'ALIEN VAULT' BURSTS WITH FASCINATING STORIES ABOUT A HORROR CINEMA CLASSIC

Order 'Alien Vault: The Definitive Story of the Making of the Film'

Ridley Scott's ALIEN shocked movie audiences upon its violent 1979 birth in theaters and it continues to scare and mesmerize viewers today. Yet the film's path to box office success was anything but easy or clear: battles over storylines, characters and screenwriting credit reflected the turmoil behind the scenes that somehow energized its production rather than scuttled it. Director Scott's own artistic demands for design and cinematic perfection also created plenty of tension with Fox studio as the budget ballooned to capture his stylistic vision on the screen. Time quickly proved that such travails and conflicts paid off astonishingly well in ticket sales as ALIEN shed its B-movie stigma to evolve into a box office hit of the year, and eventually burst out as a cinematic and pop culture landmark. Author Ian Nathan has skillfully gathered cast and crew interviews along with fully authorized access to director Scott's storyboards, photos and script pages, plus H.R. Giger's nightmarish creature designs to deliver ALIEN VAULT: The Definitive Story of the Making of the Film. This lavish, creatively designed book boasts 175 images of production artwork plus cast and crew photos shot during production, many of which have never been seen by ALIEN fans and collectors until now. How Ridley Scott achieved this artful blend of science fiction and gothic horror is a complex tale which author Nathan distills into an informative and often fascinating tale of creative will power and collaborative genius. If you thought you knew everything about ALIEN, Ian Nathan and his book have a few surprises for you.

It's quite appropriate that a book documenting the creation of a work of art be a work of art itself, and ALIEN VAULT achieves that symbiosis of style. Nathan's tome, a large format 3-pound volume, is suitably contained in a sturdy slipcase to safeguard all the secret treasures tucked away in its 176 pages. The iconic alien egg image on the case cover recalls ALIEN's memorable poster image, while the textless front and back covers of the book show Ridley in her white shuttle suit and the xenomorph creature's menacing profile — the film's two central figures forever facing off against each other. Aside from all the eye-popping artwork, rare design samples and exclusive set photos inside, this exterior dichotomy of human heroism and extraterrestrial terror boils ALIEN down to its most simple and enduring conflict.

Crack open the covers and readers will quickly see this book earns the title "definitive" as Nathan's insightful and handsome blend of text and illustrations prove its completeness page after page while remaining an entertaining read that beckons one ahead with enthusiasm. It's a sure bet that casual fans or ALIEN devotees will fail to resist skimming through the entire book at first sight just to sample every exciting new photograph, storyboard and design sketch. Such artfully crafted images of horror seem unlikely examples of eye candy, but all who appreciate Scott's film will find plenty to feed their sweet tooth here. From the director's thoroughly detailed storyboard plans dubbed "Ridleygrams" to Giger's early and famous creature designs, from shooting script pages with rewrite notes to Nostromo schematics, the depth of high-quality material presented is astonishing.

Topping itself, periodically placed throughout the book are five thick pages hosting delicate paper envelopes containing a number of pull-out artifacts as shown above, including: an annotated script page with Ridley and Lambert costume Polaroids taped to the back, H.R. Giger concept art of the Facehugger and Space Jockey creatures, Ridleygram storyboard scenes, the medical bay set design, Nostromo orthographic plans, teaser and foreign poster replicas, and a Nostromo crew patch sticker. While such souvenirs like the Giger paintings will be very familiar to ALIEN fans, rarer treasures like Scott's own script revisions and the nifty Nostromo decal are pleasing collectibles for casual and hardcore readers on the subject.

