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In the universe of movie monsters, Frankenstein, Dracula and Godzilla claim more appearances than the titular outer space creature first seen in director Ridley Scott’s 1979 film Alien, although the famous extraterrestrial designed by Swiss surreal artist Hans Rudi Giger boasts more scares. Giger, tapping frightening inspiration from his Necronomicon book of fantasy drawings, gave his beast dueling jaws of razor teeth, claw-like hands, a serpent’s tail and a slimy green bulbous head.
It’s the stuff of long tortuous nightmares, and they’re all contained in the monster-sized, nine-disc Alien Quadrilogy DVD collection.
Every monster needs a heroic opponent, and the four Alien movies claim two titans, equal to each other. Sigourney Weaver plays Ellen Ripley in the Alien quartet, arguably the first feminist action hero, worlds apart from damsels in distress (Star Wars’ Princes Leia) or pin-up fantasies (Jane Fonda’s Barbarella).
The Alien Quadrilogy pairs the films’ original theatrical releases, all digitally restored with enhanced soundtracks, with various extended versions. The additional footage in Scott’s “director’s cut” of Alien is subtle to the point of unimportance. One added scene is a fight between Ripley and Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright); the other is Ripley’s discovery of the monster’s slimy lair.
At the time of its release, critics complained about the lack of character development in Alien. Scott’s response: You don’t need characters when you have that slimy monstrous alien aboard the spaceship.
Re-released recently in theaters, Alien — either version — is as frightening and smart as the first day it appeared 23 years ago.
There is a seemingly infinite collection of production stills, design sketches, lobby cards and photos of models, but the most noteworthy characteristic of the Alien quartet is how different and distinct the four movies are from each other.
The tagline behind the sophomore film Aliens — “This Time It’s War!” — captures the hard action plot of director James Cameron’s movie. Ripley and her cohorts battle an army of aliens, including the spider-like Alien Queen, living on an earth colony planet.
The “Special Edition” Aliens runs 17-and-a-half minutes longer than the original, and the story is richer and more coherent as a result, leading up to the climactic battle between Ripley, wearing a steel harness known as the power-loader like armor, and the Alien Queen.
Alien had been Weaver’s major film debut, and her stardom rose higher when Aliens joined Top Gun as one of the top summer films of 1986. The drama, Half Moon Street, hit theaters at the same time as Aliens, showcasing Weaver’s wide dramatic range and versatility.
The best bonus feature on the Alien Quadrilogy is the assembly cut of Alien 3 that director David Fincher presented to the studio in 1991, containing 30 minutes of footage cut from the theatrical version. Fincher’s 1992 Alien sequel, his debut film, was supposed to take place on Earth. The filmed story, a deadly showdown between Ripley and an alien on a barren planet inhabited by prison inmates, is plenty scary, suspenseful and compelling. Fincher’s shadowy, edgy camerawork and solemn storytelling makes Alien 3 the most underrated of the four movies.
All the Alien films have Giger’s monster at their core, but French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien Resurrection, the last film, most fully captures the spirit of Giger’s drawings through its sets and wardrobe. Jeunet boosted the action with 16 slimy aliens, but the film brings the series to an anticlimactic close, leaving the door open for a possible sequel.
Weaver’s fierce presence as Ellen Ripley is the constant among the four films, now powerfully grouped together for easy comparison on nine DVD discs. It’s been several years since talk of Weaver appearing in a fifth Alien film as the heroic Ripley, although the prospect is tantalizing. The alien will be appearing without Ripley in the summer film Alien vs. Predator. It’s an interesting premise, two monsters battling each other, although the creature will undoubtedly miss its heroic nemesis. ©
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2003.
