By Stephen Pytak 
   
     This is one of those films I can watch and rewatch. It's
one of my favorites. I thought most of Ridley Scott's additions
in 2003 were pretty good. 
     When I wrote a review of "The Director's Cut" back then
 I said it's really something to see, and hear, this classic
on a big screen. I saw it in 35 mm. I hope I get the chance
someday to see it in 70.
     For some of us, getting the chance to see this recut version 
in a theater back then wasn't so easy. It debuted in only 347 
domestically and didn't play in any of the shoe-box, mainstream 
cinemas around me. But the damn trailer for this thing, which 
proclaimed that "ALIEN" was the scariest horror film ever made, 
did. I had to suffer through that a few times.
    "ALIEN" is scary. Disturbing even. Sometimes it has as much
power as Tobe Hooper's "Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974),"
which Scott said was an inspiration. But I never considered it
the scariest film I've ever seen. Not sure what that is. But I'd
say "ALIEN" is in in the Top 20.
     Anyway, I found the film booked in a theater in Quakertown, 
which is 63 miles away from me, and I took a trip to catch a 
Tuesday afternoon show. It was definitely worth the trip.
     The highlight of the whole thing was just the experience of 
seeing the film remastered. It was a brand new print. And a new 
sound mix of Jerry Goldsmith's score had been created for it.
     I remember seeing some of the added scenes on the "ALIEN"  
laser-disc box  set supplements. The one I liked the most lasts only 
a few seconds. In fact, I didn't even see it coming.
    Just before "Brett (Harry Dean Stanton)" is attacked, we get a 
shot of the alien hanging from the rafters. I almost missed it. It 
looked so neat, I was tempted to buy a ticket to sit through the film for the
7 show. 
    But I'm not too crazy about an added scene which comes up
immediately after Brett is killed. "Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and "Ripley
(Sigourney Weaver)" come running in in time to see the blood
drops fall from the rafters. Itsok, I guess. But I think just the shot of the
cat looking up, followed by silence, was more creepy
     We also get a cat fight between "Ripley"  and "Lambert (Veronica 
Cartwright)" outside the infirmary. 
     I remember seeing this, or a take of this, on the laser disc. I didn't 
like it when I first saw it. But the cut here is pretty good. It makes sense, 
actually, and shows that tension levels were on the rise. It's also good
because it adds action.
     The most talked about part that was added was the cocoon scene, 
when "Ripley" discovers the remains of "Captain Dallas  (Tom Skerritt)" 
and "Brett." It's O.K. Looks great remastered. But I was never a big
fan of it to begin with.
     I thought "Alien: The Director's Cut" was neat, however. I've seen 
the film a dozen or more times, and it was good to see it unfold on a big 
screen with some things I didn't expect.
     It was also good to see scenes I've always liked. One I always got a big 
kick out of was the scene where "Ripley" is rocketing into outer space 
just as the Nostromo explodes. Weaver shakes in that chair as if she's 
having the best sex ever. The mother ship explodes and becomes an outer
space lava lamp.
     I never considered "Alien" a date film. But that
scene can really put you in the mood.
    The DVD -- I have the version in the "ALIEN Quadrilogy" released in 
2003 -- features a cast and crew commentary which includes Scott, Weaver,
O'Bannon, Skerrit, Hurt, Cartwright, Staton and others. I listen to this to
relax. I must have heard it three times already. Very cool.