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Alien: Night Shift

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Alien: Night Shift
Directed byAidan Brezonick[1]
Written byAidan Brezonick[2][3]
Based on
Alien
by
Produced by
  • C.M. Birkmeier
  • Andrew Cummings
  • Allison Duda
  • Quaid Kocur
  • Executive producers:
  • — James DeJulio
  • — Caleb Light-Wills
  • — Lesley Worton
Starring
CinematographyDustin Supencheck
Edited byNiles Howard
Music byFrançois Liétout
Production
companies
Distributed byIGN
20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • April 12, 2019 (2019-04-12) (IGN)
  • May 3, 2019 (2019-05-03) (Fox)
Running time
9 minutes
12 minutes (director's cut)
CountryUnited States
Budget$35,000

Alien: Night Shift is a short film based on the science fiction action media franchise Alien. Released via IGN on April 12, 2019, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the franchise, the film was written and directed by Aidan Brezonick, through Tongal Studios and 20th Century Fox.[4][5] Starring Amber Gaston, Terrance Keith Richardson, Christopher Murray, and Tanner Rittenhouse, the film follows the residents of the mining colony as they find themselves in the midst of a xenomorph outbreak.[a]

The eighteenth short film in the Alien franchise, it received a mixed to positive critical reception,[6][7] with a director's cut being released on November 24, 2020.

Plot[edit]

One night at a colony,[a] Captain Welles finds his friend Harper slumped over in an alleyway. Believing him to be hungover on having skipped work (oblivious to the dead facehugger nearby), Welles offers him another drink to make him feel better before bringing him to the colony's storeroom to get some before they depart the colony, where they are let in by baseball enthusiasts Rolly and Springer. While Harper enters the bathroom to throw up, Rolly wonders whether Welles has any openings to leave LV-422.[10][11] As the two argue with Springer over Welles attempting to take more alcohol than permitted, the trio are surprised by Harper staggering out of the bathroom before a chestbuster bursts from his chest; attempting to kill the alien, Welles accidentally kills Springer and cuts out the electricity, before fleeing in search of help. Picking up a baseball bat, Rolly tracks down the chestburster and beats it to death, before being interrupted by the colony's emergency klaxon, hearing the sounds of full-sized xenomorph drones over her radio, indicating similar outbreaks to have occurred all across the colony.

In the director's cut, having survived the outbreak on fleeing via his ship, Captain Welles is interrogated by Weyland-Yutani operatives over what happened during the outbreak, who link the incident to "that Nostromo mess",[b] before offering Welles a payoff not to speak about what he witnessed again.[12]

Cast[edit]

  • Amber Gaston as Rolly
  • Terrance Keith Richardson as Captain Welles
  • Christopher Murray as Springer
  • Tanner Rittenhouse as Harper

In the director's cut, two uncredited actors play Weyland-Yutani employees.[9]

Production[edit]

In July 2018, it was reported that 20th Century Fox had joined forces with Tongal Studios to produce a series of Alien short films to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the franchise.[13][14][15] By March 2019, the details of the short films were released, Tongal co-founder and CEO James DeJulio describing the joint-production as "reflective of Tongal's mission to bring creative opportunities to the next generation of talent."[16][17] The third short released and the eighteenth overall in the franchise, Alien: Night Shift was written and directed by Aidan Brezonick, filmed in a bunker in Los Angeles, with a "slow burn" tone leading to a "ticking time bomb setup".[18] with a budget of $35,000.

