(Copied and pasted from the Alien board on IMDB. I hope you don't mind)

Lamberts bizarre screams...

by aussieboy1982, Sun Mar 20 2016 IMDb member since March 2006

Any else wondering what the Alien was doing to Lambert for her to make those noises while she was being killed? Especially the scene where Ripley is running down the corridor and u can hear her. It sounds like she had a pretty horrific death

RESPONSES

by bluersun, Mon Mar 21 2016 IMDb member since December 2011

Yep. This has been jostled around on here a fair few times... I'm going for tail-rape (even though it's Brett's legs you see in that clip of the alien's tail)!

by RustyShacklewort, Thu Mar 24 2016 IMDb member since May 2003

The "tail rape" has been a popular theory over the years.

by bluersun, Fri Mar 25 2016 IMDb member since December 2011

I know... it was a popular theory with me and my mates at school in the early '80s

by spookyrat1, Thu Apr 7 2016 IMDb member since November 2010

Whatever it was, it differed markedly from Parker's demise.🐭

by kmags84, Sat Apr 9 2016 IMDb member since December 2014

And that right there is what makes it even MORE disturbing. We see the Xenomorph get 2 members the exact same way and then it takes a very weird turn, one that can by no means be anything other than what it seems. Yes, it wasn't originally Lambert, it's not her legs but it IS her legs as far as the scene goes. Why do such a thing? Hmmmmmm

by crc-4, Tue Apr 26 2016

IMDb member since January 20

Yep. This has been jostled around on here a fair few times... I'm going for tail-rape (even though it's Brett's legs you see in that clip of the alien's tail)!

It totally ripped her clothes off. I figure it was playing doctor since lambert was the first female it encountered. It was like "WTF?".

by DwaynePipes35, Mon Mar 21 2016 IMDb member since August 2014

I'd say it wasn't the aliens traditional method which is a skull punch with it's inner jaw i'd say it impaled her between the legs with it's tail, it sounded a more prolonged and painful death than Parkers anyway.

by stewie-3, Mon Mar 21 2016 IMDb member since June 2005

One of the things that makes Alien so damned scary (at least for me), is that the film almost always leaves the worst to the imagination. And Lambert's death throes coming over the intercom chill the blood more than just about anything else in the film. I don't think any amount of F/X could create a more horrific set of thoughts than what was going through my head about what the Alien was doing to poor Lambert!

by dgfan, Tue Mar 22 2016 IMDb member since September 2004

There's an interview with Ridley Scott where he mentions this scene and he said that he wanted to keep what happens to Lambert a mystery because your mind would fill in that blank with something more horrible than he could have put on screen. You have to say that it worked because what really did happen to Lambert has been a question since the movie was released.

by aussieboy1982, Tue Mar 22 2016 IMDb member since March 2006

Yep maybe it's better we don't know. So much more horrifying that way

by kya1,Fri Apr 15 2016 IMDb member since September 2006

your mind would fill in that blank with something more horrible than he could have put on screen.

Agree, and I think this is used to great effect in a number of horror films. Blair Witch Project and Mothman prophecies are two that spring to mind.

A classic, memorable scene from perhaps my favourite film of all time.

by stewie-3,Fri Apr 15 2016 IMDb member since June 2005

Blair Witch Project and Mothman prophecies are two that spring to mind.

I never saw The Mothman Prophecies, but definitely agree about BWP. I remember it becoming very trendy to bash the film for its flaws (of which it does have a number) not long after it became a huge hit. But, flaws and all, BWP was one very creepy and scary movie. No amount of F/X gore or splatter will ever surpass the terrors we create in our own minds when we're given just a hint and what might be "out there."

by sevenlilxenos, Fri Apr 15 2016 IMDb member since May 2011

As Alex from A Clockwork Orange would say, the Xeno had a little bit of the old in and out.

Some believe he could use his tail like a scorpion to sting the spinal cord of its victim rendering them paralyzed for later face hugging, eating or whatever. However, seeing how none of the following Alien flicks followed up on this interesting concept I'm not so sure that is what happened to Lambert.

I like to think he simply entertained himself a little bit with his tail's tip inside of Lambert.

To this day I have yet to hear anyone explain how the hell Kane's son was able to get Lambert's pants, socks and boots off, UNLESS she did so voluntarily hoping to distract the Xeno similar to Ripley's striptease in the Narc.

But seeing how Lambert couldn't even move out of the way so Parker could light him up, I guess we are left to believe the Xeno somehow had the dexterity to remove Lambert's clothing.

I could see him ripping off her pants, but removing her socks??????

by dgfan, Sat Apr 16 2016 IMDb member since September 2004

The Blair Witch Project had its flaws and disjointed parts but the one scene that I thought was creepy was during one of the nights that they were camping and they hear the screams of one of their missing party off in the distance. They can't exactly locate where the screams are coming from and all you see is their camera light shinning on trees. There's not much more scary in the world that a forest on a moonless night. This is the one thing that none of the movies that followed Alien have had. I can understand Ridley Scott's idea of not showing much of the Alien except in quick glances to create an aura.

by darthkarl66, Sat May 14 2016 IMDb member since February 2010

In my life I have seen a small handful of films where the director, for one reason or another had the good sense to frighten the wits out of his audience with the less is more approach. The main examples I can think of are Alien, Jaws, and Rogue.

by darthkarl66, Sat May 14 2016 IMDb member since February 2010

Besides the obvious scene with Kane, Parker and Lambert's deaths drew the strongest audience reactions. I know I was 13 and it was the most horrifying moment of my life to that point.

by SCY385-1, Sat May 7 2016 IMDb member since November 2004

I think the breathing in between the screams are the sounds that have stuck with me over the years. I have often wondered what would have caused her to do that? She pants very heavily, then screams along with some other not-so-nice-sounds, then dead silence. I don't think the Alien killed her as swiftly as it did Parker, or even tried to abduct her like it did Brett. We see her legs dangling and there are no pants on those legs. In the scene right before Ripley arrives we see clearly that Lambert has pants on because we see the Alien's tail with it's stinger come up between her legs. Now of course everybody knows that this was a film flub. It was actually Brett'g legs we were looking at. AND if you have ever read Heavy Metal's illustrated book of Alien you see clearly that it is Brett who is stung in the back. That being said for the purposes of discussing Lambert's death in the film it looks like she got stung in the back but it also sounds like there was some extra stuff going on......really violent, bad stuff going on.

by ewaf58, Mon May 9 2016 IMDb member since August 2006

To get the right screams Scott showed her reduced contract. Seriously though it sounded that the Alien (with its intelligence) wanted to demonstrate a sadistic streak -deriving pleasure from her screams.

by svalinanikola, Sun Jan 15 2017 IMDb member since April 2011

Something really nasty, shoving that tail in all kinds of places.

e by The-Social-Introvert,Mon Jan 16 2017 IMDb member since July 2011

He had a quick wham, bam, thank you mam!

tar by mike_cable, Tue Jan 17 2017 IMDb member since July 2005

I believe it was the tail rape because last night I watched the "virtual workprint" fanedit version and (from what I recall of the finished versions) it included a removed scene where it seems to be very curious about Lambert, and prolongs its examination of her. The only thing which really makes her different is being female, and so the placement of its tail and the crazy sounds we hear lead to one conclusion.