Star Beast: Alien Grindhoused

Spoiler Review:

This was my first grindhoused film, not grindhouse, but a film made into a grindhouse film. I know the Alien film quite well. Have seen it numerous times and consider it one of my all time favorite films. This edit is another beast entirely.

The edit starts with a couple grindhouse-style trailers. They were hilarious and those alone could be considered a great fanedit worthy of awards. They also set the mood and tone for the rest of the edit, and so are a wonderfully thought out editing technique by Gieferg.

The film grain, color grading, and projector faults on the screen are spot on. And the music just builds on that grungy aesthetic and atmosphere that feels authentic, mostly. More on that later.

The narrative takes a wild turn. SPOILER: What's a grindhouse film without a rape scene? I laughed out loud at the absurdity several times but I know that is intended. Alien is turned into a cheesy drive-in b movie. I should have watched this edit with several buddies. It's perfect for playing in the background at a party.

What an edit. An acid trip in space. The post credits scene solidly the hilarity that is this edit. Don't miss it.

Bravo!

Issues I had:
I think the Lenny Kravitz song fits, after much consideration though it did release in 1998. The lyrics are perfect and the funky style it has is already felt in the rest of the edit's music, but a cover or instrumental (timeless) version could possibly fit better I bet.

The Michael Jackson track on the other hand was off putting to me and doesn't fit.

I didn't like the music in some parts, it took me off the movie sometimes, in other parts it was cool, though. I love the Grindhouse type of old picture effect.
In terms of narrative, I didn't like the alternative ending in the sense that it was bad 3D, if it had been done in the quality of the Xenomorph jumping sideways on the walls scene, it would have been interesting.

This is certainly a unique and enjoyable way to revisit this classic movie. I was genuinely surprised how well the cheesy disco tracks, elevator music, and timeless pop classics worked to set an entirely different mood and keep my foot tapping. The grindhouse dust and scratches, degradation, etc, all felt very well done, I'm not sure how to judge such a thing but it was all good.

The only negative points I have are the fun changes to the narrative.
I really liked the new plot twist, and it was well executed. However, I was disappointed that this little chuckle was at the tradeoff for one of my favorite scenes of the movie. I was really enjoying the new mood set throughout the movie, so it makes me wonder how the omitted scenes would have been with same treatment.
The silly ending was well done as well, probably as good as this idea could be executed. However, the CGI alien was a heavy detraction from the grindhouse feel, since the entire movie till then was practical effects. Had it been present in the original movie that would have been a revolutionary and stupidly expensive bit of CGI, so definitely took a hit on the grindhouse low budget feel.
This is a really great edit though, that I would recommend to anyone who enjoyed the original.

As usual Gieferg conjours up an excellent grindhouse treatment with seamless and funny changes. At first I was puzzled by a certain change of a sexual nature but in the end it all made hilarious sense. I would have been fine with a shorter version but that’s just my personal preference. I also would have preferred sticking with music from the 60’s and 70’s but the music selected still was always incorporated well. Recommended for Grindhouse fans.

Watched this today and found it overall a lot of fun. The grindhouse style allows all sorts of licence to be taken with sources and plot, and that is certainly in evidence here. Some of the deleted footage used helps give the movie a feel of being a slightly ropey 70s movie (after all, that's why footage often gets cut - it's not good enough!), The more visible (and risible) Alien creature shots also help this, dragging the tone down closer to "Xtro" territory, The addition of a little gratuitous sexual content works well to help evoke a low budget 70s feel too.
The music tracks are the main feature of this edit. For me, they work well except for the climactic battle. To this point, the movie felt very 70s to this pop music ignoramus, but then the selection for the finale jarred badly for me, it was SO 80s.
If the tone of this edit was slightly tongue in cheek to start with, for the final few minutes the tongue bursts right through and wreaks havoc!
Recommended.