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#13 Sigourney Weaver




Name any hard-nosed, gun toting, take no nonsense woman in an action / horror hybrid from the past 30 plus years and you can thank Sigourney Weavers Ellen Ripley for leading the charge. That isnt to say there werent capable leading women in horror movies before. Most just didnt do so while making the guys look incompetent.

Alien and Aliens. Which is the better of the two? Both are great movies and for different reasons. Im skipping that discussion as this is a celebration of the woman headlining those stories. Its all about Ripley when it comes to the franchise.

1979s Alien. Its been a hot topic about why Ripley needed to strip down in the finale. A confident, capable woman is reduced to a shirt and panties. To demean her and make the audience see her as a sexual object is often the argument for this. I see it a different way. The nightmare is over or so Ripley believes. The adventure is done, the ordeal passed. Its the end of a very long day. Ripley gets ready for bed (cryo-sleep) and gets comfortable. What she doesnt know is theres an intruder in her house (the xenomorph). Hes about to strike when she least suspects it. Im referring to it as a he because, cmon, that thing is a phallic symbol used to penetrate its victims. Its a walking sex act much like Ron Jeremy.oh, thats unfortunate timing. The scene is all about seeing Ripley at her most vulnerable, when her guard is down, and she believes she is safe. A fear many women understand.

The end of Alien, while offering a purpose to its setup, didnt do much to influence future filmmakers. Here comes the loud and brash sequel to make everyone take notice. Women are often recognized as having to lose some of their feminine identity and adopt a more masculine approach to survive horror movies. Think of Barbara in 1990s Night of the Living Dead. The question in film theory is if a woman can somehow retain her total amount of femininity while taking on masculine qualities and maintain a balance if it can even be achieved. Ellen Ripley shows it can be done. The finale of the movie has the quintessential image as Ripley holds a young girl, who she looks upon as a daughter, in one arm while brandishing a military weapon in the other. BAM! Movie character magic was created and copied ever since. Usually to lesser results

What if these movies had someone other than Sigourney Weaver as Ripley? I dont have enough imagination to fill the role with someone else. It doesnt feel right. Theres just something believable about Weavers looks as they convey sensuality with toughness. I truly believe Weaver could pick up a gun and start firing bullets at walking erection monsters who explode at the touch of a bullet much like Ron Jeremys balls when performing in one of his hundreds of fil.dang. Too soon.

Lets not forget Ghostbusters. Ok, and Ghostbusters II. Its tough for an actor to hold their own against Bill Murray but she does it. Hey, remember that scene in Ghostbusters when Ron Jeremy is in the crowd when the containment unit exploded just likewow. Never mind. Im done.

Selected Horror Filmography:
Alien
Aliens
Ghostbusters
Snow White: A Tale of Terror
Cabin in the Woods

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