| | | | Aliens
(1986) |
he exception that proves the rule that sequels are always inferior...
James "Titanic" Cameron's incredible sequel to the 70's horror sci-fi movie "Alien" is a case study of how to make a relatively low budget movie look like mega bucks. Cameron's movie has the perfect blend of action, suspense, horror and sci-fi and inspired a cult following of fanatical fans.
The idea of an insect-like pure killing machine that secretes acid for blood and attacks without any conscious thought or regret was expanded upon by Cameron to include a confrontation between legions of these creatures and earth's 'finest' military 'grunts'. Cameron used favorite actors Paxton, Biehn and actress Jenette Goldstein to populate the marines, with Biehn once again providing the vunerable but determined 'modern hero'.
When our colony of LV-426 falls mysteriously out of communications contact, marines are dispatched to repel the invading xenomorphs. The incredible suspense in the dimly lit corridors of the colony as both sides stalk the other is contrasted sharply with the excellent characterisations and motives that Cameron, who also wrote, gave the colonial marines.
Filmed extensively in England, Cameron made good use of everyday European items that would not have been familiar to US viewers. The troop carrier vehicle, for instance, was in fact a modified English aircraft tug, originally used for moving planes at London's international airport.
A classic amongst classics, Aliens has a veritable army of quotable one-liners and is jam packed with memorable action. A special edition was released in the mid-90's that contained extra scenes that were not included in the orginal version. A pricelesss piece of Sci-fi culture.
 Don't forget that Aliens is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
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The absolute business. The benchmark by which all other Sci-Fi horror movies were judged and probably will be judged for a long time.
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Bill Paxton is the only actor to be killed off by an Alien, a Predator and a Terminator in the movies "Aliens", "Predator 2" and "The Terminator".  -Thanks to Lee Kehrer
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Sigourney Weaver was nominated for her first Best Actress Academy Award for her role as Lieutenant Ellen Ripley in Aliens. It is the only Best Actress nomination in history for a role in a science-fiction film. -Thanks to Andrew Ritchie
Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein and Lance Henriksen went on together to star in Katherine Bigelow's truly excellent modern vampire road movie "Near Dark".
Bishop's knife trick was also previously seen in John Carpenter's "Dark Star" (1974). Like Bishop, Boiler misses too. The inspiration for both scenes surely is to be found in Roman Polanski's "Knife in Water" (1962). -Thanks to Virgil Vuksic-Virgo
Actor Michael Biehn also apeared in a little know movie called "Hog Wild", as a cop, also with Patti D'Arbanville. -Thanks to Greg
This film was the debut of athlete-turned-actress Jenette Goldstein, who has appeared in at least three Cameron films: In "Aliens" she was the Latina US Marine Vasquez; in "Terminator 2" she was the harpie foster mother of John Connor; and in "Titanic" she was the brave stoic "Irish Mommy." She's hard to spot usually because she is such a chameleon! -Thanks to Leigh Barrett
Michael Biehn's (Hicks) shotgun is actually the same weapon he previously kept handy in "The Terminator", in which he played Kyle Reese. -Thanks to Toni Kurkimaki
Biehn's characters in 3 of Camerons films all get bitten on the hand. Sarah Conner bites Reese's hand in "The Terminator"; Newt bites Hicks' hand in Aliens and Bud Brigman bites Lt. Coffey's hand in the Abyss. -Thanks to Juan A
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Find much more great trivia in the filmmaker's commentary on the Aliens DVD.
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The preparation for the actors playing Colonial Marines included two weeks' training with the S.A.S. (Special Air Service, Britain's elite anti-terrorist force) and reading Robert Heinlein's novel "Starship Troopers" novel. Michael Biehn missed the training, as he was a last-minute replacement.
It's often mis-stated that when Jenette Goldstein heard about an "open call" for a film called Aliens she thought the film's subject matter was immigrants, so she showed up to it dressed like an immigrant. Thus the line in Aliens, "Yeah they said Alien and she thought they said illegal Alien and signed up." However, this is just a hollywood urban fairytale and completely false.
James Remar was supposed to have been playing Lieutenant Hicks in Aliens, but he and James Cameron supposedly got into "artistic" differences, and he was replaced by Michael Biehn -Thanks to Ashley Page
The Alien queen was an entirely new creation Jim Cameron and his team had to design from extrapolation. In the original, H.R. Giger never intended for there to be a queen. The actual rig was accomplished by standing two men back to back in the suit, and each of their arms operated one major extremity and one minor chest extremity apiece. It's worth mentioning that Cameron's queen suit was lost after the filming of Aliens and when it was needed again for Alien: Resurrection (1997), one had to be loaned by a private collector. -Thanks to William K. Scurry Jr
Part of the alien queen was made from trash bags and they used maple syrup to make it appear slimy. -Thanks to Sarah Troiano
In the scene where Ripley is shown the image of her "daughter" who has passed away while she was floating in space, the filmmakers actually gave her an image of Sigourney Weavers mother!!! Apparently Sigourney felt it would help her feel the emotion of the moment, thus turn in a better performance! -Thanks to David Watson
The APC was built from an old aircraft tug bought from Heathrow Airport, London, who also supplied a driver, since the four wheel drive, four wheel steering vehicle was so hard to drive! It could make it up to around 35mph. -Thanks to LightStorm
In an early draft of the script, Bishop claims to have been made
by "Cyberdyne", a company from "The Terminator" (1984)
The mechanism used to make the face-huggers thrash about in the stasis tubes in the science lab came from one of the "flying Piranhas" in one of Camerons early films "Piranha II: The Spawning" (1981). It took 9 people to make the face-hugger work. One person for each leg and one for the tail.
Most of the marines first initials are the same as the actor who portrays them. For example, Private W. Hudson was played by Bill (William)Paxton. J. Vasquez was played by Janette Goldstein etc... -Thanks to Rich Hudson
In the scene where the Queen is being sucked through the airlock, Bishop (Henrikson) grabs the girl, Newt, to stop her from being sucked out as well. In this scene you can see Henrikson's real stomach emerging from a hole in the deck under his fake body. -Thanks to Sam T
When the Marines first engage the aliens there is an explosion and one of the marines falls down the stair shaft. As he falls you can see one of the crew members feet pop out and back in about a floor down. -Thanks to Dougie Rankin
In the sceen where Ripley and Newt are stuck in a room with two facehuggers, Newt traps one with a table and you can see the operator's hand behind the facehugger manipulating it's finger-like legs. -Thanks to Jared
When Ripley is going in to save Newt and stocking up on weapons, she picks up a Pulse rifle but puts down a flame thrower, and then picks up a flame thrower and puts down a Pulse rifle. -Thanks to Dougie Rankin
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|  |  |  | | Aliens
Locations |
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The interior of the atmosphere processor was shot at disused Acton power station in West London. The same power station location was used three years later for the Axis Chemical plant in "Batman". [Thanks to LightStorm]
Otherwise all scenes used sets constructed at Pinewood Studios on the outside of London.
Can you help? Do you know any of the London, GREATER LONDON, UK (or any other) filming locations used for Aliens? [Please send them in]
|  | | | | ![[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]](16_9.gif) | ![[5.1 CH SURROUND]](dd5.gif) | Trailer, Commentary, Featurette, Notes, OutTakes |
| Our
Comments: Collectors Edition |
| | | | Trailer, Commentary, Featurette, Notes, OutTakes |
| Our
Comments: Special Edition |
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James Horner's score for the movie is suitably militaristic. It is readily available.
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Soundtrack Available:
On CD
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