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Moviegoing has rapidly evolved these last few years. When I moved to Los Angeles from New York City six years ago, I was floored by how nice the movie theaters were. I spent the summer going to the movies multiple times a week, the feeling of settling down in a plush recliner at the Santa Monica AMC or a velvety seat at the ArcLight in Culver City (RIP a legend) never getting old. But now, in a post-pandemic world, where I've yelled at teenagers to get off their damn phones in the middle of a movie, conventional moviegoing at your average cinema chain has lost some of the reverence that it once had. 

Now, enter the Disney+ Dive-In Theater, a collaboration between the House of Mouse and Swimply, a "pool-sharing platform connecting pool owners with swimmers seeking private, real-life local experiences" (I am genuinely interested in how one could go swimming in a pool without it also being a "real-life" situation, but I digress). I was invited to a screening of Ridley Scott's 1979 classic, Alien, that took place around a backyard pool in Los Angeles. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but ultimately, the experience was perfect for Alien specifically. 

Watching Alien in a pool is a perfect experience, because it's a rather wet film. 

Since the screening was going to take place in the evening, I put on a rashguard suit because I didn't want to get cold in the water. I'll admit that I'll jump at the chance to maximize chaos for myself while watching a movie (case in point, I ran, not walked, to see Twisters in 4DX last summer), so I wanted to watch the entirety of Alien while in the water. And for the hour that I spent in the water, it felt surprisingly natural to watch Alien this way. There was a womb-like quality to being submersed that was suited to the franchise's themes of motherhood, gestation, and birth. But despite my forethought, I still ended up getting colder than I'd like to be while watching a movie in a pool, so I spent the last hour of the movie soaking wet on the concrete ground. My clammy suit clung to my skin as I sat on a damp towel, making me feel like a wet chihuahua, après-surf. 

While this would have been an uncomfortable experience for most other films, it was perfectly suited for Alien. Because that movie is damp. Just about everyone on the Nostromo, except for Jonesy, is wet, whether it's from sweat, blood, tears, water, or the milky fluid that the synth crewmate, Ash, leaks everywhere after he's attacked. Even the xenomorph in the film is drooling all the time. Once I realized this, I didn't feel so bad that I was sitting around sopping wet after swimming. I felt strangely immersed in what was going on, in a way that I would have never expected. 

Moviegoing today is built around comfort, and Disney+'s Dive-In Theater screening of Alien was a fun departure from that

The Alien films aren't supposed to leave you feeling comfortable in your own skin. The xenomorphs are so unsettling to look at because of their phallic appearance and human-like teeth. They're walking embodiments of the types of violence that humans can take out on each other, transforming elements and shapes of the human body into something nightmarish. Likewise, the android synth characters, with their milky body fluids and ability to survive extreme mutilation, are uncanny for us because they were built to resemble people. With the xenomorphs and synths, the Alien franchise makes us feel not at home in our own bodies, just as we aren't at home in space. 

Now, I didn't spend the last part of the Dive-In screening of Alien wanting to rip my own skin off just because I had a wet bathing suit on. I brought plenty of waterproof layers that helped me get toasty again. And don't get me wrong, the event was put on with a great sense of hospitality from the event staff, who set up the backyard to resemble the Nostromo itself. But I think there's something to be said for reexperiencing a familiar film like Alien through an apparatus of physical discomfort. A part of me found some weirdness in sitting on a soaking wet towel in a stranger's backyard while watching the movie, because it was a significant departure from how I usually watch Alien: within the comfort of my own home, in my comfy clothes. Because of the environment I was in, the physical sensations of the characters felt more visceral to me this time around, their place in a strange part of space all the easier to connect to. 

I don't know if Disney has any more plans for these Dive-In Theaters, or if they're going to implement them at any of their theme parks. So who knows what the future holds for outside-the-box moviegoing experiences such as this. But I will say that the basic conceit of the screening meant that my viewing experience of Alien wasn't interrupted by someone using their smartphone in front of me during the movie. And that alone made me feel like a happy camper. Disney+, if you're reading this, I would love to watch Aliens and Prometheus in this format. 

If you love aliens bursting out of chests and hugging your face, then we have all you could want from  Popverse's Alien watch order, details on where Romulus fits into the Alien timeline, and all you need to know  on the upcoming Aliens TV show with Timothy Oliphant.