Alien 3

I just saw Alien 3 for the second time this past week. I had only seen parts of it on cable nearly a decade ago, and since I didn't care for it then I had little desire to rewatch it until now. It picks up right where Aliens leaves off with Ripley being the sole survivor of her escape ship. Newt and Hicks have died enroute and that is one of the key factors to many fans disliking this third Alien chapter. I think Alien 3 will only gain likability as time goes on and fans get over these deaths. The movie itself is dark and certainly not goofy like Alien Resurrection. I think it has gotten and will earn more respect as time goes on.

Alien 3 brings us a survival scenario similar to the original. There's one alien on the loose chasing a finite group of unarmed people, widdling them down one by one...and there is only one survivor. The plot gave the characters little weapons against the alien which I learned to appreciate on the rewatch. My favorite contribution from Alien 3 to the series is the half dog alien breed. This shows us that the alien which we've come to know in the first two movies is half parasite/half human because its hosts were always human. This little twist comes into play in later Alien movies.

The cast primarily consists of 25 men on Fury 161 and one woman, Ripley. Here is the bootlist:

26. Murphy

25. Rains

24. Boggs

23. Clemens

22. Warden Andrews

21. Frank

20-16 - Several unnamed prisoners are killed as a result of Frank's action

15. Junior - Sacrifices himself to trap the alien (not shown in theatrical release)

14. Arthur - Guards door and killed by Goric (not shown in theatrical release)

13. Golic - Insane and runs after "dragon" (not shown in theatrical release)

12. Vincent

11. Troy

10. David

9. Kevin

8. William

7. Eric

6. Jude

5. Gregor

4. Dillon - Lures alien into lead chamber where he sacrifices himself.

3. Aaron 85 - mocked for having an IQ of 85, he's the wardens assistant. He is shot and killed by Bishop and his company after he tries to knock out Bishop.

2. Ripley - With the new queen alien inside her, she commits suicide by jumping into the fire

1. Morse - Sole survivor.

Eight Legged Freaks

Invasion of the jumping spiders!

This movie packs a lot of over-the-top, giant spiders jumping on people. It really doesn't disappoint when it comes to that. I remember seeing posters for this movie at the theater and really looking forward to it back in '02. It stars the lovely Kari Wuhrer, from my favorite movie of all time, Anaconda, so that's partly why. Oh and David Arquette's there at the end of his career and Scarlett Johansson at the beginning of hers.

For a lower budget (presumed) this movie does a good job blending the CGI with the puppet spiders (good, not great). It's the actual context of some scenes which can be absurd at times (spiders chasing and jumping on a group of dirt bike riders for instance). But the special effects alone never ruined a scene IMO. In a movie like this the believability of the spiders is more important than the human storylines and acting. So there's not much competition there.

The movie begins with a chemical accident and we instantly realize where things are headed. Farm animals turn up dead or missing and the town is worried. Next thing you know there are giant, jumping spiders everywhere! Eventually they corner Sheriff Kari and Arquette in a shopping mall and later a mine where the movie climaxes in an all-out war. While in most monster movies there may be 2-5 good scenes of monster carnage, this one has too many to count. I had a hard time picking just one scene to use in the monster movie montage i'm working on.

Eight Legged Freaks reminds me so much of well done 80's monster movie, despite being made during the crappy computer generated horror era. I award it that, but it's personally not one of my favorites. I would say it's only mildly scary, mildly funny, and mildly freaky.

Survivors do not include Joshua, the spider specialist, some ostriches, some miners, some dirt biker guys, some truck drivers, some senior citizens and most of the other townspeople for that matter. Survivors do include nearly everyone likeable and given a name for their character.

The Edge

I can't believe how many awesome Survivor movies were made in 1997! Anaconda, Alien Resurrection, Cube, Event Horizon, The Lost World, Starship Troopers...and the most Survivor-esque of them all: The Edge. What a great year.

In The Edge, four men take a quick flight over the Alaskan wilderness in search of an Indian man for their photoshoot. The plot is so very non-epic which is great. The movie teased me in the beginning with a cabin full of several other people. I thought -oh yay- a large expedition into the woods, but no, they all stay back at the cabin safe and sound. After smashing through a flock of birds, the four men's plane crashes. They are stranded out in the middle of the wilderness and being hunted by that bear.

The pilot dies in the crash leaving us quite quickly with just 3 men left: Alec Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins and Michael from Lost.

Stephen (aka Michael) gets seriously injured and later eaten by the bear in one of the most frightening scenes.

Things get heated when it's just Charles (Hopkins) and Bob (Baldwin) left. Charles' wife is cheating on him with Bob, and Bob is on this trip to kill Charles out in the wilderness ($$$).

