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

[redhawk23]

The paranoia makes up roughly 55% of the Thing. The rest is some of the most awesome and grotesque special effects ever constructed. How is it now horror?


Also, I just got done drawing basically the same idea but with a chestburster.

 

[Mr.Webs]

Maybe it's because I saw it when I was younger, but The Thing is one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. I remember the infamous dog scene...we had a German Shepard at the time, and I literally kept away from her the whole night in pure terror.

I love Alien, but The Thing holds a special place in my heart.

 

[The Dark Defender]

The Thing. I find it superior in atmosphere/suspense, human characters and creature effects.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Wow, the 2 movies are completely neck and neck, I have to be honest, I didnt think The Thing would get as many votes as it has, but people's arguments for voting for what they did have been pretty damn compelling, so I am still no closer to deciding which one I prefer, they are both amazing though.

 

[The Morningstar]

I honestly can't decide between the two. For me, they are the best horror movies ever. Not just sci fi horror, but horror in general.

The Thing has the whole "who can i trust" thing going for it. Not only for the characters in the movie but for the audience.

Alien's entire atmosphere is creepy. And the undertone of male rape is pretty ****ed up and unsettling.

 

[Secret Fawful]

The Thing is my favorite horror movie of all time. Alien is a movie I used to dislike but have only recently garnered a larger appreciation for so..yeah The Thing wins no contest with me.

 

[ripse]

The Thing, Love Story & Very Entertain...Scary too

 

[HopeOfTheFuture]

The Thing. I like the Aliens series too, but if you compare Alien to the Thing, I'd say the Thing. If it was more like The Thing vs Aliens, then my choice would have been harder. I prefer Aliens over Alien.

 

[ttotheusher]

The Thing is basically my favourite movie of all time, so of course I went for it. I do like Alien as an intense thriller/horror, but if I'm honest, I kinda prefered Aliens a little bit more.

 

[HisMagicTrick]

I've never seen The Thing and I didn't like Alien, so I just went with not a fan of either.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

I've never seen The Thing and I didn't like Alien, so I just went with not a fan of either.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

The Thing. I like the Aliens series too, but if you compare Alien to the Thing, I'd say the Thing. If it was more like The Thing vs Aliens, then my choice would have been harder. I prefer Aliens over Alien.

I dont think you can rarely compare either The Thing or Alien to Aliens, the first two are horror movies, Aliens is an action movie. Personally speaking Aliens is my number movie of all time, but when comparing I think The Thing and Alien share a lot more in common.

 

[Asr]

I really like both movies, hard to say which is better. I see them as being sort of similar from a film point of view - lots of suspense, slow pacing, some long (long as in time) & still camera shots, some very good scenes with unnerving silence, and a great creepy horror vibe.

I'd say The Thing has maybe a stronger emotional/mental impact while Alien is more cold/detached, though that might just be the space-based setting. The arctic environment in The Thing added a lot more to that movie than LV426 and the Nostromo added to Alien.

And as effective as The Thing's musical score was, IMO Alien's is better - I think I'd call it my favorite score from Jerry Goldsmith in fact.

Toss up for me either way, they're both awesome! But I voted for Alien just because I tend to prefer sci-fi more than horror, and Alien has more sci-fi than The Thing.

 

[bullets]

I saw Aliens before the first one and that impacted my judgment. I found The Thing to be scarier. Both are great films

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I really like both movies, hard to say which is better. I see them as being sort of similar from a film point of view - lots of suspense, slow pacing, some long (long as in time) & still camera shots, some very good scenes with unnerving silence, and a great creepy horror vibe.
I'd say The Thing has maybe a stronger emotional/mental impact while Alien is more cold/detached, though that might just be the space-based setting. The arctic environment in The Thing added a lot more to that movie than LV426 and the Nostromo added to Alien.

And as effective as The Thing's musical score was, IMO Alien's is better - I think I'd call it my favorite score from Jerry Goldsmith in fact.

Toss up for me either way, they're both awesome! But I voted for Alien just because I tend to prefer sci-fi more than horror, and Alien has more sci-fi than The Thing.

Yeah its why I compare them a lot, I dont think you can really compare Alien to Aliens which is why I often compare it to The Thing instead as they have a lot more similarities.

I saw Aliens before the first one and that impacted my judgment. I found The Thing to be scarier. Both are great films

Same here, but I have gone from finding Alien really boring to really appreciating over the years, I still prefer Aliens, but I do love Alien now a lot more than I used too.