolled up magazine was simply an attempt to smother Ripley. It was scripted to go into her mouth but in that take it wasn't rolled up enough. Scott used it because it highlights the fact that a synthetic robot that who is tasked to perform as the ships science officer is not trained in hand to hand combat and is basically making stuff up as he goes. And when I watched that at the cinema back in '79 I was tripping. I had no idea what he was doing. That white stuff leaking down his head. The rolled up magazine. Then when that guy knocked his head off and all that milky crap went everywhere.......
My brain literally stopped. I had nothing. Androids were not really a big thing back then so to have one sudden pop up as a murderous science officer is something nobody had seen coming. So now you need to continue the alien franchise. Start the predator movies. And definitely check out Starship Troopers, Terminator and Jaws.
Scary, the original Japanese Ringu or the remake The Ring either.
SciFi Horror.... The Fly
(a Jeff Goldblum golden oldie)
@philshorten3221 I loved the Ring movies and the Jeff Goldblum version of The Fly. They are great movies. But back in '79, Alien was pretty groundbreaking. But today's standards it's all pretty normal to tame. But it was right up there with the Exorcist for shock valve. Note. I did see people puke and pass out during a screening of the Exorcist. But it is what you think. Mostly, people were tossing their cookies at the scene when she in in the hospital, getting all sorts of invasive medical procedures done. Throw in a bit of squirting blood and a squealing girl under lights in a hospital gown, and people were being force-fed something that they were not expecting. Close up and horribly vivid medical procedures being done to a crying little girl. This was so unthinkable going into a cinema back in the 70s. Again. Tame by today's standards. But at the time, it was like a hand grenarde going off. Most people were stunned into silence. Some screamed. Some barfed. And a couple of snowflakes passed out completely. I remember feeling very uncomfortable watching this scene and still do to this day. Later, when all the demonic stuff was going on, there were a few jump scares and a couple of bits that were just gross to watch. But the medical and headspinning scenes were where all the action was at. I won't say more because these lads need to expand their horizons, and I would hope to see them react to The Exorcist one day.
When they landed, they didn't detach from "the main ship". The smaller ship IS The Nostromo. The larger part is the cargo. Think of the Nostromo as the cab of a semi-trailer with the back part as the cargo it's hauling. The cargo in this case is a huge mobile mineral refinery. The Nostrono is a long-range faster then light tug boat. The crew are basically interstellar truckers.
Ohhhhh that makes so much sense! Thanks for the explanation -Corey
Are you sure about it? The shuttle ship was set kinda far back and obviously in the hall way it didnt seem that far. I have wondered about this.
The commercial towing vehicle nostromo, it’s right there in the opening description at the beginning of the movie.
@@cherylsims5636 The shuttle Ripley escaped in is just a tiny lifeboat. The Nostromo itself is still a huge ship. You could see its massive landing legs when the crew left the ship on the planet.
Oh Im well aware. The Alien movie series is one of my favorites ever since I saw it in theatres in '79. I know all sorts of trivia@@Merecir
The casting is so good here. I love how everyone looks like people instead of former models or Disney channel tweens turned actor. There is something very grounding about humans looking like average humans.
True. Even Sigourney Weaver, who is *ridiculously* gorgeous to this day, looks pretty normal. (Veronica Cartwright is quite a beauty as well, but her beauty was downplayed too.)
ineed, also they're not 20 somethings. They're also just ordinary people, not superheroes. This is aprticularluy why I like Lambert's character simplu becuase she's terrified (as we all here would be).
Absolutely!
@@redcardinalistAgreed. Lambert is my favorite. We would all like to think we would act like Ripley but most of us, me included, would react like Lambert.
They were all big name actors at the time.. huge filmographies for Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto, Tom Skerritt & Veronica Cartwright.. Although Weaver headlined she was just beginning her own illustrious career... FYI the white liquid from Ash was internal fluid (blood not sweat)
Dudes, Ash was trying to shove a magazine down Ripley's throat to block off the air to her lungs. He was trying to suffocate her. The white milky stuff was his hydraulics. He was all soft, malleable material with no mechanical internal support. He needed all that tubing for movement. He started leaking because Ripley pushed him against the wall and caused a lesion.
Well, also, Ash is a bit twisted psychologically, which is possible for AIs in movies (and we may find in real life with the rise of AIs). The sexual/NC symbolism of trying to choke her to death with a porno mag was intentional. Androids can be a scary mirror of their human creators.
@@bfdidc6604Ash just had that method of suffocation modeled for him when the xenomorph shoved its ovipositor down Kane's esophagus. Everybody expressed fear that it would kill him. I doubt Ash was programmed with any libido that could lead to overt sexuality. If anything, he only got tumescent over the absolute physiological perfection of the alien.
The way I've always interpreted it is that Ash was so enamoured of the Alien that he was, in some clumsy, cargo-cult way, shoving something down Ripley's throat in imitation of the way the facehugger had violated Kane. It wouldn't be an effective method of actually killing her, but viewed fetishistically simply performing the action would make sense to him. (I'm also assuming that his tussle with Ripley disrupted his higher functions and he was functioning on some murkier, more atavistic android logic.)
Wrong wrong wrong. The director has stated this whole movie is about warping the body horror genre. And about rape and impregnation. That scene with the magazine was not meant to kill ripley. He was trying to rape her, but he doesn’t have the “equipment” to do so.
“Mother” and the room they talk to her in is a play on the womb. Face huggers look like vaginas and chest bursters look like penises. The whole movie is about assault on bodily autonomy
@alastairmabbott7075 This is how I have interpreted it.
As we know, the A2s always were a bit "twitchy."
His programming was having an internal conflict.
1:08:51 Ripley is trying to turn the destruct system off because the Alien was between her and the shuttle entrance bay; so there was now way for her to escape. The reason she doesn't see the Alien when she goes back is becuase it's entered the shuttle.
