Felix M Aller, “Alien Supremacy” (April 2017)
One of many numerous fan-fiction films based on the original Alien quadrilogy begun by Ridley Scott and continued by James Cameron and David Fincher, this short piece is a brutally minimalist work in which the last survivors of a colony in Hadley Hope Valley on planet LV-426 desperately fight and try to obliterate those tiresomely deadly Xenomorphs. With dialogue cut down to its most essential, and most of the conversation being carried out by the Xenomorphs themselves, the focus is on Juan Jose Fernandez’s facial expressions (flitting between fear and determination) and actions as he takes down as many monsters as he can, knowing that eventually his ammunition will run out and the Xenomorphs will win by sheer force of numbers. He gets some help from co-star Angel Carlos Perez whose character unfortunately doesn’t last long.
The film is fast-paced with quick and sharp editing that helps to ratchet up the tension. We all know how it ends up for Fernandez’s character, the hope is that his suffering is quick and the Xenomorphs don’t leave too much mess behind. The surprise though is that the character’s death leads to a chain reaction resulting in an Almighty explosion that just about wipes out everybody and everything in the colony save for one unexpected survivor awaiting the arrival of Ellen Ripley and the marines in James Cameron’s “Aliens”.
The film is well made with steady though fast camera work for the live action scenes. The animated scenes featuring the Xenomorphs are quite good though not well integrated with the live action series – the film was made on a tight budget after all. The plot is simple though it does pack in a final surprise that will leave viewers feeling satisfied that Fernandez’s character does not die in vain.