Alien has better characters, The Thing has a better monster, the filmmaking is about equal. I give it to Alien for the production design, but it's slight.
Alien is my favorite film, and is also overall the better film (two different things, but there's my opinions on both). I've been settled on this for many years. But yes, it's an interesting comparison.
The Ripley character and the MacReady character each have their own pathos, in slightly different ways. Both characters are "overall competent" until they inherit a fricked up situation that forces them to take charge. The major difference is that Mac is a unironically a respected, masculine man with hard power (flying the chopper, the only way out), so the others defer to him for that reason. Ripley is a b***hy petty officer and is clearly cracking a bit just before the Ash reveal/resolution, and her predictions (Cassandra) aren't taken seriously exactly because she's a subordinate woman, a running theme. Mac is a "comfy" competent character for men, but somehow the Ripley character has endured, exactly because she wasn't originally presented in the "pandering" way of tokenism now so familiar to Cinemaphile users. Tom Skerritt, the ship's captain, had top billing in the film. The virgin viewer doesn't know exactly what to expect. Ripley slowly emerges as the lead through an honest struggle.
Ripley even correctly volunteers herself as the meat to go into the air vent, over-ridden by Dallas, who isn't a great captain because he doesn't appreciate the psychological importance of his role. The second Dallas is killed/captured, the surving crew lose their minds (this is repeated with Apone's capture in Aliens). Star Trek also famously had the captain and other top staff regularly going into the field of hazard for plot reasons, but formally this is backwards. The captain stays with the ship.
I'd say at best ripley and mac are equal the production design might be a bit better in alien but for the alien itself, it looks quite comical jazz hands-ing around with its steel grille. I cant take it seriously
yeah I agree. I think there's only one moment that bothers me where he roars and effeminately flares his hands, which oddly seems common whenever there's a guy in a monster suit.
I genuinely think a Sequel could have been worth while, as long as it doesn't ruin the original ending. >Rescue team shows up long after Childs and Mcreedy are frozen >Obligatory "what the actual frick happened here" as the team looks for any survivors >Take both Childs and Mcreedy, never show either body up close >Eventual thaw out still keeps it ambiguous as to which one of them was a Thing >Shenanigans ensue closer to civilization that the Arctic
I'd take that over the prequel, any day.
>Carpenter
kek he has contradicted himself every single time he spoke about the movie and classified all other media as canon and non-canon the next time
Nah, the only thing I'd want from a successful Thing movie is John Carpenter getting the attention and love he deserves. The Thing ruined his career sadly, if it were a hit he'd be an even bigger name than he is already. We'd probably be rooting in the streets if it was his version of Firestarter that was remade.
Ridley is a fricking hack and a pleb. The whole movie literally plays like an actor's workshop or whatever. Ridley literally hid from Yaphet who often ran the show while Ridley diddled his bulbs. That set was so out of fricking control you had thespians literally taking it upon themselves to just slap their costars in the face. And the list goes on believe me.
Yeah it fixed things I'd been literally screaming about for years. One of the more validating experiences of my entire life. In particular the corridor scene between Dallas and Ripley. I had very specifically picked that thing apart and he literally did everything I said he should do. All a very long time ago and I'm not at home so I can't go into much detail. Basically the polar opposite of Aliens directors cut. That one was death by a thousand and Alien was saved by a thousand cuts. Meaning that often small things can make a big difference.
There's something for everybody I guess. Exact opposite opinion to mine. (Though I do really value the theatrical cut of Aliens too and see the extended edition as less of a definitive version than I do the theatrical cut of Alien).
Execrable opinion, Alien's original 1979 theatrical release is in fact the better version. The 2003 "Director's Cut" was a slight variation on a theme for the hell of it, and actually a slightly worse version. The differences are slight, but definite:
-In the theatrical original ONLY, Ripley confronts Dallas about allowing the facehugger corpse to be kept by Ash for study, at the latter's insistence. It is only here that the audience learns that Ash was subbed into the mission as science officer (as robot plant) at the last minute; this essential detail is removed from the 2003 verson because the shots looked kind of bad (IMO) and to trade off other information.
