I'm one of five kids who grew up loving horror/sci fi, the scarier the better. In the early 80's our family got a VCR with one tape.....ALIEN. During that summer we must have watched it literally dozens of times, the whole family loved it, including my Mum and Dad. When we heard on the Radio that Ms Weaver was in London filming a sequel we all got really excited! But there was no internet back then, no resources to investigate what might be happening on set....all we could do was wait!
When it finally came out on release we all went to see it together, none of us knowing what to expect as we knew absolutlely nothing about the plot, I was expecting it to be set on Earth! We were all blown away! I can clearly remember sitting there in the dark theatre, not even halfway through the movie thinking that it had already delivered the goods.......excited about what was yet to come.....the suspense!!! That's probably something that we all take for granted because we all know the film so well, but cast your mind back to the first time you saw it...just remember......It was BLOODY tense! they're stuck, barricaded in, running out of time, no chance of a rescue anytime soon, low on ammo, and to top it all there's a bunch of bloody Alien thingies trying to get in!!!!!! Add to that the fact that due to films build up these were characters that we had invested in and cared about especcially of course our dear Ripley who we'd all loved since ALIEN, also throw into the mix a cute little girl needing protection....agh....it was almost too much to take! Hell! there were even HAMSTERS!!!! ( As a family of animal lovers we were a little disapointed that Ripley didn't take a quick detour and go back for the Hamsters too!! ) Extreme suspense due to bloody good storytelling that's lacking these days.
The last 40 mins of the film is pure adrenaline! what a rush! and just when we thought it was all over and they were safe on the Sulaco....Surprise!!! Climaxing with the ultimate bitch fight between two mothers, battling it out! in a freaking POWERLOADER!!!!! It's just TOOOOO COOOOOL! I could go on for ages, but I won't.......it's late......but....Here's to James Cameron! Thankyou for giving us, loyal fans of the terrifying groundbreaking ALIEN, an experience that is as satisfying today in 2011 as it was when we first saw it 25 years ago in 1986!
And here's to Sigourney, to a kid who grew up idolizing Capt Kirk, Luke Skywalker, Doctor Who, Superman, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and the rest.................The world was ready for a Heroine........and she certainly gave us a heroine to remember! proving that you don't need superpowers, a baterang or a whip to come out fighting when the odds are stacked and the going get's tough, just stay calm and try to remember "The Right Stuff"
Right, me Horlicks is getting cold....g'night folks
