ALIEN (1979) REVIEW!!!! - THROWBACK FRANCHISE!!

Initial release date: May 25, 1979

Studios: 20th Century Fox/Bradywine Productions

Tagline: In space no one can hear you scream.

Plot: In deep space, the crew of the commercial star-ship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey home to investigate a distress call from an alien vessel. The terror begins when the crew encounters a nest of eggs inside the alien ship. An organism from inside an egg leaps out and attaches itself to one of the crew, causing him to fall into a coma.

Cast

Tom Skerritt - Dallas

Sigourney Weaver - Ripley

Veronica Cartwright - Lambert

Harry Dean Stanton - Brett

John Hurt - Kane

Ian Holm - Ash

Yaphet Kotto - Parker

Bolaji Badejo - Alien

Helen Horton - Mother (voice)

Writer: Dan O'Bannon (Screamers; Total Recall; The Return of the Living Dead)

Director: Ridley Scott (House of Gucci; The Last Duel)

Rated R for sci-fi violence/gore and language (117 minutes)

For quite some time I have always wanted to check out the Alien franchise, primarily the first four movies. The only movies in the overall series that I've seen were Prometheus (which was okay) and Alien vs. Predator (which was meh at best). So, for a throwback series, I will be checking out the first four movies and of course starting with the 1979 original. And, yes, Alien is 44 years old!!!

The 1979 Alien film is a classic film that should not be missed! With the vibe I got from the film, it's like a horror survival story in space. Once the film starts picking up after the discovery of the alien, it can get quite scary and absolutely thrilling. The film does have a bit of a slow start. And, once it gets moving, you won't want to look away from the screen.

Of course, the infamous chest-burster scene is the big highlight of this classic film. Even though I knew it was coming after hearing about the scene, it's still really awesome to watch. Some of the alien scenes in the ship where the alien and the people onboard the ship are hunting each other can be quite tense and give a little claustrophobic feel since some of the places are really tight.

Overall, the series is off to a great start and will be checking out the remaining three movies over the next few days!!

Here are some fun tidbits for Alien!!

• It was conceptual artist Ron Cobb who came up with the idea that the Alien should bleed acid. This came about when Dan O'Bannon ran into a wall with the screenplay in how to handle the last half of the movie. He needed a good reason for why the crew members don't just shoot the thing and kill it but still not make it an indestructible monster that can't be killed. The acid blood was the idea that solved this problem.

• The blue laser lights that were used in the alien ship's egg chamber were borrowed from The Who. The band was testing out the lasers for their stage show in the sound stage next door.

• To get Jones the cat to react fearfully to the descending alien, a German Shepherd was placed in front of him with a screen between the two, so the cat wouldn't see it at first. The screen was then suddenly removed to make Jones stop advancing and start hissing.

• The chest-bursting scene wasn't filmed in one take (despite the myth). The scene was filmed twice: on the first take, the chest-burster didn't make it through Kane's shirt , so the crew needed to reset and shoot it again. The failed attempt is visible in the finished film since Ridley Scott thought that it made it look like the creature was struggling to push its way out, and made the scene more violent.

• In H.R. Giger's original illustrations that inspired the look of the alien, the creature had eyes. For the movie, Giger insisted that the creature have no eyes, thus giving the bleak appearance of a cold and emotionless beast that hunts by smell.

• The original cut of this movie ran for three hours and 12 minutes.

• Scott cited three movies as the shaping influences on his movie: Star Wars: A New Hope and 2001: A Space Odyssey for their depiction of outer space, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for its treatment of horror.

• 20th Century Fox doubled its budget from $4.2 million to $8.4 million on the strength of seeing Scott's storyboards.

• The inside of the alien eggs, as seen by Kane, was composed of real organic material. Scott used fresh cattle hearts and stomachs that were obtained from a local butchery. The "egg tube" of the face-hugger was sheep intestine. The design team tried several things but found out that organic material simply provided the desired wet and gooey look they were hoping for.

• The front (face) part of the alien costume's head is made from a cast of a real human skull.

• The chest-bursting scene was considered the second scariest movie moment of all time on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments in 2004.

• Originally, no studios wanted to make this; even Fox passed on it. They stated various reasons, most being that it was too bloody. The only producer who wanted to make it was Roger Corman, and it wasn't until Walter Hill came onboard that it all changed. Fox agreed to make the movie, as long as the violence was toned down. Even after that, they still rejected the first cut for being "too bloody." Fox also wanted another space travel movie, but George Lucas told them a Star Wars sequel would take three years.

• Entertainment Weekly voted this as the third scariest movie of all time.

• The Xenomorph has four minutes of screen-time, and doesn't make its first appearance until about an hour into the film.

• The film was a commercial success, opening in 90 theaters across the US (plus one in Canada), setting 50 house records and grossing $3,527,881 over the four day Memorial Day weekend.

• In its first four weeks it grossed $16.5 million from ONLY 148 prints before expanding to 635 screens. It went on to gross $78.9 million in the US. Including re-issues, it has grossed $81.8 million domestically.

• Despite initial mixed reviews, Alien has received critical acclaim over the years, particularly for its realism and unique environment, and is cited as one of the best films of 1979. It's seen as one of the most influential sci-fi films.

• The success of Alien led 20th Century Fox to finance three direct sequels over the next 18 years, each by different writers and directors. Sigourney Weaver remained the only recurring actress through all four films: the story of her character Ripley's encounters with the aliens became the thematic and narrative core of the series.

• Aliens (1986) focused more on action and involved Ripley returning to the planetoid accompanied by marines to confront hordes of aliens. Alien 3 (1992) had nihilistic tones and found her on a prison planet battling another alien, ultimately sacrificing herself to prevent her employers from acquiring the creatures. Alien: Resurrection (1997) saw Ripley resurrected through cloning to battle more aliens further in the future.

• The success of the film series resulted in the creation of a media franchise with numerous novels, comic books, video games, toys and other media appearing over the years. A cross-over series spawned films in 2004 and 2007: Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.