-likewise, in the original theatrical ONLY, there's a quiet interlude where Dallas queries Mother alone before going into the vent. Mother is opaque, he does not attempt any overrides because he's a lazy man. This DC-deleted scene is part of a three-point setup to the PUNCHLINE in the Mother-room "crew expendable", excised from 2003.
Then there's the most obvious egg body horror business involving egging-Dallas and egged-Brett. The body horror concept is insidious and nice, and the scene itself is fine, but it's poorly cut into the rest, exactly because it was added back as an afterthought.
yeah. you can't cut the dallas talking to the computer scene or the argument about the facehugger or Ash being a last minute crew change. it takes away so much from the ending. Dallas asking the computer questions is a kino scene in and of itself too, theres literally no reason to cut it.
They all took a page from jodorowsky's dune bible. If it wasn't Ridley, it would have been someone else. That sci fi euro comic look had already been a thing for a while.
They're from over forty years ago and they look better than most special effects do today. The facehugger dissection looks more real than any computer graphics do.
Really depends on how you look at it. Things don't really get bad until you hit Alien 3. Even then some would argue it doesn't get bad until Resurrection or even Prometheus so you could argue points on the franchise all day but I prefer to enjoy each film for what they are instead of saying they're all shit.
I want to argue that Resurrection is a better movie than 3, I know RES is pretty bad and way to 90’s but 3 did not pull me in at all… and RES at least made me interested in what was going to happen. Even though the Earth blows up at the end which just doesn’t really make much sense at all.
I like The Thing better, Alien is essentially a slasher in space, there's not really any mystery it's just characters getting picked off whereas The Thing has an element of mystery who's a thing and who's not and these great smart characters trying to figure it out.
Yes the thing is also well put together and everything works as a whole, where as you have ash/mother/evil corporation plotline that feels like padding for a movie that is supposed to be about the unknown/alien. Alien is sort of like a sampler of interesting sci ideas at the time.
The first half of alien is good, before the monster comes. Then its just a dumb monster movie. It feels like every scene with the monster is kind of stupid. For instance, towards the end, there is that scene where the black guy and that other girl are trying to escape and I think they were trying to load some canisters or something. The alien comes and the black guy yells at the girl to run while he holds the alien off. It is supposed to be this intense scene but the entire time the alien is just standing there waving its arms and shaking its head back and forth slowly like if it was a bad animatronic.
who goes there is such a wasted story to have one shitty 50s movie, one amazing 80s adaptation and one bad 2010s movie. You could do so much with the thing as a concept
For me, it's The Thing, but that's only because I like the antartic setting more.
They are both so good that I think you can only choose one over the other due to some personal preference unrelated to the films.
Alien gave me nightmares. I think conceptually the Thing is great but the way Alien was filmed was successfully scared the shit of me when I was young.
Friendly reminder that The Thing can't actually just turn anyone with a bit of saliva, that's just the paranoia of the dude with the computer program. If it could it would have been turning people on the sly, not violently attacking them and leaving torn underwear in the trash.
this basically. The thing is a timeless classic forever. I've seen that movie 100 times. I've seen alien only once or twice, and it's great, but its story isn't as well written in terms of tension.
Alien has better characters, The Thing has a better monster, the filmmaking is about equal. I give it to Alien for the production design, but it's slight.
There's not a single character in Alien that comes close to MacReady. That being said, if Alien is a 9.7, the Thing is a 9.8.
Alien is way more intense and actually builds to a crescendo
MacReady is generic action hero variation 948473, the crew members of nostromo are way more vibrant and real.
>MacReady is generic action hero
Sometimes generic is good if done right.
Alien is my favorite film, and is also overall the better film (two different things, but there's my opinions on both). I've been settled on this for many years. But yes, it's an interesting comparison.