About the character decisions: bear in mind that these are basically "truckers in space" - they aren't trained scientists or explorers. They do a job and they go home; Parker is worried about his pay and his bonus because he needs it to live - they're years away from home shipping stuff they have no interest in. They're doing it for pay, naturally Parker wants the most he can get out of the time he's lost (he may very well have been screwed over before). They're probably tired out emotionally, as seems to be the case as you watch them at the start. They just want to go home, and are not in a position to make intelligent decisions, not by training and not by current inclination ... and don't think the Company wouldn't have taken that into consideration.
See also - none of them backing Ripley, who wanted to follow proper quarantine (OH&S probably) procedure, versus Ash who just wanted to get going. I've said it before and I will say it again, Alien is the best OH&S PSA there ever was. This is what happens when you don't follow safety procedures!
well uh, not exactly years with the more expanded lore on gravity drives and such. but weeks or months? yes.
One insane ending they almost used:
The Alien kills Ripley in the final scene in the shuttle. You then somehow hear Ripley making her final report. The camera pans over to show the Alien having the ability to perfectly mimic her voice as it makes the final report. It suggests that the "perfect life form" would make it to Earth after all.
THANK GOD they dismissed that ending!!!
That would've been devastating!
I don't know, actually that has some sense to it.
The fact that of all places the xenomorph decided to get into the shuttle like that, almost like it understood what the warning was for as if it had absorbed memories from Kane or the others it attacked.
The OG ending does sound like something you would get in a Corman movie though, and ironically it's not a huge jump from what Ridley Scott gave us with the ending of Covenant.
Wtf that’s beyond stupid, I’m a huge Alien fan and watched every behind the scenes and any other documentaries about the production, never heard of that.
@@mnomadvfx Going in the shuttle is a natural choice, it was the only place not blaring an alarm and spraying steam everywhere.
**spoiler** for another movie titled Life...
The alien does make it to Earth :(
All the dripping water and moisture when Brett is looking for the cat is because he went into the landing gear bay, and the moisture is form the condensation accumulate4d on the landing gear that is retraced up into the bay ceiling, and that is also why there is all the chains in the bay was well. Similar to the safety chains on trailer hitch assemblies, etc.
The reason Ripley ran back to try and shut off the sea-destruct system is because the alien was in the corridor blocking her way to the shuttle.
The Thing (1982) that's the alien+horror movie you're looking for.
this
Never cared for the thing. I don't find it scary at all. I know a lot of people do though.
All the water, dampness, "rain" was from the ship's massive coooling units. Like the water coming off your car's A/C when it's running.
Thanks I always wondered what was going on with all the water. Brett like "taking a shower 🚿
I loved how they did not name the sequel Alien 2, but just slapped a “s” on the end of the word Alien. I thought that was brilliant. The making of this movie truly changed the direction of sci-fi horror movies.
When James Cameron pitched his idea he spelled out “Alien$” and the rest is film history.
In the book the alien got so big so quickly because it was eating the raw food packages in the storage lockers. At one point they could have blown the alien out of the air lock, but Ash set off an alarm scaring it away from the area. In the extended version of the movie Ripley and Parker see the alien drag Brett into the tunnels, you also get to see what happen to Dallas and if you look closely the alien was fixing the walls of the ship to look like where Kane originally found the egg form of the alien. Oh, and by the way I think other than Ripley, Jones was the smartest of the crew he knows when to get the hell out when there was trouble. 😂😂
Now how did you know it was eating food in the lockers? Never heard this mentioned before
@@cherylsims5636 I read it in the novelization of the film. It was written by Alan Dean Foster in the year the film came out. Since the Alien franchise is still so popular you can still find it in print at libraries or for sale online. It is not out of print. 😊The book most of the time is better than the movie probably because we can imagine it better.
Alan Dean Foster had early access to the script so that the novel could be finished in time to release concurrently with the film. This detail likely existed and was dropped from the shooting script.
Regardless, it is considered canon.
A theater in Montréal showed the first four films in a row on the 40th anniversary of this one, and I will never forget being in a room with diehard fans wanting to experience this again...
I'm 75 and I saw 'Alien' the day it came out in the theaters . It was like a 50's 'B' monster movie that was made as an 'A' movie , A LOT of work went into it , especially by Ridley Scott . We were mesmerized by how good it was, and it holds up well today . Ridley took a lot of shots of the 'Alien' out of the movie before it's release- which really worked in it's favor . Don't try to over-analyse this movie . A lot of aspects were used for effect , it does not all make 'complete' sense . In my opinion 'Alien' was an 'art' movie compared to the more popular 2nd movie - 'Aliens' Which was a well done 'popcorn ' movie adventure . ALIEN was the original --- and the monster was designed by the artist H.R. Giger . Audiences these days definitely have shorter attention spans . ( unfortunately )
Yeah. I agree.
"Does Predator have its own movie series" cracked me up😂 definitely should be on your watch schedule
Zoomers, right?
And then when Cojo tries to explain who's in it I 100% expected him to say Arnold is in it. But then he describes the predator. I said to myself shiiiit I must be old then. 😁
Great reaction!! This was Sigourney Weaver's first major role in a movie, but all the actors were accomplished actors. Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, Ian Holm, and Tom Skerritt were all movie and television actors from the 50s and 60s. John Hurt, who played Kane, also received Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor for Midnight Express and The Elephant Man, respectively. Veronica Cartwright as a child actor came out in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Her sister, Angela, was part of the regular cast of the 60s series Lost in Space. I do recommend Aliens, but also more recent movies associated with the original such as Prometheus (also directed by Ridley Scott), and Alien: Covenant. Those are really good!
There's a deleted scene in this movie that reveals what happened to Dallas's body after he was attacked in the vent. Let's just say, if the alien were to catch you, you'd best hope it decides to kill you then and there because the alternative is far, far worse...
1:15:56 The actress playing Ripley came up with the idea of quietly singing to herself while attempting to defeat the Alien once and for all. Ripley was using it as a coping device while trying to defeat the Alien once and for all.
The song is "you are my lucky star" from the movie "SINGING IN THE RAIN."
The studio gave her grief for this. They couldn't do any reshoots (IDK why) and they feared they'd have to pay expensive royalties for the use of the song.
