The Thing V Alien V Event Horizon

shadowcomplex

What's the better scf fi horror move and why and why

Goldstein

Hmm, Daddy or chips.

MarkAnthony

libera tutemet ex inferis!

Agricola

Event Horizon

Dare I say it, but for me Event Horizon and The Thing are close to B movies. Good, but a bit over the top and kitchy. Alien is a pure classic.

shadowcomplex

Event Horizon

Goldstein wrote: »

Hmm, Daddy or chips.

Your Dad has probably pondered the same question regarding you

shamrock55

Event Horizon

Is event horizon good? Ive never seen it, ill say alien though

MarkAnthony

shamrock55 wrote: »

Is event horizon good? Ive never seen it, ill say alien though

It's a bit of an acquired taste, some of it's flaws are quite endearing in a way.

It was a great premise not entirely well executed. I'd personally love to see a remake.

Goldstein

shadowcomplex wrote: »

Your Dad has probably pondered the same question regarding you

Whoosh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHA4-5N5AzA

Incidentally, I went for Event Horizon. I love the other two classics but Event Horizon is the greatest sci-fi horror movie ever made for me. It was genuinely scary when I first watched it and has very sinister demonic undertones throughout hinting at a menace far darker than any mere aliens would ever pose. Right from the outset the film imposes a sense and atmosphere of isolation on the viewer that few other movies have equalled - about as far as a film can go to towards aiding the impossible task of communicating how far Neptunian space is from Earth.

The entire movie is a string of extremely memorable scenes with the tension cranking ever tighter often in ingeniously imaginative and creepy ways. There are few breathers and you're never bored for one minute as the increasingly compelling and macabre tale unravels. Yes, one scene with very early CG is very dated now but it's only used in that zero G scene and apart from that everything looks completely believeable and genuine, far moreso than anything we see today. You only have to watch Interstellar to get a hint of the impact and influence it's had though it's far less renowned and famous than either The Thing or Alien. Pardon the pun but watching that movie for me has and always will be an Event.

B.A._Baracus

Alien

Don't make me choose!! :pac:
All three movies are awesome tho. But I would go with The Thing out of the bunch. While Alien is good, Aliens was better and Event Horizon would be place number 3.

MaCready all the way

Kiith

Event Horizon

Event Horizon was great, till the end. Always thought it went stupid towards the end.

Went for Alien first though, as it's absolutely classic. The Thing is also brilliant, but i'm a sucker for anything with the Xenomorph in it.

Unearthly

Alien

I wouldn't have Event Horizon anywhere near those 2.

The Thing shades it for me

kingtiger

hard to say between Alien and The Thing (john Carpenter) version

Event Horizon was meh, as said by Argcola just a very poor ending

Tipsy McSwagger

Alien

The Thing bombed because it was released at the same time as ET, I personally think The Thing is a way better movie. Alien was released 2 years after Star Wars A New Hope and is a better film than Lucas's film. Event Horizon isn't in the same league as any of the films I mentioned. I would have The Thing as better than Alien but I'm a massive Kurt Russell fan so am biased.

Anyone who loves Alien should really play Alien Isolation it's just brilliant.

shadowcomplex

Event Horizon

I personally think Alien was better than Aliens from a sheer horror, creepy errie point of view, you have to remember when Alien came out no one knew what they even looked like and that's how I felt when watching this as a 12 year old kid for the first time absolutely sacred the **** out of me, I remember I rented this and Predator and watched them both for the first time on the same night, who knew at the time that both of these movies wold cross over, I am wondering if there are any other scifi horror classics that are as good as Alien or The thing, don't include Predator because its more sci fi action

Links234

Alien

I voted for The Thing, but I have to say I'm liking that some love is being shown to Event Horizon, always felt that was underrated. Also the only decent thing that director ever did, sadly.

shadowcomplex

Event Horizon

I knew I had forgotten one, The fly is another great sci fi horror

Mickeroo

Event Horizon is good but nowhere near the other two for me. Apart from Event Horizon I always saw Anderson as Uwe Boll with a bigger budget.

