Editorials
[Trapped By Gender] Intersexuality in the ‘Alien’ Franchise
Ridley Scott’s Alien is the best sci-fi-horror flick out there. It has all the trappings of a slasher except it’s set in space. As you’ll come to find, I’m a total sucker for slashers, and this movie just hits me in all the right ways. There’s a single Xenomorph hiding in the shadows with its only purpose being to hunt and kill, and it’s very good at what it was engineered to do. The perfect war machine. The movie is not only a testament to Scott’s eye for horror, but also to the brilliant mind that was Hans Ruedi Giger. His set design and creature work are truly brilliant; it changed the world and the way people view Aliens. This creature isn’t your typical Star Trek or Stargate bipedal alien. This thing doesn’t look like a human with some prosthetics glued to their forehead. It’s something new, something different, and something entirely unique. I strongly believe that’s why the Xenomorphs are still popular today.
When Aliens was unleashed upon the world seven years later, it changed the direction of the series from slow-burning slasher in space to a big ol’ action flick with more Xenomorphs, Chestbursters, and Facehuggers than you can shake a stick at. It introduced one of the biggest motifs that runs throughout the rest of the series which is the power of the matriarch, exemplified by the Xenomorph Queen trying to protect her offspring and Ripley trying to protect her “adopted” daughter Newt. It brought an entirely new dimension to the series where it is shown that being a woman, a mother, and a person with emotions doesn’t preclude badassery; in fact, it makes it more apparent and powerful.
With female empowerment in mind, I will be talking about Joan Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), a crew member on the Nostromo in the original Alien. Near the end of the film, it’s only her and Ripley against the Xenomorph. Every male character has died and Lambert has helped to take out Ash, saving what’s left of the crew from a secondary threat. Even though she is killed, there is a SMALL amount of empowerment that can be found through not only her actions in the first movie but also a major retcon shown in Aliens. It’s a small piece of a step towards bigger and better representation for trans characters which is especially surprising for a movie that came out in 1986. This happens to be the same year a movie called I Was a Teenage Boy was released as a “comedy” about a tomboy that drinks a potion to change their gender, which was full of tired stereotypes. But time and time again, even with inadequate representation, horror still comes out ahead in that department.
In any event. In Aliens, after Ripley has been “saved” and resuscitated she is being put through a briefing about what happened in the previous movie. To remind us of the characters, there are headshots and scrolling text on screens behind her. If you pause the movie at the right time, it’s revealed that Lambert either went through a process called Despin Convert or she is referred to as a Despin Convert; it’s not shown whether that’s a title or just the name of the surgery. The exact text shown on screen is: “Subject is Despin Convert at birth (male to female). So far no indication of suppressed traumas related to gender alteration.” It is rare but not implausible that she suffered no trauma from the doctor’s reassignment surgery. Some intersex people have no issue with their genitalia; everybody is different. Sometimes the doctor gets “lucky” and sculpts the “right” genitals, sometimes a good doctor leaves them alone.
This makes Lambert transgender, intersex specifically. When she was born, her genitals were not congruent with the doctor’s idea of what genitals should look like so they put this baby through sexual reassignment surgery. Her death isn’t shown fully on screen; we only see a silhouette of the Xenomorph’s tail creeping upwards. It’s implied that Lambert is raped before it kills her, shoving its tail up inside her where the doctor already mangled her. The revelation that Lambert is intersex makes her already horrific death even worse. In a movie that heavily deals with rape as its subtext, this is even more shocking. Think about it the next time you watch Alien.
According to the Intersex Society of North America, “Intersex” is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside. Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between the usual male and female types—for example, a girl may be born with a noticeably large clitoris, or lacking a vaginal opening, or a boy may be born with a notably small penis, or with a scrotum that is divided so that it has formed more like labia. Or a person may be born with mosaic genetics, so that some of her cells have XX chromosomes and some of them have XY.
Just a quick aside here for the people who believe that chromosomes determine gender; as you can see here, intersex people’s gender is not defined by XX or XY. Bodies are weird and there is no hard and fast answer to how gender is determined. It’s all about internal identity and performance; some trans people even go through body language therapy to help them blend in better. Trying to use chromosomes to prove biological sex is dubious and inaccurate. So the chromosome argument regarding trans people not being “actual” women, or men, is a non-starter.