They probably "couldn't" do reshoots because Alien was a first-of-its-kind film (basically a pure man-in-a-rubber-suit B-movie monster flick script, but with a highbrow A-movie budget, cast and director; that combination of elements had literally never been done before) and the suits were likely extremely nervous about how lavish the production was getting on a new kind of film that might potentially flop. They'd already straight-up forbidden Ridley Scott from building the massive "space jockey" set-piece for one very brief scene, and he'd gone ahead and built it anyway.
“The actress” is Sigourney Weaver.
@@tommcewan7936 They has a strong reaction when they saw the space jockey scene because they thought it was real scale.
When in fact the people in that scene were kids moving around on a miniature set.
@michaelrogers2080
REALLY!?
I'm a huge SW nerd and I didn't know Weaver tried out for Princess Leia! That's awesome trivia 👍👍
Did you know Harrison Ford was offered the role of Captain Dallas but he turned it down because he didn't want to play another space captain again for fear of being typecast.
When the director (Ridley Scott) offered the lead in BLADE RUNNER, Ford almost immediately said yes. Mostly because he regretted turning down ALIEN.😁
@michaelrogers2080 That is a pretty nifty bit of trivia. And I suspect you can stump a lot of people with that. 😊
Got to watch ‘Aliens’, the greatest sequel ever made for any franchise. Will answer all your questions and nail you to your chair! Fantastic reaction, thanks.
“The Godfather ll” would like a word with you.
@@MsAppassionataDo I sense “…an offer I cannot refuse?” On My 😱 I agree, great sequel as well.
@@MsAppassionata The Godfather has no chance. Aliens have Sharp Sticks.
Meh.
Aliens is more of a soft remake in a different genre, much like Cameron's other sequel Terminator 2 which also carries many plot beats of the original with a much more action oriented overall plot.
People love to hate on Alien 3, but at least it is fairly original by comparison to the original film - something Aliens never will be despite the praise heaped upon it.
Godfather can't compete with continuity, level of lore that Aliens did for Alien. Not to say GF wasn't great. But Aliens takes the cake
H. R. Giger was a dark genius of the 1970s. His "biomechanical" art was everywhere. Album covers, magazines, and - this movie.
Saw this in theaters when I was 16. Blew my mind. The big screen makes it even better.
wow really? I was 8 at the time but they just don’t make them like these anymore. Did you see the TV double of Salem’s Lot with David Soul? Another masterpiece IMO ?
I was 15 when I saw it in the theater and it's been my favorite movie ever since. The chest bursting scene really messed people up. :)
I saw this in cinemas when my father took the family to see it in ‘79. I was 9 😐
@@robinakym2356 parents of the year.
@@viclagina347 and people ask why GenX are the way we are 😂
Always save the cat: Jonesy knew when the Alien was around: that's why he was growling in the shuttle. You need to pay attention when an animal you know behaves weirdly: they're telling you things. Always save the cat.
Also it's a cat.
Dudes, the cat comes before any of you .
@@meinm3575 Agreed!
Its funny you say that, bc as I have daily anxiety and panic issues, and when its happening, one of my favorite tricks to check my surroundings, is to look at my cat. He gets skittish when we shout down the hall to ask each other a question, so he would NOT stick around if something scary were happening. So if I look over at him, and HE'S calm, I have zero reason to freak out and I'm safe and fine. And I know that with 100% certainty, if he's calm, we are completely safe and he doesn't hear, see, smell, or feel ANYTHING out of the ordinary, its JUST me. Its one of the most comforting things in the world to know that.
There is a short story on the Internet somewhere of this movie from Jonesy's point of view.
Exactly, even without that it’s still a life. Bro in the middle was being beyond heartless, bet if Jonesy was a dog the attitude would be different.
They make a lot of decisions we think are foolish because we've seen a million horror movies they haven't :D Also, this is basically the crew of a tugboat. They are towing a finished refinery unit back to earth. They aren't really equipped for this sort of thing or trained to deal with it. :D Ash wasn't trying to infect her, he was trying to suffocate her. Ripley had to try to turn the self destruct back off because the Alien was between her and the shuttle. The Alien wasn't sleeping in the shuttle, it was injured by Parker and trying to recuperate.
1. Tagline "In space no one can hear you scream"
2. Best explosion EVER 😱🏆💯(including Star Wars)
3. Dallas/Tom Skerritt also played Viper in "Top Gun" and Strawberry in "Up in Smoke".
4. Brett/Harry Dean Stanton had a very healthy resume. We lost him recently.😇
5. Ridley Scott is also known for directing the original "Bladerunner".
6. "Don't worry Parker, you'll get whatever's coming to you". Turns out to be prophetic.
7. Add me to the "Aliens" watch list.
Parker definitely did not deserve that. Dude went out trying to save Lambert.
What makes this, and other older movies good, is the reliance on story, character development, and cinematography. Today, you can bang out any old scifi movie with some CGI and big explosions. There's no heart to most of them. In the 70s and 80s, almost every effect was practical. Difficult to create and work with. Even dangerous to work with. Alien was, and remains today, a masterpiece in direction and story telling. A horror film without character development and story telling, is just a cookie-cutter monster flick.
❤👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Amen!!!
100% !!!
"Today, you can bang out any old scifi movie with some CGI and big explosions. There's no heart to most of them"
Rubbish. It is you who has little heart - but too much prejudice and hatred - and are thus unable to see the beauty in those movies as well.
Ever thought about young brats who were brought up on said CGI and are thus laughing how "cheap" old, classic movies look? You are no better than them.
But now all you need to do to make science fiction is include a holographic display or control interface. It's simple.
Parker did not panic. He did not shoot the flame thrower because Lambert wouldn't move out of the way. I want to believe that I would restrain myself and not flame up everything and everybody.
I wish some players in Aliens: Fireteam Elite would take that trigger discipline to heart xD
There is a director's cut that answers the question about how Parker and Ripley know about Brett's whereabouts and caught a glimpse of the alien.
Yeah in this cut the edited out Parker and Rickey running into the room and then walking under the chains looking up and being drenched in Brett’s blood as they saw him being taken into the vents
The insides of the alien egg looks real because it IS real. If i recall correctly from the Behind-the-scenes, stomach linings and intestines of pigs or cows were used.
