A Survivor… Unclouded By Conscience, Remorse, or Delusions of Morality: Alien (1979)

A survivor… unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.

So you know what I always say about sequels & remakes:

But this is one series that I actually prefer the sequel over the original. I think Aliens surpasses Alien.

I know, I know. What is wrong with me?

I really think it is only because I watched the films in reverse. If I had seen Alien before Aliens, I’m sure I would think differently.

Hmm…

Anyways, so the film begins with a crew of people of the Nostromo being awakened early and far from home.

Apparently the ship heard a distress signal and policy says they have to follow it, even though almost all want to ignore it and head on home.

Ugh.

The signal comes from an alien spacecraft, and a group-Captain Dallas (Tom Skerrit), Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), and Kane (John Hurt)-are sent out to investigate it.

Hmm…

Meanwhile, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) the second-in-command discovered that something was not right about the message that brought them there.

Ripley: Ash, that transmission… Mother’s deciphered part of it. It doesn’t look like an S.O.S.

Ash: What is it, then?

Ripley: Well, I… it looks like a warning. I’m gonna go out after them.

Ash: What’s the point? I mean by the-the time it takes to get there, you’ll… they’ll know if it’s a warning or not, yes?

Back on the planet, Kane gets separated from the rest of the group and finds a room full of something, he doesn’t know what. A hot room full of these pod like things.

One of them breaks open and Kane is attacked by what we later refer to as a facehugger.

Dallas and Lambert rush him quickly back to the ship, but Ripley does not want to let them in. Policy is that when a group is exposed to something, they are not allowed in for 24 hours in case they might infect the rest of the crew or damage the ship.

Everyone is angry with her and demanding her to open the ship, but she refuses. She refuses even though her boyfriend, Captain Dallas, is one of those outside and she was good friends with Kane. She is taking no chances, no matter what the pressure.

But the doors end up sliding open, and the three rush inside.

Help me! I’m confused!

Yes, it turns out that the new addition to their team- Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm [Bilbo Baggins to you LOtR fans]) has overridden her.

Ripley is furious, and instead of defending her-Dallas sides with Ash.

Ripley: Did you ever ship out with Ash before?

Dallas: I went out five times with another science officer. They replaced him two days before we left Thedus with Ash. Hm?

Ripley: I don’t trust him.

Dallas: Well, I don’t trust anybody.

Dallas and Ash them start investigating what the thing is and how they can help Kane.

Later the creature detaches itself and is found dead.

Strange…

Kane also wakes up and is perfectly fine!

I know, right?

Some strange alien creature stuck to his face, but no big deal he wakes up with just a little memory loss?

[Kane wakes up from his comatose state]

Parker: How ya doin’?

Kane: Terrific. Next silly question? [they laugh, Ash hands him a cup of water]Oh, thank you.

Dallas: You remember anything about the planet?

[Kane shakes his head]

Ripley: What’s the last thing you do remember? Huh?

Kane: I remember some… horrible dream about… smothering? I don’t know… Anyway, where are we?

Dallas: We’re right here.

Ripley: We’re on our way home!

Brett: Yeah, back to the ole freezerinos. Ahaha.

I always thought it was weird how this creature like attached itself on him like a leech but everyone was like no big deal.

I feel like I would think lets do some tests and make sure he doesn’t have something in his bloodstream or you know.

Hmm…

Anyways, business as normal. Everyone tries to get ready to return home-stopping for dinner.

Yes, one of the best scenes in the film. So terrifyingly great. And all the expressions were real. Ridley Scott told the crew barely anything because he wanted to be sure that when they saw what happened they were really surprised. And boy were they and everyone else.

And of course a scene like that is parodied and referenced so many times. Everything from Spaceballs to Shrek 2.

Wow

Anyways, now the crew has a giant problem. Here is a creature they know nothing about running around their ship, who has acid blood, and wants to kill them all. Quickly this turns to a vein of And Then There Were None/Ten Little Indians. Something is hunting them-picking them off one by one. But who will it strike next and when?

And to make things even worse-The alien-Xenomorph XX121-has grown to be bigger than any crew member.

