Saleem’s Annual Horror Scene Gallery #1: Alien (Director's Cut)

 

 Movie Title: 

Alien (1979) Director’s Cut

Movie Scene: 

Brett’s Death

This year I’ll be starting what I hope to be an annual event every Halloween season where I share my favorite horror movie scenes with you guys up until Halloween night. Tonight’s choice is from one of my all time favorite films, 1979’s iconic sci-fi horror masterpiece, Alien. This is the scene in the Director’s Cut where the Xenomorph (the spotlight alien creature of the movie) kills Brett…and it’s pretty unnerving. 

Of all the Alien movies that has ever been released in this franchise, the director's cut scene of the 1979 original is by far the most creepiest involving the Xenomorph. The way this particular edited version of the movie decides to fully reveal what the alien looks like is absolutely brilliant. There's no big musical cue or creature sound FX to force the audience's attention to it. Instead, the only sounds that you hear are the swaying chains in the room clanking around alongside water rushing down from the ceiling. The creature is then shown completely stiff swinging along with the chains quietly blending in with the dark industrious setting like a giant insect stalking its prey from a distance perfectly avoiding detection. And although it's pretty close to the camera, for those who aren't in the know regarding its design, there are those who will be completely unaware that the weird looking swinging object swinging isn't machinery. Or on the other hand, there are those watching who may be getting a spine tingling feeling from what appears to be some huge scorpion-like creature silhouette, but at the same time, they're not entirely sure if they're mind’s playing tricks on them.

Remember, the movie isn't doing anything traditionally bombastic to let them in on what's happening. And for that, I absolutely love it. It's a pretty bold and maybe even risky choice to reveal the monster this way, but I think it's deeply effective as well. It's one of those things where, if you don't catch it, that's perfectly fine because what happens next will cue you in completely with a more spectacular but still terrifying entrance. But for anyone focusing enough to catch it, there's an unnerving feeling brewing up inside leading to said reveal. Imagine being in a large room full of people who never saw any of the Alien movies or what a Xenomorph looks like watching this version (the Director's Cut). I can imagine half of the audience freaking out while everyone else in the room is confusingly wondering what's going on while feeling a sense of panic since they're not seeing what everyone else is. This would've been an amazing scene to experience at the theaters for the first time (if they showed this cut at the theaters with a new audience). Some modern day horror movies have started utilizing this subtle approach to revealing monsters, ghosts, etc., but it's still a little rare to see. 

Honestly, I kinda wish we'd get more directional sensibilities like this with the newer horror movies. Less on the bombastic musical cues or sound FX and more creeping the audience out by doing more subtle things. Did you guys see this movie? If you did, what did you think of it and what scenes stood out to you the most?