Another 31 Days, Another 31 Screams: Day 5 (Alien 3)

"SIGN THE CONTRACT FOR RESURRECTION,
SIGOURNEY! HIIIISSSSSS!!!"

Well, doesn't this leave us in a strange position? The general consensus is that Alien and Aliens are both great films in their own respects, whereas the ones beyond are... troublesome, to say the least. I can find nice things to say about most of them (AVP Requiem being the exception, as I hated that shit the one time I watched it), but it's Alien 3 which I have the most respect for. Part of that, I guess, is nostalgia. Alien, as I've no doubt discussed before, was my first foray into horror... and I did it at the last point when it was still a trilogy of movies. This, then, is the capstone of those first experiences into the world of sci-fi terror. It's also one of my first memories of a horror movie, period. I vividly remember being about 7 or 8 years old and turning on the TV late at night to find Alien 3 was on. It was the scene where the Xenomorph kills the guy and knocks him into the ventilation fan. Needless to say, very little sleep was had that night due to me being scared shitless. All of this distracts from talking about Alien 3, of course. It's a very strange little film that, as I said, leaves us in a strange position. Certainly there's all sorts of fascinating behind the scenes drama going on, what with David Fincher and executive meddling and all that. I don't want to focus on that, and instead want to talk about what made it to the DVD I just finished watching. Christ, even that needs qualifiers. I know there's an Assembly Cut or a Special Edition or something, and it may very well be the alternate cut that's on the same DVD that's still in my PS3 as I type. I didn't throw that on tonight; I went with the theatrical cut. So then. Alien 3.


Christ, this is bleak, isn't it? You almost have to admire it for its grim determination in ripping the optimism from the end of Aliens to shreds. Everyone but Ripley is killed offscreen, and the movie makes no bones about the fact that they all died horribly. Even poor little Newt! ESPECIALLY poor little Newt! That bleakness is evident within the setting, as well. Fury 161 is just a miserable shithole of a prison planet, which leads to Alien 3's other mission statement of sorts; going back to the magic formula that made Alien a horror classic. One Xenomorph, no weapons, no chance of escape, the survivors being hunted down and picked off by this predator. All shockingly traditional, as I remarked yesterday... but Alien 3 does have that bleakness going for it to freshen things up. This is not the kind of movie you sit down for a light snack with. Trust me on this, I tried. As trad as it is, it does try a bunch of wild things that do work. Paralleling the cremation with the Xenomorph bursting out of the poor dog is good, as is the idea of having the Xenomorph take on more doglike traits and run around on all fours. My absolute favorite touch is near the end, when you get glimpses of the Xenomorph's POV which look like something out of Evil Dead. The effects don't entirely hold up, but you still do get the sense of this quick and crafty predator zipping around the floors and walls of these dank steamy corridors, ready to hunt. They even show a lot of restraint in the kills! Sure, some are good and bloody, but you never really see all that much; it's either cut around or just cut so rapidly that you can't really process it; all you register is a blur of images and a splash of red. It's chaotic and messy, and I like it.


Then the movie ends. This is a definitive attempt to end Alien as a franchise, and it worked for a time! Ripley, our main heroine, flung herself into oblivion and mirrored the cremation of her daughter from Aliens... while cradling her Xenomorph daughter as she burns them both alive. God. So bleak! We're playing that whole game of the Company wanting the Xenomorph at any cost, and we step it up a notch by having Lance Henriksen begging for it. We don't need to play the game of asking what in the fuck the Company would do with a Xenomorph. Instead let's go more gonzo. The Company wants Alien as a franchise to continue, and Ripley wants to destroy it. They're a company, after all. They want to monetize and patent this shit. Ripley refuses, and kills herself and her own series to stop it. It's even more brilliant in hindsight, with a load of Alien sequels and prequels out there now. What better way for the bleak tone of the movie to go out on? Ripley kills herself to stop Alien as a franchise, and it doesn't work. Hell, the next one will contrive some bullshit just to get her back in the hot seat. A corporate copy of Ripley to shove on screen to sell the next exciting installment of your favorite sci-fi horror franchise. That's a movie for another day, though. For now, we leave Alien 3 here. It's a bit of a mess and I can't say I like it as much as the first two... but I'm pretty sure I do like it.