There were some horrible things that came out in the 1980s. 
Massive shoulder pads, big hair that required a whole can of hair spray to keep in place, Cabbage Patch Kids and David Lynch’s big screen version of Dune to name a few. There were also some amazing things that came out of the 1980s such as Miami Vice, awesome music and the sequel to the sci-fi horror hit Alien. This sequel was appropriately named Aliens and had the tag line, “This time it’s war!”
The original Alien movie was a fantastic blend of science fiction and horror that gave us a creature to haunt our dreams. Six years after Alien premiered its sequel, Aliens, hit screens. Aliens takes place 57 years following destruction of the Nostromo and the sole survivor, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), has to return to the planet where it all began. Unlike its predecessor which relied on suspense, Aliens was a science fiction all-action flick.
Sadly, one of the things that that we didn’t have in the 1980s were DVDs. There were video cassette recorders aka, VCR’s but they didn’t have “special features” which is now common place with current technology. When you wanted to get a look behind the scenes of your favorite movie you had to hope there would be a “making of” book published but many times that wasn’t the case. This is why I was overjoyed to discover that Titan Publishing had produced Aliens: The Set Photography. I have always been a big fan of the Alien universe and this book is a fan’s dream come true.
The book is broken down in to 3 large sections:
· Cast and Crew
· On Set
· Behind the scenes
Each one of these main categories has multiple sub-sections which covers all of the set happenings. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the contents of this book. I had expected a book that had some photographs but mostly text but this book is just the opposite. Aliens: The Set Photography is almost all pictures with some of the pics dominating the entire page. Each photo does have at least a small blurb (sometimes a bit more) describing the picture or who’s in it. The forward to the book is written by Carrie Henn who portrayed Newt, the survivor rescued by Ripley. Henn’s memories of her time on the set make a great intro to the book.
Aliens: The Set Photography is a wealth of visual information for one of the best science-fiction films ever made. This oversized book measures 10.2 x 0.8 x 12.2 inches and is 144 pages of pure movie magic. Aliens: The Set Photography is written by Simon Ward who most recently authored a similar book, The Art and Making of Kong: Skull Island, which is available now.
Aliens: The Set Photography is published by Titan books and retails for 39.95. It is available wherever books are sold. Check out what else Titan Publishing has to offer here (www.titanbooks.com)
