Alien: Covenant’s Best Kill Copies A Cut Alien 3 Idea

The shower scene in Alien: Covenant is easily the movie’s most inventive (double) kill, but the moment is borrowed from a sequence that was cut from the earlier sequel Alien 3. Since the original movie arrived in cinemas in 1979, the “haunted house in space” chiller Alien has received three direct sequels, two prequels, and two regrettable Alien Vs Predator crossovers. However, outside of James Cameron’s action-heavy Aliens, few of the later installments have been able to match the success of the original film.

The prequels Prometheus and 2017’s Alien: Covenant saw the return of original helmer Ridley Scott to the series, and both outings received better reviews than the widely-disliked Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. However, even the prequel Alien: Covenant could not match the original movie’s success, despite featuring some impressive kills. The most inventive of these deaths, surprisingly, was repurposed from an idea cut from Alien 3.

One superb scene in the otherwise middling installment sees two canoodling characters offed by a Xenomorph mid-coitus in the ship’s shower. It is a gruesome but blackly funny spin on the classic “sex equals death” slasher setup, and one that might take inspiration from Alien 3’s deleted sex scene wherein Ripley and Clemens (Charles Dance) connect intimately shortly before he’s brutally killed. However, Alien: Covenant improves on the original scene by making the canny decision to save the death for two relatively minor characters, rather than one of the movie’s only likable heroes (as was the case for Alien 3‘s Clements, whose death made the movie even bleaker).

Alien 3’s slasher horror elements were part of what left audiences alienated by the sequel, as the relentlessly grim tone and high body count meant viewers had almost no one to really root for. The decision to off Clemens soon after he and Ripely make a real connection was a mean-spirited gag that epitomizes the film’s overly dark storytelling, whereas in contrast Covenant’s death was bloody but not as grim since it was doled out to a pair of supporting players. Specifically, a pair of minor characters who were happy to get intimate even though a Xenomorph was loose in their ship, which made the moment all the more uproarious rather than viciously dark.

The 2017 prequel is far from perfect, and it is hard (even for fans of Michael Fassbender’s stellar performance) to deny that Alien: Covenant villain David’s convoluted (and somewhat nonsensical) plan kept the franchise outing from matching the taut appeal of Scott’s original Alien. However, in the case of the brief shower sequence, the horror of Alien: Covenant is striking and effective – something the scene can credit its oft-overlooked predecessor Alien 3with.

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Cathal Gunning
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Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies and TV online since 2020. His obsessions include The Simpsons, Stephen King, the Scream series, and the horror genre in general. He has spent more time thinking about Stranger Things than the writers of Stranger Things, and he has never seen a Star War.

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