Jim Raggi noted the death of screenwriter Dan O'Bannon the other day and, had I not been so busy lately -- a trend that's continuing, sadly -- I'd have made a post on the topic sooner. O'Bannon actually died on the 17th, losing a 30-year battle with Crohn's Disease. This is a great loss; O'Bannon had a very long and successful career in Hollywood, including having written the story treatment and screenplay to Alien.It's his connection to Alien that is probably the basis for my appreciation of the man's talents. I have in recent weeks re-watched the 1979 film several times, having been overcome with a strange desire to view it again. I continue to believe that it's the most perfect distillation of the Lovecraftian worldview ever put to film -- no surprise given that O'Bannon frequently expressed admiration for the Old Gent, calling him "the greatest horror writer who ever lived."
I'll likely have more to say about Alien in the next few days. I'd actually been intending to make a post or two about it since last week, having watched the film for the third time in about a week. The death of Mr O'Bannon only highlighted my need to get round to this sooner rather than later.
