Alien: The Director’s Cut
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/10/2003 (8156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
IN creating this “director’s cut” of his landmark 1979 sci-fi horror movie, Ridley Scott actually made it shorter. He trimmed the more ponderous shots (presumably because of the diminished attention spans of modern audiences). He added a brief but important “nesting” scene, in which we learn the horrible fate of Tom Skerritt’s Captain Dallas. He also included a brief but powerful catfight encounter between Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley and Veronica Cartwright’s Lambert, after Ripley attempted to observe quarantine protocol.
The result is pleasing, even if one is dubious about the studio claim: “The scariest movie of all time is back.”
Alien doesn’t have the impact it once had, possibly because many of us have seen it so many times, but also because it ceased to be the template for modern horror when James Cameron torqued up the action and toned down the atmospherics in the equally brilliant, equally innovative, 1986 sequel Aliens.
Still, here are the Top 10 reasons why Alien is worth watching again this Halloween:
* Weirdo artist H.R. Giger won an Oscar for his cool, bio-Gothic designs, including the interior of an alien spaceship that looks like the belly of a big space whale.
* Before the term “sound design” was widely used, the movie employed a sound design that plucks on the nerves like a tightly strung banjo.
* At last, a space ship as grotty as any other workplace.
* Terse, authentic workplace dialogue: “Quit griping.” “I like griping.”
* In a high-tech monster movie, Jerry Goldsmith’s eerie-lovely score still warrants the adjective “haunting.”
* Ian Holm demonstrates his remarkable versatility: His sinister character Ash is about as far removed from Bilbo Baggins as you can get.
* In retrospect, a futuristic movie featuring Atari-era computer graphics is good for a cynical laugh.
* Cat-haters can enjoy how people keep putting themselves in harm’s way searching for Jonesy.
* Sigourney Weaver’s post-climactic stripping to her undies is still one of the most weirdly erotic moments in horror cinema.
* Sigourney’s looking good
PHOTO.