The Thing VS Alien

[Gota]

Which is the superior sci-fi horror movie?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/

Both are based on earlier works and both were pretty influential on later works.

The thing wasn't as successful in the box office but it was released in the same day as blade runner...

[pintle]

Alien, but more so Aliens, are two of the greatest movies ever made imo. Genre defining classics.

The thing is also a pretty cool movie.

[Gota]

Not as easy to classify aliens as horror though..it was more of a action sci-fi and the plot had way more holes than the first.
I mean...why would "future soldiers" use what appears to be a redesigned modern day assault rifles,shotguns and flamethrowers?
At least the first was about a party of civilians.

there are other pretty nasty in your face holes in the second but it did have james cameron's talant at making well paced action movies..

[FLOZi]

Alien, but more so Aliens, are two of the greatest movies ever made imo. Genre defining classics.

The thing is also a pretty cool movie.

(Of course Pintle thinks Alien 3 is better than Resurrection, what a fool!)

[Gota]

the difference between aliens and alien is like the difference between the first and second terminator.
the first in both series, are well made,ground breaking, atmospheric gritty scifi horror films and the second ones are less polished plot wise but stronger on the action and visuals.

[pintle]

Do not speak of Resurrection, it is terribad, along with the avp movies :<

Aliens is the perfect archetypical "badass motley crew" action movie. PERFECT in all of its dumb one-liner glory.

[Machete234]

Alien1 is pretty much perfect but I didnt watch any other parts nor the thing but probably I will watch it sometime in the future.

the difference between aliens and alien is like the difference between the first and second terminator.
the first in both series, are well made,ground breaking, atmospheric gritty scifi horror films and the second ones are less polished plot wise but stronger on the action and visuals.

First terminator was great (I know people who didnt watch it, really.
They live behind the moon.)
The second one is a little boys fantasy to have a robot who is also a father figure.
A total 90's movie not too dark and even with "humor" in it.
"Gimme your boots, jacket + bike"
The only cool thing were the computer effects back then.

[KaiserJ]

cant i have cake AND pie?

i love both of those movies. i think as a kid though i preferred the thing (the subtlety of some of the suspense in alien was lost on me at a young age) but definitely felt that aliens (the sequel) was the superior movie and perhaps the best of all time.

i sort of agree about the guns but often with a successful weapon design, it reaches a pinnacle of quality which is offset by cost... why bother giving someone an expensive laser gun if you can get a perfectly good assault rifle for a fraction of the price, especially if you're sending them to their death :D its just not cost effective

[Gota]

what about those gigantic hunks of metal they strap to themselves?same weapon as now only bigger?haha
If there was no plot hole about silly weapons there would be no aliens movie :)

[KaiserJ]

those are the cheapest ones XD the futuristic equivalent of AK47

[Master-Athmos]

Well why just the new "The Thing" and not the original (I think James Rolfe covers the differences HERE or in a follow-up part)?

Considering the alien movies - I prefer the 2nd one. The reason is that the first one isn't scary anymore while the 2nd movie still has the great action, hostile atmosphere just as still scary aliens. I guess the main reason why the first one isn't really scary anymore is because nothing really happens - I mean they usually just run into the alien in a dark ventilation shaft or something and you see the "puppet" moving its mouth and that's it. It only really is shown in the end in that shuttle and I have to say there it's not that frightening either. Well I mean compare the "struggle" of crawling out of that small space where it was hiding in Alien 1 with things like the facehuggers set loose in Alien 2. The first alien movie isn't really threatening enough for today's standards I guess. The second movie really had an extreme evolution here as those aliens were presented as extremely dangerous while in the first movie it's not much more than a hostile animal which likes to hide and wait in the dark...

Concerning the weaponry shown in Alien 2 - well I actually like it. Reliable mass drivers & some HE-stuff what else would you want? The smartguns also actually are pretty nice with their motion based aiming and thus pretty sci-fi (although this doesn't get expressed that well in the movie). In addition to that the Alien universe isn't that much high-tech at all. I mean you have some fancy sci-fi stuff but at the same time it's always rather "dirty" and simplistic. Stuff like laserguns wouldn't fit in that universe...

[Hobo Joe]

Alien, most definitely

[KDR_11k]

I mean...why would "future soldiers" use what appears to be a redesigned modern day assault rifles,shotguns and flamethrowers?

