Originally aired on AMC, this documentary focuses on one of the most horrifying series ever to be committed to celluloid -- the Alien film series. With interviews from most of the main players, including Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, and H.R. Giger, the special goes through conception through production of all four films released from 20th Century Fox. Narrated by the Alien's first-ever onscreen victim, John Hurt, The Alien Saga gives insight into various script changes, casting choices, and the series fantastical effects through the eyes of the innovators behind them. The same production team, headed by writer/director Brent Zacky, also produced the equally exhausting horror film series documentary The Omen Legacy. Since time immemorial, storytellers have intertwined sex and scares to terrify audiences, and the combination works incredibly well. Long before the movie camera was invented, our ancestors told stories about incubi, succubi, and creepy fairies that abducted young women. And when filmmakers finally put these legends on the silver screen, audiences were introduced to a whole host of sexual nightmares. Take Dracula for example. He’s a monster who sneaks into women’s bedrooms and assaults them in their sleep. The protagonist of Cat People refuses to consummate her marriage, believing sex will turn her into a wild cat, and the virgin always escapes the 1980s slasher while her frisky friends are all decapitated. In fact, director David Robert Mitchell based his recent hit, “It Follows”, on this very trope. In other words, filmmakers use sex to make their audiences uncomfortable, and the guys who made Alien weren’t any different. In the 2002 TV documentary The Alien Saga, Alien screenwriter Dan O’Bannon explained, “I’m going to attack the audience. I’m going to attack them sexually.” And O’Bannon wasn’t the only one who wanted to shock moviegoers. Both O’Bannon and director Ridley Scott were fans of a book called “Necronomicon”, a Lovecraftian grimoire by Swiss artist H.R. The book was full of disturbing sexual imagery, and Scott brought Giger onboard to give the Alien universe an incredibly eerie feel. With O’Bannon writing the script and Giger designing both the set and the monster, it should come as no surprise that Alien is basically one big metaphor for sex, pregnancy, and rape. The entire movie is filled with phallic and vaginal imagery, from gaping doorways to penis-shaped ships. The Xenomorph itself has an incredibly phallic head, and its long, stiff second mouth—used to penetrate prey—is more-or-less the world’s most dangerous erection. Perhaps the film’s most horrifying sexual image is the chestburster. The allegory begins when John Hurt wanders into a cave-like room full of eggs, possibly symbolizing a sperm entering the womb. When the leathery egg hatches, the terrifying “facehugger” latches onto Hurt’s face, forcing itself down his throat (strongly suggesting oral rape) and impregnating the man with an incredibly evil embryo. Moments later, Hurt “gives birth” to the creature, a larvae-like beast that’s the ultimate phallic symbolcomplete with a slimy, wet mouth. You get the point. Rape is one of the worst crimes imaginable, and films featuring sexual violence often leave a permanent mark on our collective memories. That’s why men shiver whenever they hear the sound of banjos, why we can never look at pinball machines in quite the same way, and why Alien is still such a disturbing movie so many years after it first hit theaters. Did anyone see the new documentary on the Alien saga tonight on Channel 4 (UK), with Mark Kermode It was really well put together, similar to the ones. I started a spin offs section here as they are set more in the broader fictional universe than any specific film. If it gorws then I'd suggest starting a Alien in other media section or List of Alien media which would really be this section renamed and expanded. Watch video The Internet Movie Database offers cast and crew credits, plot outline, user comments, and links. The SF, Horror and Fantasy Film Review: The Alien Saga (2002). Documentary About the Alien Films. Director - Brent Zacky. • • • • • • •.
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