Release[edit]

Alien: Night Shift was released on the IGN website on April 12, 2019, after which it was uploaded to the Alien Universe website, and all Alien social media pages on May 5, 2019, the short film then premiering alongside five others at the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle,[16] and as a Movies Anywhere-exclusive bonus feature accompanying the digital release of Alien.[19] A director's cut, featuring a new frame story, was released on November 24, 2020.[9]

Reception[edit]

Alien: Night Shift received a mixed to positive critical reception. Vijay Varman of Circle of Cinema praised the film for its "astoundingly lit opening shot" while criticising the "meandering" first act and "weak" character fronts, lauding the "commendable" acting performance of Terrance Keith Richardson.[6] Eric Li of The Scariest Things also praised "straightforward" plot structure and "fantastically shot" opening scene, noting its depicting of chestbursting as having "all the right feels", while criticising the editing for its "jarring transitions", concluding to praise it as "look[ing] like it was part of a bigger budgeted movie [one would] want to see [be] extended".[7]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b In the original version of Alien: Night Shift released in 2019, the film is established to be set at the High Lonesome mining colony on LV-422,[8] while in the director's cut released in 2020, the film is retconned as having been set at Hadley's Hope mining colony on Acheron (LV-426), during the events of Aliens (1986) and Alien: River of Pain (2014), in the year 2179.[9]
  2. ^ As depicted in Alien (1979).

References[edit]

  1. ^ Meet the Filmmakers | Alien: Night Shift | Aidan Brezonick | Alien Anthology. Alien Anthology. 20th Century Fox. April 12, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2019 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ Squires, John (April 12, 2019). "Third 40th Anniversary Short Film 'Alien: Night Shift' Brings the Chest-Bursting Horror". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  3. ^ VK, Gareth (April 16, 2019). "Here is our interview with Aidan Brezonick for Alien: Night Shift". LV426. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  4. ^ Spry, Jeff (April 14, 2019). "Here's the third Alien anniversary short, Night Shift". Syfy. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  5. ^ McLaren, Samantha (March 21, 2019). "Here's What We Know So Far About the Alien 40th Anniversary Shorts". Scream. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Varman, Vijay (May 8, 2019). "The Short View – ~ ~ Alien: Night Shift (2019) / Alien: Ore (2019)". Circle of Cinema. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Li, Eric (April 16, 2019). "Horror Shorts: Alien 40th Anniversary Short #3: Night Shift". The Scariest Things. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  8. ^ Wilson, Angel (March 29, 2024). "The Ultimate Guide to the 'Alien' Film Franchise". The Geekiary. Retrieved March 29, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ a b c TK Richardson (November 24, 2020). Alien: Night Shift (Extended Version). Retrieved November 24, 2020 – via YouTube. If you've seen Alien: Night Shift then here's what happens years later.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ "Night Shift" | Alien Anthology. Alien Anthology. 20th Century Fox. April 9, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2019 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ Flowers, Maisy (July 11, 2020). "Every Alien Prequel Short Film & What They Revealed". Screen Rant. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  12. ^ Pinsent, Ed (January 22, 2022). "Dealing with plot inconsistencies as well as pests in "Alien: Night Shift"". Under Southern Eyes. Nausika. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  13. ^ "Alien 40th Anniversary Shorts Project on Tongal.com". Tongal Studios. March 29, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  14. ^ Squires, John (July 26, 2018). "Pre-Production Has Begun On Six 'Alien' Universe Short Films". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  15. ^ Banks, Nick (July 28, 2018). "20th Century Fox Selects Six Filmmakers to Create Short Films Set Inside the 'Alien' Universe". Horror News Network - The Horror News You Need!. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  16. ^ a b McMillan, Graeme (March 13, 2019). "'Alien' Celebrating 40th Anniversary With 6 Short Films". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  17. ^ Billington, Alex (March 13, 2019). "A Quick Teaser Trailer for Fox's Six New 'Alien' Universe Short Films". First Showing. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  18. ^ Vining, Ingrid (April 18, 2019). "Creator Interview: Director Aidan Brezonick on the Making of Alien: Night Shift". Tongal Studios. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  19. ^ Kelley III, Bill (April 26, 2019). "New Ultra 4K gives "Alien: 40th Anniversary Edition" extra punch!". High-Def Watch. Retrieved April 17, 2023.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alien:_Night_Shift&oldid=1233791860"