The Beast Within: Making Alien

2003 "The definitive documentary on the birth of a film classic"
8.2| 2h58m| R| en| More Info
Released: 02 December 2003 Released
Producted By: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
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A behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Alien,” the terrifying classic about a spaceship crew trapped with a hideous monster that's hunting them one by one.

Genre

Documentary

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Director

Charles de Lauzirika

Production Companies

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

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The Beast Within: Making Alien Audience Reviews

Protraph Lack of good storyline.
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
sparkgary So many great interviews by the actors. So many great clips of scenes. So much behind the scenes the make the movies even better.Again Ridley Scott did a great job of directing. Sigourney Weaver did a great job in her first role. The special effects were excellent as was the action. The fear seemed real. A movie that still looks good after all these years.
nazztrader If you want to know not just about "Alien" but also about Hollywood at the time or about what screenwriters deal with or about the special effects technology of the time or about how actors are chosen for a film or about audiences (at least back then)... You get the idea. If I were to teach a course on the history of film or about the film industry there's a good chance I'd want all my students to see this. There may be better ones but I can't think of any off hand. Of course it helps if you enjoyed "Alien," but if you don't at least respect it as a landmark film then you might be one of the few people who wouldn't like it. If you enjoy jumping over couches or texting while a film is playing then you also may not get much out of this.
Woodyanders This amazingly compelling and comprehensive retrospective documentary about the making of the fantastic sci-fi/horror masterpiece "Alien" leaves no stone unturned. Among the many people interviewed are director Ridley Scott, writers Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shussett (O'Bannon admits that his earlier collaboration "Dark Star" with John Carpenter was a big influence on "Alien"), producer David Giler, composer Jerry Goldsmith, editor Terry Rawlings, conceptual designer Ron Cobb, creature designer H.R. Giger, monster head maker Carlo Rambaldi, cinematographer Derek Vanlint, visual effects supervisor Brian Johnson, and cast members Sigourney Weaver (who had a trial by fire experience on the picture because "Alien" was her first substantial lead role), Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, and John Hurt (who replaced Jon Finch at the eleventh hour). Director Charles de Lauzirika covers all the necessary bases in fascinatingly minute detail: the genesis of the story, how the characters were devised as basically truckers in space, the casting process, choosing the right director, designing the sets and the monster, the arduous, demanding and difficult principal shooting of the picture, the filming of the infamous chestburster scene, the editing, Goldmith's beautifully chilling score, shortening the movie to a reasonable two hour length, the visual effects, the use of miniatures, the initial previews for the film, and the movie's tremendous box office success. Although this documentary runs nearly three hours, it's never dull and always engrossing. Absolutely essential viewing for fans of the film.
Elswet This most comprehensive documentary takes you from the very seed of conceptional idea to the finished product of the Director's Cut DVD Alien Quadrilogy Collector's Set. It is longer in duration than the film itself, and documents every detail of pre-production, production, filming, post-production, marketing, and design. I found it interesting that Alien was conceived and molded into the movie it is, with Total Recall springing from it, as well as several other movies which would come onto the scene a few years later. I had never realized the relationship between Alien and Total Recall, before this documentary.I highly recommend this, which I found as "Disk 2" of the Alien Quadrilogy 9-disk Collector's Set, to any fan of the series. It is highly informative and extremely entertaining, complete with original pages of the script, some great conceptual shots, and the total Alien design.It rates a 10/10 on the Documentary Scale from...the Fiend :.