Alien³

This third instalment in the franchise reverts more to the original, more claustrophobic environment as "Ripley" (Sigourney Weaver) crash lands onto a penal colony run by "Andrews" (Brian Glover) where the inmates are all pretty unsavoury characters. It's not long after she arrives that one of them gets minced by an huge ventilation fan - but, was he? Her suspicions are further confirmed when one of the guard dogs has a very bad attack of gastroenteritis! With the help of the ex-convict doctor "Clemens" (Charles Dance), she has to galvanise her sceptical fellow humans to prepare for the impending onslaught whilst also dealing with some rather horrific personal information too! This has much more of a British feel to it, and that doesn't always work. Glover overacts badly, and Paul McGann, Dance and an out of his depth Danny Webb ("Morse") don't offer Weaver anything like enough support to create the sense of peril from "Alien" (1979). That said, though, the tightly shot photography in the interior scenarios and the deft pace from David Fincher do create quite a sense of menace without the need for gore or excessive special effects. It ends rather lamely, I thought, but is still quite a watchable sci-fi horror film that though not in the same class as the first two, is still very watchable.