This Is Halloween 4! - The Original Alien Movies

Well, if you were wondering what franchise I was talking about last time, this would be the one. The Alien franchise added a new layer to horror and scifi. It also started the career of the awesome Sigourney Weaver. Unfortunately, it’s one that I’m not an uber-fan of. Over the years, I saw the four movies either on TV or at someone else's house and not all the way either. My folks weren’t renting this for us. I somehow ended up watching Aliens at the young age of 7 at my uncle’s house for some holiday, but I didn’t finish it. I guess they thought I couldn’t take too much Alien-ess. It was kinda like that for Alien 3, but I caught the ending instead of the beginning.

Since Alien: Romulus has come out, I thought I’d watch all the movies in full. I’m waiting for streaming to see Romulus, but my sister thought it was good. For this part, I’m only looking at the original four movies featuring our heroine, Ellen Ripley. I’m saving the prequels and spin-offs (yeah, I’m touching on the AVP movies too) for another post. 

Alien (1980)
Alien was directed by Ridley Scott and released in 1979. I caught the last hour of it on TMC years ago, so I’ve only watched the movie in full just recently. In the movie, the crew of a cargo ship randomly find a derelict alien spacecraft on an unknown planet. On it, they find a bunch of weird pods containing a form of alien. One of the creatures attaches itself to a crew member, so they bring the member back at the behest of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). While that alien is removed, another problem arises in space as that alien’s offspring, ultimately called the Xenomorph, starts to grow and kill the crew.

From the mind of H.R. Giger... what an interesting and WEIRD mind!

This was my first time seeing the movie fully and it delivered. It’s easy to see why it became such a classic. The story is simple but effective. It even throws a couple of twists that you might not see coming. The cast is pretty good with Sigourney Weaver being the standout from the bunch. I can see why they kept going back to that well for every other movie. I think the thing that makes it work is that these are just a bunch of workers on a ship, not soldiers or big men of action. Things move at a slow crawl, but when the horror hits, it keeps coming!

The Last Supper with a twist!

You can tell that they were influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars with how the Nostromo is laid out. The look of the derelict (or Engineer) ship is creepy as hell even with it darkened up. The facehugger and Xenomorph are also well-done creatures. They are pretty efficient with the effects here. They knew that it was possible that too much could be seen as cheesy or campy, so how the aliens are shot is really well done. The only qualms I do have about the film is that it takes a little too long to get moving especially in the first half. Also, outside of Ripley, Parker (Yaphet Kotto), and Ash (Ian Holm), the rest of the cast was kinda forgettable. Still, those are small nitpicks that don’t take away from an awesome movie.

Aliens (1986)

Aliens was directed by James Cameron fresh off his time with The Terminator. In the movie, Ripley is awakened from her cryogenic sleep by scavengers and comes to find out that 57 years have passed. She tells her story to The Company but isn’t initially believed. Eventually, she finds out that the unknown planet they landed on has now been colonized and that Earth has recently lost contact with them. Goaded by Burke, a Company man, she reluctantly goes back into space as an advisor with the military to find out what has happened. When they make it to the planet, now called LV-426, they find out that the colony has been taken over by more Xenomorphs. Of course, death and destruction follow suit.

I know Weaver isn't the biggest fan of guns, but this looks so cool.

Now, this is a Sequel! You barely get sequels that match the goodness of the first one, and Aliens does it in spades. The story is pretty tight. Even though it’s not directed by Ridley Scott, it still feels like a good continuation of the first movie. It doesn’t have a lot of the horror and suspense that first one has, but you still get enough of it mixed in with the sci-fi action. This time, we got a powerful lead in Sigourney Weaver. She goes through a lot of development here. She has to wrestle with her PTSD from her time on the Nostromo, and even when stuff gets bad on LV-426, she steps it up to survive and help the survivors. 
Along with Ripley, you get quite a few memorable characters like Corporal Hicks (Michael Beihn), Burke (Paul Reiser), Newt (Carrie Henn), Bishop (Lance Henrickson), and Private “Game Over, Man!” Hudson (Bill Paxton). The action is awesome and doesn’t overstay its welcome. The set design is good as usual. Not only do we get the usual Xenomorph holdovers, but we also get a new creature: the Queen. The designs for their lair and the Alien Queen are gorgeous. There really isn’t anything too wrong with the movie other than really small things. It’s about as close to perfect as it can be.

