For the first time in nearly a quarter-century, movie audiences will be able to experience Alien on the big screen, as Twentieth Century Fox releases Alien The Director’s Cut, a special edition of director Ridley Scott’s science fiction/horror classic, in theaters nationwide this Halloween.

For this digitally remastered special edition of what many have called the “scariest movie ever made,” Ridley Scott has incorporated new footage never before seen in movie houses.

Working closely with Twentieth Century Fox, Scott oversaw a restoration of the original film’s negative, as well as further digital enhancements. In addition, Scott and his team of archivists went through over 100 boxes of film footage, unseen in almost 25 years, which was discovered in a London vault. From this wealth of material, Scott selected new “Director’s Cut” footage, which then underwent digital restoration, matching it to Alien’s newly-“polished” negative. The film also features a brand-new six-track digital stereo mix.

Fox released the original Alien in May 1979. The film was hailed by critics and audiences worldwide as a seminal work of science fiction, and went on to gross over $100 million worldwide, a remarkable number for that era. The film’s success spawned a film franchise for the studio, with three adventures in the saga following in 1986, 1992, and 1997. Alien launched the career of Sigourney Weaver, whose character Ellen Ripley became one of the genre’s first and most enduring heroines.

The film also stars Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The producers are Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill, and the screenplay was written by Dan O’Bannon from a story by O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.

Among the new material in this special edition of Alien is a scene Scott calls “The Nest,” in which Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, finds the remains of Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) and Dallas (Tom Skerritt). Scott has always liked the scene, but in 1979 he opted not to include it because he had thought it interrupted the breakneck pace of the film’s final 17 minutes. “It was a matter of dynamics,” says the director. “I thought that the nest scene might interrupt the tension as Ripley races for the escape vehicle. But when I reexamined the scene, it seemed to work very well, so it’s back in.”

The additional material also includes a confrontation that turns physical between Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) and Ripley, and a shot of the alien hanging from chains just prior to its capture of Brett.

The creation of this special edition also enabled Scott to make some subtle trims to the film. “In looking at the film again, I became impatient with what I call my ‘preambles’” – characters entering or existing shots. “I was, perhaps, too in love with the sets and the lighting.” So, Scott began snipping several shots in increments of 10-15 seconds. “We shaved things a bit,” he says, “which creates a slight difference in energy from the 1979 version."

The restoration of the film’s audio tracks plays an equally important role as the visuals in this Director’s Cut of Alien. The filmmakers went back to the film’s original six-track stereo mix, created for its 70mm engagements, only to discover that the mix was incomplete. So, they re-built the six-track surround sound – and created a new six-track mix for the additional scenes.