WE ARE ROLLING!" COMES the cry. "SFX are hot!" Why, thank you. Ah... apparently they don't mean us, but the squibs on a stuntman's chest, ready to be activated by an effects person.
A group of neatly lined-up squaddies present arms, cock their weapons, and aim at their superior officer - who stands stock-still, showing no signs of alarm. Then they all fire simultaneously. The squibs crack, perfectly timed, and he drops to the ground like a puppet that's had its strings cut.
It's 18 October 2021, and we're looking out from Shelter 9 at RAF Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire. It's a vast complex, one you could spend half an hour driving around - and on arrival, it looked like our bewildered cabbie might... In the '50s and '60s, this hangar was home to US bombers; a mural nearby celebrates the Fightin' Fifty-Fifth. Today, it's playing host to filming for a new TV version of John Wyndham's classic 1958 novel The Midwich Cuckoos.
Half an hour ago, we sat in a catering bus, observing with wry amusement as a crowd of red-eyed military extras winced and cursed as they struggled to insert jet-black contact lenses. An hour before that, we caught a brief scene featuring Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley sitting in their Land Rover, having recently arrived at the fictional Winthorpe Military Base.
Hawes's character expressed concern about tests being carried out on two children: "What are they doing in there? Why aren't we allowed in?" Then they both mysteriously slumped forward, unconscious. Piece all this together and you'll understand that it's not the children's welfare she should have been worried about...
PREGNANT PAUSE
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Denne historien er fra June 2022-utgaven av SFX.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Making Alien - Jaws in Space - Forty-five years on from its original release, Alien continues to terrify. We dissect what arguably remains the most chilling instalment in the saga
The seven-strong crew of the commercial mining spacecraft the Nostromo seal their fate after reluctantly responding to a mysterious distress signal on a hostile planet. Here, a face-hugging alien from a derelict ship impregnates and later kills executive officer Kane (John Hurt) after its offspring is birthed onboard. After being unleashed, the fearsome newborn with acid for blood proceeds to dispatch the remainder of the crew.Ridley Scott's much more convoluted prequels have yet to reveal how the knowledge that led to this initial interception was acquired. However, the premise of the original Alien is perfect in its uncomplicated purity.
PURE AND SIMPLE
IN THE FINAL PART OF OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, SHOWRUNNER RUSSELL T DAVIES TALKS RELAUNCHING DOCTOR WHO
TO CAP IT ALL OFF
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE BBC SERIES THE TRIPODS
FRENCH REVOLUTION
THE WALKING DEAD SPIN-OFF SHOWRUNNER DAVID ZABEL ON BEING GIVEN THE TOUGH TASK OF REUNITING DARYL AND CAROL IN FRANCE
SILENT KILLERS
THE DIRECTOR OF HOLLYWOOD'S SPEAK NO EVIL REMAKE ON HORROR, COMEDY AND JAMES MCAVOY
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
THE GHOST WITH THE MOST RETURNS FINALLY - IN BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
TEENAGE DREAM
JOE LOCKE HITS THE ROAD RUNNING
MOB RULE THE PENGUIN
GOTHAM'S UP FOR GRABS IN BRUISING NEW CRIME SAGA BUT WHERE IS THE BATMAN?
SEASON OF THE WITCH
AS MARVEL TELEVISION CARVES OUT A NEW PATH FOR ITSELF, WE SPEAK TO CREATOR JAC SCHAEFFER, PLUS A CAST OF STARS LED BY KATHRYN HAHN AND JOE LOCKE, ABOUT THE MAGIC OF WANDAVISION'S SPIN-OFF AGATHA ALL ALONG
Ghouls Allowed
Even silence can't save you at this year's Halloween Horror Nights