MonsterVision's Joe Bob Briggs' reviews

Alien (1979)

In space, no one can hear you scream

(From Joe Bob's Ultimate B Movie Guide)
Ridley Scott's masterpiece of quick-cutting (you never really see the monster) tells the story of the Nostromo, a deep-space cargo ship and its dysfunctional stir-crazy crew, starring Sigourney Weaver as Ripley (believe it or not). They stop to check on a ship that has crash-landed, only to bring a deadly parasite onboard with them. H.R. Giger, the Swiss surrealist, designed the alien ship itself to resemble the inside of a strange place that's half industrial plant, half womb. John Hurt is the first to go in the gory chest-ripping scene, and then this mechanical insect mutant starts to breed (which he later reprised in MonsterVision's Spaceballs). 4 stars
Additional cast: Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, Veronica Cartwright. 137 minutes, rated R

Aliens (1986)

(From Joe Bob's Ultimate B Movie Guide)

Outer-space head-chompin insect mutants eat everything on the screen except Sigourney Weaver, sole survivor of the first movie. Maybe even better than the original ALIEN mainly due to director James THE TERMINATOR Cameron, who knows how to put your innards in a Cuisinart where they belong. Ripley goes to the Alien home planet with a squad of Marines. Paul Reiser plays a company executive who manipulates Ripley by hinting that she could be charged for everything that happened the first time. Special effects won an Oscar. 137 minutes rated R, the Director’s Cut runs 17 minutes longer.  4 stars
Additional cast: Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton (Twister), Jenette Goldstein

© 2000 Joe Bob Briggs All Rights Reserved.
This and other reviews by the artist formerly known as the host of Monstervision can be seen at Joe Bob Briggs.com

Both movies were built around a 1950s sci-fi/horror formula. In fact, Joe Bob found the original version and showed it on MonsterVision in 1997 after Alien:

It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)

The second spaceship to Mars returns with the sole survivor of the first mission, assumed to have murdered everyone else. But the real killer is a monster (played by Crash Corrigan), which is now also aboard the returning ship. Suspenseful low-budget movie stars Marshall Thompson (later the star of TV’s “Daktari,” a series inspired by John Wayne movie “Hatari”). Joe Bob says sci-fi writer Jerome Bixby sued “Alien” but didn’t get very far. Continued

Alien 3 (1992)

Joe Bob Briggs notes in the MonsterVision host segments for Alien 3 that the 3 is above the title, which would make it “Alien Cubed.” Sigourney Weaver lands on a space prison where the Alien regenerates itself and runs around killing people. The convicts, including real-life ex-con Charles S. Dutton, run their prison like monks in a monastery. Everyone, including Weaver, has shaved heads due to lice, but the movie formula is basically the same. Charles Dance, Paul McGann, Brian Glover, Ralph Brown, Danny Webb, Christopher John Fields, Holt McCallany, Lance Henriksen, Pete Postlethwaite, directed by David Fincher. 115 minutes, rated R

Alien Resurrection (1997)

In this one, Ripley (Weaver) returns as a clone (see “Barbarella” host segments link below for what happened to her at the end of Alien 3 after she realized that she contained the Alien mother) 200 years later, in this 4th installment. Helping her fight the aliens are a merry band of space pirates in what Leonard Maltin calls a “clumsy sequel with crummy logic, fair effects and far too many wisecracks; a few good action scenes, but otherwise strictly for series fans.” Weaver herself said she preferred doing the comedy movies “Ghostbusters” and Star Trek spoof “Galaxy Quest” to the Alien movies. Winona Ryder of Beetlejuice and Ron Perlman (of Ice Pirates and TV’s “Beauty & The Beast” series) are on hand to help.
Additional cast: Dan Hedaya (Carla’s husband in the TV-series Cheers), Dominique Pinon, Gary Dourdan, Michael Wincott, Kim Flowers, J.E. Freeman, and drive-in favorite Brad Dourif. 108 minutes rated R. Directed by some French guy. Last seen on ABC in primetime 1-21-02.

