Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem - Facts

In this follow-up to the worldwide hit Alien Vs Predator, the iconic monsters from two of the scariest film franchises ever, wage war in an American Midwestern town - with the residents caught in the middle. Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem is released in UK cinemas on 18th January 2008 by 20th Century Fox.

- The original Alien movie, released in 1979, evolved from a script by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett called They Bite! Thankfully, the writers came up with a much stronger title for the second draft: Star Beast.

- Alien’s eoponymous creature, designed by Swiss artist H R Giger, was a parasitic killing machine which used humans as unwilling hosts for its lethal offspring. Its unique physiognomy gave it extraordinary defensive and offensive capabilities: acid blood, a scorpion-like tail, an impenetrable exoskeleton, striking inner jaw, and the ability to survive in zero atmosphere.

- In addition to the characteristics of the fully-grown alien, the creature has an extraordinary complex and efficient life cycle: located in a ‘hive’ built from bodily secretions, the ‘Queen’ gives birth to dozens of eggs, each containing a ‘facehugger’ which latches onto the face of its victim, laying an alien embryo which ultimately bursts out of the body of its unwilling host. The creature matures quickly, growing to adulthood in a matter of hours.

- The first Predator movie, released in 1987, grew out of a script by John and Jim Thomas entitled Hunter. It was directed by John McTiernan, who later made such smash hit action films as Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October, and Die Hard: With a Vengeance.

- The eponymous Predator, designed by Stan Winston, is a seven feet tall humanoid hunter which uses otherworldly stealth technology and weaponry to hunt humans for sport. In addition to invisibility (both for themselves and their spacecraft), the Predators’ hunts are aided by thermal vision, shoulder-mounted laser cannons, and weapons proficiency.

- Ridley Scott had made only one film (The Duelists) prior to making the original Alien. James Cameron, director of the sequel Aliens, had also made only one film previously: 1984’s The Terminator.

- Director John McTiernan has stated that the man wearing the red suit in the first tests of the Predator special effects was none other than action star Jean Claude Van Damme. During the shoot itself, the Predator was played by 7’ 2” tall actor Kevin Peter Hall.

- Since appearing together in the original Predator, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura have both been elected state governors. Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota in 1998; Schwarzenegger became governor of California in 2003.

- The original Alien won a special Oscar for H.R. Giger’s conceptual designs. The sequel, Aliens, was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including a Best Actress nomination for Sigourney Weaver as Ripley.

- Bill Paxton was the first actor to cross over between the Alien and Predator films, appearing in both sequels Aliens and Predator 2.

- A ‘director’s cut’ of Alien was released theatrically in late 2003. Although technically shorter than the original version, it contained several scenes missing from the 1979 version, and featured enhanced sound and special effects.

- The Alien Quadrilogy, a critically-acclaimed DVD box set of all four
Alien films, included never-before-seen versions of Alien3 and Alien Resurrection. It remains one of the best-selling box sets ever.

- The first on-screen crossover between the Alien and Predator franchises came in Predator 2, in which an alien skull can clearly be seen on the wall of the ‘trophy room’ in the Predator’s spacecraft.

- In 1990, Dark Horse Comics published the first official crossover
between the Alien and Predator franchises, a twelve-issue comic book series entitled Aliens vs Predator. Issue #1 became the best selling independent comic book of all time.

- The first draft of an Alien vs Predator film was completed in September 1991, between the theatrical releases of Predator 2 and Alien3. The film was finally released in 2004, and went on to become the most successful film in either franchise.

- Lance Henriksen has played three characters in the Alien films: an android named Bishop in Aliens, ‘Bishop II’ in Alien3, and billionaire robotics pioneer Charles Bishop Weyland in Aliens vs Predator.

- There are eight films in the Alien and Predator franchises: four Alien films (Alien, Aliens, Alien3 and Alien Resurrection), two Predators (Predator and Predator 2), and two combinations, Alien vs Predator and Aliens vs Predator: Requiem.

- Although the spacecraft Betty was heading to Earth at the climax of Alien Resurrection, the first Alien film to be set on Earth was Alien vs Predator. The sequel, Aliens vs Predator - Requiem is set in the real-life small town of Gunnison, Colorado.

- Aliens vs Predator - Requiem is directed by brothers Greg and Colin Strause, whose background is in special effects – just like Aliens director James Cameron, who worked under Roger Corman on such films as Battle Beyond the Stars and Piranha II: The Flying Killers.

- The brothers Strause set out to make Alien vs Predator – Requiem scarier and gorier than its predecessor – in fact, it may be more gruesome and violent than any of the previous Alien and Predator films. “It’s definitely a lot more hardcore,” they promise, “and overall the kills in this movie are pretty mean-spirited.”

- Aliens vs Predator: Requiem is the first film to feature an alien/predator hybrid known as the ‘Predalien’ -- the result of a Predator impregnated by an Alien. Described by the Strause brothers as “about 80 per cent Alien, 20 per cent Predator,” the creature has the Alien’s exoskeleton, acid blood, scorpion-like tail and striking mouth, and the Predator’s weapons and technology, and physical characteristics such as ‘dreadlocks’ and mandibles.