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- How The Chest-Burster Scene Was Created
- Why The Chest-Burster Scene Is Important In Alien
- What Impact Did The Chest-Burster Scene Have On Sci-Fi Horror?
Fans of sci-fi have always loved seeing unique and horrendous aliens up on the big screen, and that’s exactly what the Alien series provides. Aliens are often friendly in the sci-fi genre, but the Xenomorphs found in the Alien series are anything but friendly. These horrific creatures seem to take pleasure in nothing more than destroying any potential threats and bolstering their numbers.
When Ridley Scott’s original Alien film was released back in 1979, the Xenomorph and the film as a whole changed sci-fi and sci-fi horror forever. There are countless iconic moments from the original movie, but one has managed to stand the test of time. Whenever anyone mentions the original Alien, mention of the infamous Chest-Burster scene is never far behind.
How The Chest-Burster Scene Was Created
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Alien (1979) |
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Director: |
Ridley Scott |
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Writer: |
Dan O’Bannon |
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Starring: |
Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto |
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Budget: |
$11 million |
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Box Office: |
$184.7 million |
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Rotten Tomatoes Score: |
Critics: 93% Audience: 94% |
No Alien fan will ever forget the moment they first saw an alien burst out of Executive Officer Kane’s chest. It may sound strange to modern sensibilities, but the scene was entirely practical, utilizing both simple and expert decision-making in order to get the most out of it. The best part, and perhaps most noteworthy, is that the cast had no idea what they were in for. While they were all aware of what was going to happen in theory, none of them were prepared for the violent display that was punctuated by the creepy little Xenomorph puppet.
The illusion of the actual chest burst is just as simple as one might think, the actor who played Kane, John Hurt, simply stood beneath a table that had a fake chest attached to it and got his head and arms into the right position. From there, all that was left was to prep the fake chest with the necessary gorey dressings, pump in plenty of blood, and roll cameras as the Chest-Burster popped its way into cinema infamy. Apparently, the scene was almost a disaster, so the world is lucky that what was captured turned out to be one of the most legendary moments in both sci-fi and horror.
Why The Chest-Burster Scene Is Important In Alien
While those who haven’t seen the scene may think an alien popping out of someone’s chest would purely be for jumpscares, the fiasco actually means much more in the grand scheme of the film’s narrative. For starters, this is the peak moment of horror in the movie for a lot of people. Beyond that, the scene serves as the moment that the audience knows just about everyone aboard the Nostromo is a goner. An alien shot out of Kane’s chest, and now it is on the loose. Only a short time later, the Chest-Burster would mature into a full-fledged Xenomorph, ready to kill every living thing on the ship.
It also should be said that the scene is important for pushing Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley into the true forefront of everything. Had the rest of the crew simply listened to Ripley when she cited the standard regulations of quarantine, they may not have met with such a terrible fate. With the film standing out as one of the greatest depictions of a strong female lead in movie history, it only makes sense that, throughout much of the film’s runtime, Ripley makes the best call possible to combat impossible odds, and it all starts with her correctly assuming something is wrong from the very beginning. Never trust the mundane or the routine, it might just lead to a Xenomorph outbreak.
What Impact Did The Chest-Burster Scene Have On Sci-Fi Horror?
There can be no doubt that the famous Chestu-Burster scene from Alien haunted a generation and continues to haunt those who experience the scene for the first time. The moment, so shocking, and at the time so realistic in its impressive practicality, lingers in the minds of almost everyone who watches it. It should be no surprise then that just about every long-running television show and multiple movies (including the infamous Spaceballs) have parodied it in some form at some point. That is of course just the wider impact, but it had an even bigger impact on sci-fi horror alone. An article from Empire manages to capture the reality of the Chest-Burster scene:
“As the Chestburster, that baby
Alien
the size of a cocktail shaker, screeches from the pool of Kane’s intestines, Scott, Powell, co-writer Ron Shusett and Dan O’Bannon were grinning, vindicated. No-one recovers from the Chestburster.”
Much like the rest of the movie, the Chest-Burster scene proved that the sci-fi horror genre could move in an entirely different direction. As long as the right creatives were at the helm, a relatively campy and dead genre could be revitalized. Simple and mundane moments can be made utterly terrifying, and the absolute horror and claustrophobic nature of being trapped on a ship with a creature ready to kill at any moment managed to capture the same kind of gripping horror of another hit of the era Halloween. Rather than seeing a woman brutally attacked, it was a man who would face the wrath of a monster, and to make things all the better, Alien is a gripping film from start to finish, unlike many other sci-fi horror flicks of the time.
Alien: Romulus is set to release in theatres on August 16, 2024.
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