Alien is one of the best, if not the best horror film ever made. There are many memorable and shocking scenes in this movie, but one scene was forever immortalized by Ridley Scott. The dinner chest-bursting scene is so disturbing that it is in a class of its own.
For the vast majority of those reading this review, you’ve seen the movie and know what events led to the appearance of this most unwelcome guest. If you haven’t seen Alien, I just don’t know what to say to you. Not only was the dinner party one of the most disgusting, horrifying and gory scenes in cinematic history, it was also the most epic trolling of the cast members by Ridley Scott.
Except for John Hurt, Scott and the filming crew, no one else knew what was going to go down in this scene. Ridley Scott wanted reality, and he really got it. When the rest of the actors were allowed to return, they were greeted with a bizarre set. The cameras and crew were covered with plastic, and only John Hurt’s head was poking out from the table. On the table was his prosthetic chest, filled with explosives and the horrors yet to come.
When the chest exploded, the actors and actresses were covered with a spray that contained blood, offal and other chunks of nastiness that they were totally unprepared for. Veronica Cartwright, who played the always skittish and terrified Lambert, actually fell over backwards in her chair, screaming. The entire cast was terrorized and terrified and Yapet Kotto left this completed scene of horrors not to be seen again for a day.
Ridley Scott did not make any new friends that day, but he did orchestrate perhaps the most unforgettable scene in horror movie history.