In honor of the 40th anniversary of Ridley Scott’s science fiction, classic Alien, creeping around the corner later this year, 20th Century Fox plans to release six Alien-related short films and one of them has finally been publicized: Alien: Containment.
Title: Alien: Containment
Watched: March 30, 2019
The first module in this anthology, which to my dismay, is essentially just a rehash of all the typical tropes and revelations of the original Alien concentrated into a rushed, nine-minute runtime.
Having said that, the production value and ambience of it all is uncommonly professional and polished for a, quote on quote, “fan-made” movie. I’m crossing my fingers though that the next shorts down the line offer much more original, worthwhile stories. I am a die-hard fan of the Alien franchise so all I truly want is to be dazzled by these flicks.
Verdict: 2/5
Click Here to Stream this Short Film on YouTube
This Short Film is a Part of My List: Ranking the Alien Franchise From Best to Worst
Title: Alien: Specimen
Watched: April 5, 2019
Alien: Specimen is a significant improvement over the previous Alien 40th anniversary short. This is more so what I had desired out of these fan films than what Containment had brought to the table.
The story is much more concise and straightforward and the pacing is keenly gradual. The cinematography, lighting, and sound design are all-around strong. And the twist at the end is both cute and slick. Can’t wait to check out the remaining four anthology features.
Verdict: 3/5
Click Here to Stream this Short Film on YouTube
This Short Film is a Part of My List: Ranking the Alien Franchise From Best to Worst
Title: Alien: Night Shift
Watched: April 12, 2019
Wowzers. Now that was straight-up garbage.
Alien: Night Shift spotlights tidy cinematography. And yeah, that’s pretty much it. The writing in this short film is appalling—it’s on par with the “masterpiece” that is Alien: Resurrection (1997). Welles is strictly the 2nd worst character that this franchise has ever featured, and that climax is an absolute joke! This anthology flick appears incomplete as heck. Nothing gripping happens in any of the ten minutes of my time that it deducts. This scandal ultimately nestles as one of the lamest efforts in Alien history.
Verdict: 1/5
Click Here to Stream this Short Film on YouTube
This Short Film is a Part of My List: Ranking the Alien Franchise From Best to Worst
Title: Alien: Ore
Watched: April 21, 2019
Alien: Ore uses its clear-cut environment of a mining colony to swerve from the rest of the conventional derivativeness of the Alien entries. Yes, some of the acting is quite dreadful and there are some too on-the-nose similarities between it and Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986), but again, it is just a ten-minute short film, and for a ten-minute short film, it’s substantial. And by golly, the Xenomorph in this is shown just enough to make its presence downright effective. LEARN COVENANT. LESS IS SOMETIMES MORE.
I think Specimen is still my favorite purely because it gradually built suspense rather than just sort of tossed it at you immediately. No diss to Ore though, because I still savored it overall. BTW though, someone needs to start a petition to stop making androids such d***heads in these Alien movies. Bishop for life.
Verdict: 3/5
Click Here to Stream this Short Film on YouTube
This Short Film is a Part of My List: Ranking the Alien Franchise From Best to Worst
Next Short: Alien: Harvest & Alien: Alone
Release Date: April 26, 2019
Title: Alien: Harvest
Watched: April 26, 2019
I could tell you that I was never once bored. I could tell you that I was never once not impressed by the production. But what I can 100% tell you, is that Alien: Harvest was terribly hollow. It’s another predictable, spiritless waste of energy and budget that follows the exact same beats as Alien (1979). Hallelujah.
Verdict: 2/5
Click Here to Stream this Short Film on YouTube
This Short is a Part of My List: Ranking the Alien Franchise From Best to Worst
Title: Alien: Alone
Watched: April 26, 2019
Essentially, this is just Michael Fassbender’s David story from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant recapped in about twelve minutes with the gender roles reversed. There’s also some humiliating editing scattered throughout the product, but hey, at least Alien: Alone tried to somewhat have a personality unlike most of the other anthology flicks.
Let’s face it though, all I had craved for out of these “celebratory” anniversary shorts was something divergent and something honorary of Scott’s respected masterpiece, but it’s just largely been a crumbling road of disappointment. ‘Tis a shame.
Verdict: 2/5
Click Here to Stream this Short Film on YouTube
This Short Film is a Part of My List: Ranking the Alien Franchise From Best to Worst
Burning the Celluloid 
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