Alien (1979) - Quotes

“Alien at 40: In space no one can hear your plea for workers’ rights” (26 February 2019): Sci-fi cinema has a long history of ruthless and evil corporations, including the Tyrell Corporation in Scott’s subsequent Blade Runner (1982), Cyberdyne Systems in the Terminator films (1984-), Omni Consumer Products in RoboCop (1987) and the Soylent Corporation in Soylent Green (1973). The interests of these conglomerates, often inspired by real-life organisations, lie entirely in profit, operating with a total indifference towards the welfare of their employees. The companies at the heart of blue-collar science fiction such as Alien, Moon and Outland are similarly ruthless. Viewers watching Alien 40 years later may have little trouble recognizing the practices of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation; the way it controls its poorer workers with unfair and dangerous working conditions. Grounded in Scott’s gritty, blue-collar vision, it all seems both credible and familiar. As in 1979, 2019 and so in 2122, money is the ultimate goal, not worker’s rights or their well-being.

“Alien at 40: In space no one can hear your plea for workers’ rights” (26 February 2019): Areas of the Nostromo are reminiscent of various blue-collar workplaces, a counterpoint to the sleek spaceships imagined in much science fiction before Alien. In his article ‘The set design of Ridley Scott’s Alien, Christopher Aguiar explains that this approach had rarely been seen in science fiction before 1979, which adds to the quality of trepidation: “Fear is built largely from the camera prowling around the empty spaces of the Nostromo ship – a battered, truly ugly spacecraft, unlike the Death Star or USS Enterprise… instead of being outside and exploring the world as sci-fi often wants us to do, we’re largely stuck inside the rundown, twisted corridors of a ship. That immediately works as a way of Scott installing fear and uneasiness.”

“Alien at 40: In space no one can hear your plea for workers’ rights” (26 February 2019): Alien’s visual centrepiece is the alien itself, inspired by Giger’s 1976 print Necronom IV. It’s a truly hideous creature, replete with a long, smooth phallic skull, a set of razor-sharp teeth and a second set of pharyngeal jaws similar to those of an eel, which shoot out, stabbing and penetrating flesh. The creature also appears to have no eyes, but we know it sees, and its gender is never revealed, though it displays both male and female characteristics. The creature’s hands are monstrous and dragon-like, with long fingers and claws, but its body resembles the cross-section of some complex industrial machine, with human-like ribs lying externally over a mass of coils, springs and what look like hydraulic mechanisms.

“Alien at 40: In space no one can hear your plea for workers’ rights” (26 February 2019): Responsible for designing the seductive yet deadly alien, the insectile ‘face-hugger’ creature and the forebodingly derelict alien ship was Swiss surrealist artist, Hans Ruedi (H.R) Giger. Much like in the ‘body horror’ films of David Cronenberg, such as Videodrome (1983) and The Fly (1986), Giger fuses human and machine, with his sleekly imagined biomechanical mash-ups of bone and metal resulting in images that take on a kind of disordered symmetry. Giger also designed the surface of LV-426, a sunless, boulder strewn, god-forsaken planet where brutal winds never stop blowing and jagged rocky outcrops, almost phallic in appearance, punctuate the landscape.

“Alien at 40: In space no one can hear your plea for workers’ rights” (26 February 2019): [[directing; [acting; [music; [memorable] Impeccable ], ] and ] aside, Alien’s ‘look’ is perhaps its most ] feature. While otherworldly, surrealistic art may seem a far cry from workers and realism, it’s worth emphasizing again that were it not for Alien’s remarkable visual style and unshowy presentation of employment in space, the film’s impact and enduring qualities would be much diminished.

“Alien at 40: In space no one can hear your plea for workers’ rights” (26 February 2019): Although we’re far into the future and far from Earth, the film feels palpably naturalistic and relatable, which makes the ensuing horror even more disturbing. By presenting engineers, technicians and navigators – regular, blue-collar workers complete with hierarchical and contractual disputes – audiences more easily engage with the story. This is something that Lachlan Walter argues in his article ‘Apocalypse Soon-Ish: Blue-Collar Science Fiction and the ‘Ordinary’ Worker As Hero’:

“Alien at 40: In space no one can hear your plea for workers’ rights” (26 February 2019): [[w:Sci-fi horror|sci-fi horror; [w:Haunted house|haunted house] Forty years after its release, Ridley Scott’s 1979 chiller is rightly regarded as a ] classic. It has aged beautifully – its industrial yet futuristic production aesthetic retains a cutting-edge realism, H.R Giger’s creature and ship designs are unsettling yet perversely beautiful and Dan O’Bannon’s naturalistic dialogue is memorably understated. Alien’s pervading, gloomy atmosphere and sense of lonely terror ensure it remains a touchstone in ] cinema. As in other genuinely frightening films, less is more: by cutting his camera away early, Scott leaves much in the minds of audiences. We fill in the blanks by conjuring up nightmarish thoughts and images. Much commentary on Scott’s film justifiably focuses on the film’s technical achievements – direction, cinematography, music and the fearsome alien creature. What’s less remarked upon is how its tension is amplified by Alien’s realism, its sense of everyday life turned upside-down. Yes, this is science fiction and this is outer space, but Alien feels real.

