She goes from Mother's nested communication chamber with Ash in pursuit; as she navigates the corridors, her nose is bleeding, without any more fracas than slamming Ash against a bulkhead...and this is the director's cut. What did I miss?
shareI believe there was a filmed scene where they tried to blast the Alien out of an airlock. The change in air pressure caused her nose to bleed. But the scene didn't make it into the final cut of the film. Something like that...I am going from memory of what I read.
shareIndeed, this is the reason.
The scene gose like this: Parker spots the alien, when after the death of Dallas he goes to refill the flamethrower. The alien is standing on a random corridor, looking at the strobing light of the airlock. This light is situated between the two doors, and the alien is apparently mesmerized by it, wanting to "get it" or something. Parker quickly reads the situation, and gets to a communication device that is on a nearby wall. He calls the bridge, where Ripley and Lambert receive the call. Parker tells Ripley to open the inside door of the airlock, which promptly happens. The alien steps closer to the light, and the right moment comes - Parker instructs Ripley to close the inner door and open the outer door, but as soon as he does that, before Ripley has a chance to press the button, the Nostromo's emergency siren kicks in.
Startled by the sound, the alien jumps out of the airlock, the outer door is opened, the inner door is closing, and the alien's tail is caught in the inner door, severing it. The creature runs free, but the acid of the wound starts eating through both doors (somehow), which causes air to leave the area, rendering Parker unconscious. Rip and Lambert are picking up portable oxygen bottles, helping themselves and Parker. When they get there, their nose starts bleeding from lack of air. Parker is saved, and the door is sealed quickly to prevent more air rushing out.
A bit later, when Ripley is conversing with the ship's computer, she asks who initiated the emergency siren, and the answer is - to the surprise of no one - Ash.
This scene is in full described in the novelization, so you can find some more details there. Shame it was cut out because of budgetary reasons (the special effects for the limb severing were too expensive), so it was only partially filmed, and later, when we see Ripley, the nosebleed was applied to preserve intended continuity.
I kinda like that it's not there. The alien getting distracted by a strobing light would take away some of its hunter-killer mystique.
shareUltimately, I can see why it was cut, although the incongruous nosebleed will still there..
Thank you very much for the elucidation.
Ohhhh, interesting!
So that's probably where the writers of Alien Isolation (the video game) got the idea from, because at one point you do attempt to lock it out via the airlock, but something goes wrong.