It’s been a long time since I watched Alien, but I’ve just watched the documentary about an Am Dram stage production of it, that was so good, I want more! We’re in space of course (where no one can hear you scream). A small crew are on board the Nostromo, a cargo ship heading back to Earth. Made in the 70s, although we’re in the future, everything has a grungy tactility. The ship is more mechanical than digital. Lights blink, doors whoosh, the computers are all MS-DOS based and quickly tell the crew awaking from stasis, that they are not where they’re supposed to be. The ships computer, ‘Mother’ has got them up early to check out a transmission that’s be received. An unknown one. Following the signal, they land on the source planet, badly. Finding themselves stuck until Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) and Parker (Yaphet Kotto) can fix it, it’s time to explore. The boss, Dallas (Tom Skerritt) along with Kane (John Hurt) and Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) head out in spacesuits into the deep dark cold and find a wreckage, not man-made. It’s our first glimpse at the H.R. Giger inspired visuals that make this film and the franchise that followed so hauntingly brilliant. Lambart wants to go back to the ship, but Kane wants to explore and finds himself in a dark room full of leathery eggs. I know what’s coming. Surely everyone watching this does by now, but it’s no less scary as the face-hugger grabs Kane. It’s still one of the most terrifying film creatures ever… and we’re just getting started. They try to remove the parasite, but its blood is acid. Kane is put in Ash’s (Ian Holm) charge. He’s the science officer, who clearly admires the new “tough little son of a bitch” passenger and this attitude puts him at odds with Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), who wants rid of the face-hugger when it releases from Kane’s head. Ash and Dallas though determine it should go back to earth for tests, company policy. There’s a lot blamed/justified by company policy, but the face-hugger is the least of their problems. On their way again, Kane wakes up. Before they head back to sleep (they’re 10 months from earth), there’s one last meal, certainly for Kane. This has to be one of the most iconic movie scenes ever shot. It’s over in a blink, but chills the viewer to the core, kills Kane and blasts what’s already a brilliant film into legendary status. The alien is loose. The hunt is on. But who’s hunting who and who’s on who’s side. It’s not a complicated story, but even watching this going on for 50 years after it was made, with how much it’s permeated both horror and sci-fi for all these decades, it still feels exciting, modern, utterly gripping. What a film. What a finale. I can see why an Am Dram society from Dorset wanted to pay homage.
9/10
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