[Current & Culture] Alien: The More You Know, the Scarier It Gets

The Best SF Movie Combining Science and Imagination
Exploring Religion and Philosophy... Spotlight on the Seventh Installment

Lee Jae-ik, SBS Radio PD and Novelist

When it comes to SF movies, many people immediately think of "Star Wars." However, Star Wars does not quite fit the criteria of a combination of science and fiction. Although its space-time setting is in the future universe, there is little scientific approach or consideration involved. The same goes for the Star Trek series and Marvel Studios films. The latest installment of the "Alien" series, which I consider the best SF movie, has been released. To help you enjoy this work to the fullest, I have prepared a simple guideline.

The Alien series, with its simple premise of extraterrestrial creatures killing humans, began back in the 1970s. Since then, there have been four main films and two prequels, totaling six films. If you also count the B-grade action movie "Alien vs. Predator," which depicts a battle with the Predator and is recognized as a spin-off, the total comes to eight films. Adding to that are highly praised games, novels, and short films that faithfully maintain the movie's universe while filling in the narrative gaps, amounting to dozens of works. Unless you are as obsessed with this series as I am, it is difficult to digest this vast amount of content, so I recommend watching the six main and prequel films in narrative order.

First, the prequel "Prometheus" is a masterpiece that adds religious and philosophical themes to the SF action horror genre of the main series. Where did we come from? Does God exist? If so, why did God create humans? These questions remain unresolved as the story moves on to the second prequel, "Covenant." With the increased presence of robots equipped with high-performance artificial intelligence, the thematic consciousness from the previous film deepens, but its box office performance was poor and reviews were mixed. These two films make up the prequels.

The next film in the narrative flow is the first main film, which was actually produced earliest. It is also the Hollywood debut of Ridley Scott, born in the 1930s and still active as a director. Originally planned as a horror movie, this film was transformed into a great SF movie thanks to Ridley Scott, who showcased his skills honed as an advertising director and graduate of the Royal College of Art in the UK. The person tasked with continuing the unexpected success was then-new director James Cameron, who openly stated in interviews that Ridley Scott was his idol. Cameron shifted the direction to his specialty, action films, and achieved tremendous box office success.

Thanks to this, David Fincher was chosen to direct the third installment of the blockbuster Alien series. Like the previous two directors, Fincher rose to the ranks of a master with films such as "Se7en," "Fight Club," and "Gone Girl" after directing Alien. The last main film was directed by French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and after many years, Ridley Scott returned to make more prequels.

The seventh Alien film, the latest release, fits narratively between the first and second main films. Following the prequel tradition of using the spaceship's name as a subtitle, it is titled "Romulus." However, the protagonist creature still has no name. Although the movie is called Alien, the creature is randomly referred to as "monster," "snake," "beast," "the thing," and so on. If it knew, it might feel offended and bare its teeth while growling.

If you found the previous films uninteresting, there is not much to do, but it is a pity to completely ignore this content just because you dislike SF or horror movies. Even if you have only seen one or two films and your memory is vague, I recommend reviewing them in the order mentioned above. That creature is truly... the more you know, the scarier it is, and the scarier it is, the more fun it becomes.

Lee Jae-ik, SBS Radio PD and Novelist