by Michael P Coleman
In 1979, director Ridley Scott released the first of what would be a worldwide phenomenon, the classic thriller Alien. It’s slogan? “In space no one can hear you scream.”
I was there. And that summer, I learned that while you may not have been able to hear screams in space, you could certainly hear them in a suburban Detroit movie theatre. It was the scariest movie I’d ever seen.
That said, with the passage of time, Alien’s special effects have dated it. With the advent of CGI, I’ve sometimes wondered what Alien would have been if it could have been made with today’s special effects.
With Scott’s new Alien Covenant, now we know. I’m happy for Scott, who was finally able to make the movie he wanted to make 38 years ago.
I’m sorry for those who, like me, might not be prepared to see it.
Alien Covenant is a sequel of sorts to 2012’s Prometheus, and one of the planned prequels to the original Alien. Allow me to say just a few spoiler-free things:
Do not take the little ones to this movie.
Empire’s Jussie Smollett is one of the stars of Alien Covenant. You’ll have to watch to see whether the black man makes it out alive.
Remember the scene in the original Alien when the creature burst out of someone’s chest? You ain’t seen nothing yet.
I am writing this review at 12:30pm having barely slept the night before nor taken a shower all day. Because I am afraid to. Alfred Hitchcock, eat your heart out.
Do you remember the warm and fuzzy feeling you usually have at the end of a film, like say The Wizard Of Oz, when Dorothy realizes it was all a dream, that there’s no place like home, and that life is good? Clutch tightly to the memory of that feeling along with your Oz VHS tape, because you won’t be feeling that way after watching Alien Covenant. Everything you see on screen is brutally, horrifyingly real.
You still can’t hear people scream in space. But Detroit’s not the only place you can hear them. In fact…
Alien Covenant is playing at theaters everywhere.
This review was written by freelancer Michael P Coleman. Connect with him at michaelpcoleman.com or on Twitter: @ColemanMichaelP.