Why not? That technology is simple and effective. A major concern with army gear is field maintenance, simple guns mean easier maintenance. Much easier to fix a bullet shooting gun than a high powered laser weapon. Additionally bullets contain the energy needed to launch them in a simple, small, robust shell. Much less likely to break than some high-tech energy generator for a laser or rail weapon and likely much smaller too. Plus there's only so much firepower you need when you're designing weapons for fighting soft targets (aren't their guns meant for fighting humans, not aliens?).

[zwzsg]

the difference between aliens and alien is like the difference between the first and second terminator.

the first in both series, are well made,ground breaking, atmospheric gritty scifi horror films and the second ones are less polished plot wise but stronger on the action and visuals.

I disagree. The plot of the first alien is: People isolated on a ship get killed one by one by a mysterious monster, until the last survivor escape at the end of the movie. That's the most worn out formula for an horror movie. Aliens story is a bit more elaborate, with different stage through the progression of the movie, and you can't guess which direction it'll go. The whole idea of a marine party raiding an alien nest is pretty original, all other movies about alien lifeforms are either "Oh noes they're invading us!" or "woodawoop that was trippy!".

The plot of the first terminator is just: Robots revolted against human! But because special effects are too costly, let's invent a silly excuse to teleport them to present day. And because special effects are too costly, let's invent an excuse for robots to wear human skin. The second terminator has a much more interesting plot, because instead of the simplistic robot=evil, human=good, it has one robot on the good side, thus allowing the movie to explore the oddness of bonding with a machine that wasn't made for that. I'm also pretty sure first terminator doesn't have single handly pumping a shotgun while riding a motorbike, drowning war machines in molten meta, machinegunning a platoon of cops and coldly declare they'll survive, or any other cool moments (& lines). The second terminator is also the only one in the series were the protagonist doubt their capacity to change the future and suffer existensial pain because of it. In the other movies they're like on rail. Even in the last one, the hero just goes: Nah I'll ignore those mind shattering revelations and stick to my mission.

[Gota]

ehh...alien was made more than 30 years ago...
The formula is worn out cause many movies were made after it that used this same formula..
The aliens tough group of macho homo-eroticism is silly.

The first terminator might have been effected by cost but that does not change the fact that the plot was pretty unique and aside from a tv series that had a slightly similar story it was completely new and fresh.
The Plot did not have any real holes in it as oppose to the second Terminator which just rehashed some elements from the first and had many plot holes with the main one being the sillyness of yet another terminator going back into the past after the first one (why were the dates of return chosen so?why didnt the second terminator go back when the first one did to help it?).
This bizarre plot decision is never elaborated on or explained and in the second they just add that despite the fact skynet was about to lose and hence decided to use a time machine it still manages to send yet another terminator.
bothj films are also of different ganres.
The first feels more like a horror movie while the second liek an action film.
I dont think that the contemplation about the future in the sequal detracted or added anything to the plot.
The first's excuse about kyle not knowing "tech stuff" to explain how it all effects the future was much more honest and not as pretentious.

It might be just me but i prefer the originality of plot of the first and its raw feel over the more expensive and effects lush second.


by the way The thing didnt fall into any cliches at all(it was also based on a story that predated all the other mentioned films) and had a great ending not to mention it was very close to the original novel.

[Gota]

Can anyone think of a quality modern alien killing people movie?
AVP predator and alien sequals dont count.

By the way apparently Ridley Scott is the director of an upcoming alien prequel to the original...

[Master-Athmos]

Can anyone think of a quality modern alien killing people movie?

Well there probably are countless but most suck or aren't really memorable. How about Tremors, Anaconda or even Species? But I'm probably not the best one to ask as I'm not that much into horror movies...

[FLOZi]

By the way apparently Ridley Scott is the director of an upcoming alien prequel to the original...

[pintle]

Can anyone think of a quality modern alien killing people movie?
AVP predator and alien sequals dont count.

By the way apparently Ridley Scott is the director of an upcoming alien prequel to the original...

Is Predators out yet? Anybody seen it?

[Master-Athmos]

I didn't see it for myself but read quite some feedback on it. It's mediocre at best. Too little focus on the Predators / their hunt, some rather stupid scenes (Katana vs. Predator = bad idea) and boring characters. The trailer also has some fake scenes like that one where numerous Predator laserpointers show up on the main character - it's just a scene for the trailer and doesn't exist in the movie...