I saw this in the theater, and it was scary as fk. The whole audience was squirming and screaming in shock. You have to remember how good this looked then.... try to stop looking at it with today's eyes and imagine..... I know it's hard for you. Shit, this film still holds up today it was done so well.
Ash wasn’t trying to infect her, he was just trying to choke her to death in a weird way. The white stuff is Androids’ artificial blood
They're all from earth: "That's not our system" meant that they realize they woke up too soon, and they're all in the wrong system: not home.
Flickering lights? Dripping water? Yep, that’s definitely Ridley Scott in the director’s chair. 😄
I mean it makes sense that there's moisture inside some of these rooms.
@@SubterrelProspector Yes, I wasn't refuting that. The heat from the ore refinery, and condensation from the cooling systems would probably keep it rather sultry in those parts. Xenomorphs seem to be fond of such conditions.
Guys, I'm 40 mins in and this is a GREAT movie reaction. Cojo, of the hundreds of movie reactions I've seen, you're the first to mention and appreciate the orchestral score performed by a real orchestra. Very cool!
We're glad you liked it! Cojo definitely has an ear for music 🎶
Cojo should check out Conan the Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger. The score is incredible.
What made the sets so superb was this was the first movie where a spaceship was a piece of shit held together with duct tape, not some shiny futuristic environment. They were commercial truckers and the ship reflected that.
The alien was in the staging area leading to the shuttle. It was blocking the way. That's why Ripley tried to turn the self-destruct off.
Guys I saw this in cinema when it was released and I still think it's one of the best horror films out there. Tom Skerritt who played Dallas was also Viper in Top Gun. Seriously the only thing on that ship with a functioning brain cell was the cat.
One of my favourite Alien reactions, genuine and going with the flow. Very watchable, so glad you loved it.
Also: This movie looked and sounded like nothing we'd seen before. It broke the mold of what to expect for scifi/horror and set the look and feel for everything that followed. An absolutely revolutionary film in those terms. It borrowed a lot from older films for the story and plot, but the level of craft set a new standard.
They don't, "answer to Mother," Mother is just the ship's computer. They just consult Mother for possible answers. However, Mother can not give full answer without enough data. It is of course possible that Mother has been programmed to withhold information on a need to know basis.
To answer one of your other questions: after Ash is destroyed, Ripley speculates, "The Company wanted the Alien for the weapons division." This theme is expanded upon in later films.
Random meme:
*"'Alien' is a film where no one listens to the smart woman, and then they all die, except for the smart woman and her cat. Four stars."*
Curiosity doesnt kill the cat
1979 - smoking was allowed everywhere! So them smoking period is pretty normal, let alone in a workplace.
Great reaction. Can't wait for y'all too watch the sequel, Aliens. Subscribed!
I especially like seeing the reaction to my favorite movies in groups of friends. It's always much more fun, and varied. I never watch a reaction when I see that the person who is supposed to be reacting is more concerned with their own beauty and style. "I don't give a sh*t about the movie, but look how pretty I am, how well I paint my nails, and how daring I am with my hair." I really enjoyed your reaction, guys.
In retrospect, knowing that Ash was a robot i understand that everything he said was suspect, but still when he said "don't touch it" when the alien came out of Kane's torso made sense.
Remember, harming it would have spilled acid all over the floor and could have killed them all.
By the way, when you asked what happened to Dallas was right at the moment when you would have seen his fate (but unfortunetly you didn't get those scenes since you were watching the theatrical version).
And yes, Ripley tried to cancel the autodestruction because the alien was blocking the way. And you can be save with the cat because he's too small to be infected with a facehugger (that's why the alien let him be).
I can't wait for Aliens since it's one of the best sequel of all time (with empire strikes back and terminator 2) and for me, I find it even more scary and stressful than the first one
I see! I wish we would've watched the director's cut. That would've cleared some things up during the reaction. Thanks for answering our questions and sharing knowledge with us.
That's high praise for Aliens! I'll have to let the boys know you made that comparison. Now I'm even more excited! -Corey
@@RaggedyPack Don't mention it ;)
I really appreciate your videos. But you know this praise is not only coming for me from pop culture itself.
James Cameron is called the master of sequels for something since he made T2 and Aliens.
And in pop culture there are only a few sequels of already great movies that are considered better (empire, godfather 2, T2, Aliens, etc ...)
@@RaggedyPackthe director has stated multiple times the directors cut is not canon. The only reason the directors cut exists is because the studio wanted to release a new version for one of the anniversaries of the original release. When they filmed this movie they didn’t film a lot of extra stuff. And when they wanted the directors cut he only had a bit of extra film and he included the infamous egg morph scene which is not canon. Ridley Scott has stated that the directors cut is just a cash grab and the theatrical version is the best presentation of his original idea. Do not bother watching the directors cut.
@mrdavman13 100% correct.
The exact opposite is the case with the sequel, however.
The Director's cut of Aliens is Cameron's preferred version.
Hi guy’s 😊 this the first of your videos I have seen. I really like your style of reaction
The second movie is as good as or better than this one. The sequel answers a lot of your questions. I hope you react to the the second one as well.
1:30:47 Yes! Thank you. So many don't know that actual film is already HD.
35mm film: close to 4k
70mm film (Alien): close to 8k
Camera Negative on Alien was 35mm though, shot with anamorphic lenses.
The most famous old sci-fi film is 2001 Space Odyssey from 1969. It's very slow (Stanley Kubrick) but it has lots to talk about and looks very good and realistic. It has a sequel.The most beautiful sci-fi film ever is Blade Runner from 1982 (Ridley Scott) but the final cut version from 2007 is the one to watch. It has a recent sequel too called Blade Runner 2049.
Great reaction! Another excellent sci-fi horror film from the late 70's is Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Similarly, it's got incredible sound engineering and the building up of the paranoia ambiance that few films have.
The 'Director's' cut, expands a few scenes, so you get to see how Parker and Ripley see what happens to Brett, and you get to find out what happened to Dallas and Brett after they were taken. It trims a few shots to squeeze in some alternate takes and additions- the alien 'distress' signal is heard and Kane draws a gun when the egg starts to react.
