What?
Alien
Psycho
Tied at 10!
I feel like if I'm watching a World Cup match
Psycho leading
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm thinking that for the sci-fi tournament, I'll make a questionnaire for the knockout stages so we can get some discussion going. The thread gets plenty of votes but not everyone participates in the discussion.
Voted for Psycho. Alien was good, but for best horror film, I think it's gotta be Psycho over Alien.
How are those films mentioned above not sci-fi But we already nominated them for this tournament, so I'd just like to see new titles be nominated, including Alien (Aliens is fine).
Maybe we could put it to a vote, let everyone decide?
I'm kinda torn myself. I would love to see other films nominated, but at the same time I can't imagine a sci-fi tournament without stuff like The Thing, The Fly etc.,
F it, imma do it
My opinions on the subject of genre seem unpopular and maybe out of date, but if you're planning on going forward with a "Sci-Fi" contest, perhaps a thread for defining (as described) the genre might be a good way of encouraging a little discussion? Also might help define the genre, at least as folks here see it.
FWIW, Alien, The Fly and Cloverfield seem to be (IMHO) clearly "Sci-Fi". Science Fiction is just that, anything involving technology or circumstances beyond our current science/technological status qualifies. That is primarily why I consider "Alien" to be "Sci-Fi" and not "Horror". It is set in the future, with advanced technology and alien lifeforms that are also "Horrible". Splitting hairs? Maybe, but like I said I tend to be a little more "Old School".
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
just a little
Check it out, this is my reasoning: when films like Alien, The Thing, The Fly were entered into the Horror tournament, they were judged on their strength as a horror film first. If they're nominated for this next tournament, they'll be judged as a sci-fi. If it's entered and performs poorly in the polls/gets eliminated early, we'll know it's lacking in that particular genre, in which case hypothetically superior films move on.
Like I said though, it looks like we're divided on this subject and I'd really love to get everyone's input!
I'm so looking forward to the sci-fi tournament lol.
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
Sure, we can have that discussion in that very same thread. Give me a few minutes, I'll set it up.
Glad you agree, Jean.
*edit*
Merlin, my bad! When you said you wanted to have a discussion on the definition, I though you were referring to sci-fi, not horror. I was going to attach that conversation at the tailend of the poll I was about to make, then I realized you were probably talking about something else completely (Sorry, I'm a slightly indisposed at the moment ).
We can start a new thread for that. Should make for some very interesting discussion.
As much as I love Alien I almost didn't vote for it here because of the "but it is sci-fi" sentiment. Then I thought about why Alien is a horror and changed my mind. I think part of the reason people don't think of it as horror is because the sequel Aliens definitely moved from horror into the action genre. It is also because it is not your normal horror but a psycho-sexual horror that takes more reflection to recognize.
First it helps to know that much of what is in Alien is based on H.R. Giger's art. I assume because this is a Stephen King forum that many of you have seen his work. It can be very sexual and very disturbing at the same time. The alien itself was based on one of Giger's drawings in which the monster literally had a penis for a head. Why I point this out is because the horror is only classic boogie man on the surface. The real horror is the metaphor of sexual assault. The producers are trying to draw on people's sexual fears, specifically oral rape (the face-hugger) and the subconscious fear man has of how he would hold up if he was the one that had to be pregnant and suffer through labor especially a pregnancy resulting from a rape (chestbuster scene.). Hell, most of the characters die because the alien uses its phallic-symbol of a tongue to penetrate them, normally in the face. I am not just pulling this out of thin air either. There have been numerous articles and papers about it and Ridley himself seems to confirm it.
Anyway, this is all crazy stuff that belongs more in the horror genre than in sci-fi, similar to the way that most slasher movies are about sexual power and how the female protagonist must take the masculinity (his stabbing weapon) away from the villian and use it against him.