Hans Bricks

Event Horizon was a generally nightmarish flick I thought. I think it deserved better than the universal negative reviews it got. However, Alien is the classic, aged quite well.

TerrorFirmer

All three are so different it's somewhat an Apples and Oranges thing really, in terms of pure film-making you'd have to choose Alien, though both The Thing and Event Horizon are excellent films too in their own right.

Event Horizon was a bit hammy at times and could have been a much better film with a few changes but it's a really unique piece of sci-fi horror that genuinely disturbed me upon first viewing.

pixelburp

Where's the option for "they're all great movies and have their respective strengths, they all have different directions so why pit them against each other in the first place?"

MakeEmLaugh

Event Horizon

While I am normally disdainful of people nostalgically reflecting that "you couldn't make that film today", I truly believe you couldn't make a film like Alien today.

Made on a budget that, by today's standards, would be about $36 million, almost nothing happens for the first hour of film. It's closer to an art house film than a sci-fi/horror.

I wish certain passages - notably the 'chestburster' scene - weren't so ingrained on the public's consciousness, and I could watch it again with no knowledge of the film.

The Thing, though a brilliant showcase for Rob Bottin's effects, does miss out on the characterisation of the best horror films. Even a monologue akin to Quint's in Jaws, or some explanation as to the antagonism between Childs and MacReady, would have made it a much better film, in my opinion.

Though I know how popular the film is, and how someone will no doubt shoot down this post.

ThisRegard

MarkAnthony wrote: »

It's a bit of an acquired taste, some of it's flaws are quite endearing in a way.

It was a great premise not entirely well executed. I'd personally love to see a remake.

I'm surprised that some think it's an acquired taste. I loved it first time it came out and still think it's a fantastic movie no matter how many times I've seen it. I like that Gothic darkness sci-fi style. And every time I hear Smack My Bitch Up I associate it with Event Horizon as it was used in the trailer. I even remember trying to pause on VHS the various nightmaric flashes to get a proper view of the horrors.

Myrddin

Goldstein wrote: »

Right from the outset the film imposes a sense and atmosphere of isolation on the viewer that few other movies have equalled - about as far as a film can go to towards aiding the impossible task of communicating how far Neptunian space is from Earth.

Very much agree. That struck me too when I see it the first time, the sense of distance & isolation in the film are really powerful.

LuckyLloyd

Alien

The first hour of Event Horizon was very good, but it struggled to tie itself together.
Alien is a classic film with groundbreaking production values for the genre. I actually saw Aliens first as a kid so that would be my favourite from the trilogy and probably blunted the impact of the original when I eventually saw it.

===============

The Thing had a profound affect on me though when I saw it as a 15 year old. Really shocked and scared me. The intensity of the blood sample scene is unrivalled, and while the special effects may be dated they are so freewheelingly grotesque that they still pack quite the punch. And the backdrop of doom that sets in from the strange opening scene intensifies the entire way through to the grim ending.

I think it is an utterly brilliant film really, and one that modern horror / action films struggle to emulate. They are simply soft in comparison.

Agricola

Event Horizon

MakeEmLaugh wrote: »

While I am normally disdainful of people nostalgically reflecting that "you couldn't make that film today", I truly believe you couldn't make a film like Alien today.

Made on a budget that, by today's standards, would be about $36 million, almost nothing happens for the first hour of film. It's closer to an art house film than a sci-fi/horror.

Definitely. The only way a film like Alien would get made today is by a director with a lot of clout. Someone's who made a studio billions before and now gets a bit of free reign to make the kind of film they want. This means its going to have a big budget and nowadays that means a complete CGI fest more than anything else.
A slow burner like Alien wouldn't fly after all the focus group BS and executive medaling. So many parallels with the music industry of the time vs today. Every single decision is now made with maxmising profit and bums in seat numbers.

gandalf

Alien

TBH Alien and The Thing (John Carpenter version) are in a different class to Event Horizon.

EH is a good film but it just tapers off towards the end. It does have some very creepy scenes though and I always like Sam Neill in films.

It's a very close run thing then between Alien and The Thing. Both are brilliant films with similar themes of the body being infected with an outside organism. However The Thing shades it for me, because it is probably Kurt Russells best film, John Carpenter is at the top of his game and I love the fact that the special effects still look good today even though the film is 33 years old!

