Species at 30 makes for a great guilty pleasure

That said, Giger didn’t much care for the final film, which he thought was much too similar to the Alien franchise, which boasts his most famous creature design, the xenomorph. For instance, there is the same punching tongue (Giger had wanted to incorporate barbed hooks for Sil),  and Sil giving birth seems eerily akin to Alien‘s famous “chestburster” scene. Giger did manage to convince the director to have the team ultimately take out Sil with a fatal shot to the head, rather than with flame-throwers, which he felt was too derivative of Alien 3 and Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

Giger had a point: Species is not particularly ground-breaking or original in terms of plot or the nature of the alien posing a threat to humankind. The dialogue is uninspired (occasionally downright trite) and the characters aren’t well developed, most notably Kingsley’s weak-willed amoral scientist and Whitaker’s reluctant empath—both exceptionally gifted actors who are largely wasted here. Poor Whitaker is reduced to looking broody and stating the obvious about whatever Sil might be “feeling.” There are gestures towards themes that are never fully explored and the outcome is predictable, right down to the final twist.

The mating game

But there’s also plenty to like about Species. Madsen and Helgenberger give strong performances and have excellent on-screen chemistry; their sweetly awkward sex scene is the antithesis to Sil’s far more brutal approach—in fact, Sil learns more about the subtleties of seduction by eavesdropping on the pair.  And the film is well-paced, with all the right beats and memorable moments for a successful sci-fi thriller.

Former model Henstridge acquits herself just fine in her debut role. Much was made in the press of Henstridge’s nude scenes, but while her beauty is used to great effect, it’s the character of Sil and her journey that compels our attention the most, along with our shifting emotions toward her. Young Sil is sympathetic, the result of an unethical science experiment. She didn’t ask to be born and has little control over what is happening to her. But she does want to live (hence her escape) and is genuinely scared when she begins to transform into her cocoon on the train.