Followed by sequel: Alien Vs. Predator. For theatrical trailers, check out movies.yahoo.com/alienvspredator 
Sigourney Weaver and Alien movies showing in 2007:
                     Alien (1979, or 2003 Director's Cut)
Thu  Jun 28  03:30P on More Max

                     Aliens (Alien 2)
Wed  Jun 27  01:50A on More Max

                     Alien 3
Thu  May 24  11:30A on Cinemax
Sat  July 7  03:30A on More Max
Sat  Jul 21  11:50P on More Max

                     Alien Resurrection (Alien 4)
Tue  May 30  12:15A on Encore
Tue  Jun 26  12:20A on Starz
Tue  July 3  11:00A & 8:00P on Action
Mon  Jul  9  01:30A on Action
Sat  Jul 14  12:20P & 10pm on Action
Mon  Jul 16  12:30A EST on Fox Movie Channel
Wed  Jul 18  06:45P on Action
Mon  Jul 23  12:30P & 1:35A on Action
Wed  Jul 25  7pm/10pm EST & 11:30pm/2:30am EST on Fox Movie Channel

                     Alien vs. Predator (Alien 5, no Sigourney)
Sun  Jun 17  11:00P on FX Network

                     Alien Cargo (1999)
Jun 24, 2006  on SciFi Channel

                     Alien Hunter (2003, in Antarctica)
Nov 18, 2006  on SciFi Channel

                     Alien Intruder (Billy Dee Williams)
Nov  4, 2006  on Action

                     Alien Nation (1988)
An alien teams up with a Los Angeles cop (James Caan) to track down an extraterrestrial murderer
Dec 25, 2006  on Mystery

                     Alien Nation: Dark Horizon (1994)
Sun  July 8  06:00A on HBO Plus

                     Alien Nation: Body and Soul (1995)
Mon  July 2  06:00A on HBO Plus

                     Alien Nation: Millennium (1996)
Fri  Jul 27  06:00A on HBO Plus

                     Alien Siege (2005 low-budget chiller)
Sep 28, 2006  on SciFi Channel

                     The Alien Within (1995, Roddy McDowall)
(not currently scheduled)

                     Alienator (see below)
(not currently scheduled)

                     Alien Apocalypse (2005 made-for-SCIFI Channel)
(not currently scheduled)

                     Alien Avengers (1996, see below)
Mon  Jul  2  12:25A on Showtime Beyond

                     Alien Avengers II
Thu  Jul  5  11:25P on Showtime Beyond

                     Aliens From Another Planet (1966, from TV-series The Time Tunnel)
Thu  Jan 11  1am/4am EST on Fox Movie Channel

                     Brother from Another Planet (1984, a black extraterrestrial lands in Harlem)
Mon  Feb  5  03:45A on Showtime #2
Thu  Feb 15  07:05A & 8pm on Starz in Black

                     Copycat (1995, Sigourney Weaver)
A criminal psychologist & a detective track a serial killer who emulates notorious past murderers
Sat  Feb  3  01:00P on TNT

                     Deal of the Century (1983 comedy, with Chevy Chase)
Mon  July 9  01:00P on HD Movies

                     Death and the Maiden (1994, Sigourney as a Latin American torture victim)
Tue  Feb 20  01:50A on Mystery

                     Enemy Mine (1985 remake of Robinson Crusoe On Mars)
Mon  Feb  5  12:35P on Cinemax

                     E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982, phone home)
Dec 25, 2006  09:00A on USA Network

                     Futurama: Love and Rocket (30 min. 2002)
Sigourney Weaver guest stars as the ship's sexy new voice
Thu  May 10  10:30P & 2:00A on Cartoon Network

                     Galaxy Quest (Star Trek spoof, Sigourney Weaver)
Thu  May 31  10:00A on TBS 

                     Ghostbusters (Sigourney Weaver comedy with Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray)
Sat  Feb  3  05:30P on ABC's Family Channel

                     Ghostbusters 2 (same cast, 5 years later)
Sun  Jun 24  11:30A on Comedy Central

                     The Hidden 2 (The alien that preys on humans returns to Earth, followed by an alien tracker)
Oct 30, 2006  03:20A on HBO Plus

                     Holes (2003, Sigourney Weaver as the Warden)
Mon  Jun 25  08:00P on Disney Channel

                     Leviathan (Alien copy, underwater)
(not currently scheduled)

                     Lost in Space (1998)
Wed  Apr 18  01:45P on Starz Edge
Sun  May 27  12:00P on Encore
Mon  Jun 18  02:05A & 10:40P on Starz Kids and Family
Fri  July 6  11:35A on Starz
Sun  Jul  8  10:00A on Wam!
Sun  Jul  8  11:00A on Movie Plex
Sun  Jul 15  09:45A & 7:45P on Action
Mon  Jul 16  03:10P on Starz
Thu  Jul 19  05:30A, 2:15P & 9:45P on Action
Thu  Jul 19  06:30A, 3:15P & 10:45P on Movie Plex
Fri  Jul 20  07:45P on Wam!
Sun  Jul 22  10:50A on Starz
Wed  Jul 25  09:50A & 9:45P on Action

