Memory: The Origins of Alien (October 4th, 2019)

[Himmel]

Screen Media will release Alexandre O. Philippe’s documentary feature film Memory: The Origins of Alien, an exploration of the classic sci-fi film Alien, in theaters on October 4th.

Memory: The Origins of Alien unearths the largely untold origin story behind Ridley Scott’s cinematic masterpiece Alien, and reveals a treasure trove of never-before-seen materials from the archives of Alien creators Dan O’Bannon and H.R. Giger – including original story notes, rejected designs and storyboards, exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, and O’Bannon’s original 29 page script from 1971, titled Memory.

The documentary also takes fans on an exploration of the mythical underpinnings of Alien and dedicates focus on the film’s iconic “Chestburster” scene. Memory: The Origins of Alien premiered in the Midnight Section at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and screened at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, CPH: DOX, Hot Docs and many others.

Source

[Himmel]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vc9B7Zwsu3w

http://youtube.com/watch?v=POAt0joGTbI

[CyberpunkCentral]

Oh, I was about to say, another prequel? lol!

[Cremildo]

Look, a documentary about my favorite film!

[kristoffer]

Coming to UK DVD, itunes and on demand the 30h of August.
http://dogwoof.com/memory

[Zillamon51]

Not a good trailer, but considering the subject matter is my all-time favorite film, I am in!

[kristoffer]

His former film about the shower scene in Psycho was brilliant.

[CreasyBear]

I doubt there's anything here that hasn't already been discussed in the past Blu-ray and DVD sets, but sure, why not.

[nekromantik]

UK release as usual is DVD or VOD. No Bluray!
Will wait for US or European BD release.

[puddy77]

https://youtu.be/Ve-dkztGutk

[Cremildo]

In the rather unlikely event of someone asking me why I think Alien is a great film, instead of flapping my English-deficient gums I can just recommend this documentary.

Its stroke of genius is showing two things: first, how the film is a distillation of ancient fears already symbolized both in actual mythology and pop culture; and second, how it resulted from a once-in-a-lifetime convergence of three unique artistic minds firing in all cylinders (Dan O'Bannon, H.R. Giger, Ridley Scott).

I initially gave it five stars, but upon further reflection, I came to realize that the beginning is much too self-indulgent (it's a very stylish documentary, perhaps to a fault; it could have taken its cue from the elegance of the film it covers!) and too much emphasis is placed on the behind-the-scenes shenanigans of the chestburster sequence. The writer/director of Memory seems to imply that the scene is the movie, but I disagree: I actually watched Aliens before Alien, which means the chestburster was never a shock; still, I've never felt it was even among the top 10 reasons why Alien is my favorite film.

Highly recommended for those interested in the creative side of filmmaking, and a potent rebuke to whoever says Alien is "just an old monster movie". It is an old monster movie, but it's also so much more.

[Cremildo]

[EvaDK]

Made for those of us sharing the sentiment that the ~187 hours of special features on the ALIEN BD box sets aren't enough.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by EvaDK

Made for those of us sharing the sentiment that the ~187 hours of special features on the ALIEN BD box sets aren't enough.

Absolutely! I'm really looking forward to seeing this.

[Todd Tomorrow]

Alien is one of my favourite movies but is there anything left which hasn’t been said about it in books, articles and other documentaries? I don’t need to hear for the gazillionth time testimonies of how the actors didn’t know what would happen during the chest-burster sequence.

[gates70]

I love everything associated with Alien so day 1 if it comes out on BD.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by gates70

I love everything associated with Alien so day 1 if it comes out on BD.

It's coming.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=321314

[kristoffer]

Just bought this on iTunes and watching it tonight.

[Prog5000]

Originally Posted by kristoffer

Just bought this on iTunes and watching it tonight.

How was it?

[DavidNexus8]

Originally Posted by Prog5000

How was it?

Extremely uneven documentary. Although not designed to be a two part film, it plays like one. The first half is excellent. Very useful information, interviews with the people and some actors that were responsible for Alien.
The second half is an absolute travesty. All the great work put in the first half is replaced by awful interviews with SJWs and their “modern interpretations” of Alien. At some point a clueless Millennial tries to make the case that Ash was nothing but a misogynist Android. There’s, also, an attempt to make a case for the “class warfare” present in the movie.
Truly awful decision by the producers. Stick with all the hundreds of hours of previously released documentaries.