Duggy747

Event Horizon

I adore both Alien and The Thing but I chose Alien only because I love the xeno creatures.

The Thing's effects work is fantastic, mainly because of how horrific and disgusting some of them are. Grotesque is the perfect word to describe the film.

The head crab scene is absolutely rank thanks to a mixture of lighting, sound work, and effects.

That sound when the legs sprout out of the head...........eurgh........

Zubeneschamali

Alien

RopeDrink wrote: »

Alien is Alien, can't say a bad thing about it, really.

Jayz, I can : split up and look for the cat. So many horror movie clichés it is super annoying.

The Thing is far better - the characters actually try to act like they are up against a monster.

Chris_Heilong

Event Horizon

If people havent voted for Alien then they need to watch it again in HD, best film ever. The Thing is almost as good.

Chris_Heilong

Event Horizon

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Jayz, I can : split up and look for the cat. So many horror movie clichés it is super annoying.

The Thing is far better - the characters actually try to act like they are up against a monster.

Dude, its 1979, and they needed to split up to get the cat as it would throw off their sensors, very realistic, as far as they know at that stage the alien was only 5 inches long.

kingtiger

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Jayz, I can : split up and look for the cat. So many horror movie clichés it is super annoying.

jasus what to do you think created the cliches

Zubeneschamali

Alien

kingtiger wrote: »

jasus what to do you think created the cliches

It wasn't Alien, since I was irritated by them in 1979.

pixelburp

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

It wasn't Alien, since I was irritated by them in 1979.

I don't think it's fair to criticise the characters' actions in Alien: as mentioned the cat was going to throw off their sensors and they already had to search an ship that was established to be more like a labyrinth. The xeno might have already killed a crewmember but as far as everyone knew it was still just a slug-like, cat-sized creature. It was also established that this crew was far from the Right Stuff. Splitting up was actually the only realistic way of catching the thing given the information they had.

Zubeneschamali

Alien

pixelburp wrote: »

Splitting up was actually the only realistic way of catching the thing given the information they had.

And when you find the cat, and it starts hissing and spitting at you as if there is a giant monster sneaking up behind you...

Yes, it was a very scary movie when I first saw it, but the bits labelled "THIS IS A HORROR MOVIE" were just too obvious all the time.

pixelburp

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

And when you find the cat, and it starts hissing and spitting at you as if there is a giant monster sneaking up behind you...

Yes, it was a very scary movie when I first saw it, but the bits labelled "THIS IS A HORROR MOVIE" were just too obvious all the time.

So when a cat starts hissing or miaowing at you, this automatically indicates there's a monster behind you? Again, in context of what was happening it's not that cliché tbh, the characters had no reason to believe there was a giant monster hunting them.

LuckyLloyd

Alien

It is true that the characters in The Thing generally act far more rationally and attempt to organise much more than the horror movie norm. It's a really strong aspect of the film imo.

MisterAnarchy

Duggy747 wrote: »

The Thing's effects work is fantastic, mainly because of how horrific and disgusting some of them are. Grotesque is the perfect word to describe the film.

I only saw The Thing for the first time last year and couldn't get over how good the special effects were for the time it was made.
I thought it was an excellent film .

All 3 of the films are excellent ,I saw Event Horizon in the cinema and it was edge of the seat stuff .
It was also stunning effects wise .
It also has some classic lines
Where we're going... we don't need eyes to see!

check_six

Event Horizon

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

I only saw The Thing for the first time last year and couldn't get over how good the special effects were for the time it was made.
I thought it was an excellent film .

All 3 of the films are excellent ,I saw Event Horizon in the cinema and it was edge of the seat stuff .
It was also stunning effects wise .
It also has some classic lines
Where we're going... we don't need eyes to see!

Hmm, reminds me a bit of this:
"Where we're going, we don't need roads!"

