Director Alexandre O. Philippe uses the same kind of inspired deconstruction he did with the Psycho shower sequence in 78/52– this time the iconic chest-busting scene in Alien. Philippe charts the film’s inception from Dan O’Bannon’s early script, which he gleefully admitted borrowed from “everything”- H.P. Lovecraft, films like It, The Terror from Beyond Space & Planet Of The Vampires, to an E.C. comic called Seeds Of Jupitar. Co-writer Ronald Shusett came up with the ideas for the second half of the script which included the monstrous face-hugger.
But also added into the mix was the surreal artwork of H.R. Giger and the visionary genius of director Ridley Scott to create a truly nightmarish sci-fi classic. Along the way there are some eye-rolling intellectual ruminations over the movie’s subliminal meanings, but the fun is the cast’s recollections of the making of that pivotal scene in the movie. Tom Skerritt and Veronica Cartwright’s memories of shooting that sequence are really hilarious. You also learn a lot about the baby creature’s conception- particularly the importance of artist Francis Bacon’s Three Studies For Figures At The Base Of A Crucifixion. Convulsively entertaining- it will make you run out and re-watch Alien immediately.
The movie opens October 4th in theaters and streaming.
