It's with a heavy heart that I report H.R. Giger, a man who created one of the most iconic monsters in cinema history, contributing to the nightmares of countless people in the process, has passed away aged 74, due to injuries sustained in a fall. A renowned painter and scupltor, Giger is best known, and rightly lauded, for his design work on Alien, with the titular Xenomorph springing forth from his twisted imagination, inspired by his own painting Necronomicon IV. He is also responsible for the design of the Engineers, or Space Jockeys, and the Derilict, the gigantic space craft that the Engineer's pilot. His designs were of course used in the Alien sequels, and he came back for Prometheus, creating the murals that adorn the walls of the Derilict. His work on Alien was rewarded with an Oscar for Best Achievement for Visual Effects in 1979, which he shared with the rest of the visual effects crew.
Outside of the Alien franchise, he worked on Poltergiest II: The Other Side, designed a radically different, and ultimately unused, Batmobile for Batman Forever, and created the Xenomorph-esque Sil for Species. He also worked with several recording artists, lending his unique designs to numerous album covers, as well as designing and sculpting the microphone stand used by Korn frontman Jonathon Davis. His style has gone on to influence countless artists, across every medium. The thoughts of everyone here at The Movie Bit go out to Giger's family and friends at this hard time.