Charles outsmarts the bear and Bob [justly] gets fatally wounded and does not make it back.

My final word: The Edge is a good movie, but not very fun to rewatch.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem (AVPR) picks up right where Alien vs. Predator (AVP) left off. The "PredAlien" offspring crash lands on earth and terrorizes a small town. There's an endless amount of characters and attacks, which really makes AVPR a poor Survivor movie. It fits perfectly into the Jaws model which I don't care for. There is a band of several characters the story tries to focus on amidst the carnage of an entire town which includes a couple hobos, some pregnant women at a hospital, and a dozen National Guard troops.

The humans in AVPR are supposed to have secondary billing to the real stars; the predators and aliens. It is their movie after all. Even though it's not that hard to predict who will survive (oh wow the dickhead, jock bully dies? The little girl lives? I'm falling off the edge of my seat...), the best part about AVPR is seeing who gets to claim each kill...the predators or the aliens.

In AVP the score was pretty much tied. In AVPR however, I think the aliens scored a major upset. Granted, I'm not sure which team the PredAlien is on and half the time I wasn't sure if it was the PredAlien or just some regular alien getting the kill (it's such a dark movie - literally). I'll put the PredAlien on the aliens team for simplicity. And there was only one real Predator in this sequel so the odds are not in his favor.

Victims
1. Buddy and Sam (father & son) - impregnated by aliens
2. Three Hobos - 2 impregnated by aliens, 1 killed by PredAlien
3. Deputy Ray - killed and skinned by Predator
Aliens: 5, Predator: 1
4. Carrie & Richie (diner) - killed by aliens/PredAlien
5. Man at the power plant - aliens
6. Mark (swimming pool) - alien
7. Nick (locker room) - alien
8. Jim (Molly's father) - alien
9. National Guard Troops - aliens
Aliens: 20+, Predator: 1
10. Hospital Nurse - PredAlien
11. 2 Stoners at the weapons shop - Predator
12. Dale - alien acid
13. Doctor and pregnant women - PredAlien
14. Pizza One Manager - aliens/PredAlien
15. Jesse - Predator
16. Eddy, Darcy & the rest of the town - The US Government
Aliens: 30+, Predator: 4

Survivors
Kelly & Molly (mother & daughter)
Dallas & Ricky (brothers)

The Pattern
Notice that the sole survivor in AVP was a woman, just like in Alien.
The survivors in AVPR include a kick-ass heroine, a little girl and an injured young man, just like in Aliens.
I appreciate this little homage whether it was intentional or just coincidence.
This means only 1 random bald guy will survive AVP3 :D

Creature

Creature is the 1985 rip-off of Alien. It's not like me to say something is a rip-off because I tend to defend monster movies when people accuse them of copying Alien. But Creature was low budget and made right after Alien came out. I can only imagine it was made to cash in on the other movie's success (wait, was The Asylum making movies in 1985?). The "creature" looks just like the alien in Alien, the title is eerily similar, and the plot feels the same. They even cast a Ripley look-alike to kick some creature ass!

The story takes place on Titan, a moon of Saturn. The Germans have already landed on Titan and since they're competing with the USA for technological power, a team of American astronauts follow. The USA team crashes and seek help from the Germans, but they discover the entire German crew has been slaughtered. The astronauts then discover some strange specimens on board the German ship. These strange, small bug-like creatures begin to infest the humans and take over their brains. There's also a bigger creature lurking around (see below). The astronauts and scientists must somehow fix the German ship and escape.

The creature...


The humans...

	Name: Mike Davison Position: Captain Survivor: Yes
	Name: Beth Sladen Position: Damsel in Distress Survivor: She gets left alone, captured, chased, falls a sleep, and insists on nudging the creature with her foot but yes.
	Name: Bryce Position: Weapons Specialist Looks Like: Sigourney Weaver Survivor: She gets lost for a third of the movie, but yes.
	Name: Perkins Position: Commander Looks like: Alan Seaver Survivor: No (5th death) Cause of Death: Creature
	Name: Hans Hofner Position: Sole survivor of German crew Survivor: No (4th death) Cause of death: Bug-like creature infect his brain. He tries to kill Davison but Perkins shoots him.
	Name: Wendy Position: Doctor Survivor: No (3rd death) Cause of death: Led to creature by infected Jon. Creature bites her head off.
	Name: Jon Position: Boyfriend of Susan Survivor: No (2nd death) Cause of death: Thinks Susan is still alive, goes looking for her, finds her, but she's infected and implants a bug in his brain. He later returns to the crew and Davison blows his head off after he turns on them.
	Name: Susan Favorite Position: Top Survivor: No (1st death) Cause of death: The crew gets chased through the German ship by the creature. Everyone slips through a closing steel door but she doesn't make it through. The creature corners her and...*splat*

