Director Ridley Scott will always remember the early reactions to Alien. First released in 1979, the sci-fi horror introduced audiences to Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley as she and her crew discover the consequences of stepping on a planetoid occupied by a malicious alien lifeform. On a budget of $11 million, the movie managed to earn $184 million at the box office, which led to numerous sequels and even video games.
While the confusing and terrifying story of Alien is well-known today, it was a shocking movie when it entered theaters for the first time. In an interview with The LA Times, Scott recalls the reactions and the discomfort that he faced when realizing what his movie was doing to people. With viewers downright fainting, he felt remarkably “uneasy“. Check out his full quote below:
“I couldn’t believe the reaction was so extreme. I felt uneasy about that. I remember being in St. Louis, we were previewing [the film] and I was standing at the back — the person to my right fainted. That bothered me. I’m trying to think of anything I’ve done where I’ve simply enjoyed the punch-up — not really. ‘Black Hawk Down’ was, I think, a righteous intervention in Mogadishu because it was genocide.”
Why Alien Produced Such Potent Reactions
44 years after it was first released, Alien remains a study in horror. Modern graphics and repetition of themes in other movies have done nothing to remove the genuine terror of watching an alien tear through Kane’s chest almost entirely unprompted. There’s a reason that the franchise includes so many follow-up movies, including the upcoming Alien: Romulus, and it all traces back to those early reactions.
Instead of including absurd characters bumbling their way through a night with a serial killer, Ridley Scott took another route to depict horror. He featured realistic and blue-collar characters who would regularly have conversations, tell jokes, and live day-to-day lives entirely as if the situation was normal. It made them feel like real people, which helped make them both relatable and sympathetic. That way, when the horror truly started, audiences have an opportunity to truly feel for the characters in a genuine way.
Alien: Romulus Is Bucking A Horror Movie Trend That’s Waylaid 3 Other Franchises
Alien: Romulus’s setting proves that the franchise can’t get away from Ridley Scott’s prequels fast enough (but that’s not necessarily bad news).
Like Jaws, the monster is also rarely actually seen, leaving a tense atmosphere with little pay-off between scenes. It makes its every appearance more terrifying, and that leaves the characters on edge as they try to uncover their horrific reality. While Ridley Scott may not have enjoyed those early reactions to his movie, Alien was tailor-made to bring abject fear to its audience.