The Ripley character and the MacReady character each have their own pathos, in slightly different ways. Both characters are "overall competent" until they inherit a fricked up situation that forces them to take charge. The major difference is that Mac is a unironically a respected, masculine man with hard power (flying the chopper, the only way out), so the others defer to him for that reason. Ripley is a b***hy petty officer and is clearly cracking a bit just before the Ash reveal/resolution, and her predictions (Cassandra) aren't taken seriously exactly because she's a subordinate woman, a running theme. Mac is a "comfy" competent character for men, but somehow the Ripley character has endured, exactly because she wasn't originally presented in the "pandering" way of tokenism now so familiar to Cinemaphile users. Tom Skerritt, the ship's captain, had top billing in the film. The virgin viewer doesn't know exactly what to expect. Ripley slowly emerges as the lead through an honest struggle.
Ripley even correctly volunteers herself as the meat to go into the air vent, over-ridden by Dallas, who isn't a great captain because he doesn't appreciate the psychological importance of his role. The second Dallas is killed/captured, the surving crew lose their minds (this is repeated with Apone's capture in Aliens). Star Trek also famously had the captain and other top staff regularly going into the field of hazard for plot reasons, but formally this is backwards. The captain stays with the ship.
So?
I'd say at best ripley and mac are equal the production design might be a bit better in alien but for the alien itself, it looks quite comical jazz hands-ing around with its steel grille. I cant take it seriously
the actor for predator did a better job than the alien actor
yeah I agree. I think there's only one moment that bothers me where he roars and effeminately flares his hands, which oddly seems common whenever there's a guy in a monster suit.
not as bad as the alien "peak a boo!" in the vent tunnel scene
thank you
>Hug me!
Alien had more pure intense minutes of horror. The Thing had much much better effects & the glory that is John Carpenter on a synth.
The Thing blows Alien out of the water
I like The Thing's ending better.
And MacReady is cooler than Ripley.
Alien's vision of the future is an underrated aspect of the film. Without it, we would not have Metroid, or System Shock, or Halo.
This is a genuinely good point, The Thing is still the better film tho.
It's too bad boomers were spazzing out to E.T., otherwise The Thing might have got as many sequels as Alien.
To be honest, thank god that didn't happen. Can you imagine:
>The Things
>Thing 3
>Thing: Resurrection
>AVT
>AVT:R
I'm cumming in my pants.
I genuinely think a Sequel could have been worth while, as long as it doesn't ruin the original ending.
>Rescue team shows up long after Childs and Mcreedy are frozen
>Obligatory "what the actual frick happened here" as the team looks for any survivors
>Take both Childs and Mcreedy, never show either body up close
>Eventual thaw out still keeps it ambiguous as to which one of them was a Thing
>Shenanigans ensue closer to civilization that the Arctic
I'd take that over the prequel, any day.
>he hasn’t played the Carpenter-approved sequel
this game sucks tbh
Your based card has been revoked, anon.
>Carpenter
kek he has contradicted himself every single time he spoke about the movie and classified all other media as canon and non-canon the next time
This isn't Cinemaphile, anon.
Is this a comic or something? I haven't liked any of the comics Ive read so far.
THEY ALREADY MADE A SEQUEL YOU BABA BOOEY AND IT EXPLAINED EVERYTHING
Nah, the only thing I'd want from a successful Thing movie is John Carpenter getting the attention and love he deserves. The Thing ruined his career sadly, if it were a hit he'd be an even bigger name than he is already. We'd probably be rooting in the streets if it was his version of Firestarter that was remade.
Alien, zero debate. The art direction and design influenced legions of films, videogames, tv shows etc.
>it was more successful therefore it’s a better film
Bad take
The Thing - 4.5/5
Alien directors cut - 4/5
Alien theatrical cut - 3.5/5
Ridley is a fricking hack and a pleb. The whole movie literally plays like an actor's workshop or whatever. Ridley literally hid from Yaphet who often ran the show while Ridley diddled his bulbs. That set was so out of fricking control you had thespians literally taking it upon themselves to just slap their costars in the face. And the list goes on believe me.
You really think the directors cut of the original Alien is better?
It sucks balls.