I’m late so this may have been explained already, but near the end Ripley was trying to deactivate the self-destruct. The reason she wanted to override it is because when she tried to get to the shuttle the first time, the alien was in the hallway leading to the shuttle and blocking her path. And she couldn’t risk torching it from that position because a fire in that corridor would have blocked her only escape route. The only option to ensure that she would not be caught in the detonation would be to override and reset the self destruct to give her more time, but she missed the cutoff window by a few seconds. At that point, she has no choice but to go back down the corridor where the alien was and try to get on the shuttle. When she goes back, it’s gone (cause it’s on the shuttle).
In the extended version, as Ripley is leaving for the shuttle, she passed Captain Dallas being cocooned in a nest the alien made on the ship. He asks her to kill him.
The Directors Cut with the 'cocoon' sequence is 1 minute shorter than this (theatrical) version. 👍✌️
I don't want to tell too much, but I don't like the extended version of Alien. That scene with Dallas being cocooned tuns out to be impossible. We learn why in Aliens.
Just think about where that egg here with Dallas supposedly came from.
@@Keyboardjeyep, just a cash grab from the studio and not even Ridley Scott likes the directors cut. He stated he cut that scene for a reason and it should’ve stayed cut. Only reason. It exists is because they didn’t film much extra film when they originally did the movie, and there was not much extra to include for the directors cut.
@@Keyboardjewell no not really, that was the original intended idea of the alien life cycle, that the alien could transform another host into an egg. Because it was never seen that gave James Cameron license to write a different life cycle of the alien.
Nice, thorough reaction. When you watch the sequel, MAKE SURE you watch the directors cut / extended version!!! More world building, more character background, and it is totally worth it!
In the extended version of this movie, Parker manages to catch a glimpse of the Alien pulling Brett away into the airducts, explaining how he could tell it was huge.
Ripley was letting out gasses (assumingly environmental gasses in liquid form, hurting the alien) into the pod in the end. Partly to get the alien out from its hiding, but also to create higher pressure inside the pod, so when she opened the door, the expulsion into space would be with greater force.
The explanation and connection between Mother, Ash and getting the Alien, is not all that complex, and you have pretty much touched it already. But as it is also touched upon in the sequel (particularly in the extended version), let's just keep you in the dark here, and let you figure it out yourself.
This. 100%
The Director's cut of Aliens is just that. It's Cameron's preferred version.
It is, in his words, "like 40 miles of bad road."
It's a also a masterpiece.
I disagree. The extended cut is better for fans not for first timers😊. The theatre cut is tighter and more mysterious. The extra backstory doesn't make it a better movie just more interesting for fans.
@@por1821 I saw the Extended edition first, and loved every minute.
@AndrewWhite-ey2ep I'm sure you did. He's an excellent director. I still think the theatre cut is more punchy. The extended cut reveals too much at the start.
@@por1821 so if you're going to watch it only once, and as a reaction movie watch, which one is it going to be?
"Horror" as its genre is to invoke the feeling of a claustrophobic atmosphere, of suspense and anticipation of something terrible happening, usually with something supernatural or unknown (in a nutshell). "Horror" does _not_ mean jump-scares or gore, even though many people define horror as such.
Jump-scares are mostly used to invoke a scare or disgust emotion of the audience and are therefore often seen as cheap, because it doesn't have a storytelling purpose. The best horror movies don't actually use many jump-scares or gore, but create that unsettling feeling that makes you go "Nope, get the hell out of here". Alien really nailed that feeling, just like The Exorcist and Halloween :)
The jump-scares that _are_ appreciated are "functional" ones; where the jump-scare shifts the mood to one of relief to make the audience relax after a good suspense (like Ripley finally finding the cat), or to give a pay-off to something that has been built through suspense (like the facehugger jumping on Kane). None of the jump-scares in _Alien_ are meant to make the audience jump for the sake of it, but because they progress the story being told.
Alien is called "horror" because it creates that particular atmosphere of suspense and anticipation, where you can just feel it's going to end horrible for the characters. It created the entire sub-genre of "sci-fi horror" because of that though, since it was the first _good_ "scary" sci-fi movie. And for a movie from 1979 it still holds up, over 40 years later. I'd say that's a really good accomplishment.
Games like _Dead Space_ and _Prey_ exist because the makers were influenced by this movie and its sequel. It was _that_ influential.
If you like this movie, then you'll also like the sequel, even though the sequel aims for a totally different "James Cameron" experience.
The third movie is ... quite terrible.
The fourth is more like a nice straight-to-DVD movie. Not a great movie, but it's a nice 'campy' movie. If you don't compare it too much to the first two movies it's an entertaining movie.
Predator is also a great iconic movie, Predator 2 is also good - just _very_ different from the first one and it doesn't vibe with everyone expecting more of the same.
Yes, I saw it in the theater in 1979 and no one in my party questioned that Ash was a robot or android once we saw him convulsing and especially when we saw the wires. It made perfect sense. I was laughing at what you guys were coming up. Like WTF? Btw the chest explosion scene was a total shock and absolutely disgusting. It’s hard to believe, but back then those kinds of things were kept secret among people that had already seen it. Also, you had to wait in a line wrapping around the theater hoping to get a ticket and if it sold out, you’d have to buy for the next show and wait. Big movies played in very few theaters even in a big metro area. However they were much bigger in size. Totally different experience than today. This was the first movie where a space ship was dark, dirty, and industrial looking. Prior to this, they were bright, clean and pristine.
Find it fascinating that you guys didn't figure out that the room with the chains was filled with air ducts, and cooling systems...all that water was for cooling the engines. The master minds behind the computer, the protocol of the main order to bring back an alien, and the robot Ash actions was the company who owned the Nostromo...they wanted the Alien for a possible weapon.
