Warning! This article contains spoilers for Alien Vol. 4 #1 Alien arguably paved the way for the Sci-Fi/horror genre with its very first installment, even if the franchise did quickly venture into the action/adventure genre in the very next film. Given the nature of Sci-Fi/horror, the movie was filled with dreadful suspense and brief, shocking violence, though the vast majority of the movie was a cerebral slow-burn. Basically, it wasn’t a ‘80s slasher, despite being released in 1979 and inspiring a number of classic horror motifs that would be used throughout the decade. However, the latest installment of the Alien franchise does seem to lean into its ‘80s horror roots in a way the original never did, by featuring a moment right out of Friday the 13th.
Friday the 13th was a pillar in the ‘80s slasher subgenre, as it featured the immortal horror icon, Jason Voorhees, killing teenagers who dare go to Camp Crystal Lake to drink alcohol, do drugs, and have sex. And that is actually a very important and prevalent aspect to ‘80s horror, as basically anyone who acts in an amoral nature (ie, drinking, drugs, sex) is guaranteed to be killed in truly brutal fashion by any number of horror icons besides Jason, including Halloween’s Michael Myers, and A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger.
Alien never really adhered to those rules established in ‘80s slashers. The first film was borderline Hard Sci-Fi with elements of suspense throughout, and some bloody violence. In short, people weren’t being killed because they were having sex – at least, not until recently.
Xenomorphs Follow ‘80s Slasher Rules In New Alien Comic
In Alien Vol. 4 #1 by Declan Shalvey and Andrea Broccardo, a team of Weyland-Yutani employees descend upon the ice-moon of LV-695 to retrieve a ship that had fallen beneath the ice many years earlier due to an attack from the newly-introduced white Xenomorph variant. This ship was all but vacant, and as far as the employees were concerned, searching through the vessel was only a matter of protocol before pulling it up a few hours later.
So, with what seemed like a suitable amount of downtime on an empty ship, two of the employees sneak off together to have sex. Little do they know, however, that a Xenomorph was hiding on this ship, and was about to kill them while they were distracted with each other.
Alien Has Followed This Horror Movie Rule Before
The Xenomorph in this issue sneaks up on the couple as they’re being intimate and threatens to kill them, almost as though it’s punishing them for having sex. This is the meta-message ‘80s slashers send to their audiences in movies like Friday the 13th and Halloween, but – as previously mentioned – it’s not really a mainstay for Alien, despite the franchise being rooted in ‘80s horror. However, the series has followed this ‘no sex’ rule on at least one other occasion. In Alien: Covenant, a Xenomorph kills a couple being intimate in the shower near the end of the film, just like the Xenomorph in this issue. This proves that Alien does sometimes follow the rules of ‘80s horror, despite being so far from the slasher subgenre, and this comic is merely the latest example of that being true.
It’s fun to see Alien being seen as a horror property once again as opposed to one of action/adventure, filled to the brim with big guns and even bigger explosions. And what’s even more fun is to see Alien playing by the rules written during perhaps the most iconic age of horror in history – an age in which the franchise’s origin lies – as the latest installment of Alien embraces its ‘80s horror roots with a moment right out of Friday the 13th.
Alien Vol. 4 #1 by 20th Century Studios is available now.
