Hello and welcome to episode 15 of the Teen Horror Podcast, where we watch and discuss horror movies from a teen's perspective. I'm your host Sage, and I'm joined by my co-host and unpaid intern, my dad. Hello everybody. This week we watched Alien, my intern's all-time favorite. Yes, thank you boss. So let's start out with our backstory section, where we chat about what's been happening since the last episode and movies we've watched, etc. Do you want to start? Yeah, sure. So my most recent and big media consumption project has been a Walter Hill retrospective. Walter Hill is a director and writer and producer, and he actually was a producer on the movie Alien, so somewhat appropriate. I did not plan that, but it just worked out nicely. I really like a lot of his films. He did The Driver in 1978, which if you like, for instance, if you like Drive with Ryan Gosling, definitely see The Driver. You'll see a lot of DNA from The Driver in the movie Drive, I think. The Warriors from '79, which has a very famous line, "Warriors, won't you come out to play?" David Patrick Kelly, I think, clinking these beer bottles on his fingers menacingly. He did Southern Comfort, which was, I think, in '80, '81 or something around there. 48 Hours in '82, which was Eddie Murphy's big break. Streets of Fire in '84, which The Warriors and Streets of Fire are two of, I would put them in my top 20 films easily. They're just like, they are so interesting because they're movies that take place in this liminal urban environment, which is in the case of The Warriors, it's New York. In the case of Streets of Fire, it's literally a nameless city that is just this sprawling, endless urban environment. There's something I really love about the purity of his vision in creating these environments that are just an endless warren of streets, and they have just this intense urbanism about them, especially The Warriors. It's really like if you've ever been in a city with a subway system and it's hot and humid, you're going to watch that movie and you're going to be able to feel it when you watch it. I feel like there's actually, Alien has sort of a purity of location and setting to me as well. We'll talk about that. But yeah, that's what I've been watching his films again and really enjoying them. Cool, yeah. How about you? So I'm a big re-watcher of movies. I know not everybody is, but I really, really enjoy it. I watched Hereditary again. I watched Brick again, directed by Rian Johnson. What a great movie. I feel like it gets better for me every time I watch it. We watched Alien Romulus in theaters the other day, and I don't want to say anything about it because I know there's probably a lot of people listening that haven't seen it and maybe are planning to, and I don't want to spoil anything. But it's kind of fitting that now we're doing an episode on Alien, the very first one. I actually, the only sequels I've seen are Aliens and then Romulus. Wait, you haven't seen Prometheus? I don't think I have. I feel like we should pause this episode and come back. Wow. That is very interesting. I would say both in some ways you're not missing too much, but you're also like, it's worth seeing the others to see how an IP gets handled by Hollywood. And even with Prometheus by the director, the original director. I have mixed feelings about all of them other than Alien and Aliens. We'll talk about it. Oh, we will. So wait, wait. What's your favorite line from Brick? Oh, from Brick. I love when he says, "A show of hands." Do you know what I'm talking about? No, what is that? So when he's talking about the pin. Yeah. And he goes... Who is he? The main character played by? Oh, Joseph Greenlevit. Yes. What is the main character's name though? I don't remember actually. Brian. Okay. And then there's Brain. Brain. Who is like the smart guy. Yeah. That's funny. That had to be intentional that he is Brian and Brain. Yeah, I think. Yeah, I don't know. But he's like, "I bet if you gathered everyone here and asked who knew the pin, you'd get a room of full pockets or something like that." And then so Brain goes, "So what's first?" And he says, "A show of hands." And it's just, I don't know. I like it. Yeah. I like that dialogue in that movie. If you haven't seen this movie, Brick, you absolutely have to. Brian Johnson. And it's an amazing noir set in high school. I feel like there's a continuum of my... Like the appeal of a film like that and things like Veronica Mars. Yeah. Although the writing in Brick is unsustainably good. You can do that for a movie. I think it would be hard or impossible to pull that off for an entire TV series. Although I think Deadwood actually is a TV series. Comes pretty close. I haven't seen that. I know you haven't. Let's see. So yeah, Brick, I just want to say my favorite line, which is when he's meeting with the principal. Oh my gosh. And the principal says... Oh, yes. It's not even the principal. It's not the principal. He's meeting with the vice principal. I'm pretty sure the vice principal, right? And he says... He gives up somebody and the vice principal, he narcs on somebody basically. He's like, "So and so was behind this." And the vice principal thanks him or something like that. And he says, "I gave you him... I gave you that name not to see..." To see him eaten, not to see you fed. Yes, that's right. I gave you him not to see him eaten. Or to see him eaten, not to see you fed. Yeah, I don't think... You couldn't be in this movie. You couldn't get the lines. I couldn't. No, yeah. Line, line. One more time. Line, line. Yeah. Also, his name is Brendan, not Brian. Oh, Brendan. Okay. Yeah, I was like, "Brian's..." What kind of true fan are you? Sorry. I know. Because I think of brain and then I'm like, I don't know. I love that his name is Brain too. They don't call him anything else. Yeah. Oh, it's great. Yeah. I love that movie. Yeah. Wow. So... They talk about femme fatale and they just have all the tropes in there. And it's in high school, which is so funny. It's great. Because I watch it, I'm like, "These people aren't supposed to be my age." Right. And then none of them are, obviously. But at the same time, there is something so true about how overwrought and dramatic high school feels. Yeah. Right? Yeah. High school feels like the stakes are that high. Yes. Right? Yeah. And so when you're watching this, especially, I think, more as a high schooler, you definitely must hit. Yeah. You're like, "Oh, this is revealing the truth of the experience of high school." Yeah. So yeah, I would recommend that. If you haven't seen it, you should watch Brick. Right on. All right. What else? Anything else you're watching that you wanted to mention? I watched Amelie for the first time. Yes. And it's not a horror movie. It's probably the furthest you could get from a horror movie. Yeah, right. The opposite end of the axis. But it's so sweet and so beautiful. Yeah. And it just, it will make you happy. It will make you happy. It will make you cry a little bit too. Yeah. I cried. I'm sure I cried. You too. I'm sure I cried. Didn't cry at Alien though. Well, I was too scared to cry. Yeah. All right. Should we... Oh, you know, I think we should... We have a special announcement. Yeah. So there's one more thing before we move on to discussing Alien. Yeah. Disclaimer, this is not sponsored in any way. 100% not. No, we're not affiliated with Scarecrow. I mean, we love to go there. Yeah. But, so if you don't know, Scarecrow Video, based in Seattle, is the largest video store in the US. In the world, I think. I must be. I mean, yeah. It's gotta be. And they, earlier this year, they issued an SOS that they need to raise $1.8 million by the end of this year or they would go into "dormancy." So their doors would be shut. The collection of films would kind of go into storage and there's no real set date for when or if they could open back up again. And I just, I love Scarecrow and I implore anyone who is able to give even a little bit to just look up Scarecrow SOS. You know, go to their website and, you know, chip in just a little bit. Yeah. And, you know, I just want to say, you know, with Scarecrow, it's not... A lot of people will think, "Why do we need physical media today? We have streaming." And I think we've all seen again and again movies disappear from streaming or become unavailable. And I look at Scarecrow Video a little bit like the way that I look at that Finnish seed bank that they have up in the Arctic where they store all the seeds, right? So you have that genetic information in case. And I feel like it's so true with Scarecrow. Oftentimes, you know, I'll be... we'll be trying to source a film and it's only available through rental. Yeah. Scarecrow does rent by mail as well and they just deployed like a new database and have really tried to open up more access and streamline that a little bit for folks. So yeah, definitely please go and support them. And this is, you know, a time specific announcement and request. So maybe, hopefully by the time that you hear this or if you're hearing this in the future, first of all, greetings from the past. Welcome and glad you could join us. And also maybe that's not an issue anymore. Hopefully Scarecrow is surviving and thriving. So yeah. All right, should we go on to our content warning and the heart of the operation? Yeah. So I mean, it was a pretty old movie. You've seen it. You've probably seen it already. You may have heard of this film. Yeah. But you know, there's some... Yeah, we're going to spoil. We're going to spoil. We're going to spoil it. 100% spoil. I have to say that every time because in cases of the first episode you're listening to, we always spoil every movie. And if that's not something you're into, then... I think there's some movies where it doesn't matter. Right. There's some movies we've reviewed that I, you know, kind of was impartial about spoiling. But Alien, go watch it. Yeah, you got to watch it. You got to watch it. It's a little bit heart pounding moment