http://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/grim-and-endless-night-sweet-prince-of-darkness-hr-giger

I think worth a read. I don’t know if you ever saw Alien or the sequels or the prequel. I saw it and at least the next one, though would really like to see the prequel then see the third and however many others there are. Sigourney Weaver was great. But Giger’s design was TOTALLY unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

I think the Alien in that movie was the scariest ever, really. I’m trying to think of anything else I ever saw in a movie that really compares for total effect and originality: nada.

Its biology and scale of superiority to humans was appalling, plus the look of it was pure nightmare. The way Ridley Scott first visually introduces it in the shadows is also totally creepy. This creature was especially terrifying because of the mix of sex and death within it, in terms of the involved way it procreated. Giger’s designs were biomechanical in appearance, but with plenty of sexual ideas for incorporating genitalia sometimes, however usually subtle they were (not always).

But you get really creeped out and softened up well before seeing the creature when you get a load of the interior of the ship. For some reason seeing that in the theater looked better than it ever did on TV.

Giger was hugely influential, plus was just original as hell. When that movie was done he was about 39 years old. Died at about 74.

Sometime a long time ago, somewhere, I saw a lot of his artwork. Stunning to say the least. Wouldn’t want it in my dreams, either, but he was a brilliant craftsman who knew how to get at the core of human fears. It’s not just his general design and fine details, but even the mood created by his shading and shadows.

He has his own museum in Switzerland. He died a week ago from complications after suffering a fall.

He was a trained guy including industrial design. He designed and built two bars in Switzerland devoted to his style and they have some of his pieces. He also did some sculptures. Did a lot of work with films and album covers for bands.

In a New York Times obituary, Timothy Leary, a friend of Giger’s, was quoted as having praised the artist by saying, “Giger’s work disturbs us, spooks us, because of its enormous evolutionary time span. It shows us, all too clearly, where we come from and where we are going.”

If you have time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necronom_IV#Concept_and_creation

Original print that was not the alien, but was the basis for it:

Likely the first preliminary  design for the movie alien, or the first submitted by him to the studio:

This pic is not necessarily supposed to be the Alien in the movie, but a variant of that theme (I have no idea if it was done before or after the movie):