“˜Alien: The Director’s Cut’ to invade screens on Halloween
By Anthony Kennedy
Oct. 29, 2003 9:00 p.m.
Just in time for Halloween, Los Angeles movie theaters are ready
to satisfy your horror fix by showing classic scary movies on big
screens across the city.
While most films will only show in one theater, Ridley
Scott’s “Alien: The Director’s Cut” will
receive a wide release.
Over the years, cast and crew members of the sci-fi/horror film
have encouraged Scott to release “Alien” without the
studio edits forced upon the film prior to its theatrical run.
Scenes were originally cut due to test audiences’ reactions
to the tense and often frightening scenes.
“When they saw that alien pop out of the chest, it scared
the hell out of people,” said “Alien” co-star
Yaphet Kotto, who played Parker. “Man, we had people
literally running out of the theater when we premiered it in
Texas.”
Studio executives felt “Alien” in its original form
was too intense and required some creative edits in order to make
it more acceptable. Despite the edits, “Alien” went on
to be a cult, as well as a commercial hit with audiences and
spawned three subsequent sequels.
“”˜Alien’ took two genres, science fiction and
horror, and created a whole new category that will always stay
original to “˜Alien’ for years to come,” said
Kotto. “When that movie opened it gave birth to everything
else after that.”
There have been many imitations since the original 1979 film was
released (“Predator,” “Leviathan,”
“Starship Troopers,” “Event Horizon,”
“Deep Blue Sea,” etc.), but all owe their creative
roots to the precedent established by Ridley Scott in
“Alien.”
“Now I feel that the movie is together. It’s
complete,” said Kotto. “When they talk about classics,
they’ll always mention “˜Alien.'”
But “Alien” won’t be the only retro-horror fix
available this Halloween, as several independent theaters
throughout Los Angeles have special movie showings planned for the
occasion. “Ringu,” the Japanese horror film that
inspired “The Ring,” will be showing tonight at the New
Beverly Cinema. The Silent Movie Theatre will running the 1925
classic, “The Phantom of the Opera.”
As part of their two-day “Halloween Returns to
Haddonfield” fan-appreciation convention, the Rialto Theater
in South Pasadena will be having a special showing of the original
“Halloween” film tomorrow night, along with
“Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers” playing
on Saturday.
Also tomorrow night, the Nuart Theatre will be showing
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” complete with a live
cast that calls itself “Sins o’ the Flesh.”