of terror. Only one moment, I'm sure. Oh, right. Yeah. All right. Should we jump into our summary? Yes. Alien opens with desolation and the vast emptiness of space as the title slowly materializes line by line. The theme of emptiness persists as the camera wanders like a ghost through the empty haunted halls of a spaceship. No pristine services and immaculate machinery here. This is the grime, grease and detritus covered interior of a working vessel. The dark ship momentarily startles into life as an unintelligible message is received and recorded by automated systems. Our next view is the crypt like interior of the crew's cold sleep pods. Like a flower made of coffins, the lids of these pods slowly open, revealing the crew slumbering within. Like bears emerging from hibernation, they stretch and slowly come back to life. Gathering together in the mess to share breakfast, they banter and chat, happy to be awake and they assume close to home. Checking in at workstations, the crew gets down to business. The ship's navigator Lambert, played by Veronica Cartwright, discovers that the ship has in fact not made it back to Earth as expected. Tom Skerritt as Captain Dallas consults the ship's computer, Mother, who reveals that their journey has been interrupted to investigate an unknown transmission emanating from a nearby planet. The crew somewhat begrudgingly, but under penalty of losing all pay, goes down to investigate. The Nostromo drops to the planet's surface and suffers damage during the descent. Tackling this with their typical gruff competence, the crew assesses the issues and begins repairs. As the ship is grounded, a team is sent out on foot into the brutal storm to survey the source of the signal. The small team fights with acaustic winds to discover a cyclopean ship derelict on the planet and filled with menacingly glistening organic ribs and undulating surfaces. Descending deeper into the ship's passages as though travelling into the gullet of a comet, they discover a cache of enormous egg-shaped pods. The curiosity of Executive Officer Kane, played by John Hurt, is rewarded by the explosive eruption of a crab-like creature which melts through his helmet and envelops his head. Returning to the ship, Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, denies entry to the survey team due to Kane's condition and the need for quarantine. Science Officer Ash, played by Ian Holmes, ignores her commands and lets Dallas and Lambert drag him inside, an alien organism wrapped around his head. Efforts to remove it jeopardize the ship due to the creature's highly acidic blood eating through the decking. Kane lies comatose till the creature falls off of its own accord. He seems healthy and indeed hungry, so the crew prepares another meal before returning to their cold sleep pods. As they eat, Kane suddenly jerks into what seems to be a seizure. As the crew crowd around him in an attempt to help, his chest bursts open in a fountain of blood and gore and a sinister creature erupts from his remains, fleeing into the ship. The crew attempts to catch the creature, unwilling to return to cryosleep until it's been dealt with. Within hours, they discover that it has begun growing larger. Brett, played by Harry Dean Stanton, is the first to die at the talons of the towering black carapaced creature that it has grown into. Captain Dallas then pursues it into the darkness of the air shafts, flamethrower in hand, and a weapon that proves of little use as he becomes the hunted, and soon enough the next victim of the relentless alien. As fear overwhelms the crew, Ripley takes charge. She confronts Science Officer Ash about his lack of progress and decides to query the ship's computer directly. Mother reveals a secret corporate directive to investigate the alien ship at any cost, up to and including the death of the crew. Upon leaving the mainframe room, Ripley is attacked by Science Officer Ash. It quickly becomes apparent that he is not human and is in fact an android that was secretly put aboard their ship to facilitate the covert company mission. Ripley is no match for Ash's inhuman strength, and it is only when Parker, played by Yafit Kodo, electrocutes him that Ash is disabled. While preparing to escape in the ship's shuttle, Lambert and Parker next fall to the alien's hands and barbed tail. Only Ripley is left and she sets the ship to self-destruct. Only after this, as she is about to leave, does she remember the ship's cat Jonesy, played by four different lookalike cats, still aboard the Nostromo. She runs back to get the cat, first trying and failing to stop the ship's self-destruct system. The ship fills with sirens, flashing lights, and vented steam as it gets closer to a critical explosion. Ripley gets the cat and makes it safely to the escape shuttle. All is well, and that is the end of the movie. Except of course, it isn't. In the climactic final scene, Ripley is preparing to enter cryosleep when she realizes the alien has stowed away aboard her tiny vessel. She slowly creeps into a spacesuit and during a tense, almost lethal confrontation with the creature, manages to blow open the access door and vent the atmosphere, and alien, to her. She shoots it with a harpoon gun, and as it swings, caught on the line behind the ship, fires up the thrusters and vaporizes the creature. Finally safe, she records her ship's log, and settles into cold sleep for what is sure to be an uneventful flight home. That is the true end of the movie. Alright, should we jump into our discussion? Okay. So overall impression, Sage, what did you think of this film? I actually don't know when you saw this film. I don't remember the first time I saw it. I have seen it multiple times. Definitely not as many times as you. But my impression of it, I think the biggest thing that, if I had only seen this once, the biggest thing I'd remember is the alien. How it's kind of shiny and slippery and wet, but it's also the perfect organism, right? I think the design is great by H.R. Giger, and it is so menacing. It's tall, it has this huge head that's smooth and gray and slick. You get a sense that it's organic. It has these little areas all over it that look like there could be organic things underneath, but on the surface it's just... You absolutely do not... I did not think... There's maybe one or two moments, which I'll mention, but other than those couple moments, you don't think about it as a man in a suit. No, no. It's really an alien creature. It's the alien. Yeah. As well as the scene where the facehugger falls off and they find it and they flip it over and in reality it's just oysters and seafood and things like that that they used as props. Sure. Yeah. So... Well, because it is real. It is. It is real organic material. They do this again and again through the film. They use real organic material from here in our real world to dress the sets, dress the props. Which I think is why it's so great because it brings that sense of... It's something familiar to us, but it's in this unfamiliar setting and environment and it just makes it so much creepier. Oh, the other thing that I just wanted to mention is we have this kind of behind the scenes book of the making of Alien and there are pictures of the prop that was used for the facehugger and it has fingernails. I don't know if you... That's right. Yeah. Everybody listening at home remembers exactly what it looks like, but it is kind of a crab, but with these long, almost human-like fingers. They're jointed the way human fingers are. They're just really long and thin, but at the end there's fingernails. Yes. Which when I saw that in the book, I was like, "Wow, that's creepy. That is really creepy." Yeah. It's funny that you don't notice that really in the film. You don't, but I'm glad I saw it in the book because it's a really... I think it's a nice addition. One of the reasons to love it is in many ways this is a perfectly crafted film. Yeah. The timing and cast, the story beats, how tight it is, the sets, it's very cohesive. Was there anything in particular that you really liked about the world building? I liked that just because it happened to be set in space didn't make it necessarily a space movie. Does that make sense? It's a movie about a crew of people in a confined area being hunted by an alien. Yes, they're in space, but it's not like everything is pristine white and it's not like... I think that's realistic because if this crew is living in this vessel and they're just workers, this is just their job. It's grimy and lived in and there's trinkets in little places, there's mugs, whatever. It's a real lived in place. It's not techno-optimism. Yeah. This is a period in American history that you don't remember, but we had just gone through a major oil crisis. There was a real kind of gloom and doom vibe. Because of that, I think, or in part because of that, I think there was the shine of techno-futurism and the belief that technology was going to solve a lot of our problems that sort of slipped. I feel like this film both reflects that zeitgeist, that general vibe in the culture. Yeah. Also, just it is. It's more grounded in reality. For sure. I mean, Ridley Scott famously wanted to make this about space truckers. Yeah. That's what these folks are. They're space truckers. Yeah. I grew up in a town with a large population of what I've always thought of as blue collar engineers, like folks who built fire trucks and built and designed fire trucks, for instance. People who did kind of grimy, greasy work, but also were good at drafting and engineering. They understood metallurgy and they could do all these things. They were smart, they were practical, and they were hands-on. This crew really reminds me of that. Yeah. I think one moment in the movie that encapsulates your point that it's not overly optimistic is when the Nostromo is going down onto the surface of the alien planet and it breaks, basically. The ship breaks. In the director's commentary, they address that and they