Michael's Horror Lase-O-Rama: Alien (1995, Fox Video)

Source: LDDB.com

---

The crew of the Nostromo, a commercial towing vehicle hauling a metric shit-ton of valuable resources headed for Earth, is awakened from cryo-sleep when the shipboard computer detects a distress signal emanating from a nearby world. Contractually obligated to investigate any such signals, ship's captain Dallas (Tom Skeritt) leaves the cargo transport in orbit around the unmarked, unexplored planet LV-426 and takes the Nostromo itself down to the surface. Once there, Dallas along with Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt) and ship's Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), set out to find the source of the distress signal, leaving Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) temporarily in command. Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm) works to decipher the signal, while Chief Engineer Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Secondary Engineer Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) work to fix damage sustained by the ship during the landing.

While exploring the surface of the planet, Dallas, Kane, and Lambert come across the source of the distress signal: a derelict spaceship of unknown origin. Entering the remains of the craft, they discover the partial remains of an enormous extra-terrestrial creature seated at a command console. Cause of death: massive chest trauma; what's left of its rib cage is bent outward, as if from a shaped demolition charge. Down in the cargo hold, Kane discovers a collection of hundreds of large, egg-shaped objects lining the floor. When he moves in to take a closer look, a crab-like creature bursts out of one and burns its way through his helmet, attaching itself to his face.

Lambert and Dallas drag Kane back to the ship and into the medical bay where Ash attempts to cut the creature off with a laser scalpel. Doing so nearly proves fatal, as the face-hugging nightmare contains a highly-corrosive acid for blood. A few drops of it burn through several decks. Since the creature appears to be keeping Kane alive, although no one can ascertain for what purpose, Dallas decides to keep him quarantined while Brett and Parker finish repairs to the ship. Once they get underway, the plan is to keep Kane in cryo-sleep until they can get him back to Earth and have the doctors there look at him.

A short time later, much to everyone's surprise, the crab-like creature detaches itself from the ship's XO, and crawls away to die. Kane awakens with a slightly sore throat and a ravenous appetite, and it's all back-slapping and laughter...until Kane doubles over in agony during dinner in the scene everybody thinks of whenever Alien comes up in conversation. Now trapped in the Nostromo, and hunted by something no human has ever encountered, the remainder of the crew must band together to fight against not only the terrifying organism that stalks their ship, but also the suspicion that their encounter with the Alien may not have been accidental...

---

Damn, what can be said about this movie that hasn't been said before by better critics? Alien is a master class in horror, locking its limited crew into a confined setting, spending time up front allowing us to get to know all of them, then brutally murdering them one at a time. Ridley Scott's direction, the convincing performances given by all the actors, Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett's screenplay, Jerry Goldsmith's unintrusive musical score, H. R. Giger's creature design, and the brilliant practical effects and set design all combine to create a masterpiece of 20th century cinema. This film had balls when it was released in 1979, and while we've seen plenty of films go bloodier and feature a higher body count, Alien still works forty years later.

As one of the most successful science fiction films of all time, Alien has been released on virtually every video format known to man, with multiple versions arriving on VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray over the years. It's been packaged in both stand-alone versions and boxed sets. You can always find it streaming on-demand somewhere -- legally even! So why, with all the possibilities open to you in the high-def era would you ever bother with the LaserDisc?

Well, as it often does in the LaserDisc world, it all comes down to the sound.

Chances are, if you saw Alien in theaters back in 1979, you heard it similar to the way you heard Star Wars a couple years prior: as a simple two-channel Dolby Stereo mix...unless you got lucky. The film's audio was originally produced as a 70mm six-track magnetic master as part of Universal's "Sensurround" Special Effects System, which utilized extra speakers to greatly expand the lower range on the audio. The goal of Sensurround was to generate 'feel' more than 'noise', thus playing on the audience's emotions and making them feel a more immediate connection to the film. During an on-screen earthquake, for instance, the Sensurround speakers could produce low-frequency vibrations which would literally make the audience shudder along with the characters on screen. Sounds cool, right?

Well, there were drawbacks. In theaters with only a single screen, or with multiple screens all showing the same picture at the same time, Sensurround was awesome. But the ultra-low frequencies generated by the Sensurround speakers tended to pass right through walls, making viewers in adjacent rooms involuntary consumers of the Sensurround bass. With the rise of the multiplex, where different theaters shared adjoining walls, Sensurround turned into a hassle for patrons who would feel the vibrations coming from other theaters, often at completely inappropriate times. It wasn't cheap either: theaters had to rent the special speakers at a cost of $500 per month, and their size meant any theater so equipped lost seating to accommodate the system's installation.

20th Century Fox was dabbling in the idea of going with the Sensurround system after their own "Sound 360" custom audio system failed to gain traction, and while they never fully adopted Sensurround, they still released 70mm prints of Alien mixed specifically for this system to theaters which had it installed. Ultimately Fox wound up going with the much cheaper Dolby Stereo System for future theatrical releases, marking Alien as an odd one out in this regard.

Why the short history lesson? Because the 70mm Sensurround audio mix for Alien was only ever available to theaters...until 1995, when this 'disc was pressed. That's right: included on the right Analog track is the full AC3 six-channel Sensurround audio mix, which means if you have an AC3 decoder and a player capable of streaming it, this release is literally the only way you'll ever experience the theatrical Sensurround soundtrack for yourself. You won't find it on DVD, you won't find it on Blu-Ray. Unless you somehow happen to own your own theater with a Sensurround setup built into the walls, it's impossible to get this experience anywhere else. And let me tell you, while the standard Dolby Surround mix on the disc is impressive, watching Alien with infra-bass is the closest thing anybody's yet discovered to the mythical "Brown Note". It's like standing near a roaring lion: something so primal it induces fear on a subconscious level and makes you want to move away from it. So if you ever wanted to induce literal pants-shitting terror to friends in your own living room, grab yourself an AC3-capable player, a decoder, and this version of Alien.

It's like literally watching the film again for the first time. Like the good old days of 1979, your neighbors will absolutely hate you for what you're about to do to them, but it's a price you should be willing to pay. Alien is amazing, and for my money, there's no better way to experience it than this 'disc right here.

Enjoy the incredibly spoiler-free trailer: