WonderCon 2019: Alien Short Films

For the 40th anniversary of Alien, six filmmakers were chosen to expand the universe with their own short films. At WonderCon, two of the shorts premiered: Alien: Specimen and Alien: Ore with interviews with the directors, Kelsey Taylor and the Spear sisters. Overall, I was very impressed with the quality of both films.

* Alien: Specimen

A greenhouse in space is filled to the brim with plants. When a woman gets in a contaminated shipmen of earth, she seals it up and quarantines it, following protocol even though it significantly sets back her work. She works through the night with upbeat music, coffee, and her dog to keep her going until she sees the containers of earth spilled open and an empty egg inside.

Specimen is visually very different from the typical Alien film. The entire greenhouse is full of trees and plants, giving the film a much warmer, organic feel compared to the industrial or sterile space age feel. We are on the woman's side right away because we see how hard she works and how she copes with few words spoken. The facehugger chase is similar to the one in Aliens with Ripley and Newt. However, this one has the lights going out, creating an even deeper sense of suspense as it could be hiding anywhere. The alien itself is seen in glimpses until the very end, where it looks pretty decent. Not a second is wasted anywhere in the film and it does what it sets out to do.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

* Alien: Ore

A group of miners delve deep into the earth, desperate to find ore to get their bonus. The planet is desolate and poor with everyone eager to get some money to move. When a eggs are found instead of ore, Weyland-Yutani shows its true colors.

Lorraine is the main character of the film, strong and hardy on one hand and a loving grandmother on the other. She and her daughter work in the mines to give her granddaughter a better life. She has the other workers' respect and supports them when push comes to shove. I love that this goes back to the blue collar roots of Alien, where Ripley and her crew are essentially space truckers seen as disposable. There's also a amazing older woman who shows great emotional and physical strength.The caves feel a weird combination of claustrophobic and terrifyingly vast with seemingly interminable, dark corridors. The atmosphere is top notch and creepy. The only tiny complaint I had was one detail of the very end. With such a short film, even sounds are significant. The sounds at the end seem to indicate one specific ending over ambiguity.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins