Some thoughts about Aliens and some other movies. One of the best things about Aliens has to be the leisurely, masterly, structured buildup of suspense. With the exception of Ripley's disturbing dream in the Gateway Station hospital, there is no high action in the original version until the marines hit the planet Acheron. (I loved the Director's Cut edition, but I have to say the scenes with Newt's family interrupted the finer narrative development in the original release. We gained lost scenes but it was at a certain price, unlike the re-release of The Abyss which brought to the story a whole new dimension.) The story develops in perfect tone. As Ripley encounters corporate disbelief, red tape and approbation we begin to doubt her (and ourselves). The events in the first film begin to seem like a nightmarish hallucination. (Again, this would not work so well if the events in the colony were shown.) This lays the foundation for a wonderful filmic moment of horror. So often in suspenseful films knowledge of the horror itself is confined to a few people - young people (Nightmare on Elm St, The Blob) or a single individual who struggles to warn society against a tide of vested interest and disbelief (Chief Brody in Jaws, Ripley in all of the Alien films, Sarah Connor in The Terminator). Then comes a moment when "the authorities" acknowledge the horror too, and suddenly the film takes on a far more apocalyptic resonance, when all the resources of mankind/the marines/the police are thrown against the evil and more often than not are overthrown, leaving it up to the kids/Ripley/Chief Brody. This moment of recognition is very satisfying - the hairs stand up on the back of your neck when you hear Burke (or is it Gorman) say that contact has been lost with the colony on Acheron. I liken this moment to the one in The Andromeda Strain when the officers walk up to the scientist's party and tell him with ashen faces "There's been a fire", which of course is military code for "There's been a serious new viral outbreak". In Aliens this moment of truth is made all the more sinister when we find out that Burke knew all along and was toying with the pioneers' lives. This is the same device Craven uses in Nightmare on Elm St when we realise the heroine's mother knew all about Mr Kruger all along. Cameron transforms this dynamic, which is essentially a tried and tested horror/B-Movie formula, to lay the foundations of a philosophy of armed individualism (eg Sarah Connor in guerrilla mode) which greatly enriches the genre. Whether you agree with this essentially right wing philosophy or not (I personally think the satisfying xenophobia in Aliens gets a little out of hand in True Lies with the rabid anti-Arab stereotypes, though I'm no fan of Hezbollah) it's a completely compelling account of what human beings can do, for good and ill, in extreme situations. Watch the Skies! RF Favourite Line from Aliens: There's somethin' movin' and it ain't us! ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]