Thank You, Dan O’Bannon

By Paul Cibis on December 24th, 2009

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Dan O’Bannon died last week at the age of 63. You probably didn’t hear about this. You’re probably asking don’t know who Dan O’Bannon is or why you should care. Well, strap in, son. You’re about to get educated. You might not know Dan O’Bannon’s name, but you damn sure know his work. Over a 35 year career as a screenwriter and director Dan O’Bannon quietly etched out a legacy more epic and pervasive than that of a dozen guys whose names you actually know. So, as a final tribute to Dan O’Bannon, here are three of his most memorable contributions to pop culture.

1) Alien Chestbursters

When Dan O’Bannon wrote Alien he created one of the most famous scenes in movie history. It’s been replicated, ripped off, referenced, and parodied countless times. It’s been reused in half-a-dozen sequels, but never to the same startling effect. It’s become one of those transcendent pop culture moments that, even if you’ve never seen the original, you know the reference.  Most writers would be lucky to create one scene like that in their entire career.  Dan O’Bannon had a few.

2) Braaaiiiinssss!

George Romero invented the modern zombie movie in 1968 with his seminal Night Of The Living Dead, but Dan O’Bannon forever left his mark to the genre when he wrote and directed 1985’s Return of The Living Dead. Obviously, the zombies in Romero’s Dead films had always been cannibals, sustaining their abominable, undead existence by feasting on human flesh, but it was O’Bannon who created the idea of zombies hungering specifically for juicy, delectable human brains. O’Bannon’s zombies were also the first to wail the now ubiquitous zombie battle cry. The rest is horror history.

3) The Chick With Three Boobs From Total Recall

This 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi action flick is packed to the rafters with some of the craziest shit ever put to film; exploding heads, a guy with a psychic baby growing out of his stomach, Arnold removing a tracking device from his brain via his nostril, more exploding heads, severed arms, Arnold Schwarzenegger disguised as a fat woman (whose head explodes), but ask any guy who first saw Total Recall between the ages of 12 and 17 what he remembers about the movie and he will say “the chick with three boobs.” For the adolescent male mind this is powerful stuff.  If you’ve never seen one real boob before, somehow seeing a chick with three boobs in a movie is almost as good.  In a movie full of crazy imagery, the chick with three boobs still stands out as something unique.  We’ve seen exploding heads in movies before and since, but we’ve never seen another chick with three boobs.

That was Dan O’Bannon’s particular genius. He knew how to take familiar genres and stories and tweak them into something we’d never quite seen before. That’s why so many of his ideas have wormed their way into the popular consciousness. Michael Bay’s next movie will be forgotten before it even leaves the theaters, but people will continue to remember and quote and parody Dan O’Bannon’s movies for years to come, even if they never know his name. Thank you, Dan O’Bannon, for all of the shocking, scary, three-boobed memories. We loved each and every one of them, and you will be missed.