I just spent whole weekend consuming Alien franchise: this included Alien that is in today’s screenshot but Aliens, Alien3, Alien Resurrection and couple of Alien vs. Predator movies. I just saw Prometheus last week and after experiencing few puzzled scenes during the film I decided I’d remind myself a bit.

Needless to say Alien from 1979, the original movie by Ridley Scott is a classic and best from the following movies made in 80s and 90s. Prometheus is an indirect spin-off, shedding some light on Aliens’ origin (while being confusing at times). The most obvious connection between Alien and Prometheus is Designers’ starcraft (see screenshot 2) that contains well-known deadly serpents. Emergency signal is sent from this extraterrestrial vessel which is picked up by human ship called Nostromo (also a name for awesome band).

Curious humans set to explore the ship and hell on earth can commence! So why is this movie so good? Because it’s awesome. Back in 70s there weren’t movies like this and most of the sci-fi wasn’t this dark (with few exceptions such as Silent Running from 1972 or Logan’s Run – but still they are very different in their core and stylistic features). So I guess that’s one thing. The second is definitely H.R. Giger’s Alien creature itself and the whole physiology, most notably the concept of “facehuggers” shoving alien eggs into host’s intestines. The sensation of watching little alien baby ripping through one’s abdomen is still very disturbing and (was) original.
I personally dig the set design and VFX – I think the magic of prop miniatures works on me. Plus I’m a big fan of retrofuturism and Alien has plenty of that – glowing CRT monitors in the cockpit or LED filled room with the onboard AI – you can’t beat that.

If you feel like watching original Alien in 2012 instead of let’s say… Prometheus, you surprisingly can for $2.99 on Amazon Instant Video or get a good old DVD for $9.21, if you want to do what I did this weekend (minus the AVP movies which suck anyway) the best thing would be to go with Alien Antology Blu-Ray Boxset for $54.99. Trailer for original movie below (which has great music btw and the final title is worth it):

 

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