Alien: Ore Teaser Trailer Now Online! - Alien: 40th Anniversary Short Films

[Xiggz456]

Great short! Really enjoyed the cinematography on this one. Every shot was interesting and the transitions between some of the shots were superbly done.

When the directors were first announced I was really excited to see what the female filmmakers would bring to the table as it'd be a first for the franchise; well they've both killed it as far as I'm concerned. Awesome work!

[Jonathan]

I liked that this one didn't end in dread. Yes the final stand was anti-climactic, but it is the only time I can remember a desperate stand against a xeno being portrayed as truly heroic and not just a terrifying, foolhardy suicide.

[Prez]

Especially enjoyed the Xeno jumping on the wall avoiding the axe swing.

[Huggs]

Ah, finally, the mines. That old aliens staple.

3 or 4 bad camera angles and some very minor line delivery issues with 2 of the smaller characters.

It ended a little abruptly, but other than that it was aces.

An exceptional effort and easily rivals specimen.

So far, this is my favorite short. This one needs its own show.

[Prez]

... This one needs its own show.

Agreed!

[An Alien fan]

Disappointing to say the least.   

[Whos_Nick]

This short arguably made the most of the 35k budget not sure why anyone is complaining

[Prez]

This short arguably made the most of the 35k budget not sure why anyone is complaining

Spot on.

[Darkness]

Pretty good, I think this one was my favourite so far. Only thing I didn't like was the woman's motivations for going back when they were in the elevator. I think it would have made more sense if she needed to go back for somebody else rather to stop the creature from following them.

[HuDaFuK]

This short arguably made the most of the 35k budget not sure why anyone is complaining

Absolutely. Especially as most of the complaints seem really misguided.

[Corporal Hicks]

[Drukathi]

This short arguably made the most of the 35k budget not sure why anyone is complaining

Agree. Beautiful short.

[SiL]

"They spent their money well" is not a defense against critique ...

My biggest issue with all of these shorts is they're trying to do slow-burn builds in a 9 minute film. They end up spending 6 minutes building and then rushing through any sort of payoff. This was better made than half the others, but it's the worst offender in that regard -- it spends so long getting anywhere that when it does actually get into what should be the meat of the story, it's run out of runtime and has to stop.

[SlangOne]

Pretty good...but why is every one of those shorts going for the slow-burn of Alien 1?
Seems nobody had the balls yet to make an action oriented one to honor Aliens which is disappointing to be honest.

[bacchus]

Why are all of these set on mining colonies (save for the first short)? Why are the leads all female?

The brief for the shorts said to use elements from the original film -- strong female lead and "working class" characters.

Why do they all include a chestburster?

Specimen doesn't.

Why do they all end up being "character creeps around in the dark with a facehugger/xeno lurking in the shadows"?

Because this basically describes every Alien movie.

You're right in that they meet the brief - I'd read the brief a while ago and thought they were more suggestions/prompts rather than hard guidelines.

It doesn't excuse the lack of originality though. Aside from the first short (Containment - which is still the worst one), all of the characters and locations are basically interchangeable and essentially the same story (character finds something suspicious and/or chestburster/facehugger, investigates, jump scare).

Don't care if I get attacked for criticising these, they aren't above it just because they're on a relatively small budget for a short - like I said, there is no excusing a lack of originality. This was a real opportunity to give fans something unique and different, perhaps take a risk or two.

Perhaps the original brief was too strict and Fox played it too safe, I don't know.