Likewise Nathan's chapters detail the troubled, against-all-odds genesis of ALIEN from Dan O'Bannon's earliest story concepts and scripts with Ron Shusett, revealing that — like so many renowned films — this sci-fi shocker almost never happened. In recent years, culminating with Fox's stunning Alien Anthology 6 Disc Blu-raybox set in 2010, O'Bannon's once-overshadowed but crucial birth pangs creating this spacebound horror have regained their rightful prominence in the film's production history. Nathan documents the organic evolution of ALIEN from O'Bannon and Shusett's earliest story and design influences to the controversial rewrites by David Giler and Walter Hill (teamed with Brandywine producing partner Gordon Carroll). While that conflict is well known, Nathan reveals the less publicized history of director Ridley Scott as the fulcrum between the two battling camps who gladly took from both and fused their narrative elements to his own singular vision. What has played out in the past as a battle for recognition on O'Bannon's part, once overshadowed by Giler and Hill taking the lion's share of credit for the final script's shape, is now recognized as a much more complex mosaic of story influences contributed by all parties. Ultimately such diverse influences were forged into the film ALIEN by Scott's own formidable artistic and technical demands throughout production at Shepperton Studios in 1978.

Fans well-versed in ALIEN lore may also find a few surprises in detailed stories about and interviews with Swiss artist H.R. Giger, whose nightmarish 'biomechanical' aesthetic eventually redefined the idea of a movie monster. Once Scott was signed to direct the film and became entranced by Giger's dark yet compelling artwork, Giger gained an invaluable artistic ally who encouraged the surrealist to explore and mine his imagination for more shocking sights. While contributing concept artists like Ron Cobb and Jean "Moebius" Giraud designed the human half of the film, from the crew's uniforms and pressure suits to the Nostromo's labyrinthine interiors, Giger visualized the entire Alien mythology, including its gruesome lifecycle from egg to murderous adult and even the hellish planet and derelict ship which hosted its nursery. As with nearly every other aspect of ALIEN, Nathan's text reveals that only such a wide-ranging confluence of styles and personalities could have possibly produced the film's landmark look, dramatic arc and terrifying impact upon audiences as we know it today.

These are just a few of the topics author Nathan explores in depth and to quite satisfying ends, while always maintaining an enjoyable undercurrent that he writes and regards these historic facts with an enduring sense of awe and wonder of a longtime fan. Nathan divides ALIEN's complete production history into four meaty chapters — Birth, Nostromo, Perfect Organism and Ripley — followed by a much shorter coda detailing the film's Legacy as a continuing movie franchise with three sequels. ALIEN inspired a wave of imitators from Hollywood (some good, some garbage), dozens of outright ripoffs and a universe of toys and collectibles which continue to crowd uber-fans' display cases. The gangly, acid-blooded xenomorph continually proves it will never die, regardless of its weaker Fox-produced progeny which seemingly did their damnedest to kill the franchise's box office and fanbase appeal with each iteration. James Cameron's 1986 ALIENS is the obvious, glorious exception to the franchise's downward trend. Two Appendices cap off Nathan's epic publication: The Nostromo Manifest which starkly details the order and method of the crew's deaths (or lack thereof) in chronological order through the film (including Director's Cut variables); and History in the Making, a one-page timeline of ALIEN's entire production lifecycle from Dan O'Bannon meeting John Carpenter in 1970 to eventually film DARK STAR right up to the October 2003 release of ALIEN: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT on its 25th anniversary.

Sadly if unavoidably, Nathan's book stops short of this year's latest news that Ridley Scott is returning to the ALIEN universe he helped create four decades ago with PROMETHEUS, a mystery-shrouded production which supposedly explores the very origins of mankind on Earth which may somehow relate to or involve the Space Jockey species seen in ALIEN as an ancient fossil. PROMETHEUS, scheduled for theatrical release in June 2012, is likely a very distant prequel to ALIEN, apparently set many years before the events involving Ripley and the Nostromo. For more details and news updates, be sure to visit the PROMETHEUS official blog site to follow Scott's latest project.

Meanwhile, do yourselves a favor, movie lovers, and add Alien Vault: The Definitive Story of the Making of the Film to your cinema library. Ian Nathan's expertly written book will entertain the most casual reader and fulfill the most devout fan's hunger to learn all available data and lore about ALIEN. The author wisely explains in superb detail why this stylish horror masterpiece resonates with audiences and critics decades after it first burst onto movie screens. FilmEdge highly recommends this epic publication as a truly definitive work that will not disappoint.

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