(Except for the egg morphing scene and that one shot of the alien hanging on the chains)
Yeah it fixed things I'd been literally screaming about for years. One of the more validating experiences of my entire life. In particular the corridor scene between Dallas and Ripley. I had very specifically picked that thing apart and he literally did everything I said he should do. All a very long time ago and I'm not at home so I can't go into much detail. Basically the polar opposite of Aliens directors cut. That one was death by a thousand and Alien was saved by a thousand cuts. Meaning that often small things can make a big difference.
There's something for everybody I guess. Exact opposite opinion to mine. (Though I do really value the theatrical cut of Aliens too and see the extended edition as less of a definitive version than I do the theatrical cut of Alien).
Only plebs think the director's cut is better because they get filtered when shit is deliberately left ambiguous
Execrable opinion, Alien's original 1979 theatrical release is in fact the better version. The 2003 "Director's Cut" was a slight variation on a theme for the hell of it, and actually a slightly worse version. The differences are slight, but definite:
-In the theatrical original ONLY, Ripley confronts Dallas about allowing the facehugger corpse to be kept by Ash for study, at the latter's insistence. It is only here that the audience learns that Ash was subbed into the mission as science officer (as robot plant) at the last minute; this essential detail is removed from the 2003 verson because the shots looked kind of bad (IMO) and to trade off other information.
-likewise, in the original theatrical ONLY, there's a quiet interlude where Dallas queries Mother alone before going into the vent. Mother is opaque, he does not attempt any overrides because he's a lazy man. This DC-deleted scene is part of a three-point setup to the PUNCHLINE in the Mother-room "crew expendable", excised from 2003.
Then there's the most obvious egg body horror business involving egging-Dallas and egged-Brett. The body horror concept is insidious and nice, and the scene itself is fine, but it's poorly cut into the rest, exactly because it was added back as an afterthought.
yeah. you can't cut the dallas talking to the computer scene or the argument about the facehugger or Ash being a last minute crew change. it takes away so much from the ending. Dallas asking the computer questions is a kino scene in and of itself too, theres literally no reason to cut it.
Both are impeccable directed but The Thing has a far better narrative
I actually hate the last act of Alien (it's just annoying flashing lights and Ripley running around), The Thing is good all the way through
If Alien hadn't come along Science Fiction would still be Star Wars clones. Based Ridley giving us Alien and Blade Runner.
Correct. Alien also gets bonus points for coming 3 years before The Thing.
They all took a page from jodorowsky's dune bible. If it wasn't Ridley, it would have been someone else. That sci fi euro comic look had already been a thing for a while.
Isn't all sci fi now either a SW clone or a "shitty people and grey drama in space" show?
blade runner was crap
>dude robots! (except they are humans actually)
>dude flying cars! (cringe)
Are there actual homosexuals in this thread preferring a movie with a female lead over one with Kurt Russell?
still waiting for this debate to turn great
Take away the 10/10 special effects from The Thing and what do you have? A good movie.
Take away the 9.8/10 special effects from Alien and what do you have? A great movie.
It's exactly the opposite you dummy
Alien is all spectacle, they could have filmed the thing in a cardboard box
>rigid upright Black person
>condom mouth
>9.8/10 special effects
Keith David has a kino voice. Better than the “muh finders cut (gib)” Black person in alien
i never once mentioned the thing
They're from over forty years ago and they look better than most special effects do today. The facehugger dissection looks more real than any computer graphics do.
The Thing is much better
Alien hands down. Just look at the following it has and the sequels that were made in light of it's success.
Frick the Thing. Sure it's a good film but it doesn't showcase the same blockbuster qualities as Alien did.
>just look how many funko poops they have!
>Just look at the following it has and the sequels that were made in light of it's success.
It gets worse with each new movie
Really depends on how you look at it. Things don't really get bad until you hit Alien 3. Even then some would argue it doesn't get bad until Resurrection or even Prometheus so you could argue points on the franchise all day but I prefer to enjoy each film for what they are instead of saying they're all shit.
>or even Prometheus
No-one thinks Josh Whedon's attempt at an Alien movie is on par with any of the first three, let alone the first two.
