20 Mind-Blowing Facts About Alien Movies
19. Alien – The Chestburster Scene’s Gore Levels Were A Surprise To The Cast
While Sigourney Weaver and Co were aware of the basics of the infamous chest-burster scene in which a rather phallic looking newborn alien explodes forth from Kane’s (John Hurt) torso during dinner, they weren’t quite clued in as to just how gory the scene was going to be.
Filmed in just one take, the scene featured a fake torso filled with all kinds of animal innards to mimic human organs and – unbeknownst to the cast – hid two technicians on hand to pump rivers of fake blood from Hurt.
One of those blood spurts hit Veronica Cartwright right in the face, prompting the realistically shocked and repulsed reaction director Ridley Scott was hoping for.
Weaver has since said of the unexpectedly grisly scene, ‘Everyone was wearing raincoats - we should have been a little suspicious.’