Wow, three little maniacs sent in the following about Alien Ressurection, and at the end a report on Tom Savini (a god)' s next project. (I'm There) So read up and digest, tis pretty cool I must say. (no no noo, Martin Short out of me, out I say, Out!!!)
Lock, Shock and Barrel of Nashville, TN, reporting for duty. Got to see Alien Resurrection this weekend, and you're right, my man... VERY cool. Let me tell ya the story...
Spent the weekend at the Chiller Theatre Expo in Secaucas, New Jersey. It's a horror/sci-fi convention held there twice a year. Tons of neat collectible and an extremely geek-friendly guest list-- this show's included Kevin McCarthy, June Lockhart, Tom Savini, Tim Thomerson, Ken Russell, King of Men "Classy" Fred Blassie, Ginger Lynn, Fred Olen Ray, and the bald guy from those old 7-Up commercials and that Bond flick. (My only disappointment was that Rudy Ray Moore wasn't there like he was last year... Citizen Kane nothin', give me Disco Godfather any day!)
Anyway, Saturday they started handing out passes to an Alien Resurrection screening to be held that night. The guy who gave me my pass told me that the London showing had went extremely well, and that we would be the first American audience to see the finished film I don't know if that's true or not, but it was nice of them to try and make us feel special. They said Fox wanted to build up some word of mouth among the Geek Nation, and thought Chiller was a good place to start. Cool.
SO... we take a cab to the Sony Loews Eight in Seacaucas. I was doubly excited-- not only would I get to see the new Alien film, but also the Sony Loews Muppet trailer! Outside we see a big line of fellow Chiller-ites itchin' to get in. We do, the lights go down... Applause right away. (Not from me, though-- only disappointment over no muppet trailer. And no Episode One trailer either, kids...) The title gets applause, Sigourney gets applause, and the director (whose name I won't mangle with my Americanized misspellings) gets a huge amount of applause. I only wish I had thought to start clapping for the currently ubiquitous Dan Hedaya, who I've had a soft spot for ever since The Tortellis. Anyway....
The plot is seemingly the same as described in that spoiler-laden summary/review you posted a few weeks ago. Nothing has changed, at least nothing I could see. And the audience LOVED it. I liked it myself, and my main problems with it were the same as your reviewer-spy-spoiler guy: Confusion over the relationship between Ripley, the Queen, and the Newborn, and grief over Michael Wincott's too-soon demise. Ron Perelman ROCKS, tho-- the audience loved him and his little pal from City of Lost Children. We would have bought t-shirts with these guys on 'em if they were sellin' 'em in the lobby.
I think this was the first time Chiller has had a screening like this, but I hope it's not the last. The buzz around the convention was great, but the turn-out (according to one guy I talked to) was a little too low for the Fox guys. So what if the theatre wasn't full? At least they made the film available to us, and that certainly bought them some Geek street cred. So thanks Chiller, and thanks Fox.
Also-- Savini told us that his next film would probably be VamPirates, which he will direct and star in. It is apparently about just what the title says, and Tom certainly looks like a VamPirate these days. He also said he'd been up for a role in U-Turn, but I don't know if he was cut or if his part went to someone else...
I also got a cool Starship Troopers button with little flashing lights on it, which excited me, and I was even gonna send you as a little present, but then, you get to go to the premiere. So I guess a flashing-light pin would seem kinda anticlimactic. Anyway.
Don't know if any of this is any use to you or not, but here ya go.
I didn't get a flashy Starship Troopers button. Me want flashy thing. Me love flashy twinkly stuff. Do it make bright twinkly? Send me want. Pwesenttsssssss!!!!!!