Exactly like in the movie, this happens in real life. Doctors decide to just “fix” what’s there without even giving this person a chance to grow and figure out what their gender might be. I’ve even heard of instances in which the doctor decides to do the surgery real quick without the parent’s consent. The doctor’s reasoning is usually something like wanting to give the child a better chance at a “normal” life. You can find many instances on YouTube or personal blogs where a person’s doctor gave them sexual reassignment when they were a baby and now everything feels wrong for them. It’s the wrong genital configuration, and now they have to go through the process of trying to fix what the doctor already “fixed” at A LARGE COST to them out of pocket. This can range from $20,000 dollars all the way up to over $100,000 when all is said and done. Hopefully one day with enough attention being brought to this issue, no one will have to go through forced genital reassignment surgery again. This can cause so much psychological stress that it can lead to suicide which is a LARGE problem in the trans community. The suicide rate of transgender people hovers around 40-50% and that’s just the number of successful ones counted, not the attempts – which is unfortunately a much higher number.
Over the past 10 years I’ve attempted suicide a few times because I couldn’t take it anymore. The stress was overwhelming. Things are better for me now. It’s still not easy, but I have better coping mechanisms to deal with the abuse hurled at me daily by society and media. It’s not a kind world for transgender people (YET) but since I started transition 10 years ago, I’ve seen a lot of things change and like I said in my previous article, things are getting better for trans people. It’s slow, but it’s still progress. You don’t really get wins, you just do a little better each time. Those who come after you, the younger ones. They’re gonna have it easier, just you see.
First you get a blink-and-miss-it retcon, then eventually someone plays you, and even further on down the line, maybe you actually get to represent yourself on screen. Here’s hoping.
Your Horror Tran,
Alice
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Evil Dead Burn.
Fans of The Evil Dead franchise have become accustomed to an excess of gore. From the low-fi horror of Sam Raimi’s 1981 original and the slapstick comedy of Army of Darkness to Fede Álvarez’s 2013 remake, which literally ends in a rain of blood, grotesque dismemberment and comedic violence are as important to an Evil Dead film as the outline of Bruce Campbell’s iconic jaw.
Sébastien Vaniček‘s franchise installment, Evil Dead Burn, follows suit with wall-to-wall violence and set pieces built around extreme carnage. As the Deadites rise once again, Alice (Souheila Yacoub) must fight to the death against her possessed in-laws hell-bent on punishing her for their family’s sins.
Co-written by Vaniček and Florent Bernard, Evil Dead Burn follows the ill-fated Price family, descendants of Dr. Benjamin Price who discovered an ancient dagger capable of sending Kandarian demons back to hell. Newly uncovered from its protective spell, this dagger has called to the evil dead and led them to the family’s ramshackle home. Keeping plot to a bare minimum, Vaniček fills nearly every scene with powerful Deadites and their dastardly acts as they torture the Prices to find the weapon. Horrific moments like a woman drinking hot wax from a lit candle and a shocking post-credits child murder don’t even crack the top ten of disgusting, painful, and disturbing carnage that floods the film.
In any other franchise, we would be listing the film’s most gruesome kills. But fans of Evil Dead know that when we’re talking about the Necronomicon, mere death is only the beginning.
10 ) Deadites Burn
Though Burn checks off all the Evil Dead boxes, its story is a franchise anomaly. Rather than possessing anyone who crosses their path, Vaniček’s Deadites have set their sights specifically on an unwitting clan, intent on recovering the powerful dagger. Resurrected from a nearby lake, Deadite Jessica (Greta van den Brink) informs us of this plan while murdering the eldest Price son. Will (George Pullar) is speeding down a deserted road when he slams into the malevolent demon standing in the middle of the road. After his car rolls off the deserted road, he awakens to find himself upside down, a strange woman lodged in his cracked windshield.
As he desperately tries to reach his phone, Jessica slowly twists her head, tearing the skin of her distended neck. Completely detached from her shattered body, the demon’s head rolls out the window and begins chanting a Kandarian curse. Will’s car bursts into flames as Jessica vows to seek out the rest of his family. While burning alive, Will learns that he is merely the first on a deadly hitlist filled with the people he loves most.
9) Dinner from Hell
Despite a remarkably streamlined plot, Vaniček hints at the Price family’s extensive dysfunction. An uncomfortable dinner erupts in aggression as they gather for lunch after Will’s funeral. Mother Susan (Tandi Wright) berates her recently widowed daughter-in-law while father Edgar (Erroll Shand) — already under Kandarian influence — blames younger son Joseph (Hunter Doohan) for his eldest son’s death. No one is safe as long-held tensions break through to the surface and family secrets ricochet through the air.
With Edgar behaving erratically, Alice and Thya (Luciane Buchanan), Joseph’s girlfriend, try to move sharp objects out of his reach. But Edgar manages to get a hold of a fork and turns his rage on the family dog. As he stabs Max repeatedly in the face, Joseph tries to pull his father away. Both are injured in the struggle and rush to the hospital, leaving Susan and Alice to deal with the corpse. A horrific moment of animal cruelty, this scene sets up a no-holds-barred film in which anyone can be brutalized. But perhaps most disturbing is the viciousness already lurking in this troubled family, barely concealed resentments that existed long before the Kandarian threat.
8 ) Bathroom Brawl
As Deadites possess the Price family, Alice barricades herself in an upstairs bathroom. She reluctantly shields her mother-in-law, despite Susan’s atrocious behavior. Almost immediately, Alice regrets this decision when the woman reveals the depths of her hatred. She rejects clear evidence of Will’s domestic abuse, continuing to blame Alice for their troubled marriage. Leaning her cheek against a scalding hot radiator, Susan submits to Kandarian possession and becomes a Deadite before our eyes. Though disturbing on its face, she seems to choose possession over an honest reckoning of her family’s dark secrets.
Now a Deadite, Susan attacks Alice with broken shards of the toilet bowl and wraps the shower curtain around her head. Scampering across the ceiling, she hangs her daughter-in-law by the neck with the plastic sheet as Alice desperately gasps for air. With only her hand free, Alice gouges Susan’s face with a safety razor, finally managing to break herself free. As Deadite Susan taunts her from the corner, Alice revs up a brush trimmer and plunges the circular blade into her shoulder and chest. We cheer for Alice as she finally pushes back against Susan’s passive-aggressive disdain.
7) The Pen is Mightier
In a sea of blood-splattered dismemberment, one scene is so tense that it makes us squirm despite its lack of visual gore. With the family’s ailing matriarch possessed, Deadite Polly (Maude Davey) attacks Alice in the upstairs hallway, pressing her face against the bush trimmer’s still blade. Insisting that Alice has caused Will’s death, Polly invites the grieving woman to avenge her child by turning on the power tool. An instant before her mother-in-law can send the blade tearing into her cheek, Alice manages to escape by jamming a shard of glass into Polly’s eye. But not before the elderly demon can deliver a cringe-worthy injury.
Though Alice struggles with all her might, Polly slowly drives a fountain pen into the younger woman’s ear canal. Ringing blots out all other sounds as Alice’s face twists in pain. We imagine a tiny object bursting through our own eardrums, puncturing the soft tissue lying beneath. Though Alice tries to extract the pen, she only succeeds in breaking it off, leaving half of the quill buried in her ear. She will eventually use tweezers to remove the tip, sparking another moment of deafening agony.
6) Chekhov’s Dishwasher
As Susan prepares for the aforementioned family meal, Vaniček drops a delicious bit of foreshadowing. While the grieving mother thaws frozen food, she absently fills an old dishwasher whose door has long since busted its latch. Reminiscent of a scene from Final Destination, the faulty appliance falls open, leaving a shelf full of gleaming forks and knives suspended a foot above the floor, just waiting for their moment to strike. After returning from a fatal incident we’ll discuss in a moment, Deadite Thya returns to the Price home, hell-bent on retrieving the powerful knife.
As she advances on Joseph, the frightened son retreats to the kitchen and brandishes a carving knife, subtly nodding to an ultra-violent kitchen scene in Álvarez’s Evil Dead. But Thya will not be deterred. Advancing on her boyfriend, the Deadite startles him into tripping on the outstretched door and impaling himself on the upturned utensils. She presses Joseph further onto the blades while he plunges a corkscrew into her throat. But even this will not stop the maniacal demon, who rips her throat open with the wine tool, dripping her blood over Joseph’s upturned face. Adding insult to injury, she marvels at his willingness to kill the woman he professed to love, casting a pall over their entire relationship. Not only gruesome and excruciatingly tense, but this moment plays into Joseph’s insecurities as the failed son of this disturbed family.
5 ) On the Lake
Evil Dead Burn begins on a seemingly peaceful lake overrun with lurking Kandarian demons. Jared (Keanu Karim) is trying to enjoy a quiet day of fishing but can’t stop his friend Leo (Victory Ndukwe) from answering the phone. Along the dock, Jared notices a bite on Leo’s reel and eventually pulls up a severed head savvy viewers may recognize from Lee Cronin’s 2023 sequel Evil Dead Rise. Moments later, Jared finds himself ensnared by reels, hooks digging into the corner of his mouth and eyelid. As the fishing line wraps around his neck, he’s dragged, screaming, into the lake.