Great Rreacton Guys!!!! I'm now 63 years old, so you can believe me when I tell you I saw this movie on opening day. I was about to turn 19. And get this: The only advertisement I saw was what was in the newspaper - I don't recall seeing any trailer before opening day. So I had absolutely NO idea of what I was getting myself into. I saw it at the Plitt Theater in Orange, California, last showing - and I would find out years later that an unknown person named James Cameron was in the same audience as he said he had seen it at an Orange County theater on opening day, last showing. And in my entire Movie Geek life I never felt more lucky to have been one of the first to see it - because NOBODY in that audience knew what was coming 55 minutes into the film. I don't recall any screaming other than a few yelps, but for me, I KNOW my eyes had to be as wide as saucers and my mouth was probably hitting the ground, and to this day this ranks as one of the biggest screen shocks I ever experienced. I was only anticipating that he would blow up from the inside (remember that line earlier in the film?), but was not anticipating a live creature to come out. As for the robot, blush, cough, cough, I never suspected until the head was knocked off - another great shock. When the scene started with the "sweating", I just didn't know what was going on, the previous victim didn't "sweat" before the creature popped out. But honestly, I think that got a bigger scream than the chest buster scene. But let's skip to the ending. The camera does that very slow pan to a sleeping Ripley, fade out, then the first credit. When the first credit came up, you would never hear such an exhale come from an audience. Hehe. Yes, it was the last showing so it near midnight when we left the theater, but we were all wide awake. By the time Sunday had arrived, it seemed like EVERYBODY knew about "the big scene", so that is why I consider myself lucky to have seen it on opening day. Me and the audience got the shock of our lives - and something we would never forget. Even through my shock, I knew in the seconds after the scene ended we saw something that was going to rank right up there with the Shower Scene from "Psycho" as one of the big iconic moments in cinema history. So sorry you guys weren't born yet. You really missed out on something.
Thank you for sharing this story, I really enjoyed it! And I'm a little jealous -Corey
You've never had an employer mislead you about their intentions ("We need employees in the office all five days a week: it promotes teamwork.")? The situation with MUTHUR and Ash manipulating the crew is fairly normal (and in a science fiction movie can be traced at least as far back as "Metropolis").
Yup. And threatening to dock their pay or that they'll lose their bonuses if they don't do something, or don't meet a deadline, or whatever. (The only unrealistic part is that Ash didn't get into the whole 'and you know if you cause too much trouble we might just not renew your contract next year, it's a really tough market out there too'.)
Ripley tried to turn off the self destruct cause the alien was in the escape pod. When she missed the shut off deadline she had to go back to the shuttle. Love these long form reactions
I was glad to see the sets getting some much-deserved love. Once the alien appears and all hell breaks loose, the production details are easy to ignore, but they're a big part of what makes the movie so realistic--and thus so terrifying.
You can experience this exact movie and its atmosphere through the "Alien Isolation" videogame. The main story in that game also connects "Alien" and "Aliens", it's the story of Ripley's daughter xD
So excited for you guys to watch the sequel Aliens next.
Best movie of all time!
It took forever for Scott to admit it, but this was nothing more then a remake of the 1958 film "It! The Terror from Beyond Space". A film that was just as creepy at times. A definite must watch!!
When this came out, the poster was simply an egg with the tag line “in space, no one can hear you scream”. That’s when the tension started so the gradual build up in the movie mad it so much worse.
Alien was full of suspense. Aliens is more action but I loved this one. Ripley was one of the first female badasses. Great movie and still excellent today
One of the best things that this movie did was use H. R. Giger's designs for the alien stuff. He was one of a kind.
Lambert was played by Veronica Cartwright, she also played Cathy Brenner in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.
I'll give you a brilliant trivia about alien, Ridley Scott himself said that alien and blade runner are in the same universe 🙂
I saw Alien when it opened in 1979 in NYC! The theatre was packed and the line to get in circled the block. When the 'chestbuster' emerged from Kane the entire audience applauded! It was wild!!😊
If it’s wind inside, it’s from the ventilation supply & return air registers.
Predator (HUGE film starting Arnold) was one of the MOST successful sci-fi films of All Time.
Predator DOES NOT “have cables” in the back of its head. It COLLECTS PRIZES/trophies from its victims.
From the guy with dreadlocks…yep, it stole his dreads.
I guess it liked the look.
Also Predator would make a great October film.
The white fluid was hydraulic fluid, it was basically Ash's blood - but its not blood its part of Ash's biological mechanics as he is synthetic not robotic in the traditional sense. He was not sweating in the prior scene Ripley had a tussle with Ash pushing him against the wall and he banged his head - again he was damaged, reflecting blood from a head injury but its not blood as hes a biological machine. He was attempting to suffocate Ripley with the magazine, the whole film is based on bodily invasion this again is a metaphor for that. Quite simply Ash was programmed to investigate and analyse the Alien, it was his core directive but was programmed to do it in secret - this caused conflict in his core directive to not hurt humans so it sent him mad or technically he malfunctioned. He is connected to mother the ships AI, so he is carrying out the directives from Mother . Mother has been programmed by the company - Weyland Yutani to seek out the Alien, they knew about the signal and probably the derelict ship - how much they knew is unknown. The crew is basically truckers in space, they are not military or anything like that they are just workers on a job wanting to get home - money has to be the motivator as they dont care they just want to get home after a long shift.
Deleted scenes (SPOILERS)
Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) while trying to get to the shuttle to escape stumbles into the alien nest that the creature was creating in the Nostromo. Capt. Dallas was cocooned and morphing into an alien egg. Brett was already far gone was already turning into an egg. Dallas begged Ripley to kill him. Ripley killed Dallas with the flamethrower. Blowing up the Nostromo was the right thing to do! This scene was removed because Ridley Scott felt it interrupted the flow of the suspenseful ending.
In the book and pre-production art Lambert died in a gruesome manner, impaled by the alien’s tail in her a.., as you guessed. Parker and Lambert were then torn to pieces and their body parts crammed into the air vents.
The rolled up magazine was to be jammed into Ripley’s throat, intentionally meant to appear as a violent oral sexual assault. The overt sexual imagery and suggestions throughout the film was intentional. The ‘orifice’ entrance to the alien ship, the phallic shape of the alien’s head, the ‘inner mouth’ sliding in and out of the alien’s mouth, the milk gushing out of Ash’s severed head. Kane being ‘impregnated, by a tube down his throat. Oh, my!
