Aliens (1986)

“Get away from her you bitch!”

Where Ridley Scott’s Alien is a moody shadowy thriller full of nuance & terror, James Cameron’s Aliens is an explosive aggro action epic about mommies & space marines. He abandoned a lot of the subtlety of Alien in favour of more xenomorphs, more guns & more explosions. I have many reservations about this movie but I do love the final hour. My entire body goes into panic mode during the facehugger sequence, and the battle between Ripley & the Queen is a masterpiece in practical FX, editing & sound design. To read about what I think of the movie thematically, you should head over to horrorpress.com (link in bio)!

The massive financial success of Alien prompted Fox (the distributor) to immediately discuss a sequel, but a lawsuit between the producers & Fox over unpaid residuals delayed production for years. While they were fighting, Cameron started working on a script. His ongoing project The Terminator was earning him buzz around town, and Terminator’s success convinced Fox to greenlight Cameron to direct the sequel. Cameron finished the script hours before the 1985 WGA strike over the fight to include VHS distribution in their contracts.

As with so many Cameron productions, the shoot was fraught with conflict between the crew & the director. England’s Pinewood studios did not appreciate Cameron’s “hands-on approach” & Cameron took offence at the crew’s daily tea breaks. When tensions finally came to a head, the crew walked off the set. They eventually agreed to return, but no love was lost when the shoot ended. Composer James Horner arrived at the start of what was supposed to be a 3 week composing/recording session, but Cameron had no experience with orchestral music, and so had nothing ready for Horner to score. Horner did the best he could, but ultimately Cameron didn’t think it fit with his film, using only a few bits in the final cut. A lot of that score was repurposed for 1988’s Die Hard.