Quote from: CainsSon on Jul 25, 2019, 06:42:32 AM
No doubt some of you have heard about the influence of Böcklin's painting "Isle of The Dead" on some scenes/sets in Alien: Covenant. Here:
https://images.app.goo.gl/4m1jeSjPCPGbkTAs5
This homage was mentioned by the design department during the making of the film, and more notably H.R. Giger himself made his own rendition of the painting. Here:https://images.app.goo.gl/aigipTmZn5xHpoWG7
It also appears in the film as the location of Shaw's grave (allegedly), here: https://images.app.goo.gl/RnqKWFKXfXw2RGBd8
This has all been mentioned before but I recently figured out that the homage to "Isle of The Dead" in Alien: Covenant is actually much bigger than just the paintings. Ive been on a kick, watching old Val Lewton Horror films, as of late and there is a Boris Karloff film Val produced which is both named after and features the original Böcklin painting as the main set in the film. There's actually much more. The main mystery in the film involves the Isle Of The Dead being the burial ground of Karloff's character's wife, and his characterization is so similar to David's in Alien: Covenant, Fassbinder and company must have been using Karloff as a character reference. The delivery of David's lines are even sometimes identical to that of Karloff's. In addition, it is the Isle of The Dead set, in COVENANT where David has allegedly buried his "wife" Shaw... I don't want to give anything away but the similarities to the plot actually don't stop there. There is a central mystery about how everything on the Isle of The Dead became dead which also relates to Covenant, somewhat.
This film MUST have been used as more of a reference than we've known. It's not exact but I think Alien: Covenant fans might pick up on things and find it to be an interesting watch. It's also a great Gothic Thriller in it's own right.
https://youtu.be/fI4D8KokkWg
Interesting catch about "Isle of the Dead" and I enjoyed the artwork.
In terms of isolation/island science fiction I go to imo the source, HG Wells "The Island of Doctor Moreau" (from 1896).
QuoteThe text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat who is left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, a mad scientist who creates human-like hybrid beings from animals via vivisection.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_of_Doctor_MoreauSeveral of these foundational concepts are in "Covenant".
- A ship which is hit by catastrophe.
- A crew who is rescued.
- An isolated sanctuary controlled by a classic mad scientist.
- The scientist is creating hybrid creatures.
(The last two aspects are variations on Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" but Wells adds the aspect of animal / human hybrids. There is an influence on Giger, "Alien 4" & the Alien prequels.)
The island / isolation theme goes back thousands of years to "The Odyssey".
Jules Verne blended this with science fiction in "The Mysterious Island".
* But Wells adds the aspect of terror of created monsters with this theme.
The idea of terror and isolation used in "The Island of Doctor Moreau" influenced other stories which in turn influenced the Alien franchise.
- The Agatha Christie play/story "And Then There Were None" has the isolated island, a killer & the visitors being killed off one by one.
- John Campbell's "Who Goes There?" (The basis for "The Thing") has isolation in Antartica where a mutating monster kills off the crew one by one.
Ridley Scott summarized the core story of "Alien" as coming from the Agatha Christie story.
