Memory – The Origins of Alien

Three individuals who were primarily responsible for the success of Alien: screenwriter Dan O’Bannon, character and set designer H. R. Giger, and director Ridley Scott, who was just starting his great career at the time. Regarding his idea for the film, O’Bannon said the following: I didn’t steal from anybody. I stole from everybody. While writing the script for Alien, he inserted cultural clues like puzzles—from cheap comics from the 1950s to the paintings of Francis Bacon, from the stories of H. P. Lovecraft to the plays of Aeschylus, from a fascination with parasites to hidden sexual fantasies. Scott’s directorial genius and Giger’s surreal imagination enabled them to find inspiration in these materials to create a film that not only remains one of the most terrifying horror films in the history of cinema but that also offers a very current social and political commentary. Alexandre Philippe’s documentary is both the story of the making of the cult horror and a journey in search of its sources—as well as a fascinating voyage into the depths of the human subconscious.