Review by C.J. Bunce
After 15 years of covering Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise, we’re coming full circle today with a review of a new deluxe hardcover edition of H.R. Giger’s personal account, Giger’s Alien, available for pre-order now here at Amazon. Giger’s carefully written “coffee table” diary of his process creating the creepy concept art and the actual monster creations and set pieces for the 1979 original Alien movie is a must for fans of horror, art students, and filmmakers. First published in 1979 this is the book that started it all, and Giger did not hold back, criticizing staff members, arm wrestling production heads to see that his absolute vision made it onto the screen. The success came in the form of an Academy Award he shared with the visual effects team the following spring–an event that led to another Alien-inspired project, Metamorphosis with Debbie Harry, reviewed here. Let’s take a look at this historic archive, available again this week.
It’s exciting to sit down with a an artist’s personal diary, workbook, or idea book–it’s a rare view into the mind of a creator. Giger’s Alien is the next best thing. It’s not a photocopy of Giger’s diary, but it’s his words, translated and edited, filled with specific referenced concept artwork and production stills showing props, costumes, sets, and scenes, some that made it into the final film, and more interestingly, many that didn’t. And Giger says exactly why they didn’t. It’s his indictment of sorts of the U.S. and UK way of making movies, with an eye to the business and economics of filmmaking. Most of the time Giger seems reasonable–after all, it’s his subjective perspective. And he’s willing and eager to point out crew members and art design contributors who stuck the landing in his mind.
The book is only 78 pages, yet the illuminating insight into a unique artistic mind is still worth your time.
Everyone knows how grotesque, graphic, and gruesome his work appeared in Alien, but now you get to understand his influences, including some of art history’s most influential creators. Readers will also see that his contribution wasn’t done in a vacuum–all the players in the production were after the same biological look and vibe. The only big element they couldn’t seem to push through to the end was making the facehuggers, chestbursters, and final “monster” called “Alien 3” appear to have a translucent quality.
Dan O’Bannon, Ridley Scott, Gordon Carroll, Peter Beale, Peter Voysey, Roger Dicken, Carlo Rambaldi–readers will see what it’s like to work with these and many other contributors.
The book will leave you asking: Who since Giger has made this level and shocking flavor of statement and impact? Maybe Robert Mapplethorpe?
It’s an incredible opportunity to revisit or read for the first time this key historic work in the history of art, filmmaking, horror, and science fiction. Giger’s Alien is available for pre-order today here at Amazon, available in book stores beginning tomorrow. And don’t stop there. Check out borg reviews of all sorts of books and tie-ins in the franchise–there’s something for everyone here:
Alien: Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon
Alien: Sea of Sorrows by James A. Moore
Alien: River of Pain by Christopher Golden
Alien: The Cold Forge by Alex White
Alien: Colony War by David Barnett
Alien: Inferno’s Fall by Philippa Ballentine
Alien: Prototype by Tim Waggoner
Alien: Into Charybdis by Alex White
Alien: Enemy of My Enemy by Mary Sangiovanni
Alien: Perfect Organisms by Shaun Hamill
Alien: Cult by Gavin G. Smith
Alien The Complete Collection: The Shadow Archive Collection by various
Alien The Complete Collection: Symphony of Death by various
Aliens: Infiltrator by Weston Ochse
Aliens: Bug Hunt by various
Aliens: Vasquez by V. Castro
Aliens: Bishop by T.R. Napper
Aliens vs Predator: Rift War by Weston Ochse and Yvonne Navarro
Alien3: The Unproduced First Draft Screenplay by William Gibson and Pat Cadigan
The Book of Alien: Augmented Reality Survival Manual, by Owen Williams
Alien Covenant: Origins, by Alan Dean Foster
Giger’s Alien, by H.R. Giger
The Making of Alien by J.W. Rinzler
The Making of Aliens by J.W. Rinzler
The Art and Making of Alien Covenant, by Simon Ward
Alien Covenant: David’s Drawings by Dane Hallett & Matt Hatton
Aliens: Bug Hunt, anthology
Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report, by S.D. Perry
Aliens: The 30th Anniversary Edition
Cinema Alchemist: Designing Star Wars and Alien, by Roger Christian
Aliens: The Set Photography, by Simon Ward
The Movie Art of Syd Mead, Visual Futurist
Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo
Find the Xenomorph: An Aliens Search-and-Find Book
H.R. Giger: Debbie Harry Metamorphosis
Tech Noir by James Cameron
Need to resupply your collection of Alien toys? Look at all that’s available here at Entertainment Earth.
Or go directly to the source, the movies themselves, all at affordable prices on Amazon, and even less with subscriptions to various streaming platforms:
Prometheus (reviewed here)
Alien: Covenant (discussed here)
Alien: Romulus (reviewed here)
And the series:
Alien: Earth (reviewed here)
Game over? Not even close. Keep coming back for more Alien coverage at borg.
