Kimani Smith Assignment 2
Film Research
The initial scene of the film, a husky is being chased by 3 Norwegian soldiers in a helicopter. The husky is attempting to run back to its camp for protection. The snowy backdrop of Antarctica sets up the setting of the rest of the film.
The husky successfully made it back to its camp. Two of the Norwegian soldiers are blown up in their helicopter after one of them drops a grenade. The scene establishes the camp in which the scientists and pilot are confined to.
In this scene, the husky reveals its true nature as an alien life form that can imitate other life forms accurately. It was caught in the process of assimilation as the alien's cells are absorbing other dogs bodies to mimic them on a cellular level.
Kurt Russell's character, Macready, and another scientist track down the Norwegian army base to find out where the alien came from. They find a frozen human corpse that's clearly been mutated/distorted in some fashion.
Macready and the scientist return to camp with the corpse in tow in order to perform a proper autopsy on it and figure out what the cause of these recent transformations could have been.
The first of the crew members who was, incidentally, left alone with the thawed mutated corpse falls victims to an alien host which was still very much alive; however, he was caught while the alien was still in the transformation process and he was burned alive by other crew members.
Macready defends himself with several sticks of dynamite and a flare from crew members who suspect that he may be infected after he was outside alone for an extended period of time.
Macready has all of the remaining crew members tied up and bound to chairs as he conducts a blood test to determine who may or may not be infected with the alien dna. He conducted the test by taking blood samples from all of the crew members, burning the tip of a copper wire with a flamethrower and dipping the wire in the petri dish to measure it's reaction.
After several more crew members are killed off or isolated from the group, the alien makes an effort to destroy the generator which provides heating and light to the rest of the camp; moreover, it lures the team to the generator room for a final showdown.
The final shot of the film, Macready has blown up the monster and two of his crew members who fell victim to it in the generator room. He sits down next to a fire and takes a few final sips of liquor before he is greeted by the final crew member who's been missing for some time. They're both suspicious of one another wondering if the other is infected. The movie ends leaving it to the viewer's imagination.
Essay
The film begins with three men in a helicopter chasing what’s seemingly a helpless husky; the men are trying to kill the husky because they’re aware of the its true nature although no one else is. Transformation and mystery are the most noticeable concepts throughout this film. Eventually, the husky transforms into a creature unlike anything anyone else has ever seen; it was later discovered that it’s an alien capable of infecting other mammals on a cellular level and once infected, it can mimic their appearance and likeness. It only shows itself when it feels threatened which gives way to the concept of Survival as well.
Trust and suspicion are motifs that appear often throughout the film, since everyone is suspicious of another crew member being infected. As the alien(s) works its way through the crew killing off every member one by one, isolation from the group can be a dangerous thing for men even more so considering the cold climate of Antarctica.
Words to Idea + Thesis Statement
Five Words: Sci-Fi, Alien, Survival, Transform, Consume, Heat
This thriller of a film explores the primal instinct of survival and how it changes beings when faced with the threat of death.
Visual Research (Inspiration Board/Collection)
Exploration/Formulation (Style Board/Examples/Studies)
Story Board
