Skip to main contentThe burning question is: Why re-release Alien theatrically? The most obvious answer is that Alien: The Director's Cut is being prepared for its DVD debut.
Which leads to another obvious answer: This theatrical release is little more than an elaborate advertising campaign to convince people who already own Alien that they'll also need to buy this new DVD. And since Alien is arguably one of the scariest movies ever made, what better time than Halloween to unleash the extraterrestrial killing machine?
Beyond all the pragmatic, calculating and mercenary motivations behind this slightly modified release, however, there's the inescapable fact that director Ridley Scott's Alien is a landmark film. And it's one of those films that isn't well-suited for home viewing. On the big screen, the vast coldness of deep space--where no one can hear you scream--becomes an infinite expanse of dread and uncertainty. The deadly creature, created by Swiss artist H.R. Giger, fills the screen as a looming, larger-than-life specter of doom, an extra-terrestrial grim reaper with multiple mouths and acid for blood.
For those who have never seen Alien, either from fear or the erroneous dismissal that it's nothing more than sci-fi schlock, here's a quick rundown of the plot. While returning to Earth from a deep-space mining operation, the crew of the ship Nostromo is roused from cryogenic sleep and diverted to an unexplored planet to investigate an automated radio signal. Upon landing on the windswept, inhospitable planet, they find a mysterious derelict ship, a fossilized corpse of an alien life form, and a chamber full of eggs.
Inside these eggs are hideous parasites, one of which attaches itself to the face of crewmember Kane (John Hurt) and proceeds to lay a different type of parasite in his stomach. This is the title character, which waits in the belly of the unsuspecting Kane until, in one of cinema's most shocking moments, it decides to break free. What follows is a terrifying, unrelenting cat-and-mouse game, as the rest of the crew hunts for the alien, only to discover that it is hunting them.
Combining science fiction with gothic horror, Alien contains all the elements of the ultimate ghost story--that is, a haunted-house tale, with a giant space ship replacing the standard creepy old mansion. Scott, the director, effectively creates a sense of claustrophobia within the massive Nostromo, as well as in the boundless vacuum of space. For all the room there is to move around in, Alien reminds us that the larger the area, the more places where evil can hide. The film plays on our primordial fear of the dark and the unknown, where something as simple as rounding a corner can bring you face-to-face with a deadly creature.
At the time of its release, Alien was huge success, eventually spawning three sequels and a ton of imitators. Part of what makes the film work--both then and now--is the eclectic cast of characters. Rather than featuring a cast of rough-and-tumble action heroes, the crew of the Nostromo (Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton, Veronica Cartwright, Ian Holm and John Hurt) are futuristic working-class stiffs. They are, after all, merely the crew of a mining ship and not space Marines. These are people who never wanted to be heroes, but are simply reacting to the unique danger they face.
It is Ellen Ripley--played by Weaver in a role originally meant for a man--who rises to the occasion. By casting a woman in the hero's role, Alien would lead to a franchise built around the kick-ass-and-take-no-names Ripley. Sure, Weaver wasn't the first woman to put cinematic foot to ass--there's always Pam Grier, Hong Kong action babes like Angela Mao Ying, and others--but the paradigm of female action hero is closely modeled after Weaver in Alien and the 1986 sequel, Aliens.
For this newly remastered director's cut, Scott has trimmed a few seconds here and there from several scenes, and he's added three new scenes. Only one of these new elements, in which Ripley learns the fate of crewmembers Dallas (Skerritt) and Brett (Stanton), adds anything new to the Alien mix. But with a film like this, you don't really need anything new for it to be worth watching again. Unlike many films that have a moment of being considered a classic but don't stand the test of time, Alien gets better with each viewing.
To those who may ask why this film is back in theaters, the real answer might be: "Why not?"
Rated R
Opens Wednesday,
Oct. 29.
Evergreen Parkway, Lloyd Cinemas, Tigard Cinemas
WWeek 2015