say that they wanted to show kind of a realistic representation of what it might be like if this huge ship were to dock on this very rocky planet. In a lot of space movies, they just kind of glide down and land softly on the surface. Thinking about it, you kind of realize, "No, it probably wouldn't be like that." Then something breaks and they're kind of stuck there for a little bit and they have to repair it. I really like that because then it also shows you get into the underbelly of the ship and you can see all the pipes and the steam and everything. Stuff is dripping and it's really cool. But everything mundane that you would think of as mundane in a spaceship movie becomes very threatening in this. Space is threatening. Space is a vacuum. Even the smallest thing in this film can become a completely life-threatening scenario. When they are trying to remove the face hugger from Kane's face and they use a laser scalpel to cut through the knuckle of the face hugger and then the acid spritz out and burns through the decking. What an amazing scene. All the way down to the bottom of the ship. Also by the way, all these effects, no CG, no computer graphics at all. This acid burning scene is one of my favorites because if you go back and watch it, you will 100% see how they do it. But you've bought in in that moment on first watching. Now going back and you watch it and you're like, "Oh, they're using some weak acid on styrofoam." And you can see the styrofoam and it's like styrofoam that's painted silver. But it looks so... Because it's real. That's why I really like physical effects because there's something about the tangibility of it and the fact that the actors are actually surrounded by this thing or they're next to this thing that makes it so much better for me. Even if you can tell, even if you can go back and see it and see the strings or whatever, see the styrofoam, it's still really cool. Do you remember that part where Dallas asks Kane for his pen or pencil? And he takes it and he pokes it up into the acid to see if it's done, if it's going to keep going. And he pulls the pencil back and it's smoking and he hands it back to Kane and he looks at it, which is a funny beat. But also to me, that's really genius filmmaking on a limited either budget or in terms of limited technology of what you can do from special effects. That pen, I don't know, they just zapped it with whatever, like dry ice or whatever to make it smoke. And then you sell that entire scene, that entire little brief moment with... You think that it's touched acid and it's because of that little hissing sound effect that they do when he touches it with the pen or the eraser, it goes psst. And also that smoke. That's all it takes for you to 100% believe that this is acid that is burned through decks. It's simple, but it really works. I find again and again, some of the best moments in film are when a director has a lot of constraints on them. I think this is really true for John Carpenter. You should never give John Carpenter too much budget because he doesn't know what to do with it or he does the wrong stuff with it. It's very true for many, many filmmakers. I would like to make a comment about the score. Whenever I watch a movie, I pay attention to the score because I think I can make or break the movie. You're also more musical than I am, for instance. I did want to be a musician for a while when I was younger. I realized that was probably not the most lucrative career move. We'd support you. Thanks. In Alien, the score is orchestral. It's nothing but orchestral. There's no synth. There's no techno. It's just strings and it's beautiful and it's daunting and it's scary. You can think, "Oh, how suspenseful could a string orchestra be?" But it really works because it lends to the feeling of the vastness of what's going on. You haven't seen 2001, A Space Odyssey yet. No, I have. You have? Yes, I have. Wait, you watched it without me then? No, I watched it without you, but I did see it because you told me to watch it. Without me? Yeah. Well, you told me to watch it as kind of an alien Space Odyssey. I think we're going to have to break here while I wipe away my tears. I'm sorry. When I think of 2001, A Space Odyssey, it's bright to me and almost pure. It's great that you've seen that so we can compare it. The shininess, the techno optimism of it, although that's actually subverted in 2001, A Space Odyssey, obviously with the AI. However, there's also a lot of orchestral scoring of that film as well, very famously. I really like it because paired with the setting of it's there in space, it's in the very, very distant future, but it's like orchestral, big swelling strings and it's kind of slow. It's like how the beginning of the movie is slow and how the word alien appears very slowly, which I also love. Yeah, one of the best. It's all time best logos. It's so classic. Yeah. In the book, in the behind the scenes book, I looked at a few other possible typefaces and logo type