CinemaDome: Alien vs The Thing

I enjoy both movies a lot. However, my vote is for The Thing.

If I am going to chose to watch one of the two, it's almost always going to be The Thing. As jeb said, it's just more entertaining, which is why it is my pick. Both movies have excellent set design, effects work, acting, and pacing so if someone feels the other way I can at least understand the choice.

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!

This shouldn't even be close! A fair fight would be Alien versus Jaws or something. But Alien should be blowing The Thing out of the water. The Thing is a remake and Alien has Giger for crissakes. Do you know what Alien did for women on the big screen too??

Is someone else going to disagree with the following mathematical formula:

Ripley > MacReady

No? I didn't think so. MacReady is awesome but COME ON.

Not only are the characters in Alien way deeper and more memorable than the ragtag south pole workers, but the antagonist is far more dangerous.

I bought my g/f Alien on blu-ray as one of her bday gifts last week. She is SO scared of it already, she's asking if we can leave a light on in the room when we see it. You guys remember how insanely long the build-up is in Alien? It's going to kill her, I can't wait to watch someone's first reaction to it. Unfortunately she's seen those awful AvP movies so she knows what facehuggers do (removes much of the punch), but i don't think she appreciates how just one of those damn things managed to wipe out my entire crew.

I absolutely love the Thing. I love it so much that I actually didn't mind the recent remake of it but that's mostly cuz I want to make sex with the protagonist so much.

But come on, Alien is totally ground breaking on everything it sets out to do. A masterpiece through and through.

vote: ALIEN

distress signal my ass

I've got something for Jaws...

These are a draw. They're equally awesome in every way.

Alien is a little longer and has some really dull spots, but it sparked the imagination and created so many sequels. The universe is fleshed out more.

I call it a draw but if I had to choose one to die forever and the other to live on, I have to say Alien.

Mr. White wrote: I've got something for Jaws...

if you're going to put it against Deep Blue Sea, i will set you ablaze.

Both are great cosmic horror films.

The thing is lovecraftian. Which makes it great by default. He touted how the greatest fear was that which is not known. A numinous and pondering darkness that the human mind cannot fathom.

Alien however, goes deeper into the human psyche. I am one of those people who happen to agree about the subtext of the horror behind alien, and that is rape. I won't get into it here, but there are places on line to investigate that further.

And because I think the subtext giger set forth is likely, it gives us a horror that we can better understand, and truly be frightened of.

Vote: alien.

Black Barney wrote:

Mr. White wrote: I've got something for Jaws...

if you're going to put it against Deep Blue Sea, i will set you ablaze.

Jaws vs Sharknado then?

Alien I don't know how this is a contest. Apart from a couple of notable exceptions(*), pretty much every John Carpenter movie has an interesting/cool idea, and then he just lets it down in the direction and script. There are 2 or 3 cool scenes in The Thing, but it gets way too obsessed with the gore and loses focus on where the best part of the story is: not knowing who is human and who is alien. Alien on the other hand is a game changer and rewrote the space film rulebook.

(*) Big Trouble in Little China is 90% there so gets a pass, though does have a few mystifying script decisions and could have done with an edit or two but the 90% is good enough to make it his best film, thus the only John Carpenter film I give the 100% rating where he seems to maintain focus with a tight script is Assault on Precinct 13.

Barney would you expect us to compute:

Brody > Ripley?

probably not. Ripley isn't going to lose to much so Ripley v macready isn't a fair barometer to compare these movies.

(though Macready v Chess Wizard is entertainment!)

I think y'all are selling the excellent cast of The Thing short. Obviously Russell and David are fantastic but so were Wilford Brimley, David Moffat, and 'Nauls'.

Ian Holm - second best replicant ever.
John Hurt - best indigestion culminating in birth&death sequence ever.

Barneys' maths are indisputable.

Mr. White wrote: Obviously Russell and David are fantastic but so were Wilford Brimley,

But, seriously, I think Barney is overstating the case. There's a lot to be said for The Thing and the fact that it was a remake that was more true to the original intent of the story is just one of them.

Alien. It's the right thing to do and the right way to do it.

Without Alien, there is no Thing. Don't care if it is a remake. Alien's box office success enabled The Thing.

MuMu is correct. I love Carpenter, but his "meat and potatoes", everyman style often short-circuits the deeper material and he has NEVER had a truly great script to work from.

Alien has so many things that recommend it over The Thing, not the least of which is the production design which is pretty god damned close to "greatest of all time". Not just Giger's work- the practical set design is _extraordinary_. The Nostromo interiors are just breathtakingly well done. The photography is also just awesome- that shot of the computer screen reflected in the helmet...there is nothing that great in all of The Thing.

Alien is also very European. It is much more of a Metal Hurlant kind of story. It's sexy and slippery, subversive and discomfiting. It's about more than "blue collar dudes don't know who is who".

Not that The Thing is bad- The Thing is awesome. It's a masterpiece in its own respects. But it is not better in any way than Alien. I was only 4 when Alien came out, but I still remember seeing the ads for it and getting the big Kenner Alien for Christmas that year. It was weird, mysterious and it felt like something you should not really be watching. Then I remember watching it on ABC Sunday Night at the Movies ("parental discretion...is advised") and the imagery and ideas were just so out there to my young mind. But then The Thing was really much more of a classic American monster movie.

Of course, all of you are missing the grand irony here, that Dan O' Bannon, who wrote Alien, worked with Carpenter on Dark Star, which is something of a predecessor to Alien.

Vote: The Alien Thing

P.S. Jaws sucks.

I love both of these movies. I also love cats and dogs. Several dogs die in The Thing. The cat survives in Alien.

Vote: Alien

Winner!

13-5

The unwashed masses came out in favor of the pop culture property, outnumbering true horror aficionados.

(I thought this was a good pairing. Guess they can't all be close contests...)

Monday - Ex Machina!!!