As far as I can tell you guys saw the theatrical version. The alien full body costume was so well done that actor Yaphet Kotto (Parker) hated it and wanted to actually fight the actor in it.
Ripley was venting steam to flush the alien out of the pipes and ducts.
The alien skeleton was called ‘the navigator’. It and the alien ship are of the same world, different from the eggs below and suffered the same fate as the Nostromo.
None of the information above are spoilers for other movies, but are details for this first film, taken from books and interviews.
The Lambert part about impalement is not true man. In the book she DIES OF FRIGHT and where you can see the Alien's tail going in between her legs in the movie to suggest something to you, those boots and pants actually belong to Brett. There is a scene where you can see the Alien carry him up to the airshafts and the way it is holding him shows that what it does to Lambert in the final cut was supposed to happen to him.
So the whole deal with starting and resetting the self destruction sequence, when she first started it and ran to the life pod, the Aline was standing in between her and the life pod. She couldn’t set it on fire cause it would either go right at her, or right into the life pod. So she went to reset the timer to give her more time in hopes the alien would run off somewhere else. The problem is these things are really smart, smart enough to know that the ship was destructing and to try and find a place it could hide and live. When she starts the 10 minute timer, it is really 10 mins, everything we see on the screen happens in those 10 mins. Great way to build tension.
in the extended cut you see parker break in just as ash is taken upwards, that's how he knows. you see ripley find the live bodies glued to the wall with alien resin and brett is morphing into an egg. the Alien title also refers to the spaceship look (the look really is alien), the organic creature looks metal and has a name Biomechanics. the aliens metallic body gives it perfect camouflage. the android uses a real oil called suds oil, in factories it is pure white like milk and is used as a cutting oil in cnc machines. the wires and globes were fibre optics and synthetic muscles that contract to different voltage
Ash was not tryimg to infect Ripley...He was trying to shove a folded magazine down her throat!!!
“What is the alien was mimicking the cat?”
Funny that…the original screenplay called for the xenomorph to kill Ripley by decapitating her, and then stating the final flight log in her voice.
Good thing that didn’t fly.
I saw this in theaters in 1979 when I was 11. My dad took me. I don't think current day audiences can appreciate how unbelievably scary this movie was to see in a dark movie theater. The movie came out during the summer and there was no advance word on it. So the chest-burster scene scared the hell out of the audience I saw it with -- no one saw that coming. Also, if you take a close look at Parker's body at 01:06:09 he's sitting in a Lotus position with his legs crossed. What always creeped me out about that is his corpse is posed, not discarded. Did the alien actually pose him like that???
Lambert was the very exemplar of 'frozen with fear'. Scott restricted the view of the alien to allow the viewer to fill in the rest with their imagination. Good reaction guys. Really enjoyed it.
Don't know if anyone mentioned it but the scene where the alien burst from Kane's chest, the only people who knew what would happen were Ridley Scott and John Hurt. The rest of the cat saw it for the first time when it happened so the reaction was real. When the xenomorph killed Parker, the second mouth punctured his chest and ate his heart.
1) It is implied in this movie (but expanded on in the comics etc) that the "host" is not just an incubator for the species. It uses the host's genetic information in order to create a hybrid of itself that is already highly adapted to the host's environment. So in the case of a human host, while it retains its exoskeleton, acid blood and basic features... it is "shaped" similar to the host it was born from.
But it takes "the best of the best" genetic information of the host and discards the junk DNA (which is why it was bigger than the human it came from). However, if the host was like a "cat" it would have feline attributes, if it was a snake, it would have snake attributes, if it was a dinosaur, it would have the attributes of that dinosaur etc etc etc
2) In a cut scene in this movie, it showed a scene where the Alien had raided the ships food storage room... with numerous "cast off skins" (like a snake). This explains how it got so big so fast. They deleted the scene because they wanted to surprise the audience by how big it had gotten after the chestburster scene.
Apparently, even if there is no food available, its acidic blood allows it to digest other less nutritious things, like wood, rubber and even metal. Although it likely prefers meat.
3) During the "chestburster scene" they didn't tell the rest of the cast about the actual "bursting or blood squirting" part happening in that moment. So the actors reactions are half /acting half/genuine surprise and disgust.
4) The xenomorph tail can be used as a spear if facing something that is putting up a good fight, or to pull victims towards them. Also a lot of the "fleshy" scenes (like the facehugger autopsy etc) they used actual meat cuts and real animal organs to make it look more realistic. Apparently it smelled terrible after long shoots. Aliens do not show up on heat sensors or infrared at all (which is why you need to use motion sensors).
5) In another deleted scene it showed Ripley finding the captain (Dallas) alive and attached to the wall begging her to kill him. It appeared that he was kind of "melting" and starting to form an Alien egg out of his flesh. This concept was altered as the lore evolved in later stories (as seen in Aliens).
6) This is one of the movies where "characters sticking together" would not help. Kind of like 10 humans trying to take on a Terminator with their bare hands... it does not improve your chances at all. A xenomorph in a room vs 50 unarmed humans... the Alien is going to easily win. So "splitting up" actually increases your chances of survival because it can only be in 1 place at 1 time (unless you plan on sacrificing others by throwing them in front of the alien to make your escape or something).
There is no such thing as "strength in numbers" when an Alien (or a Terminator, or a Predator) is involved, unless you are armed with some crazy powerful ranged weapons and you get them before they manage to get close.
7) Also "running" is pretty much pointless unless you have somewhere you can get to really fast and are able to close a door quick. Xenomorphs can outrun any human easy in a straight line or if there are no barriers in the way. They are far too quick.
8) Ripley was trying to turn off the self-destruct because the Alien was between her and the shuttle, so she had no choice. But since she was unable to turn it off she had no choice but to risk it and try for the shuttle again.
9) The Aliens don't technically "sleep" it is more that they kind of hibernate while waiting for something to do (when there is no obvious prey, or hosts to gather etc).
10) The vacuum and freezing temperature of space doesn't kill an Alien, (but it will freeze and be unable to move or function). But it wouldn't be able to survive re-entry into a planetary atmosphere (or likely the impact from height).