Too bad that the good things had to come to an end.

An example of mediocritcy taking the franchise.

Alien 3 (1993)

Alien 3 was directed by David Fincher, the director of movies like Se7en, Fight Club, and The Social Network. It picks up right where Aliens left off.  Because of a lone facehugger, the Sulaco is destroyed, and Ripley’s escape ship lands on a hellish penal colony. When she awakens from cryogenic sleep, she finds out that she’s the only survivor… again. While she gets used to staying in this prison full of religious criminals, the facehugger finds its way to a host and things go to hell in a handbasket. As each prisoner is killed off, Ripley and the survivors must find a way to last before Weyland-Yutani shows up to get Ripley… and another surprise.

I can see why this moment made it to all the VHS covers. It's pretty freaky.

This was my first time seeing this in full, and I can see why folks don’t like this one. I’m kinda in the same boat, but I see some good things. It did try to evoke the first movie quite a bit with its premise. While I don’t like what was done to the other survivors, seeing Ripley go through this loss was interesting. As usual, Weaver does a good job with what’s she’s given here. Of the colonists, the ones that were my favorites were Dr. Clemmons (Charles Dance) and Leonard (Charles S. Dutton). I especially liked Leonard since he was the one who did his best to corral these inmates. I also did like the ending as bleak as it was, and how they tried to stop the Xenomorph without the use of guns.

As I hinted above, this had some issues. Right out the gate, it dumped everyone who wasn’t Ripley which felt mean. Heck, the whole movie kinda felt mean-spirited in how Ripley’s treated. I get she must have some challenges, but dang! Also, the story could’ve used some work in areas. I heard that Fincher had a hard time making this movie, and Alien 3 in general seemed like a hard time to make. That may be why things feel off.  Also, while I liked the new Xenomorph we got, some of the effects on it were a little wonky. Overall, it’s a flawed but different Alien movie. Maybe the Assembly Cut, a director’s cut put together using Fincher’s production notes, is better.

Alien: Resurrection (1997)

Lastly, Resurrection was released in 1997 and directed by Jean Pierre Jenaut. It also has Joss Whedon as one of the writers, so this should be fun… right? This takes place 200 years later after the end of Alien 3 where Ripley… met her end. The military find her remains to clone her and extract the alien queen within her. In the end, we get a new Ripley (“Number 8”) who has Xenomorph DNA embedded her giving her different abilities. These scientists are messing around with multiple Xenomorphs in their starship. Of course, it all goes to hell in a handbasket as the Xenomorphs break free and create havoc. Ripley, along with a group of mercenaries, do what they can to survive. They also must do this while trying to keep the starship from reaching Earth.

"And on that day, another lesbian ship was born! Quite subtle, I say!"

This one was… weird. A lot of folks look at Resurrection as the worst of the bunch, and it’s easy to see why. It feels like a sequel that didn’t need to be made. I don’t know if some rights were up for sale or what. The comedic, kinda erotic tone of the movie is weird, and it’s not just in the writing either. Apparently, the director is known for some off-kilter movies, so I have no clue why he was asked to direct. The tone ends up clashing with some dark and personal moments here. Some of the effects were also mediocre. I also don’t even want to mention that 10-foot monstrosity at the end. 

Brad Durif.... what more need sot be said.

Even though it’s far from a good movie, it had some decent moments in there. Sigourney Weaver does her best with the material she’s given. I will say that it’s interesting to see her tackle a new side of “Ripley”. The cast is decent especially the crew of the Serenity—I mean, the crew of the Betty, having some decent moments. Seriously, this almost felt like a proto-version of Firefly. Some of the action was good like the underwater chase. Some of the more personal moments with Ripley and Call (Winona Ryder) were also pretty good. Overall, it’s a pale imitation of Aliens, but it has its moments.

Whedon was always taking his stuff from movies and making them into shows, wasn't he?

……………………………………………………….

In the end, we have two awesome movies and two mediocre movies. After Resurrection, the franchise kinda takes a hiatus. Yeah, we got the Alien Vs. Predator movies, but those kinda exist out of the main timeline. Eventually, Ridley Scott would return to the franchise in 2012… and that’ll be a story for next time. I’ll even thrown in the AVP movies to even it out. For now, peace, God Bless, and be careful out there. As these movies have shown, it’s not the aliens that are the biggest threat: It’s those idiots in the business and science suits.