SCARED TO DEATH 

The legendary Veronica Cartwright. Undisputed winner of looking the most shit scared in cinematic history.

Ripley is who we wanted to be. Lambert is who we actually would be.

The audio of the Parker/Lambert scene is iconic and chilling. It never fails to give me goosebumps hearing her last gasps and screams while Ripley is trying to make her way back and help her crew…

I think the most credit should go to Veronica Cartwright. That was an unbelievably brilliant performance, very disturbing.

Yt stop censoring my boy!!!

"We hear Lanberts screams of fear, and of pain" I don't know about pain or fear, I heard something much more horrible.

I saw Alien when it came out in 1979 in a theater. I was 13. No movie has scared and scarred me more. It left a mark on me but i love it. A paradigm shift in film and concept. I didn't sleep that night.

An alternative scenario could be that Lambert backs into the aforementioned locker and thereafter goes catatonic. Ripley searches her out but with the self destruct started she cannot get Lambert out and is forced to leave her behind. Lambert snaps out as the shuttle departs. All Ripley can do is listen to Lambert as she screams in panic over the coms before the ship blows up.

Imagine being the perfect lifeform and you go in for the kill and your victim dies from a heart attack of something before you even do anything. Big Chap was lucky that there was no hive yet because they would roast him to hell.

I like the flamethrower death kinda showing the alien having intelligence and using them as a shield. parker giving a vain attempt at sacrifice.

The Lambert's scream is so chilling that they are using it in the Alien teasers/trailers still today!

The actress that played lambert did an excellent job, she truly seems terrified in that scene. .

I like the idea a lot. I mean, if anything could scare you to death, it would be the Xenomorph getting ready to tear you apart. Being an incomprehensible alien life form makes it 100x scarier than facing a similar fate from a lion or bear. But I don't think the audience would buy it and find it anticlimactic. I think the way the theatrical release handled it was probably best. Your imagination is usually much scarier than seeing the violence, provided the scene is built up properly like it was.

What always make me shudder about Lambert's demise is that she was wearing white trousers and boots, but when Ripley discovers her, she's barefoot and the trousers have vanished. Lambert's dangling just off the floor somehow, it appears her big toe is broken, and blood courses down her ankles in rivulets. The entire film merges sexual and violent imagery, culminating in this single shot implying Lambert was molested to death.

An excellent scene, but to have a frightening-death for Lambert (or another character, even in one of the other films) would have been cool.

I have a comic of the Alien script in its original form. It is much, much different than the film. Won't spoil it for others, but was well worth reading.

I've been watching vids about the first Alien film all night, then out of nowhere, alien theory posts this treat of a vid.

Star Beast was a freak base for Alien. Broussard died when the creature hatches from him, but his corpse got stuck in the blister of the observatory and was tapping in the whole time, Faust got crushed by the airlock door , Melkonis got decapitated, Hunter got torched and eaten by the Alien and Standard got cocooned. The original plan for shuttle was to lock the alien in there and make it blow with remote explosives. And just love how they Lambert death like they show in the movie ( or not shown better said) .

Her audible death still haunts me to this day.

excellent video. For me this remains one of the most scary scenes, thanks for Cartwright her acting, the background music, the vague unexplained things...somebody suggested (and I think it was this channel) that the naked legs could be the result of them trying out a version of this scene in which the Alien tries to pull Lambert up a vent, but maybe Parker tries to prevent it and pulls at her legs...that is stuck in my head now....guess we'll never know

I've always felt the tail has a secondary meaning. It is HR Giger's design. Maybe the tail is not a tail, or not just a tail.

Poor old Parker had a shit day at the office...

I love how he gestures with his hands almost like he wants to dance with her. "COME TO ME DARLING"

i think a character could silently hide in a locker, then get so scared they start having a heart attack, that causes them to start screaming in pain, alerting the xeno and ending up in the death of character, theres some sort of poetic irony here i think, nothing to fear but fear

difference between degusting your audience and scaring them. showing what happened to lambert wouldn't have really done much to scare us. im glad this movie doesn't show too much.