designs. Yeah. They were very HR Giger. Yeah. Then there were some that were like slimy, I think, but I think the one I chose is the best. Yeah. Hard to imagine this without that. I think there's no other opening and there's no other typeface that could encapsulate the feeling of the alien better because the alien is a perfect organism, right? That's its whole thing. It's perfect and it's simple and its only goal is to reproduce and to stay alive. The typeface is very clean and timeless and simple. I think it really works with the movie. Yeah. Let's see. Oh, one thing I want to mention about, so it's not the score, but it's sort of, although there is actually a, there's a diegetic moment where, and again, like diegetic meaning like there's the music in the film, right? I know you know that, but just for the, for anyone listening, there's like a diegetic music moment, which is also a castrol, which is when Dallas is in the Narcissus, which is the escape shuttle. And he's like taking some self care time where he's just like chilling and listening to some, you know, symphony recording and just like relaxing. Yeah. So, so they have a nice, there's some nice continuity there between the score and then the diegetic music. But there's also a lot of music like moments and like Foley moments where the sound effects have a very really like amazing quality to them when the ship is descending. We talked about that, how dangerous it is, but like a lot of the noises that you hear like, I can, I can recall those as well as I can recall like the visuals, you know, there's almost like a elephant sound at one point when the ship is descending. There's the cool sound when Cain breaks the, that laser light barrier above the eggs. Yeah. So many neat sound effects in that. Oh, I'd like also when the ship is about to, is on self-destruct mode. That's such a great moment. I actually don't know if there's any score at all then, but there's so much noise. Yeah, it's, it's, I think it's just noise. Yeah. And it's like, it's like, yeah, it's like you're there too. It's like, oh, there's so much, there's smoke everywhere. And there's like, you know, it's, it's, there's so much like loud noises and bright lights and it's, it's really disorienting. Yeah. And she's running around and trying to do things and failing at doing things and you feel the panic rising and rising and rising. That by the way, is an example of a scene in my mind where you are, if you can experience it in a theater, that's optimal because it's so engrossing. Yeah. Right. Um, just that like percussive sound, the hissing sound, the, the blaring clacks on noise. Right. All of that together. Yeah. It's really, it's really great. So yeah, I think the sound design and the score is really, really good in the movie. And yeah, it's funny, the alien doesn't really, it's not loud. No, uh, alien. It's what's, what noises does it make? I feel like the most noise it makes is a maybe, maybe a little hiss. Yeah. It's like a hiss, right? Like almost like a snake. But it's whole thing, it's like sneaky. It's huge, but it's sneaky. Like in the end when, when it's, oh, there it is in the pod with Ripley. Yes. It blends in. Right. Because of its huge, shiny head. That looks like a big pipe when it's curled up in the wall. Great reveal by the way. Yeah. You're looking at it the whole time and you don't know. I know. There's actually another scene like that in the movie. Yeah. Do you remember? It's, isn't it where, with all the chains? Yes. Yeah. There's, if you, and you know what's so funny is I know that scene. I've seen it with my own human eyes many times, but if I, I will still miss it. Yeah. Isn't it hanging in the background? It's hanging at one point and you can, it's like right in the shot. Yeah. You know, it's almost like in the foreground. Yeah. But it's, I like it because then suddenly it drops from the ceiling and it's right there. It's great too because those shots are such, those are shots of such confidence. Yeah. As a filmmaker. Yeah. Like I will show you the danger and you will not see it. Yeah. That's how, that's what a good job we're doing. Yeah. It's really, really great. The other thing I love about the alien is how it's, it always is like dripping water or something. It, you see it and you're like, this, it can't be water. It's something worse. But it's always kind of slick and shiny and, and it opens its mouth and a littler one comes out. And so like, yeah, it's so, it's funny to me. I really like that because it's like, oh, you're just out of reach. But then it opens its mouth and it, it gets you. All right. Let's talk a little bit about the crew and the cast and, uh, and Ripley. Yeah. So this is a final girl movie. Yes. Yeah. There is a final girl and a final cat. Yeah. The sub genre of final girl movies and final cat movies. Yeah. And I think Sir Grinny Weaver is so great in it. And I'm sure this has been said so many times, but really like there's, I don't think I can't imagine anyone else who could have