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Hudson Hulks Up
The Moment: Having spent the entirety of Aliens complaining about how close he was to retirement and the inevitability of how he’s going to “buy it on this rock”, PFC Hudson finally embraces the situation, straps on a pair and gives those pesky Xenomorphs both barrels. As it turns out, his original prediction turns out to be pretty spot on, but at least he goes down fighting.
Why It’s Great: Bill Paxton’s transformation from whiny pain in the ass to take-no-shit dealer of death is a pleasure to behold, as is his war cry: “You want some of this? Fuck you!”
Facehugger
The Moment: Kane goes exploring into the depths of the derelict, discovering a bizarre antechamber full of eggs. Noting a film of blue gas above the hive, he goes crashing through it, in order to get a closer look at the eggs. Sadly for him, the egg he examines closest isn’t exactly friendly, and a facehugger duly pops out in search of an incubator...
Why It’s Great: There’s a palpable sense of dread as Kane breaks through the gas, and as soon as the egg starts hatching, things are only going to end one way. The concept of the facehugger is particularly horrible, as witnessed by Dallas’ horrified reaction to the way in which it has taken over Kane’s body...
Yo, She-Bitch
The Moment: Ripley and the alien Queen go toe to toe in the mother of all catfights, Ripley with a power-loader at her disposal, and the Queen boasting the usual arsenal of fearsome fangs, acid-based saliva and blade-tipped tail. No punches are pulled, no quarter given.
Why It’s Great: Ripley didn’t really get to lay the smack down on the alien of the first movie, so it’s nice to see her get her hands dirty here. It’s also pleasing to see that the old tricks still work, as once again, the alien falls foul of an open airlock...
Hunter & Hunted
The Moment: A flamethrower-toting Dallas heads into the Nostromo’s ventilation system on the hunt for the alien. As he attempts to drive his prey towards the airlock, Lambert suddenly loses the alien on the ship’s radar. Suddenly it reappears, making a bee-line for the bewildered Dallas. The hunter has swiftly become the hunted...
Why It’s Great: Ridley Scott ratchets the tension up to eleven in this nerve-shredding sequence, with the bleep of the radar becoming ever more menacing as the tables are turned on the hapless Dallas. There will be no heroics here today, Captain...
Chestburster
The Moment: Poor old Kane recovers from his ordeal with the facehugger by shakily getting to his feet and joining the rest of the crew for a celebratory dinner in the mess hall. All appears to be fine until Kane starts to develop a bit of a stomach-ache, a condition that soon takes a turn for the worse...
Why It’s Great: As the series’ most famous scene, some of the initial shock value has now been lost, but for somebody going in fresh, seeing the baby alien erupt through Kane’s chest would still be utterly jaw-dropping. Ridley certainly doesn’t stint on the gore either, with practically the entire crew covered in Kane's innards.
