C2E2 ‘Alien Shorts’ Preview

By James Lindorf

In honor of the 40th anniversary of Alien, Fox hosted the second screening of the first four Alien Shorts at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) last weekend. The first was at Emerald City Comic Con the week before, and the final public screening will be at WonderCon Saturday, March 30th. If you can’t make it out to California, don’t worry, Starting March 29th one of the shorts will be released every week on IGN’s website. If for some reason you hold a grudge against IGN, again don’t worry, on May 3rd all six shorts will be available on the @AlienAnthology social channels and AlienUniverse.com, along with behind-the-scenes bonus material.

When Fox put out the call for new story ideas set in the Alien world, they received pitches from over 550 filmmakers. Once the final six were chosen, they were given unprecedented access to the franchise. The right to tie into existing story elements, unfettered use of characters and creatures to take fans into new worlds, while paying homage to the Ridley Scott classic.

Each director brings a different storytelling or visual aesthetic that leaves them films feeling of the same universe but different. My personal favorite so far is Aidan Breznick’s Night Shift, it had a good look, a good story and the best acting of the first four films. The best story I saw was from Noah Miller’s Alone. The way it questions the value of life easily makes it the most thought-provoking so far.

Below is the official synopsis for each of the six shorts and you can watch the trailer here. Follow @Redcrpetcrash and @JVL007 on Twitter and let us know which one you like the most.

ALIEN: Alone – Hope, an abandoned crew member aboard the derelict chemical hauler Otranto, has spent a year trying to keep her ship and herself alive as both slowly fall apart. After discovering hidden cargo, she risks it all to power up the broken ship in search of human life. Written and Directed by Noah Miller

ALIEN: Containment – Four survivors find themselves stranded aboard a small escape pod in deep space. Trying to piece together the details around the outbreak that led to their ship’s destruction, they find themselves unsure to trust whether or not one of them might be infected. Written and Directed by Chris Reading

ALIEN: Harvest – The surviving crew of a damaged deep-space harvester have minutes to reach the emergency evacuation shuttle. A motion sensor is their only navigation tool leading them to safety while a creature in the shadows terrorizes the crew. However, the greatest threat might have been hiding in plain sight all along. Directed by Benjamin Howdeshell

ALIEN: Night Shift – When a missing space trucker is discovered hungover and disoriented, his co-worker suggests a nightcap as a remedy. Near closing time, they are reluctantly allowed inside the colony supply depot where the trucker’s condition worsens, leaving a young supply worker alone to take matters into her own hands. Written and Directed by Aidan Breznick

ALIEN: Ore – As a hard-working miner of a planet mining colony, Lorraine longs to make a better life for her daughter and grandchildren. When her shift uncovers the death of a fellow miner under mysterious circumstances, Lorraine is forced to choose between escape or defying management orders and facing her fears to fight for the safety of her family. Written and Directed by the Spear Sisters

ALIEN: Specimen – It’s the night shift in a colony greenhouse, and Julie, a botanist, does her best to contain suspicious soil samples that have triggered her sensitive lab dog. Despite her best efforts the lab unexpectedly goes into full shutdown and she is trapped inside. Little does she know, an alien specimen has escaped the mysterious cargo, and a game of cat and mouse ensues as the creature searches for a host. Directed by Kelsey Taylor