Things got bad with A3, lame with A:Res and mongoloid with prometheshit
I want to argue that Resurrection is a better movie than 3, I know RES is pretty bad and way to 90’s but 3 did not pull me in at all… and RES at least made me interested in what was going to happen. Even though the Earth blows up at the end which just doesn’t really make much sense at all.
The ending to "The Thing from Another World" is more powerful than anything in The Thing.
Alien is the better film.
But I enjoy watching The Thing more.
Concur
The Thing is peerless but both are 10/10 movies
Why do people think alien is good? It has no point
Bait or capeshitter?
I like The Thing better, Alien is essentially a slasher in space, there's not really any mystery it's just characters getting picked off whereas The Thing has an element of mystery who's a thing and who's not and these great smart characters trying to figure it out.
Yes the thing is also well put together and everything works as a whole, where as you have ash/mother/evil corporation plotline that feels like padding for a movie that is supposed to be about the unknown/alien. Alien is sort of like a sampler of interesting sci ideas at the time.
The first half of alien is good, before the monster comes. Then its just a dumb monster movie. It feels like every scene with the monster is kind of stupid. For instance, towards the end, there is that scene where the black guy and that other girl are trying to escape and I think they were trying to load some canisters or something. The alien comes and the black guy yells at the girl to run while he holds the alien off. It is supposed to be this intense scene but the entire time the alien is just standing there waving its arms and shaking its head back and forth slowly like if it was a bad animatronic.
Both great for their own reasons.
Alien and The Thing > the majority of cinema
who goes there is such a wasted story to have one shitty 50s movie, one amazing 80s adaptation and one bad 2010s movie. You could do so much with the thing as a concept
For me, it's The Thing, but that's only because I like the antartic setting more.
They are both so good that I think you can only choose one over the other due to some personal preference unrelated to the films.
the original thing is better
Alien wins because it didn't have that stupid crawling head spider barf-bait thing in it.
I like the Alien better. The atmosphere of the movie is unmatched in any spacestation horror to this day.
no contest
The Thing wins by a lot. Aliens was good, but Alien was fairly weak.
without the thing we wouldn't have among us
in that case I have to give it to Alien
My two favourite horrors, I like them equally.
Recently there was John Carpenter week in a local cinema. The Thing on the big screen is fricking great
Its not really a debate, theres more tension and mystery in The Thing. You dont know who or what is killing eachother.
>no debate
then what the frick have I been reading all thread
Alien is based on carpenter's dark star though
There is no debate at all, homosexual
Every reason I have ever heard for the reason people like alien have always been superficial. It's just eye candy
Good thread OP
The Thing is scarier in concept as a monster but Alien is the better film by a sliver
Alien gave me nightmares. I think conceptually the Thing is great but the way Alien was filmed was successfully scared the shit of me when I was young.
My dad let me watch it with him when I was ten. Had nightmares for a week but they were kino nightmares.
real question, Alien Isolation vs The Thing video game?
I find both to be good tales of survival against unusual threats.
First hour of Alien > The Thing > 2nd hour of Alien
overall I guess The Thing ever so slightly edges it out. Both movies are masterpieces
i like the thing more
thing is better dont @ me dumbass Cinemaphile Black folk
I've always believed that the Alien franchise on the whole and the xenomorph as a movie monster are extremely overrated. So it's The Thing for me.
Friendly reminder that The Thing can't actually just turn anyone with a bit of saliva, that's just the paranoia of the dude with the computer program. If it could it would have been turning people on the sly, not violently attacking them and leaving torn underwear in the trash.
Both are great but I like The Thing more
I'm just a sucker for anything set in a completely snowy and icy environment
Both
there's no debate Alien is shit and The Thing is great
The Thing had (much) better special effects and more gripping plot-hook (anyone could be infected).
Alien had better design (the scenery, the xenomorph), more interesting characters, and was more culturally influential.
The Thing was the better movie, imo.
this basically. The thing is a timeless classic forever. I've seen that movie 100 times. I've seen alien only once or twice, and it's great, but its story isn't as well written in terms of tension.
I feel exactly the opposite about the two movies. Although i like both, i think Alien is the better one.