10 Best Alien Moments
2. Eggs
Finding a hive of strange, leathery eggs covered in a layer of smoke underneath a laser beam in a strange, derelict spaceship wouldn’t be many people’s idea of something to go and explore more closely. But it is John Hurt’s Kane, lowered to explore via rope and winch, who finds himself inspecting one. After all, he’s under threat, because if he says he found these things and hightailed it out of there, the company he works for would forfeit his shares (as we’ve already heard all about back on the Nostromo). Can you imagine having to look closer when something inside one of the eggs moves, shows signs of life?
The attack of the facehugger from the egg is iconic not only for everyone shouting at the screen that Kane is a moron, but because of the small subtleties that make it so surreal and strange. The smoke somehow hits an invisible barrier, which prevents it from rising higher than the laser beam. The strange liquid on the eggs runs up the egg and not down (actually done by upturning the whole thing and having gravity do the work). The egg opens in a strange, cross-like shape (an attempt by Giger to offend Catholics). It is strange and intriguing, and that’s what makes it so horrifying. Everything is slow, ethereal, otherworldly, making the creature’s lightning strike so shocking. We knew it was coming, but not like that, and not with such a crash.
1. Chestburster
Story has it that Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett were working on original drafts for Alien for months back in the mid 1970s, but couldn’t find a unique and interesting way to get the alien onboard the ship. Then, O’Bannon woke up from a dream and phoned Shusett at three in the morning. “I’ve got it,” he cried. “The alien shoves itself down one of the crew’s throat, plants an egg inside them, then when they’re back onboard the ship it rips its way out of him!” After this, the rest of the script came along pretty quickly.
Coming a good 40 minutes into the film, executives reading the screenplay for the first time were initially confused about why the film should be made. Others told them after the first ten pages to keep reading. Then another ten. And again another ten. When they finally reached the now infamous chestburster scene, they understood.
The whole thing works because the threat appears to be over, but we all know that it can’t be. Something is coming from somewhere, but how and why?
Then, when John Hurt begins to shake and cough and convulse, we lean in to investigate. That’s when his stomach stretches and rips open in a shower of blood. That’s when we truly comprehend the horrific nature of what has happened. The alien creature looks around and screeches – it’s gruesome, it’s shocking, it’s the best moment in the film.
The chestburster has since gone down in history as one of the greatest moments in horror, in science-fiction, and perhaps the entire cinematic form.
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Alien’s legacy is profound and spectacular, but which moments have been imprinted onto your brain? Let everyone know in the comments below, and be sure to follow @thefilmagazine on Facebook and X (Twitter) for more insightful movie lists.