“Influential ‘Alien’ probed culture’s darkest fears” (Oct. 29, 2003): [[technology; [w:Vermin|vermin; [death; [sex; [monsters] “It’s an impossible nightmare, this fusion of ] and ], ] and ],” he says. “It goes back to what ] are: They’re always a fusion of contradictory aspects. They’re things that don’t exist and can’t exist, but they work on a dream level; they capture our imaginations.”

“Influential ‘Alien’ probed culture’s darkest fears” (Oct. 29, 2003): [[w:H.R. Giger|H.R. Giger; [w:Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine|Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine; [w:Model|model; [w:Leviathan (film)|Leviathan; [w:Deep Blue (film)|Deep Blue; [Event Horizon; [Pitch Black; [w:Screamers (1995 film)|Screamers] “The ] alien was like nothing you’d ever seen before,” says Gordon Van Gelder, editor of ]. “ Alien was the first film that put the splatter element into a sci-fi context.” “The monster is skeletal, it’s mechanical, it’s insect-like,” Skal says. “It’s all of this stuff hitting you at once, and it’s bound to elicit a response from the viewer.” Thanks in part to an innovative marketing campaign -- the tagline “In space, no one can hear you scream” might be one the best ever devised -- that response translated into a $79-million domestic box-office gross (huge for the time), three sequels and stardom for Sigourney Weaver, whose sexy but no-nonsense Ripley became a template for all subsequent female action heroes. And the film itself became a ] of sorts. Take a sexually and racially diverse crew; place them in an out-of-the-way space station, planet or underwater research facility; then have them menaced by a horrific creature until there is only one man, or woman, left standing -- “],” “],” “],” “],” “],” the list of films seems to go on endlessly, and in a sense, that’s the problem.

“Influential ‘Alien’ probed culture’s darkest fears” (Oct. 29, 2003): [[dark; [technology; [science; [future; [nightmare; [The Thing from Another World|The Thing; [Swiss; [artist; [w:H.R. Giger|H.R. Giger] Alien is all about “the ] side of ], of ],” says David J. Skal, author of “The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror.” “Despite all the things we’re told that will make the ] a better place, what happens in Alien is our worst ].” That’s exactly what Dan O’Bannon was thinking when he set out to write what he calls “a scary spaceship movie” in the mid-1970s. Influenced by 1950s sci-fi films like “],” O’Bannon was determined to make a “monster thriller about a monster from outer space, done with the style and technology that had accumulated since the 1950s.” This merger of horror and science fiction proved extremely fortuitous. There had been plenty of monsters in movies before Alien, but mostly they had been of the “man in a rubber suit” variety. Thanks to the creepy vision of ] ] ], the extraterrestrial monster in Scott’s film, with its insect-like body, acidic blood and knife-sharp teeth, was truly nightmarish.

“Still Screaming in Space: Remembering “Alien” on its 40th Anniversary” (May 27, 2019): I left Alien feeling contentedly manipulated, but not in an unparalleled entertaining panic. The monster’s one blood-spattered attack will probably become the most talked-about sequence in Alien. The climactic episodes are a rather more impressive cinematic achievement.”

“Still Screaming in Space: Remembering “Alien” on its 40th Anniversary” (May 27, 2019): [[monster; [Jaws|Jaws (film); [demon; [The Exorcist; [w:Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 film)|Invasion of the Body Snatchers; [w:Close Encounters of the Third Kind|Close Encounters; [w:The Exorcist| The Exorcist; [w:Dawn of the Dead|Dawn of the Dead] The ] in Alien variously recalls the shark in ], the ] in ], the pods in ] and even the benign extraterrestrials of ]. But the most terrifying adaptation is the mouth: as it grows in both size and ferocity, the infernal beast, conceived by Giger and realized by several visual effects designers, flashes not only jaws but jaws within jaws. After the first shocking, snarling show of teeth, all that's necessary to provoke our self-torment is the buildup of suspense, which Scott orchestrates with masterful visual and rhythmic command and the startling emergence of fragmentary features from some border or background of the image. Alien is scary enough to create a sensation and justify taking the "R" rating seriously, especially for young children. Yet, it is graphically restrained and subtly abstracted compared to the excesses of ] or ]. There are two spectacular gruesome passages, but even here the horror concept is at least as frightening as the depiction. Scott has opted for the minimum effective gruesomeness, given the circumstances and current standards in trick-effect traumatization.