I think the way it ended up in the film is best. Just enough happens on camera, and just enough happens off camera. The weird shot of the alien on all fours moving toward Lambert feet first would have been silly looking. Moving like that doesn't suggest a fearsome predator at all. The alien squeezing out the small hole in Resurrection was silly looking too. Unfortunate that they used it.

In a word " r**e.. It's damn near the message throughout the entire film and the word " Birth"..

She was terrified stiff in that moment. She got herself AND Parker killed. His death was for nothing because in that moment, she could've bolted. Instead, after his death she was still there in the same spot.

As a kid I was terrified of the Alien creatures. I had to sleep with the lights on for quite a while. I finally reasoned that IF a Xenomorph were to come for me, it would matter little whether I were awake or not. I'd be equally fucked ether way.

@Alien Theory I just began watching the digital edition of Aliens Expanded and jus wanted to say you are heavily featured (I'm sure you're aware) which is awesome! Been watching for years and love to see you get your recognition!

This is back when, in this scene with CGI not being a thing, there was literally a man in an alien suit moving ever so slowly to intensify the tension of what poor Lambert is about to endure. Plus the score was terrifying by itself, but when added to this part ... Holy Shite! Whereas with movies today where CGI is a thing, this entire scene would've been over in about 1.3 secs. The audio would've been loud, the scene would've been too dark and I would probably regret coming to the movies in the first place. 😀

I might be almost as much of an ALIEN franchise nerd as you, but your level of lore knowledge is far superior to mine. Needless to say, I loved this video! I pray this new film will be the ALIEN film I've been waiting for. I've been burned so many times, though there are many elements of all the films that I appreciate. But there just wasn't anything close to seeing ALIENS in the theater for the first time ever repeated again throughout the decades. That film was an experience that was once-in-a-lifetime. I think I have been pining for a duplication of that I don't think will ever happen again. A lot of people didn't care for Resurrection but it is actually my 3rd favorite in the franchise for it's sheer fun and action factors. If Fede has recreated some of the suspense from the first film, the chaotic action of the the second, and enough surprises and horrible deaths with his new film, I am all-in!

Congrats on Aliens Expanded!! Started watching it tonight and I had a Leo Dicaprio moment pointing and whistling at the screen when I saw you lol

Being sucked into a tiny hole is completely possible in happening. Underwater divers can have it happen when cutting into a negative pressure space and getring sucked in. There is a video on youtube here showing it happening to a crab.

Veronica Cartwright did a damn good job in the roll of Lambert. Fantastic acting from her.

that scene where it comes down from out of those chains. the theater i was in almost half of it jumped up and ran out of the theater as fast as they could!!!!

Great video! Thanks for posting! 💯

Quality vid, A.T. Can't wait to hear your take on Romulus, come August.

Speaking of being scared to death, perhaps a video of the lasting psychological impact and damage of watching the Alien movies as a younger child. I still have nightmares about Aliens, and that was 38 years ago.

Your channel is AWESOME and I enjoy your videos SO MUCH!! Thank you for bringing all this Alien wonderfulness to us!

There is definitely footage locked-away in a Fox nee Disney vault that has never been seen, nor posted to RU-vid. We know that the chestburster scene was hellciously more bloody based on various takes available on here, so God only knows what else was shot that we haven't seen.

The earliest version of a person dying of fright in film might be in "The Monster That Challenged the World", circa 1957. The title creature is kind of xenomorph like in some respects.

The most likely response to fear is the freezing which we see with Lambert. Then dissociation which is very real but less common. Death by fright why not shock is very real and deadly.

Great stuff! Keep up the good work!

As Ripley is running down the corridor you can hear Lambert on the speakers huffing and puffing like a woman does when she's using the shallow breathed breathing technique during labor. Then she coyly says "...you GOT it." then there's her single echoing horrific shriek. It seems to be implied that her mind completely snaps and she's actually taking intense pleasure from her final moment of death as if its a great release. Or perhaps something more horrific is being done to her. All we see of her is her bloodied bare leg and foot with a broken big toe. I think the intent was to overwhelm the viewer with an intense cacophony of terror inducing sights and sounds and let their panicked in the moment brains string together an idea, any idea wether it made sense or not.

