Alien (1979) vs The Thing (1982) Which is the better horror movie?

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

These are my two favourite horror movies of all time, they are classics of the genre, this cant be denied and both are still amazing to this day, with many iconic scene's, great performances, and for the most part, effects that still stand up today. I change my mind often on which one I prefer out of the two and can never definitively decide, so I was wondering what the people on here thought, which of these 2 amazing sci-fi horror movies do you guys and gals on here think is the better movie?

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

I voted Alien.
I like The Thing but Alien is better overall ( characters, set design and of course Giger's creature ).

 

[Thedudehimself]

The problem here is: I don t see ALIEN as an horror movie. To me its more like a very suspenseful and gritty thriller. THE THING is more like a horror movie due to it s gore and grotesque special FX.

As AN HORROR FILM I would say THE THING is better. But that doesen t change the fact that ALIEN is by far the superior movie at all.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

Alien is great, but compared to the Thing, it doesn't have enough going on in it, it's a bit rushed near the end. The Thing has plenty of great scenes evenly spread throughout the film, and the character interactions are way better.

edit: The Thing has the major advantage in character interactions, it has all the character tension Alien does, but also has the fact that the characters don't know who to trust in thier own circle, which also leads to some moments of intense hilarity, thinking mainly about the tied to the chairs petri dish test.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Alien is great, but compared to the Thing, it doesn't have enough going on in it, it's a bit rushed near the end. The Thing has plenty of great scenes evenly spread throughout the film, and the character interactions are way better.

edit: The Thing has the major advantage in character interactions, it has all the character tension Alien does, but also has the fact that the characters don't know who to trust in thier own circle, which also leads to some moments of intense hilarity, thinking mainly about the tied to the chairs petri dish test.

I can definately agree with the bolded, The Thing creates a bit more tension in this way in that anyone could be the Alien, were as in Alien we know who the main threat is. Ash is a threat also but we only realise this in his malfunction scene, and he is dealt with pretty quickly.

I think both do a superb job in creating terror and suspence were the characters are in an isolated environment, I think the last 10 mins of Alien is slightly better though as Ripley has to deal with the threat on her own, she has no help, were as at the end of The Thing, there are 3 characters in total dealing with the threat.

Its why its so hard to decide between the two, they do things better than one another yet seem to tackle similar issues.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

I prefer the "the thing".
The scene with all the fellows tied down and one spazing out was "omg omg omg" the first time you see it. Alien just seemed kinda boring to me.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

^I would say that was the most tension filled scene of possibly both movies, although there were some amazingly tense scene's toward the end of Alien as well, but the fact that in The Thing it could have been any of them or even more than one of them ramps up the tension ten-fold, great scene.

 

[DorkyFresh]

I say the Thing for multiple reasons the main. 2 being that it had a great plot that involved distrust amongst each other (don't think Alien had that aside from the android) and it's still a very entertaining movie to watch. The Thing has great, memorable moments scattered evenly throughout the movie where as Alien had a few great moments and a lot of it was at the beginning.

 

[redhawk23]

Wha... this is like asking me to choose between one of my children! ...if I had children.

As far as horror films go though? I'm going to have to go with The Thing, just because it manages to break from the convention of "never show the monster until you have to" or "what they imagine is always scarier". The film is not afraid to bring the goods up front and it definitely lives up to anything I could possibly imagine. I mean a head growing spider legs, eye stalks and a 5 foot long whip tongue? Or that amorphous blob of a dog monster? That crap is insane!

Also as others have said the character interactions in The Thing are great with a perfectly paranoid atmosphere. And the ending is tops.

 

[Sentinel X]

I give it to The Thing but hardly. They're both really neck and neck as the two best monster movies of all time.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

They both truly are incredible, IMO, but i'll say The Thing (1982).

 

[Laderlappen]

Alien is one of my fav movies of all time, and The Thing is not that good but still atleast a 9.

 

[DACrowe]

Alien by a country mile.

The Thing is a great genre horror film, but as entertaining and clever as it was, it did not redfine its genre like Alien did or have such a visceral, jaw dropping aesthetic that can stay with you for years.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Alien by far. I still like the Thing, but with Alien the monster-stalking plot is done more effectively.

 

[Ultra Lantern]

My vote is for Alien.

 

[Wolf Boy]

The Thing is overrated imo. It's enjoyable, but i can't say i loved it.

Alien was perfect. Dark, eerie, isolated, you felt every silent hallway and every feeling of danger. I see Alien as a horror just as much as any other scary movie, it's just more elegant in it's approach to how the horror is depicted.

 

[Lasirius]

Voted for The Thing. I do need to see Alien 'cause it's been some time since last time I saw it, so The Thing is fresher on my mind.

 

[mongoose-mania]

I voted for Alien. It always keeps me in suspense whenever I see it.
I wasn't too crazy about The Thing, but I did love the fact - as others stated - that you had no idea who or what the actual threat was. That aspect of it was incredible.

 

[CapedCrusader14]

Alien. No contest IMO.

 

[SuperSoldier985]

When it comes to horror, suspense, and paranoia, I think The Thing edges it out but only by a hair IMO.

 

[Soapy]

Alien is definitely the better film, but I think The Thing is scarier. But the OP didn't ask which movie was better in a general sense, he specifically asked which is the best horror movie. So I guess The Thing?

 

[xwolverine2]

the thing is not really horror.... its about paranoia, more thriller-like

alien is scifi-horror

 

[Laderlappen]

Alien is definitely the better film, but I think The Thing is scarier. But the OP didn't ask which movie was better in a general sense, he specifically asked which is the best horror movie. So I guess The Thing?

I disagree that better horror movie means more scarier. Logically it means what it actually says.

 

[Punisher Rising]

Both are great, but I like The Thing better. I prefer Aliens to both of them, though.

 

[DorkyFresh]

the thing is not really horror.... its about paranoia, more thriller-like

alien is scifi-horror

"horror: an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting"

I'd say both of these movies comfortable fit that description.