                     Mars Attacks (Tim Burton's spoof of '50s flicks in which aliens land on Earth & get nasty)
Fri  Jan  5  9pm/12am EST on Turner Classic Movies

                     Outland (Sean Connery's high noon in space, 1981)
Wed  Feb 28  12:50P & 10pm on Thrillermax

                     Peacemaker (1990, caught between 2 battling aliens)
Dec 31, 2006  on Showtime Beyond

                     Planet of the Vampires (1965)
March 31, 2006  on Showtime Beyond

                     Predator (1987, Schwarzenegger vs. nasty alien on Earth)
(not currently scheduled)

                     Predator 2 (1990, Gary Busey, Bill Paxton)
Tue  May 29  09:00P on Spike TV (TNN)

                     Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964, Adam West)
(not currently scheduled)

                     Saturn 3 (Farrah Fawcett vs. Harvey Keitel's evil robot)
Tue  Feb 20  11:30P on Flix Movie Channel

                     Silent Running (1971, Bruce Dern in space with two robots)
Wed  Feb 14  04:50A on Encore Drama Channel
Wed  July 4  04:00A on Action
Mon  Jul  9  07:45A on Action
Fri  Jul 13  02:20P on Mystery
Fri  Jul 13  03:20P on Movie Plex
Thu  Jul 19  07:15A on Mystery
Sat  Jul 28  05:20A on Action

                     Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
A mad scientist's army of flying robots attack 1930s New York. Stunning special effects
Fri  Dec 22  09:00A & 7:10P on Showtime
Thu  Jan  4  11:30P on The Movie Channel
Sat  Jan 27  08:35P on Showtime Family Zone

                     Solaris (2002)
A counselor sees his dead wife on a space station orbiting a mysterious planet
Fri  May 18  09:25A & 7:30P EST on Independent Film Channel

                     Soldier (1998, Kurt Russell stranded in space)
Thu  July 12  09:00A on Spike (TNN)

                     Soylent Green (1971)
(not currently scheduled)

                     Space Cowboys (2000, retired astronauts vs. a nasty Cold War weapon in orbit)
Mon  Feb 12  10:00A on TBS 

                     Species (1995 horror, an alien black widow that mates & then kills)
Thu  Dec 28  08:00A on USA Network
Sat  July 7  12:00A on TNT
Thu  Jul 12  12:00A & 4:00A on TBS

                     Species II (1998 sci-fi)
Fri  Jul 13  02:30P on Starz

                     Species III (2004)
Sat  Nov  4  11:00P on SciFi Channel

                     Sphere
(not currently scheduled)

                     Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Something hidden in a giant cloud is headed for Earth and killing everything it encounters
(not currently scheduled)

                     Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
A genetic superman out for revenge (Ricardo Montalban) steals a starship & goes on the attack
see Star Trek page for current schedule

                     Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock
see Star Trek page for current schedule

                     Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
see Star Trek page for current schedule

                     Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country
(not currently scheduled)

                     Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
see Star Trek page for current schedule

                     Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
(not currently scheduled)

                     Stargate (1994, Kurt Russell)
see Stargate page for current schedule

                     Starman (1984, dir: John Carpenter)
Sat  June 30  1pm/4pm EST on Turner Classic Movies

see also Star Wars movies page

                     John Carpenter's They Live
Aliens disguised as yuppies take over Earth and hunt down anyone who discovers their secret
Fri  July 13  04:00A on Cinemax

                     The Village (Sigourney Weaver, something nasty's lurking in the woods)
Sun  June 10  09:30A on FX Network

                     Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961, Irwin Allen)
An atomic submarine 20 years in the future tries to prevent a threat from space
Fri  June 22  01:45P on American Movie Classics

                     Waterworld (1995, Earth covered with water in future, Dennis Hopper)
Sat  May 12  05:00P on SciFi Channel

                     The X-Files Movie (1998, Mulder & Scully track an alien plague 
Sat  Jul  7  06:10P on Thrillermax
Mon  Jul  9  03:15A on More Max
Wed  Jul 11  12:40P on More Max
Sun  Jul 15  10:00P on Thrillermax
Mon  Jul 23  07:50P on Thrillermax
Thu  Jul 26  11:00P on More Max

                     Xtro II (1991, defense facility attacked by an alien creature)
Dec 30, 2006  on SciFi Channel

                     Zardoz (Sean Connery's Barbarella?)
Thu  Feb 15  01:35A on Action

                     Zone Troopers (WW2 Nazis vs. bug-eyed alien)
(not currently scheduled)

