Rude Interruption

I'll be bluntly honest here - I hate this scene!

I am of the belief that unless fully justified a sex scene doesn't belong in anything other than a movie about sex. Back in the eighties and nineties virtually every action, horror, and sci fi movie had the obligatory sex scene, usually for no good reason other than to "flash some flesh". It was always needless and pointless. Even for a movie like The Terminator, in which Kyle and Sarah get down and dirty, is it really necessary? While some may say yes because they conceived John, I would say no because it's a sci-fi movie about a killer robot.

Now onto Alien, a franchise that has so far avoided the needless exercise of flashing the wobbly bits. Alien might have shown Ripley in her skimpy's, and in Alien 3 Ripley and Clements did the deed as did Shaw and Holloway in Prometheus, but we never went so far as to show all, even though one could have argued that in Prometheus it was justified because of Shaw's pregnancy that followed. We didn't need it.

Yet here it is in Covenant. Which, to me just confirms that this movie was made as a knee jerk reaction to the naysayers who hated Prometheus, and that Ridley sold out to them rather than deliver the sequel fans wanted and he originally promised.

I think it was added because its a typical type of scene from the typical Horror Flick..... which indeed does give the Movie more of a Scream with Xenos or Friday the 13th with Xenomorph's  but as long as we dont get a Nightmare on Elm-Street with Xenomorphs we would be find...

Mind you David could go a few steps more Whacky and we get that on the Covenant which would not be too bad as the First Movie was more serious...   Maybe a Hellraiser meets Xenomorphs would work with a crazed David or indeed the returning Engineer who is not to happy someone shot up his face with the Nail Gun.... but on a serious note i mean the tone the first few Hellraisers did would have been interesting..

Certainly had worked if they had it that David and Shaw found some remains of Engineers, and David entered a Covenant with the few beings he found where he offered up Dr Shaw has part of his bargaining and see the Engineers having some sinister Agenda for her...

But yeah back to the OT, i think it was not the best way to tackle such a scene.

Way before the trailers, and also just after the first i was drawn to a alternative Shower Scene, if they had a Female Infected with the Black Goo who happened to be Pregnant....

They get back to the Ship and get it on in the shower, to then unleash a Belly Burster Xenomorph.... this would have been far more disturbing, and its a idea i would have explored.

Which i could not help but think about when we saw the leaked Davids Lab shots last year showing some Baby-head looking Aliens.

I agree with everything you mentioned above on the "flash some flesh" in Sci-Fi Gavin. That's why I kept the visuals to an alien penetrating a neck from behind.

Hello BigDave. The latest release from David 8's experiments looks like the story line may go really bloody when showing the removal of Dr. Shaw's rib cage.

"Which i could not help but think about when we saw the leaked Davids Lab shots last year showing some Baby-head looking Aliens."

Who knows where they could go with the experimentations aspects of what we saw within the lab?

When we first saw those leaked shots before the Trailers ever hit..

I was left pondering and even made a Topic on this about those Skulls which are Human Baby Skulls and then all those experiments which looked to be spawned from Humanoid Hosts.

Must have meant David had access to Hosts and Babies... and so i was pondering where did these come from, maybe Female Engineers but also maybe indeed Dr Shaw too.

You could almost imagine David after getting rejected, captures Shaw and Incapacitates her, and then he goes on about he can Give Dr Shaw the one thing she could never have.... CHILDREN..

She Certainly had the Trilobite but it was not a traditional Fetus, and we see David had to have some pretty in shape Engineers for his drawings and Body Parts.  So maybe David could take Male Engineer Seed... make Dr Shaw Pregnant and then use her Children of his Experiments.

Now this would have been down right Evil and very Disturbing.

Looking at some of Dr Shaws... Concept works, some show her getting Face Raped (like Trilobite/Face Hugger type Proboscis)

What if David used her Womb/Egg Cells to create something and then use the Organism created from this to further infect her over and over.

This would fit very much with the Story of Sin, Satans Daughter in Paradise Lost.... where David is Satan, and the First Creation David created after Violating Dr Shaw (Sin) is Death.

I've got better screen grabs now from behind the scenes in regards to how David 8 creates some type of eggs BigDave...I'll edit and post shortly. The overall topic was gore so I will harvest some for us.

I'm more in the camp of: Why are they having sex so soon after their crewmates were slaughtered?! Take a break and maybe mourn them?!

