 Virtualscratchbuilder   | 05 Oct 2016 2:27 a.m. PST |
While watching this again for the first time in years, I find that the 38 year old movie still stirs my Sci Fi gaming blood. But here is the irony…. 38 years later, all seven major cast members are still alive, which is unusual for any movie of that age, while sadly, the actor that played the alien passed long ago. |
| Cullen | 05 Oct 2016 4:24 a.m. PST |
Bolaji Badejo, he died too young at only 39. We can thank him and HR Giger for one of the scariest creatures in movies. RIP to both of them. |
| Grignotage | 05 Oct 2016 5:04 a.m. PST |
That really is a shame. Him just pretending to wear the costume and test out the movements is incredible:
YouTube link |
| chuck05 | 05 Oct 2016 2:25 p.m. PST |
I saw that movie when I was seven and it still gives me nightmares at 44. |
| coopman | 05 Oct 2016 5:44 p.m. PST |
Was the actor really that skinny or was that some sort of trick photography? |
| Lion in the Stars | 05 Oct 2016 6:04 p.m. PST |
I prefer Aliens, but yeah, the original is *very* scary. Someone remembered that *not* showing the monster is scarier than showing it. |
| Zephyr1 | 05 Oct 2016 9:31 p.m. PST |
It's a big universe, so something like that may actually exist. Hopefully not anywhere near us in our lifetime… ;-) |
| PatrickWR | 05 Oct 2016 10:58 p.m. PST |
He really was that skinny. |
| willlucv | 06 Oct 2016 2:17 a.m. PST |
I remember reading somewhere that Yaphet Kotto got so immersed in the character he was playing that he tried to start a fight with Badejo. My understanding was that Badejo was an African student studying in the UK at the time, who was recruited quite by chance due to his unusual build, after being spotted in a pub or something. |
| Virtualscratchbuilder | 06 Oct 2016 5:53 a.m. PST |
I believe the director (without the knowledge of the other cast) asked Kotto to be irritating and antagonistic off screen, particularly towards Weaver so that the on screen tensions would be more realistic. |
| Ghostrunner | 06 Oct 2016 1:51 p.m. PST |
Ridley Scott also recalled on the 1999 DVD commentary that Yaphet Kotto's energy and riotous demeanour often led to some braggadocious and surreal scenes on the set, one in particular concerning Bolaji. "Yaphet was always great as the troublemaker on board the ship," Ridley said, "and the day that Yaphet had to die, he said, ‘I'm not going to die.' He said, ‘This thing can't kill me!' So I had to have this long discussion, persuading him to die that day." Jon Sorensen remembers that when "the day came for Parker to fight the Alien and Yaphet comes out with it: ‘No  *** Alien is going to beat me. No *** Alien is going to hold me down!' Well, Bolaji pinned Kotto to the ground, sitting on him. Could Yaphet shift him? No. Not with all his considerable strength could he get the Alien off. He was ABSOLUTELY furious. Bolaji, the quiet man, won the day." from:
link |
| Lion in the Stars | 06 Oct 2016 2:28 p.m. PST |
It's a big universe, so something like that may actually exist. Hopefully not anywhere near us in our lifetime… ;-) Amen! |
| Sargonarhes | 07 Oct 2016 4:50 p.m. PST |
People still scared by this movie? People, it's 2016. Then I get more laughs out of these movies than anything else. I swear the guy that does CinemaSins on youtube and I must think alike. YouTube link |
| Ghostrunner | 08 Oct 2016 9:58 a.m. PST |
|
| Lion in the Stars | 08 Oct 2016 11:58 a.m. PST |
Yup, still get scared by it, seen it several times (and should probably re-watch it and Aliens sometime soon). It's because you really only see bits and pieces of the monster for most of the movie. Your brain adds details to what's not there, which makes the whole thing a lot scarier. Just like how the old Hitchcock movies are still scary 60+ years after they were made. And completely unlike how M. Night Shamlan's movies are only scary the first time. |
| Mobius | 08 Oct 2016 1:03 p.m. PST |
I thought it was scary but unreal. Like the alien gets through air lock doors and pressure hatches by what? Going over the transom or false ceiling? |
| Zephyr1 | 08 Oct 2016 2:32 p.m. PST |
The Alien was easier to kill in the movie than in the C64 video game… ;-) (I actually got it into an airlock (sacrificing an already nearly-dead crew member in the process) but no matter how many times I cycled the airlock (after the crewman was killed), the game wouldn't 'kill' the Alien. Another time I got the entire crew (and cat) to the escape shuttle, leaving the Alien to die on the self-destructing Nostromo. It said I 'lost' the game because I had more than 3 crew surviving.(???!) However, I still consider those games 'wins'… ;-) |
| Patrick Sexton | 10 Oct 2016 9:23 a.m. PST |
"People still scared by this movie? People, it's 2016." At first I thought: "Only a wargamer would say that." but then I remembered there are also the folks on YouTube. |
