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14 comments
9 comments
Rank This Matchup or Comment/Reply Below
on 7/17/2009
Two of the best movies ever made in the Sci-fi horror genre. Heartbraking choice....Today i'ts The Thing, tomorrow it could be Alien.
on 7/30/2009
Damn, my two favorite horror movies ever. It's like choosing between my parents.
on 9/1/2009
A truly impossible choice.
on 11/14/2009
From the isolation of the Antarctic to the isolation of Space. How do you choose between these two?!
on 11/15/2009
Wilford Brimley is the deciding factor here.
on 12/10/2009
Alien. I've always hated "The Thing". It's one of my least favorite Carpenter flicks.
on 2/3/2010
No Contest...Alien rules
on 4/30/2010
The Thing all the way, with due respect to Alien.
on 2/7/2011
Both are seared into my memory, this is a hard choice, but for now, it's The Thing, probably because I saw it first.
on 8/12/2011
A truly epic confrontation. MacReady has my vote, but I'll watch Ripley any day of the week.
on 10/14/2011
I adore both of these movies, but ultimately it all boils down to "blood test" vs. "Dallas in the vent" for me. And it's gotta go to the blood test. Jaw-dropping stuff.
on 5/23/2012
Both great and at the peak of the Sci-Fi Horror genre, but while this is probably one of the slightly more difficult "impossible" choices that I've faced (as people seem to call them), I'm going to go with Alien simply because while The Thing has great atmosphere, brilliantly tense scenes (the blood test being the most memorable) and some deliciously disgusting gory scenes, Alien also has all of these but is a little better constructed as a film; there are a couple of moments in The Thing which came across as a little out of place, particularly Wilfred Brimley's UFO and the fact that they seem to immediately understand what the Thing is with some seemingly very crude and rudimentary scientific analysis (particularly the calculation of planetary infection scene which, while tense, comes across as a little hokey). Alien had this issue as well, but the creature itself seems a little more fully realised scientifically. Arguably this could make the Thing scarier, as it is never truly understood, but the Alien comes across as a much more intimidating and believable threat. Plus I think that Alien has aged much better than the Thing, as well as the fact that the Thing owes a lot of it's existence to Alien.
Alien wins, but man....that was one tough decision...
*edit* In The Thing, they come to various assumptions about the thing without ever truly understanding it, whereas in Alien, the creature is more realised and better understood. Arguably this could make the thing scarier, but I found the Alien more intimidating and frighteningly believable etc.
I'm gonna even it up and throw my love at The Thing. Why? Because it's FUN AS HELL! Alien's a good time at the movies, obviously influential, and visually, it's amazing. But The Thing is John Carpenter and Kurt Russell on their best day. That is one wicked movie.
The Thing. Even after seeing it countless times, I still can't remember what's going to happen next. My second favorite Carpenter film.
on 6/4/2012
the thing is more interesting and watchable......................
on 7/6/2012
This hurts my heart, but I have to choose The Thing.
on 8/26/2012
I prefer The Thing.
on 9/6/2012
Both are genuinely good. My head says Alien is a more important film, but my heart tells me I gotta go with the one where the guy's chest cavity turns into a giant pair of jaws and then his head falls off and grows spider legs.
on 11/21/2012
Just rewatched The Thing and listened to the commentary by Carpenter and Russell. It wins this...
on 12/10/2012
The Thing.
on 12/11/2012
"...but my heart tells me I gotta go with the one where the guy's chest cavity turns into a giant pair of jaws and then his head falls off and grows spider legs." Fuckin' exactly!
on Apr 28
Alien wins
