20 Things You Somehow Missed In Alien

"You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you?"

Alien Mr Fusion
Fox

As well as being the cinematic voyage that helped launch the careers of both Sigourney Weaver and Ridley Scott, Alien was also the movie that gave an entire generation of men near-paralysing anxiety over the strength of their chest cavity.

From the stunning gore of the deaths to the on-the-nose undertones of sexual proclivity, Alien isn't a film that ever really felt the need for subtly. While Scott did choose to let the audience's imagination take care of some crucial moments, when your opening gambit is to literally explode a man to death from the inside out there isn't much room left for interpretation. Maybe it killed Dallas nicely, thought absolutely no one, ever.

Still though, for a movie so rich in practical effects and elaborate sets, there are scores upon scores of easily missable visual gems. There's clever world-building, ingenious prop work, blurred lines over the cast's real-life relationships, and nods to numerous other movies... some of which hadn't even been released yet.

You might think you've seen all there is to see in Alien, but upon closer inspection, the movie is a veritable treasure trove of hidden delights.

20. Milk Crates

Alien Mr Fusion
20th Century Fox

The Alien credits include, amongst other things, a huge thank you to the UK's Milk Marketing Board. Most people assume that the liquid which comes spurting out of Ash is milk but, owing to how quickly it would go off under the studio lights, this isn't the case.

Instead, the thank you concerns the hundreds of milk crates that the board supplied the studio with. These crates, once painted and upturned, comprised pretty much the entire structure of the Nostromo's corridors. With the floors and large parts of the walls constructed from them.

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Managing Editor

WhatCulture's Managing Editor and Chief Reporter | Previously seen in Vice, Esquire, FourFourTwo, Sabotage Times, Loaded, The Set Pieces, and Mundial Magazine