"Crews dead baby! More shower time for you and me!"

"You're makin' me so horny baby!"

 Gavin you are right, this scene was a pure tack on for the trailer highlight reel. Looked like it was going to be a big scene but was really nothing, just a senseless death scene.

Also, that Terminator sex scene was weirdly and uncomfortably intense, especially with the melancholy piano-played theme songs being played over it lol.   

MonsterZero you'd think sex would be the last thing on their mind after what they just went through, I agree.

When I saw the shower scene in the A:C trailer, I was so upset.  All these thoughts in my head about how awesome this new Alien movie is going to be was replaced some with anger, confusion, and fear.  

The fear comes from the fact that this new Alien movie might actually suck.  I swear!  If I saw any typically censored parts (I'm pointing to the ladies on this), I would have to say that the movie would be considered suck-worthy to me.  That is unless the movie can make up for that one shower scene, which could be possible.

The confusion comes from me asking, "Why would Ridley do this?"  There are some skimply dressed scenes in other Alien movies, but this is starting to take it to far.

The anger comes from me not wanting this crap to be in an Alien movie.

In the end, I held all opinions until after I watched the movie and I would have to say it was almost ruined for me by that shower scene.  I did see a second of Upworth's breast, but I think I can let it slide since it was so quick (yet, unnecessary).  The movie wouldn’t have been good enough to make up for any more unnecessary, should be censored scenes.  I hope that is as far as any Alien movie in the franchise goes or I may not rewatch them.  I’ll go to the theaters to see the movie, but I wouldn’t rewatch that crap because I don’t want to see that cheap garbage.  I guess I would watch it again if the movie was just so awesome.  I would just have to suck it up while the scene plays.

Plus, I don’t know why they would be doing what they were doing in the shower after they lost so many people that they seemed to care about.  I guess they’re thankful that each other is still alive?  Still, it’s time for grieving, not fondling each other.  I guess it’s a good excuse for the story writers to figure out a way for the two characters to not know something is wrong on the ship.  I would think they should be sleeping after stressing out over all that happened.  I’d be doing that are talking to my fellow shipmates about what happened and just enjoying their presence since they are so lucky that they are not dead. 

The sex scene was supposed to show how intrinsic sex (life) and the alien (death) are. The franchise is built on on sex and the appeal of it, the Alien with it's phallic head and the derelict ship and it's vaginal opening. 

 I Moon Girl In the novel, it explains that they embrace each other for some levity and to be grateful for being the last couple on the crew alive. 

Gavin You forgot in Aliens before and after entering hypersleep, Ripley was in her skivvies. Then in Resurrection when she was breaking free of her cocoon and when Elgyn and Hillard were getting intimate. 

It is not even a sex scene. Where is the sex? And the cgi doesn't work. Not scary and not gruesome, just fake. That scene is indefensible.

joylitt yeah I have to agree, the cgi is sadly so heavy-handed it takes the fear out of this movie :C

Agree the shower scene seemed completely out of place, ESPECIALLY given the events of the story that had all just happened and all the deaths and activity and mood. It just seemed quite forced. I don't think anyone would've been in the mood or have the time for such a thing so quickly after everything that happened on the planet.

Not saying i disagree but just to play devil's advocate...

I know having just survived this ordeal and seeing their crew wiped out, making whoopie wouldn't be something anyone would be thinking about or planning to do. However as a dude I don't think there was a single time I was ever able to take a close shower with a hot girl and NOT be turned on. Plus as horrible as the events prior were they would've produced extreme emotional responses with passion potentialy being a spontaneously one. 

Personally I thought the scene was more akin to something out of the "Scream" silly slayer films and that any new Alien movie deserves better. However I can't say it isn't plausible just because xyz 

I thought that scene was tacky myself. It made no sense at that point in the movie and it made even less sense that Mother could not start blaring a loud alarm to alert them to the danger.

They could have written a short, emotional scene between those two to show their relief that this whole horrid event was finally over, yet they survived. Slow things down a bit for the audience - then punch that alien jaw through his head!

For some people the best way to find comfort would be to cuddle and touch another person. Some people do take showers together. Upworth and Ricks couldn't have stayed separately after all they were through. Probably as soon they were relieved from duty they tried to be relieved from stress before going for 7 years in the hypersleep.

