X

Secret Cinema goes Alien: In Shoreditch, no-one can hear you tweet

This Halloween, Crave boarded the Nostromo for a screening of Alien in a deserted warehouse, courtesy of the excellent night out that is Secret Cinema

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
Richard Trenholm
2 min read

This Halloween, Crave joined Secret Cinema for a screening of Alien in a deserted East London warehouse, transformed for the evening into a suitably eerie set from the film.

Secret Cinema puts on location-specific screenings, only revealing the film at the last minute. The entertainment begins as soon as you arrive: punters, here known as 'recruits', were issued with jumpsuits emblazoned with Nostromo crew insignia. The queue and the location are roamed by actors re-creating moments from the film.

Queue

Each location is completely transformed: recruits entered the warehouse via an 'airlock' complete with blaring klaxons and blinding dry ice, astronauts and aliens looming from the darkness. The attention to detail was fantastic: we particularly liked the blood-spattered dinner table, spooky mock-up of the Mother computer room, and the accurate uniforms -- and wigs -- on the extras.

Twitter

The people behind Twitter client Journotwit built a Twitter wall behind the bar, where recruits' tweets and twitpics appeared. Filters were in place in case anyone had the urge to hijack the wall, something Crave has been guilty of at many similar functions (we once told the world a Member of Parliament at a PR event with us had just revealed his "secret tattoo", but the less said about that the better). The event was supported by Windows Phone to promote the Toshiba TG01.

The film was introduced by a video of Ridley Scott himself, and the screening was followed by DJs until the small hours. These pictures were taken by The Found Collective. More pictures are in the Flickr feed. Past screenings have included Anvil!, Ghostbusters and The Warriors. What films would you like to see in an unusual location? We'd like 2001 on the Space Station please.