How's this. Lambert is scared to death and remains standing. The xenomorph leaves. Ripley arrives seeing Lambert standing there. Ambient light shines in her eyes. Ripley then realizes Lambert is dead and leaves. Almost immediately, off camera, we hear Lambert's body slump to the floor. That would work.

Lambert and nauls from the thing are some of the best deaths on film. Not knowing how they were killed just adds to the horror.

Great video!

8:23 mmmm may want to look up the Byford Dolphin accident.

Man i love you alien theory❤

When i was kid, i dont understand why Lambert never ran away or do anything. I was so frustrated. Im 51 now and i see the genious of Ridley Scott

I love your videous!! You are my favorite!!!

Thank you, I did not know about the book. I went and got it and really enjoyed it!

thanks for the video

VC scared acting is truly the best in cinema history!!

The man talks movies then proceeds to educate us 🤯

Very cool!

This dude's voice is PERFECT for this...

I always like your descriptive commentaries on the Alien franchise are you looking forward to the new one I am very excited

Thanks. Love it.

Scared to death, it could totally work, look at the Ring, I know their is more supernatural involved there but take that concept that someone was running and hiding and waiting and BAM, a lot like Dallas's death too, the final look of terror can be cut away from and lets the say the crew is looking for this person, there is a good jump scare there of them finding the body all hunched and contorted and with a gruesome look of shock, that always strikes a nerve

"Maybe consider leaving the lights on..."😂

the best scare tactics i have ever come across,

i remember in Oz there was a scene where a dude was a snitch and the dude he snitched on pulled a knife on him, and he started to panic.... but then one of the dudes who forced him to snitch shows up and he starts to calm down, until that guy also pulls a knife and says he is there to kill him. while the two would-be murderers argue about who gets to kill him, the guy has a heart attack and the two say their goodbyes and depart. 😉

The concept of being scared to death is not new. If you look at the 1955 film Les Diaboliques it is actually the main intention for one of the women to literally 'die of fright'. Therefore letting the villains plans be fulfilled.

There has been moments in movies where a person has died by being scared to death. The 1955 movie Les Diabolique- the wife of the headmaster who they thought were dead, rising from a bathtub. The wife, who has a heart condition, watching this unfold slowly and her heart stressed to the point that it shut down. The actress, Véra Clouzot, would die of a heart attack 5 years later which was oddly coincidental

Here we go!

I'm a die hard xenomorph fan and I haven't seen in any video, movie, comic or movie something related to the force of the second jaw. I hope that someday you can do something related to that. Greetings from Mexico.

This is the story of L, a 28 year old woman presenting to the ER unconscious and with no pulse, having been pulled from a locker. The medical team suspects terminal fright as caused by a xenomorph-xeno, from the latin for “other”, morph, meaning “form”, so “other form”…

I love the idea of this. If anything could cause it, it would be the xeno 👽

Damn i love this channel I've been watching since day one good times now we have this new alien movie coming out and it actually looks really good a great time to be a alien fan

Honestly, it didn't strike me until I rewatched the film again a few days ago, but as someone who's played AvP 2010 a lot, I couldn't help thinking of a particularly gruesome stealth kill from that game... The one that makes Specimen Six look like she's got some pent up frustration to go along with the usual killing frenzy stuff. Of all the ways to die by Xenomorph, having *that* happen to you is probably one of the worst. If Lambert got to die of fear, then it was a mercy compared to what her crewmates went through. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if that kill animation was inspired by what little we see of Lambert's death...

If a Xenomorph came through my bedroom door one morning I'd probably drop dead on the spot. So yes, I believe someone could die of fright from the sight of that thing alone.

I’ve never told anyone this, but occasionally i’ll have a nightmare about being chased by a Xenomorph. In my dream, it ain’t a guy in a rubber suit, either. I guess the Alien is hardwired into me at this point.

