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Alien
BFI Film Classics (Related to this series)
- Author
- Roger Luckhurst
- Narrator
- David Blair
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 11 December 2025
- Run Time
- 2 hours 48 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Films, cinema
What to expect
A legendary fusion of science fiction and horror, Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) is one of the most enduring films of modern cinema – its famously visceral scenes acting like a traumatic wound we seem compelled to revisit.
Tracing the constellation of talents that came together to produce the film, Roger Luckhurst examines its origins as a monster movie script called Star Beast, dismissed by many in Hollywood as B-movie trash, through to its afterlife in numerous sequels, prequels and elaborations.
Exploring the ways in which Alien compels us to think about otherness, Luckhurst demonstrates how and why this interstellar slasher movie, this old dark house in space, came to coil itself around our darkest imaginings about the fragility of humanity.
This special edition features original cover artwork by Marta Lech.
Critics Review
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Luckhurst offers many insights into characters and subtext that would presumably escape the average viewer of Ridley Scott's hugely successful SF/horror hybrid. But he also covers the gestation of the production, which is a fascinating story in itself, before dissecting the film to provide a pretty comprehensive and incisive analysis.
Good Book Guide
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The movie is broken down, scene by scene as Luckhurst gives us insight into the thematic, technical and even philosophical ideas behind that scene's creation, meaning that this serves not only as a 'making of' but 'minding of' too! … With so much detail and expertise packed into this, it's definitely one of the books to own on Alien!
The Comic Crush
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Roger Luckhurst
- Narrator
- David Blair
- Duration
- 2 hours 48 minutes
- Release Date
- 11 December 2025
- ISBN
- 9781805750970
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Films, cinema
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents Alien by Roger Luckhurst, read by David Blair. A legendary fusion of science fiction and horror, Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) is one of the most enduring films of modern cinema – its famously visceral scenes acting like a traumatic wound we seem compelled to revisit.Tracing the constellation of talents that came together to produce the film, Roger Luckhurst examines its origins as a monster movie script called Star Beast, dismissed by many in Hollywood as B-movie trash, through to its afterlife in numerous sequels, prequels and elaborations.Exploring the ways in which Alien compels us to think about otherness, Luckhurst demonstrates how and why this interstellar slasher movie, this old dark house in space, came to coil itself around our darkest imaginings about the fragility of humanity.This special edition features original cover artwork by Marta Lech.
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