If I remember right even Ripley had something to share with Dallas and Clemens.

Yes, Giger's design brought to Alien the shock of sexual elements visually clear on the horrible beast and the environment it came from Lawrence of Arabia.

"The sex scene was supposed to show how intrinsic sex (life) and the alien (death) are. The franchise is built on on sex and the appeal of it, the Alien with it's phallic head and the derelict ship and it's vaginal opening." 

To me, the addition of these visual sexual elements supported the biological aspect (grown) of the Engineer technology and added a vile and grotesque layer to the beast. Sexual is associated with "precious" and it is a violation of everything pure to paint the beast in this way.

This is everything I would expect from something evil. Alien worked for me because I believed that the beast was vile, offensive, and pitiless. And I like the arrogant humanoid Engineers for similar reasons.

I get it daliens. Being the last couple awake after a unique tragedy it isn't too out of place to try and comfort each other. Especially during a shower.

The scene would have more credible for me had they been in the shower crying and trying to keep calm after a crew-wide butchery. Maybe showing the couple with their hands shaking so hard that they have to hold hands and scream-cry facing each other. That might be me after watching what they did. 

I'm with Gavin and I Moon Girl and others for totally scrubbing the nudity out. It is out of place and you could still have a shower scene with everyone's privates out of view.

The gore is certainly in place in the scene because the xenomorph is a space demon that produces such gore but how the scene arrived there wasn't as credible as it could be. 

Ingeniero I understand you completely. The Xenomorph is a metaphor for rape and is vile. Remember how he did his tail thing with both Lambert and now Upworth? The nudity in humans is pure, hence the couple making love, and the Alien has come to defile it. I don't think nudity is out of place in the Alien franchise, I mean, in each entry there is some form of sexual frolicking that is either Ripley in her tiny panties and crotch shots in Alien or Ripley in her panties in Alien 3 and fornicating with Clements. I do agree more lines between Upworth and Ricks would have been appreciated in fleshing out the characters scene.

Lambert is a great example Lawrence of Arabia.

The obvious "shown" horror is happening feet from Lambert with Parker having his face shredded and then the camera cutting away after showing the xenomorph tail approaching her.

Then, only her horrid screams are heard over the radio without seeing what happened. This made you imagine the unimaginable and more scary than dead nudity on the bottom of the shower.

Kethol makes a good point that the scene could have been more of a shock instead of a build up of Daniels and Tennessee trying to go rescue those in the shower. Show the couple relaxed and then introduce the xenomorph unanticipated. Very similar to the Ripley and Clemens scene in Alien 3.

I think the Paolo Nutini song loud on the speakers was more out of place than the rest of the scene. For me it was the best acting of Callie Hernandez (Upworth) in the whole movie, her expression looked real as she desperately tried to pull Ricks away from the beast . 

The alien had to get them and I don't see a better place to surprise them. 

This scene was not good, think about it. You have a place where monsters are running around and you go to the shower to have sex? Who would have sex at that point? I would think about staying alive and kill the bastard, but that is me. My impression is that they added that scene just to have some nudity in it.

Maybe they were stressed so they got there to get rid of some tension but still it just doesn’t make sense in the context of the situation. Their deaths could have been written in a lot better way. Another problem is that we don’t know too much about them as characters which adds to the problem so their deaths don’t mean that much.

Unfortunately it seems more like something out of Scream than an Alien movie.

To sum it up of what I would have done if I would have written the script:

1. Let the audience know more about them as characters
2. Make them die in a situation that makes more sense

I get the connection of sex=life and the xeno= death but it wasn't a good scene

gavin. I believe the terminator sex scene was most definitely a necessity as kyle was john's father and he dies in the film. so he kinda had to bang sarah

I do agree with Gavin regarding the nudity in Sci-fi but your reasoning regarding the Terminator story is so awesome.

"so he kinda had to bang sarah"

You are great ali81.

Thoughts_Dreams There weren't any monsters on the Covenant and they truly believed they left the madness behind them on Planet 4. It was probably a grateful for the last couple alive so lets cherish it type thing.

I don't have a problem with nudity in any film myself as long as it fits plus I don't mind seeing naughty bits lol It's always been a part of the Alien franchise so I don't understand why it shouldn't. I was actually disappointed we didn't get to see Waterson in her undies.