“Still Screaming in Space: Remembering “Alien” on its 40th Anniversary” (May 27, 2019): [[The Thing from Another World|The Thing; [Forbidden Planet] Alien is a stylish update on the tradition of 50s science-fiction monster thrillers like ] or ]. Alien may seem no more ingenious or frightening than those films did at first sight, but it enhances their durable fear mechanisms with the latest refinements in special-effects artistry, space-age scenic design, sophisticated pictorial atmosphere, tantalization and dynamism. It is certain to take a respected place along the classics of cinematic suspense and horror.

“Still Screaming in Space: Remembering “Alien” on its 40th Anniversary” (May 27, 2019): [[voyage; [home; [serenity] Alien opens on a disarmingly restful note, with establishing shots of a majestic spaceship in which we first discover the seven crew members slumbering away the long ] ] in "hyper-sleep." But the ] soon fades as British director Ridley Scott and his collaborators build and sustain a brilliant nightmarish tension. Crew and spectators alike are kept in a state of hyper-apprehension, anticipating the sudden, deadly reappearance of a monstrous alien organism one of the most bizarre and vicious creatures ever to spring from the shadows of a movie set.

Taglines: The perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility...its purity. A survivor - unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality." ...Is there room enough in space for us and it?

Taglines: Top Secret - Science Officer's Eyes Only...Bring back life form. Priority One. All other considerations secondary. Crew expendable.

Taglines: A word of warning …

Taglines: There are things so terrifying, they only exist in a nightmare...or outer space.

Taglines: Sometimes the scariest things come from within.

Taglines: In space no one can hear you scream.

Ripley: [watching Ash examine the creature] That's amazing. What is it?

Ash: Uh, yes, it is. Uh, I don't know yet. Did you want something?

Ripley: Yes, I, uh … have a little talk. How's Kane?

Ash: He's holding, no changes.

Ripley: And, uh... our guest?

Ash: Oh.

Ripley: Hm?

Ash: Well, as I said, I'm still... collating, actually. But I have confirmed that he's got an outer layer of protein polysaccharides. Has a funny habit of shedding his cells and replacing them with polarized silicon, which gives him a prolonged resistance to adverse environmental conditions. Is that enough?

Dallas: [looks at a pen being dissolved by alien's body fluid] I haven't seen anything like that except molecular acid.

Brett: It must be using it for blood.

Parker: It's got a wonderful defense mechanism. You don't dare kill it.

Dallas: All right! Ripley, when I give an order, I expect to be obeyed!

Ripley: Even if it's against the law?!

Dallas: YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT!!

Parker: Well, now that she has a point, you know, who the hell knows what that thing is!

Dallas: Okay, Ripley, we're clean. Let us in.

Ripley: What happened to Kane?

Dallas: Something's attached itself to him. We have to get him to the infirmary right away.

Ripley: What kind of thing? I need a clear definition.

Dallas: An organism. Open the hatch!

Ripley: Wait a minute. If we let it in, the ship could be infected. You know the quarantine procedures: 24 hours for decontamination.

Dallas: He could die in 24 hours! Open the hatch.

Ripley: Listen to me. If we break quarantine, we could all die.

Lambert: Look! Would you open the goddamn hatch? We have to get him inside!

Ripley: [briefly pauses] No. And if you were in my position, you'd do the same.

Dallas: Ripley, this is an order. You open that hatch right now, you hear me?

Ripley: Yes.

Dallas: Ripley, that was an order! Do you hear me?!

Ripley: Yes, I read you. The answer is negative.

Ash: [opens the inner hatch door and lets Dallas and Lambert in with Kane] Inner hatch opened.

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, 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?

Lambert: [to Dallas] Oh, God! It's moving right towards you! Move! Get out of there!

Parker: [[robot] It's a ]! Ash is a goddamn robot!

Ellen Ripley: [last lines in the film; to Jones, the ship's cat] Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo. Third Officer reporting. The other members of the crew - Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash, and Captain Dallas - are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off. Come on, cat.

Ellen Ripley: [after the ''Nostromo'' explodes, seemingly killing the Alien] I got you... you son of a bitch.

Ellen Ripley: [[luck] You... are... my ]y star.