Alien & Aliens
FXM, beginning at 2 p.m.
While in space, no one may be able to hear you scream, it may be a different story in your living room if you tune in to FXM this afternoon for a lineup of films from the iconic Alien franchise, beginning with the 1979 original, Alien. This movie, in which
the relentlessly and remorselessly deadly “xenomorph” comes onboard the deepspace salvage ship Nostromo — literally exploding onto the scene out of poor
John Hurt in the infamous “chestburster” sequence — is the ultimate “hauntedhouse movie in space.” The gothic design of the ship, the truly otherworldly look of
the creature designed by H.R. Giger, the atmospheric direction from director Ridley Scott in just his second feature film and the exceptional cast led by Sigourney Weaver in her iconic role as Ripley — the most kickass “final girl” in any horror film — along with Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, Ian Holm and Hurt, made this an instant classic and launched an eventual franchise with ensuing films of varying quality. The first of those follow-ups airs next on FXM: 1986’s Aliens (pictured), which is a classic in its own right, albeit of a different sort. Writer/ director James Cameron’s movie takes the horror and sci-fi of Alien and combines it
with breathless action to create a unique monster-movie/war-film hybrid that also expands the franchise’s mythos. After drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years following the events of Alien,
Ripley (a returning Weaver, giving a Best Actress Oscar-nominated performance) returns to Earth, where her tale of the Nostromo’s monstrous fate is met with skepticism. She agrees to accompany a team of Marines back to LV-426, home of a colony of xenomorphs — and this time, it’s war. Two more films from the franchise air on FXM after this, and while these can’t
be considered “classics” on par with the originals, they are entertaining: Alien: Resurrection (1997), the fourth film in the original story’s series, featuring Weaver and
Winona Ryder; and Alien: Covenant (2017), director Scott’s second film in the Alien prequel series, led by Michael Fassbender
and Katherine Waterston.