Alien: Isolation is the only game that made me so terrified as I was as a kid when the original Alien commercial came out, and scared the crap out of me. I had to pause the game from time to time to step away and catch my breath. If the director drew inspiration from the game, I hope to watch and smile as certain homages come up from time to time. As for dying of fright...i thought a defense mechanism against that was the mind causing a faint? Sometimes a shutdown and restart work fine (IT person here).

It would certainly be a game changer...having a character in the Alien franchise scared so badly they are literally Scared To Death. Will the kids today get it? I don't know.

You should make a theory on if Burke was lying about Amanda Ripley's death

In that final still from Romulus the alien's head looks different, in the still immediately before that one it looks like Venom.

I often thought the outcome was impaled by the tail followed by the head bite.

When it comes to the aliens movies I mostly watch this channel…… mostly

I like the idea of her dying of fear, but I’ve always been very skeptical about how this would’ve been portrayed on film. Would it have been confusing to the audience why she died? Would the alien have ripped open the locker for her lifeless body to fall out a bit later? Not much room to shoot inside a locker either.

Definitely could happen In a weird universe, Lost in Space can be seen as a grandfather to Alien

What I’ve always wanted to know is, when the Xeno’s tail goes between her legs (before her death) she is clothed. ..Yet when the death reveal is shown when Ripley is in the doorway, you see her bare feet and legs, whilst dangling lifeless. …just what the F*** did that Xeno do to her, before killing her!? 🫢🤢

One can never get enough of Alien/Aliens. My all time favorite series ever. ❤

I think Alien Isolation should be made into a Live Action Movie .

In the X Files episode Little Green Men, a guy dies scared to death. His expression is horrific, haunting. This was a great idea.

Oh Shhht, wez back !!!! 💪💪

I've never been one to scare easily. Yet, for the last 10 months, I've been working up the courage to continue 'Alien: Isolation' ! 😱 Yikes, did they get that game right. At least so far. I've played a whole 5% of it, maybe. 😆 My phone rang once and jumped out of my chair. And YES, I think a person could be frightened to death by The Alien. Especially if one is living the life of a sheltered, isolated deep space traveler with a limited crew for company. The Alien is at the opposite end of the spectrum from 'calm'.

I did freak out so many times when I dealt with Alien in Alien Isolation. on the final part of the game, one of them did run away after I hit with flames and the other just spammed from vent next to it. I almost panicked...

I like how it is in the original cut. If anything, I’d like to know more about the crab walk

Scared to death, I was told as a child that when falling from a great height that you are dead before hitting the ground...however, skydivers build up tolerance to such things although surely once the rip cord is pulled and seeing your camping equipment fall out the backpack might do it!

It might be just me but when you hear Lambert over the com screaming it also sounds like Big Chap was laughing before she met her demise

Poor Melkonis 😢

Lamberts off screen death was chilling, and best not seen. Probably Ridley Scott was pulling from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre less is more, not every gory detail needs to be shown. Or they ran out of time and money.

I use the sounds of Lambert's death we do get to hear, over the scene we do see - that of Ripley running down the corridor. its a choking, gurgling sound, with a sudden end. Add to this, the shots of the aliens tail, curling around Lambert's leg, the shots of the alien approaching her arms out stretched. And the look of shock and horror on Ripley's face, after she enters the room. Parker can be seen in the foreground, and she has this reaction after panning her light from Parker and eventually finding Lambert. so, something very bad has happened to Lambert. She is still there, or at lest, her remains of her are, in order for Ripley to respond in the way she does. therefore, I would have to say the alien does rip her head off, maybe that's all that remains is her head - with the alien taking her body, to maybe cocoon and produce another egg. Pret's initial encounter with the alien, the alien crushes his skull, taking a big bite out of his head, so there's a strong possibility of Pret being dead, before he is cocooned, and turned into an egg. therefore the host doesn't necessarily have to be alive for this to happen.

That alien in Romulus looks like the stupid rubber monster from FORBIDDEN WORLD

I find it disturbing that after Lambert is killed her pants and shoes are now missing.

The audio of Lambert will be forever stuck in mind of Alien fans...

Wasnt the scene of the tail going up the leg a part of brets desth scene?

It's scarier hearing what happened to Lambert than seeing it