Vagina Dentata

Rating: 9/10 (2 February 2007)

This film preys on mankind's fears of the omnipotent female presence. There are queens, vaginal alien devices,the central computer is called "Mother," and the thought of involuntary impregnation (face huggers), are all metaphorical vehicles on which the notion of power and death rely. This film is poetic, powerful and cinematic. Some feminists may disagree with me and say that my assessment is wrong, but what Scott is doing with all the female metaphors is simply re-instating the ultimate power of the life-giving (the queen laying eggs), life-sustaining (the drones impregnating their human hosts with their own alien species), and equally life-taking (they kill the host body they have used in order to lay their eggs), presence of the mother figure. Women are powerful. We have the capacity to give life or kill it, and this movie is an over simplification of this fact. Is this good? That depends on your point of view.