The Descent

The Descent is a British horror film about 6 women who go spelunking in an undiscovered cave system where they run into a strange breed of predators and fight for survival. The Descent just so happens to be genuinely frightening and one of my favorite Survivor movies of all time! The creatures the women run into are suggested to be a variation of humans that evolved overtime underground. They are pale white and blind, which would be expected for creatures living in a world with no light. I enjoy when stories interject a bit of realistic science fiction; it makes you think. Actually, the whole movie makes you think...do these creatures in the caves even exist or are they all imagined by one woman's descent into madness?

Well, part 1 of The Descent leaves you thinking and tingling with goose bumps. Part 2 steam rolls over these thoughts and bewilderment when a group of rescuers go down to review, repeat and regurgitate the first film all over again. But hey, bring on a third and i'll watch it!

Of course, like any cave movie, the plot is driven by the characters becoming trapped inside. But what makes this movie different is that 1) it's realistically dark throughout. The only lighting is from the peoples head lamps and torches, etc. This really sets the mood for a very dark, claustrophobic and sometimes hard to see, movie. And 2) the cast is mostly women which is unique and gives itself a bit of originality in the genre.

I actually heard of this movie long before it was released in the United States. I stumbled upon the title on imdb.com after thinking this might be the movie version of a book I had been reading titled the same. It is not based on the book by Jeff Long, but apparently The Descent was released in Europe a year or so before the US. It had a quiet release in the US without a lot of fan fare, but over the years it's picked up notoriety. It might even get spoofed in the next Scary Movie...even though, The Descent: Part 2 actually feels like a spoof on Part 1 at times.

Part Spoilers 1:

Holly (first to die) - Sort of the tomboy of the group. Holly falls and injures her leg before the group encounters the creatures. When the group is later ambushed she's becomes the first victim.


Beth (second to die?) - Sarah's best friend. During the initial ambush with the creatures, Juno whips out her pickaxe. Thinking a creature is behind her, Juno swings and stabs Beth right through the neck. Later, a dying Beth tells Sarah that Juno injured her (albeit accidental).


Sam (third to die) - Flees from the creatures and attempts to scale a cavernous ceiling over a deep, dark pit. Midway across the ravine a creature climbs onto her and..


Rebecca (fourth to die) - Spends most of the chaotic part of the movie with Sam. Immediately after Sam is killed, another creature attacks Rebecca killing her.



Juno (last to die?) - After the initial ambush Juno becomes Lara Croft and spends most of the remaining film doing acrobatics and karate type stuff killing creatures left and right. In the final scene, Sarah takes a pickaxe to Juno's thigh disabling her so the creatures can finish her off (as revenge for killing Beth)...oh irony!

Sarah (Escapes?) - Sarah manages to escape the caves. In the original film ending, however, she only imagines escaping. In the [happy-ending approved] American version the movie stops before she realizes she's still in the cave. So [Yay!] Americans can sleep at night knowing she's ok. Either way she does make it out and moves onto Part 2.

Part 2 Spoilers:
Dan (first to die) - The leader of the rescue squad is the first to die when the creatures come back for a second helping and a taste of man.



Cath (second to die) - Cath and Greg are the cute couple on the rescue team. During the ambush they stumble upon Sam's body dangling above a dark ravine. Cath makes it across swinging on Sam (Greg falls), however the creature on the other end of the ravine slaughters her.

Vaines (third to die) - Vaines is the sheriff who insists on accompanying Sarah and the rescuers back down in the cave system looking for the other 5 women. At one point he handcuffs himself to Sarah...slips...long story short Juno ends up hacking Vaines' arm off so he doesn't take Sarah with him when he falls.

Greg (fourth goner?) - One of the rescuers. Greg is bitten and falls down a deep and dark hole into water. You later see the last of him in the creatures' bone pit.



Juno (Finally dies) - Juno the creature slayer takes one too many gashes to the abdomen before finally saying adieu.




Sarah (Sacrifices herself) - In the end it's just Sarah and Rios. Sarah's character is an interesting one. She lost her daughter in the beginning of part 1, suffered from amnesia and didn't remember the creatures until about 3/4s of the way into part 2. She sacrifices herself so Rios can escape and be with her daughter.

Rios (Sole Survivor?) - She escapes the caves. Relieved, she calls her daughter and then BAM. Shovel to the head. The old man who lives above the caves knocks her out and feeds her to the creatures. It's like the ending of Lake Placid, but moreso out of nowhere.