And to make them even more worse-someone on the crew has betrays the others by wanting this to happen. Yes-one of the crew members purposely strove to find this creature and knew this destruction would occur.

This is a great film-and horror/mystery. And something else I love is the lighting, angles, set design and pacing of the film. They all work fantastically well to build suspense and tell the story.

To start Horrorfest VI from the beginning, go to One of Our Guests is a Werewolf, I Know It.: The Beast Must Die (1974)

For the previous post, go to Is She Mrs. X?: So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)

For more on the Alien series, go to The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend: Alien Vs. Predator (2004)

For more alien films, go to They’re Here Already! You’re Next!: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

For more films that spanned tons of sequels, go to You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat: Jaws (1975) 

Opening With…

 

So the other day I was reading the beginning of Northanger Abbey and I realized that Jane Austen is the queen of opening lines

Yep in all her novels she has some of the best opening lines that just pull you into her work and make you want to read on and find out what’s coming next. Check it out!

1) Sense and Sensibility

“The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance.”

Right away you pick up on a few key words, had and was.

“The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance.”

Immediately we know something dramatically changed this family’s fortune and it probably wasn’t a good thing. Now you’re sucked in and you have to find out what happens next? Why can’t they live there anymore? Who are the Dashwoods?

2) Pride and Prejudice

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in posession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

So I actually did a longer post on this, It is a Truth Universally Acknowledged…. But when you read these words, admit you are ready for the adventure of the book.  In fact this hook is one that has continued to be entertaining for ages. I mean that saying never gets old, but constantly draws you in no matter how many times you have read it.

3) Mansfield Park

“About thirty years ago, Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton, and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet’s lady, with all the comforts and consequences of an handsome house and large income.”

Oooh who is this Maria Ward now Maria Bertram? Is she an upstanding lady and we should be happy at her fortune? Or she is a harlot and we hate that she used her charms to win Sir Bertram?

Either way you are intrigued and want to know more about her and her family.

 

4) Emma

“Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.”

So Emma seems like she is a blessed woman and everything is fine in her life. Or is it?

Sound suspicious

It sounds to me like there is a big ol’ but coming this way and that something going to happen to change her pristine life. What? I don’t know, but now I need to know.

5) Northanger Abbey

“No one who had ever seen Catherine Moreland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be a heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her.”

So here we have a girl that has nothing to make her life seem interesting. Pretty bland…but just those words no one “would have supposed her” means that she is going to beat all the odds and have a fantastic story! After all:

And we can’t wait to read about it!

6)Persuasion

Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who for his own amusement never took up any book but the Baronetage: there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs, changed naturally into pity and contempt as he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century; and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed. This was the page at which the favorite volume always opened: — “ELLIOT OF KELLYNCH HALL. “Walter Elliot, born March 1, 1760, married, July 15, 1784, Elizabeth, daughter of James Stevenson, Esq. of South Park, in the county of Gloucester; by which lady (who died 1800) he has issue, Elizabeth, born June 1, 1785; Anne, born August 9, 1787; a still-born son, November 5, 1789; Mary, born November 20, 1791.”

Yes that paragraph is only two sentences.

I know, but the rest of the book isn’t like that. So I’m sure you’re first reaction was what an egotistical man.

Ugh men

But this pretty interesting opening. It’s the only Jane Austen book that doesn’t open about a woman or a family, but instead focuses on a man. Very different.  And we see that he has three daughters, Elizabeth, Anne, and Mary. So that begs the question which girl is this book going to focus on? Or will it be about all three?

Hmm

You’ll just have to read them to find out the end

After all:

For more on Sense and Sensibility, go to A Bit Pottery About Jane Austen

For more on Pride and Prejudice, go to First Impressions

For more on Mansfield Park, go to Part IX: Adventures in Movie Lines

For more on Emma, go to It’s All Jane Austen’s Fault

For more on Northanger Abbey, go to Part VIII: The Little Movie Line List

For more on Persuasion, go to Part VI: It Was Said One Night

For more on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, go to You Can’t Have Just One

For more on Downton Abbey, go to That’s What You Get

For more on Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, go to Friday Night Fun

For more of my favorite quotes, go to A Little Bit of Love

For more book loving posts, go to You’re Doing It Wrong