Second of 6 Alien Short Films Alien: Specimen available now

April 5th 2019, 3:33pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

To celebrate Alien's 40th anniversary and in partnership with Tongal, 20th Century Fox is releasing new Alien-universe fan-made short films leading up to Alien Day on April 26th. The shorts will be released through IGN on a weekly basis beginning last week with writer-director Chris Reading's ALIEN: CONTAINMENT (see below). And today we have the second of six short films with writer-director Kelsey Taylor's ALIEN: SPECIMEN which follows:

Julie, a botanist the night shift in a colony greenhouse, who does her best to contain suspicious soil samples that have triggered her sensitive lab dog. Despite her best efforts, the lab unexpectedly goes into full shutdown and she is trapped inside. Little does she know, an Alien specimen has escaped the mysterious cargo, and a game of cat and mouse ensues as the creature searches for a host.

Fox and their creative partners at the online platform Tongal went through more than 550 submissions from online filmmakers to pick the six that they felt would be the best stories to celebrate ALIEN with. The other forthcoming shorts and their filmmakers are:

ALIEN: ALONE — Hope, an abandoned crewmember aboard the derelict chemical hauler Otranto, has spent a year trying to keep her ship and herself alive as both slowly fall apart. After discovering hidden cargo, she risks it all to power up the broken ship in search of human life. Written and directed by Noah Miller.

ALIEN: HARVEST — The surviving crew of a damaged deep-space harvester have minutes to reach the emergency evacuation shuttle. A motion sensor is their only navigation tool leading them to safety while a creature in the shadows terrorizes the crew. However, the greatest threat might have been hiding in plain sight all along. Directed by Benjamin Howdeshell.

ALIEN: NIGHT SHIFT — When a missing space trucker is discovered hungover and disoriented, his co-worker suggests a nightcap as a remedy. Near closing time, they are reluctantly allowed inside the colony supply depot where the trucker’s condition worsens, leaving a young supply worker alone to take matters into her own hands. Written and directed by Aidan Breznick.

ALIEN: ORE — As a hard-working miner of a planet mining colony, Lorraine longs to make a better life for her daughter and grandchildren. When her shift uncovers the death of a fellow miner under mysterious circumstances, Lorraine is forced to choose between escape or defying management orders and facing her fears to fight for the safety of her family. Written and directed by the Spear Sisters.

You can check out the full 10-minute short film below and then make sure to hit us up and let us know what you think! The shorts will be released through IGN on a weekly basis beginning today and they will be added, along with exclusive behind-the-scenes content, to AlienUniverse.com and the AlienAnthology social media profiles on May 5th. Check out Kelsey Taylor's ALIEN: SPECIMEN and Chris Reading's ALIEN: CONTAINMENT below!