                     Movies 101: Sigourney Weaver (30 min, 2006)
Dec 17, 2006  on American Movie Classics
The Alien movies also spawned a bunch of imitators starting, as noted in the MonsterVision host segments for Leviathan, with “Leviathan,” a alien movie that’s all wet. There was also:

Alienator (1989)

Jan-Michael Vincent of TV's Airwolf as nasty alien prison warden who sends low-budget spaceship to Earth to track down relatively nice fugitive. Rated R. Vincent was much nicer himself in MonsterVision movie Damnation Alley

Alien From L.A. (1987)

This low-budget mess, "inspired" by Jules Verne's Jouney To The Center Of The Earth, has been skewered by both MonsterVision and Mystery Science Theater 3000. A Valley Girl with the I.Q. of a turnip and coke-bottle glasses falls down a hole in the Earth's crust and finds herself in the lost city of Atlantis, where humans are used as slave labor. She's rescued by an adventurer driving a golfcar that's supposed to be alien-looking. Kathy Ireland stars, but it's only rated PG

Alien Nation (1988)

Cop James Caan is teamed with alien immigrant to track down the alien that killed his former partner in movie that inspired the Alien Nation TV-series. The plot itself seems to have been suggested by the movie “Chinatown,” which itself was remade by producer Steven Spielberg as the spoof Who Framed Roger Rabbit starring Bob Hoskins as the cop and Christopher Lloyd of Back To The Future as bad guy Judge Doom.

Alien Predator (1987)

Low-budget flop actually made in 1984, retitled to cash in on success of both "Alien" and "Predator" movies (this was long before the actual Alien Vs. Predator movie & videogame), but with world's worst special effects and worse acting.

The Alien’s Return (1980)

Dull bomb about two children and an old man in New Mexico who have a “close encounter.” Jan-Michael Vincent, a moonlighting Cybill Shepherd, Martin Landau of Space 1999, Raymond Burr of Godzilla, Neville Brand. Originally titled “The Return,” the video was retitled to cash in on “Alien.”

Alien Arsenal (1999)

Two high school outcasts come across a secret stash of outer space weapons in this sorta remake of Laserblast. About how it sounds. Jerrod Cornish, Josh Hammond. PG-13

Alien Erotica 2 (2000)

A plant from outer space changes everyone it comes in contact with. No, it’s not a remake of Little Shop Of Horrors, this plant changes people into nymphomaniacs. You know, some of the people in Hollywood grew up after they graduated from high school. Not rated (that means it probably never made it into theaters). Kird Reed. No relation to Alien Intruder

Alien Avengers (1996)

A couple vacationing on Earth (George Wendt of House and Shannon Reed), hunt down and kill low-life criminals for sport in this enjoyable spoof of “Predator,” while their daughter falls for one of the local humans. Seen most recently on the SciFi Channel with Thing From Another World, Meet The Applegates, and Coneheads. George Wendt returned in the sequel "Alien Avengers II" (1997)

Meet The Applegates (1990)

Mutant insects from Brazil masquerade as a typical American family in star Ed Begley’s mix of comedy, sci-fi and environmentalism. Directed by Michael Lehman (of the much better Heathers), rated R. Also stars Stockard Channing (of 1973’s dark comedy “The Girl Most Likely To”) and Dabney Coleman of WarGames fame. Originally released as simply “The Applegates.” At least it’s better than Transylvania 6-5000.

Joe Bob reviewed Alien 3 for Monstervision, but that was back in 1997, those host segments on tape but not yet transcribed...Click here to have the ending ruined if you haven't seen "Alien 3" yet, followed by "Barbarella" MonsterVision host segments
Alien also owes a nod to “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers” (1956), in which aliens put pods in the homes of people and replace them, an alien duplicate / clone growing inside the pod and then emerging to replace the human. Kevin McCarthy starred in this movie version of Jack Finney’s novel “The Body Snatchers,” but complained that the studio added an epilogue in which the aliens are exposed and defeated (not in the book). When the movie was remade in 1978 with Donald Sutherland, Leonard Nimoy and Jeff Goldblum, McCarthy was given a cameo scene at the end to do the line edited out of the 1956 version – that aliens were taking over (and couldn’t be stopped). It was remade again in 1994 as “The Body Snatchers” starring Meg Tilly (yes, Meg Tilly) and Gabrielle Anwar. Not to be confused with Boris Karloff movie “The Body Snatcher,” about a grave-robber.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers MonsterVision host segments

Alien Vs. Predator
Whoever wins...we lose


Return to www.Monstervision.org

"Alien" was last seen on MonsterVision 6/7/97

Click here for an Alien on a Hot Tin Roof