been Ripley. And apparently she was, she was cast like on the spot. And also apparently she was for the audition, she was running around and she went to the wrong place and then she panicked and she was like running in like these big heels or something I think. And she, she got there and she was like, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. And they, they had her do it and they were like, yeah, you got the part. Wow. Yeah. I remember also hearing that I think they did some tests and they had like a bunch of like primarily women come in and see how they felt about her as Ripley. Yeah. It was like overwhelmingly positive. Yeah. Um, yeah. Great cast overall. I mean just every actor cast is so strong in this film. Yeah. Um, like Tom Skerritt as Dallas is great. Man, so seventies in a way, but like, you know, he's sort of the, you, I buy every one of those characters as good at their job. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Every one of them. Definitely. Which is, I think my favorite part of this film. Everybody's competent. Yeah. I know you really, you really like this part. I'm a big fan of competence. So I think you should talk about that or kind of explain what you mean by that. Yeah. Just that if you're going to write a film, it's to me, it's very lazy to write characters that are not smart. Everybody tries hard, you know, or well, I shouldn't, that's not necessarily true, right? But I feel like it, especially in, let's just say in terms of self-interest, right? You try to operate as effectively as possible as a human being. And you know, you may be a lousy person, but you'll still try to be clever and smart about, you know, survival. And so often in films, you see people make terrible decisions and, you know, I'm yelling at the screen or yelling internally that, you know, why are you doing that? And that does not happen in this movie. There's one mistake that's made. Which is? Which is that Ash lets them in. Yeah. Right? Like it's not, the mistake is not even going to check out the signal. They're doing everything by the book. They're doing everything right. And Ripley is the one who doesn't want to let them in. Yep. She wants to follow the quarantine protocol and, you know, leave them out there. And that would have been the right decision. Yeah, it would have been. Although I have to say also very hard decision. Yeah. No, absolutely. Because, you know, that would mean leaving the rest of them out there too and leaving Kane to die. When you first see it, you think Ash maybe is, I feel like I was kind of on his side for making that decision. Right. Like for a moment. Like why is Ripley being so, you know, like just let him in. He's going to die. Yeah. But then the rest of the movie you're like, oh my God. She was right. Yeah. And in fact, that decision, which is a quote unquote bad decision, is a good decision from Ash's perspective because of his motivation. Yeah. Because he's not a person, which also is a great reveal. He's not a person. He's also not acting in the interest of the crew. He's interested, is the interest of the company. Which of this movie, by the way, is a like kind of a discourse on capitalism. Right. You're working for an operation that does not have your interest at heart. And I think the great part is that Ash's quote unquote blood is this kind of milky white and his insides are just tubes and marbles. Yeah. But it's so. It's not wires either. No, it's not wired. It feels pseudo organic. Yeah. That's the thing. Is it because there's fluids inside, there's this kind of white milky fluid and there's, you know, and he has what looks like plastic intestines almost. It feels again, kind of like the alien organic in a way. Yeah. And because of that, it feels, you know, when I watched that film, it looks way more high tech to me. Like I buy that as an Android. I buy Ash as an Android with that kind of those weird guts. Yeah. More than I would have if it had just been wires. Yeah. Like if you watch Westworld film you haven't seen, Michael Crichton film wrote and I think directed. It's about androids. Yeah. But you'll oftentimes they'll like they'll take their faces off and stuff like that and you'll see it's just like all wires. But you also know that those are wires on like either a fake head over a person. Yeah. And it doesn't sell it for me. Yeah. Right. Whereas this other than the somewhat bad CG, but like the somewhat bad HX mask where you're like you can see there's like a quick cut in the film when they burn his head. Yeah. Things like that. I want to talk about the chestburster scene. Yes. Because who wouldn't want to talk about the chestburster scene? It's it might be I mean maybe this is kind of you know a common answer but it might be one of my favorite scenes because it's just so like you're just like gripping your seat you're like oh my gosh what is happening because you know you know something is wrong. Even when even before anything starts to happen when they're eating there's this overtone of tension and kind of nervous laughter and like oh we're so glad you're okay and that. Off to the freezers. Off to the freezerinos. Yeah. As Brett says. Poor Brett. Yeah. But you know then he like he grabs his chest and he starts wiggling around and he slams down on the table and they're like oh my god oh my god and I don't remember who it is I think maybe Parker, Yafet Koto is trying to shove a spoon in his mouth because also you know you shouldn't do that if somebody's having a seizure. But at the time at the time that was what was thought to do best for a seizures put a spoon in somebody's mouth so obviously they think you know he's having a seizure or something and then you hear like this noise. Again noise the foley the the audio effects amazing. Yeah. It's like a crunching. Yeah and then this thing pops out of his chest and there's blood everywhere and Veronica Cartwright screams and it's a real scream. Yes. Nobody there except for Kane knew what was going to happen. Yeah. And you know they so they were kind of brief they were like hey something you know something's gonna happen you're gonna have to restrain him he's gonna be like wiggling around on the table and then real blood real blood. That's right it was like goat's blood or something. Yeah something like that comes out of his chest and hits Veronica Cartwright in the face probably in the mouth too. And she her scream is a real scream her reaction is a real reaction I think she like she like like she starts walking back and falls over something or something like that and they you know they like cut and then they have to take her off set and shower her and like she's really really. I think she was pretty upset. She was I mean I would be too like getting real blood in my mouth. They took a lot of liberties with actors during that era of filmmaking that you would not yeah but I mean watching the scene it's like wow that's great and then it it has there's this moment where it's a close-up of the chest burster and it's like jumps off and wiggles away on the table and it's probably just some track you know underneath the table but it looks it's so you know and it it also I think it's kind of at least for me it was when you start to realize like oh this organism is really complicated it has many stages of life right there's the egg and then the face hugger and then the chest burster and then you know finally it sheds oh and that's the other part where I don't remember who it is who finds it but somebody's walking around and they step on something and they pick it up and it's the skin yeah like the snakes get yeah right and then you realize oh it's gone it's done something else again it's done something else again yeah and then but I feel like you don't really expect how massive it is right right because it's gone from this tiny little worm thing to a huge sleek alien totally all right let me ask you this we all love this film we both love it what would you change about this film with anything hmm what would I change honestly I feel like I really feel like a lot of it is is it a perfect organism it might be it might be I mean no film is a perfect film but I think it's really fun to watch and I think maybe maybe I would tweak Veronica Cartwright's character because her character she's really like timid right that's kind of her thing right and I I almost wish they didn't make her so I know they need you know like they need a timid person on the crew to be the one who's like you know she's operating in like pure panic mode for like the easily the last like two-thirds of the film right um and I almost wish that they they had added a little bit more kind of maybe depth to her character or something like that I think that's a great comment actually yeah because or that they had made somebody else the scared one right because it's like she's on the other it's a little much after a while right right yeah yeah I'm like just do something just do something a little sniveling yes yeah that's it she's like she does slap uh Ripley at one point right yeah so it's a nice little moment there yeah but that I think that you know that's the only thing I can think of at this moment so you know Ridley Scott if you're listening I he's taking notes to talk right yeah um but yeah I'm excited listen I'm excited I'm glad you saw Romulus I'm excited for you to see the and you've seen the aliens but I'm excited for you to see about aliens by the way as I mentioned Walter Hill co-wrote that uh excited for you to see the other films yeah and for us to discuss them at some point for sure uh you're both you're kind of missing some kind of IP history I guess yeah and also not missing so much I this is definitely still in my mind the peak of the series definitely thanks for joining us on this episode of the teen horror cast you can follow us on most social media platforms at teen horror cast where we'd love to hear from you let us know what films you'd like to hear us review and see you next episode see you soon bye you