ALIENS: THE SET PHOTOGRAPHY Book Review

Release Date: August 9, 2016
Author: Simon Ward
MSRP: $39.95
Purchase: Amazon

Since I was a youngster, the Alien film series has been my all-time favorite, despite it scaring the snot out of me. The first entry caused me many sleepless nights, imagining a xenomorph was gestating inside my chest cavity.

I couldn’t help but be enthralled by the dark future world Ridley Scott created in Alien and that James Cameron perfected in Aliens. To this day, I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite of the two, but right now the first sequel once again has my attention with the release of a new coffee table art book, Aliens: The Set Photography.

Authored by Simon Ward, this 140-plus-page, full-color hardback gives fans an inside look at the making of Cameron’s classic with gobs of behind the scenes photos and production stills. If you’ve read any of my other book reviews on some of the previously released Titan art books, you’ll know I’m a big fan of their quality and attention to detail. This entry is no exception, compiling some fantastic, never-before-seen images from the making of Aliens.

The book jacket is cool enough, with a side profile of Ripley sporting a flame thrower, ready to make some acidic alien soup, but I’d recommend removing it and proudly displaying the black hardcover with white title script on your table or mantle.

The introduction is by Carrie Henn who played Newt in the film, and the rest of the book is split into two main sections: on set and behind the scenes. The first section goes through the film in chronological order, and the second takes a look at effects stills and various locations. 

Captions adorn each of the photos, giving basic information about each, and the layouts are varied but not scattershot. There’s a good balance between large, double-page stills and smaller set and crew photos making the book interesting to casually page through yet not completely random.

While you do get a plethora of content inside a quality-made book, the $40 MSRP feels a bit high to me. Die-hard fans will find a lot to appreciate, but even as one myself, I don’t know if I’d pick this up for that price tag. Fortunately, after doing a quick Amazon search, it looks like they’ll be selling this at the release for $26, which is well worth it.

If you’re obsessed with Aliens, but find that there’s a serious lack of Aliens-related merch on your coffee table or book shelf, then I’d recommend checking out Aliens: The Set Photography and take another trip to Hadley’s Hope. Now, excuse me while I search for my quadrilogy Blu-ray, my day has had a serious lack of Paul Reiser.