r52: The movie John Hurt made after ALIEN was David Lynch's THE ELEPHANT MAN, which came out in the fall of 1980. In the many interviews Hurt gave for that film, he was always asked about ALIEN, which had been such a big hit the year before. And he talked openly about being the only one who knew what was going to happen in the chest-bursting scene.

As I recall it, the movie was shot more or less chronologically, and was a very tough shoot. The cast spent long hours on those dark, ugly, industrial-looking sets (which was a completely new take on what a space ship would look like) and they all felt exhausted and beaten-down, much as their characters did.

As was stated earlier, the cast was assembled and told something would happen but they didn't know what -- no doubt they though a creature of some kind would be introduced from behind the set or from out of one of the prop computers for something. NO ONE suspected it would come out of Hurt's chest. Hurt himself was hugely amused by their spontaneous reactions.

Why would anyone object to ALIENS being completely different in tone and content from ALIEN? The first movie was magisterial, slow-moving, atmospheric and very much about shock, horror and anxiety. Why would you try doing exactly the same thing again?

Anxiety was a natural part of ALIENS too, but it was also a fabulously acted, directed and edited action picture, which completely put MAD MAX in the shade (before ALIENS, the chase scene on the highway in MM was some of the best action work anyone had ever seen).