I saw a documentary there recently about the recent remake of The Thing. They interviewed the special effects guys and they demoed some of the appliances they had designed. They were incredible, as gruesome and grotesque as the best stuff from the John Carpenter version. However, they went on to explain that the director ditched all their best work to replace it with CGI because it gave him more flexibility when filming a scene. He could swing a camera around an empty room once, safe in the knowledge that the CGI guys could paint a monster in the corner. Using practical effects meant that he was restricted to certain camera angles, etc. and he may have to do a number of takes to get it right.

The two special effects guys were heartbroken, and they said that a lot of their type of skills were being lost to the cinema industry. It was awful to see because the practical effects looked so much better than the CGI stuff in every regard.

Alien and The Thing are some of my favourite movies. I enjoyed Event Horizon for the most part when I saw it in the cinema, but I think it fell apart in the last act. It's alright, but I wouldn't rank it near the other two.

Skerries

check_six wrote: »

I saw a documentary there recently about the recent remake of The Thing. They interviewed the special effects guys and they demoed some of the appliances they had designed.

was this on the dvd?
yeah that film needed to go back to the old style of practical effects, this is one of the reasons that Christopher Nolan's films are so well received

check_six

Event Horizon

Skerries wrote: »

was this on the dvd?
yeah that film needed to go back to the old style of practical effects, this is one of the reasons that Christopher Nolan's films are so well received

I only watched this recently, but I'm struggling to recall where. Could have been on Netflix, or maybe linked from something else on youtube. I'll wrack my brains!

One of the fellows was Tom Woodruff, the other's name escapes me. They worked on stuff like Alien 3. They are the best around at the practical effect stuff, but they admitted that they were struggling to get enough money invested in them to do research into new techniques.

Warper

Alien

Close between The thing and Alien but picked the Thing. I wouldnt have Event Horizon in the same breath tbh

Snake Plisken

Alien

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

If people havent voted for Alien then they need to watch it again in HD, best film ever. The Thing is almost as good.

Sorry while I do like Alien (Although I rate Aliens higher) John Carpenter's The Thing is the one for me. Although the have a lot in common with Dan O'Bannon and John Carpenter both created Darkstar (very similar story to Alien). I just love The Thing great special effects, a mostly unknown cast give great performances fantastic Ennio Merricone score, excellently directed by Carpenter who rivets up the tension and pending doom and the ending leaving us without the final answer (although if you watch the final scene which of the characters breath can you see in the cold air? ). It was a box office flop thanks to ET coming out around the same time.
So The Thing gets my vote!

Dempsey

Not voting, just watch all 3. Back to Back. Bliss

shadowcomplex

Event Horizon

Would the Fly be as could as the thing or Alien?

CiDeRmAn

Alien

The Thing gets my vote, from the use of still amazing special effects, a cast playing against type, great use of music and an unwillingness to compromise on a unicorns and rainbows ending.
Alien is a chose second, with world building, an entire production teams craft in each beautiful frame, but we still get horror movie tropes like the hissing cat and the last actress in her underpants. The no Alien for the first hour was repeated in the sequel, big bad doesn't turn up on LV426 for an age but we are too busy getting our geek on to drop ships and power loaders to notice!

Sadly, Event Horizon is the only one I have seen on the big screen and I always enjoyed it. It felt like something original, Lovecraft's other dimensional horror onscreen, in fact it feels very like something he might write, as much of his fiction around Cthulhu is actually horror science fiction itself, Colour Out Of Space and At the Mountains of Madness for example.

mzungu

Alien

The Thing...amazing piece of work.

MisterAnarchy

Skerries wrote: »

yeah that film needed to go back to the old style of practical effects, this is one of the reasons that Christopher Nolan's films are so well received

Very true.

I'ts promising to see that JJ Abrams is going back to puppetry for the new Star Wars movie and using cgi sparingly unlike the cgi fest Lucas turned it into.

Nolan does great work on his films ,it looks authentic ,which is the true test unlike so much green screen stuff nowadays.

molloyjh

Event Horizon

Alien for me, but only just. Event Horizon was good, but not great IMO and about the only reason Alien edges out The Thing is that it's aged a hell of a lot better. It's still as scary, shocking and tense as it was when it was released. That's the sign of a true classic.

Agent Coulson

Alien

It's The Thing for me everything about it works for me the cast the script the location.