The movie that terrified Ridley Scott

(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)

Mon October 28, 2024 7:45 PM, United Kingdom

Subtlety rules in terror, according to the director RidleyScott. This was his philosophy when making Foreignand learned from the best. But not everyone can say the same.

after looking star warsScott was convinced that the appeal of effects-heavy films was growing and decided to take on the sci-fi horror project that would become his greatest glory on the international film scene. However, after filming, Scott realized that there might actually be a risk of overwhelming the audience in his story about a spaceship crew pursued by a dangerous, otherworldly creature.

“With horror movies, I’ve always believed that less is more,” Scott said. Remains of the loft in 2018. “Our first setup was too intense.” The original publication of Foreign It looked very different from its original form, with 11 minutes of violence and blood cut before its theatrical release. This includes a disturbing scene showing a still-alive Dallas begging Ridley to kill him inside the creature’s cocoon. Scott worried that making the film too distressing would alienate audiences and actually undermine its reception.

“At first, there was a greater degree of terror. Just subtle things, half-seen and half-heard things at the beginning of the movie,” Scott said. “Consequently, the public endures from the beginning. “That’s not good.” However, in 2003 a controversial ‘director’s cut’ was published with the alien quadrilogy DVD box set including four and a half minutes of previously deleted footage. This release was ultimately a disappointment and Scott maintained that the 1979 version was the best.

Rhythm was paramount, something Scott learned while editing the original cut. “If it played out the way we filmed it, it would have created an almost nauseating feeling in the viewer. So we backed off,” Scott said. “There is no break in tension, as Hitchcock states in Psychopath.” It turns out that to make a great horror movie, you might need that relief, Scott discovered.

A horror movie that doesn’t do that, according to Scott, still manages to be great. “I happen to be a big fan of Tobe Hooper’s work. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. “That movie was absolutely, absolutely relentless, really moving,” Scott said. The 1974 independent horror film follows a group of friends on a road trip who stumble upon a family of cannibals and are hunted down, horribly tortured, and killed one by one. This cult classic sparked a franchise spanning decades, nine films, a novel, comics, and two video games. However, Scott believes the original might have worked better if Hooper had toned down the constant stress placed on the audience.

“If I had backed off a little bit, if I had let you off the hook a couple of times, I could have captured a much broader audience,” Scott said. Taking this lesson to heart, Scott made sure the audience could catch their breath during the suspense and action of Foreign. He claims that the ‘breast birth’ is the scariest part of the entire film, and allowed most of the fight scenes to take on more formal, duel-like statures. By adjusting the pacing of the film to allow for a build-up of suspense and anxiety, rather than constant stress, Scott felt he could appeal to a broader range of viewers.

This seems to have worked for good, as Foreign It is now widely considered one of the best science fiction projects in the history of cinema.