Leo returns in the pouring rain and sees Jared desperately calling for help. He quickly boats out to save his friend, but a mysterious force pulls him down into the depths. Leo finally drags Jared back into the boat, only to see that his body has been cut in half, intestines spilling out of his bisected waist. As he struggles to make sense of this carnage, Deadite Jessica emerges from the lake and capsizes the boat, her clenched demon hands causing the water to boil. Though Leo manages to swim to shore, his skin is a blistered and bubbly mess. Deadite Jessica absently steps on his hand, easily peeling away flesh like overcooked meat. This jaw-dropping opener not only sets the stage for a brutal film, but situates the story in franchise lore while simply explaining the Deadites’ return.
4) Car Trouble
The shocking trailer to Evil Dead Burns shows the aftermath of a vicious attack. As Deadite Thya crosses the family threshold, the camera reveals a car’s headrest still impaling her face. But this devastating sight merely hints at the cruel circumstances of her actual death. Incapacitated in the disastrous family dinner, Edgar slumps in the backseat while Joseph tends to his wounds. Though seemingly incapacitated, the possessed father snaps to attention and wraps his seatbelt around Thya’s neck, pushing against the back of her seat. Joseph holds a gun to his father’s head, but can’t bring himself to pull the trigger.
As Thya tries to escape the car, Edgar viciously slams the door, severing four of her fingers. She manages to trigger a fire extinguisher, filling the car with cloudy white chemicals and giving Joseph a chance to escape. But Thya is not so lucky. Trapped in the car, she screams as Edgar pummels her with a detached headrest, stabbing the poles through her neck and face. Joseph watches from a safe distance as his father beats his girlfriend to death, knowing he was unable to save her life.
3) Head Shots
When Deadite Thya comes stumbling back home, Joseph believes he’s seen the worst. Unfortunately, his misery is only beginning. After fighting off his newly-sadistic undead girlfriend, he tries to flee with his surviving family, only to find Deadite Edgar blocking his path. Flanked by Deadite Max, Edgar taunts his son by insisting that he should be dead in Will’s place and confirming the young man’s greatest fears. Edgar then does what Joseph could not and shoots himself in the head.
The family screams in horror at this devastating sight, then freezes in stunned silence as Edgar does not fall. Grinning, the maniacal father shoots himself twice more, blowing gaping holes in the sides of his head. For the rest of the film, Deadite Edgar will terrorize his family with these unthinkable wounds, even tempting his wife with a bloody kiss. Vaniček mixes emotional devastation with gore as Joseph must watch his father’s suicide while confronting the truth of his own ineptitude.
2) Down Through the Chimney
Along with references to the beloved Ash (Campbell), it’s become tradition for an Evil Dead film to reference the franchise’s signature weapon. But Vaniček subverts our expectations when Edgar’s chainsaw is out of gas. Instead, Alice employs a rusty bush trimmer to fight off her Deadite mother-in-law. Unfortunately, the extended weapon only shreds her flesh, leaving the monstrous woman still able to fight. Trapped in the attic, Alice must clamber out of an upper window with Deadite Susan hot on her heels.
Having dropped the ceremonial knife off the third-story roof, Alice has no choice but to improvise. Toting the bush trimmer, she inches her way down the chimney, pausing to turn halfway down. As Susan follows her daughter-in-law down the chute, Alice turns on the bush trimmer and waits for impact. Vaniček brings us into the living room as buckets of blood and dismembered body parts begin to rain down over the hearth. It’s the kind of moment Evil Dead fans love, gleefully gory carnage via an unexpected power tool.
1 ) Goodbye Stranger
Despite this plethora of grisly gore, Vaniček’s final act tops the list while delivering a poignant beat of empowerment. With the house on fire and the Deadites subdued, we believe that Alice is finally safe. But as she watches the Price home burn to the ground, the corpse of her husband walks out of the flames. He taunts her memories of their abusive marriage, insisting that she stayed because she likes the pain. Demanding the sacred weapon, Deadite Will chases Alice to a construction site and into an open hydraulic press. In the fall, Alice impales her ankle on a massive spike, leaving her trapped as the pit fills with boiling hot tar.
But Alice finds the strength to save herself and pulls her ankle off the bloody spike. She distracts Will with a decoy knife, then pummels his chest with a jackhammer. Exacerbating her emotional pain, Deadite Will reminds her of his love. But it seems that Alice has had enough. She stabs him with the ceremonial blade, then crushes his head as it turns to ash. It’s a well-earned moment of empowerment as our final girl vanquishes her most powerful demon.
Vaniček’s crowd-pleaser continues the Evil Dead trend of gleefully crude massacres. Two extra scenes hint at a continuation of this gruesome massacre, promising more brutality in films to come.
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