Everyone is always so sus of the cat, and the cat still to this day is the only survivor of the Nostromo. 😂
The diatant shots of the crew walking up to the ship was actually kids in suits against a small mock up.
The epitome of sci-fi horror and one of the finest works of cinema created.
Great reaction guys! I think one difference between films then and films now is that modern films ALWAYS have a twist ending & post credit scene (to set up the next film). Back in the day, most films were made as one-offs. They usually didn't decide to make a sequel until well after the first film made enough money to justify it.
What is often missed today is this is the very first monster movie where the woman is not saved by the leader guy.
First ever. It was amazing for that.
Parker felt he was underpaid and was dissatisfied, but he fought courageously and fearlessly against the Alien. He cared about more than just his check.
Yeah, that annoyed me too.
Yall are quickly becoming one of my favorite reaction channels. Loving GoT, AoT, Star Wars, Breaking Bad, and now my favorite sci-fi series of all time. Keep it up guys!
it is known.
It may not be called "The Government", but it could be called "The Company" when you discover who the real villain is lol...
Gen X, baby! So glad you are enjoying our AWESOME movies. Looking forward to MORE!!!!
Yes!. We are the lucky ones.
Gen X in 1979 were children who had nothing to do with the making of Alien.
I was there in 1979 I was about to turn 11... And we saw it at FT Devens Mass. GIs were getting up in the movie, walking to the back of the base theater, and putting their backs against the wall... it was insane. I was not originally allowed to see the movie as it terrified my mother and Green Beret Step Father... My mother had to sleep with the lights on for a week. She eventually caved and let me see it when I told her I had read the book... Which by the way has much more in it... as usual. If you want to read it try to find a book published around that time 79-81 as the newer released have edited some of the interesting bits not seen in the film.
What's insane is that to us back then it was a "later style" of "new horror" that changed how horror and monsters would look from here on. This and "The Thing" created the future genre of special effects in horror. I remember it as being a new thing, and to hear you talk about it like it is an ancient thing says a lot about the trick of time. It's like to me 80s music is still "new wave" and "new". Yet it's retro and ancient.
The director didn’t tell any of the actors except for John hurt that the baby alien would be exploding out of his chest so he could get their genuine reactions, the other actress apparently fainted when it happened.
as i heard that story, they all knew "in principle" what should happen (partially hiding the actor and adding a fake body probably wouldn't have benn possible to do secretly), but they didn't know the details about all the blood and the emerging alien, and in addition something went wrong and caused a multiple of the intended (and maybe expected) blood spraying. thus their reactions were genuine shock.
The alien was between her and the shuttle so that's why she tried to stop the countdown (too late) - that was the scene when it was coming around the corner. The housecat is the 4th top feline predator in the world - the alien wasn't trying to kill it, it was fascinated with it. Also, the second set of jaws/teeth was based on the moray eel, which has a set of pharyngeal jaws, a second set of jaws located down the esophagus to grab prey after it's initially grabbed by the primary jaws and then quickly drawn down into the pharynx. The facehugger was based on parasitic wasps, which inject their eggs into the host, which will eventually die after it has been consumed by the baby wasps. This is part of the genius of the film - the most horrific characteristics of the Alien are based on characterists of actual earth species.
35:44 They actually went to a seafood restaurant & got mussels, clams, oysters & just dropped them right in. Then they airbrushed the whole thing with shadows & dark earth tones.
Lambert is portrayed by Veronica Cartwright, who played Penny the middle child of the Robinson family on the 1960s TV series Lost in Space. She was only a little older than me. I couldn't stand her. I realized later that was the writer's fault.
She was either whining, weeping or sullen. The show wasn't on very long and I happily forgot about her . Then Alien came out and there she was again. IDK, maybe the director picked her because he remembered the old series.
Sister Angela was Penny in "Lost in Space" and also featured as one of the children in "Sound of Music" (I ALWAYS get the two and their resumes confused....). Veronica was in "The Birds" - she's the young sister, and has a wonderful monologue. She's also in " Witches of Eastwick".
@@melenatorr Thanks for the corrections. I was just too young when the series ran to know the difference.
Fun Fact: Ridley didn't tell the cast about the chest Buster, he said, "They're just going to see it." So when it busted from Kane's chest their reactions were all real.
Fun Fact: Sigourney Weaver Was Almost Recast Because Of A Possible Cat Allergy. Jones was actually played by 4 different but identical-looking cats, each of which fulfilled different "dramatic" roles, the crew felt it would be easier to recast Ripley than to find another 4 identical cats.
Luckily, it transpired that Weaver was not allergic to cats at all, and the reaction was to glycerin sprayed on her skin to simulate sweat.
To answer two questions, there’s a deleted scene where Ripley finds Dallas and Brett turning into eggs. Dallas barely conscious and says “Kill meeeee” so Ripley flames them. The other thing of worthy note is that the alien was supposed to explode from the heat and pressure of the engines blasting it but they didn’t have the budget. You can find that on the storyboards for the film Incase anyone doubts it. You hear a secondary explosion when ripley is looking out the window so I interpret that as the Alien blowing up.
"I love old computer graphics like that."
None were used in this movie, unless you want to count the monitor displays.
Best. Mike.
(4) (movie facts) (1) the inside of the egg and the face hugger were made with real cow and pig guts to make it look more more realistic (2) none of the actors knew about the chest burster which they used real pigs, blood for (3) the actors that played the xenomorph had to wear ice shirts inside the suit so they wouldn’t overheat and pass out (4) xenomorph intentionally scare humans and then let facehuggers get them
45: 53 so my favorite thing to explain for the ship about the "Wet Area" is that is likely the Cooling tower section for the ship's core. the sudden expansion allows for a sudden decrease in pressure and temperature, thus allowing the loop to return to a liquid state. but this system underestimates that heat can buildup within a ship, so there has to be large radiators outside the ship to deal with that. problem is I never saw that sort of thing.
Side note: xenomorphs grow absurdly fast, and yes, it has a pharyngal jaw that actually does the eating, sort of like a probiscis, but has enough power behind it to punch through roughly 1/8" of stainless steel.
for anyone who doesn't know, that's generally considered to get to high commercial to industrial strength