The Thing vs. They Live
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Category: Topics not related to music
Forum Name: General Polls
Forum Description: Create polls on topics not related to music
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=123367
Printed Date: April 28 2024 at 20:47
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Topic: The Thing vs. They Live
Posted By: Shadowyzard
Subject: The Thing vs. They Live
Date Posted: July 01 2020 at 18:40
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Alright, after the 70s horror and 90s comedy polls that I created, let me finalize my 20th century movies poll trilogy with an 80s sci-fi one, including 2 movies by the same director. Again, you can choose your favourite or one of the other options. The thing is, I don't remember The Thing in full details, but I recall that I enjoyed it moderately while watching, when I was quite young. Whereas, They Live blew my mind with all its anti-consumerism and anti-system themes that are —more than subtly, and in fact quite openly, but still mesmerizingly— placed into the plot. I find this movie very valuable, and guess that the only hindrance that prevents it from shaking the system is the absence of a tight pace because of some unnecessarily long and meaningless scenes (for example a fighting scene comes to my mind, which was dreary and not convincing). Otherwise its overall dramatic effect would have been —and would still be— revolutionary, I daresay. It is still one of the prominent choices of mine concerning the anti-system movies. |
Replies:
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: July 01 2020 at 18:59
| I don't know "they live." Was that a horror movie from 1988? Weird that I missed that one. |
Posted By: Shadowyzard
Date Posted: July 01 2020 at 19:00
| It has some horror elements, but I'd say it is more of a sci-fi, like The Matrix. |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: July 01 2020 at 20:46
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I sort of remember They Live, schlocky as I recall with Rowdy Roddy Piper, but I've watched The Thing a number of times (I think of it primarily as a horror film with a sci-fi aspect). Have you read Who Goes There? John Carpenter is thought of a a horror film guy mostly. As to your horror poll, I like both choices very much. ------------- Just a fanboy passin' through. |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: July 02 2020 at 02:51
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I prefer the 1951 movie "The Thing from Another World" to "The Thing"; some plots are better to watch in B/W. Both are based on the SF novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell Jr. that was published in 1938 (which I haven't read). I haven't seen "They Live" yet, so I'll abstain from voting. The line between horror and science fiction was very thin in movies of the 30s, 40s and 50s; many veer into both territories.
-------------  BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: dwill123
Date Posted: July 02 2020 at 04:24
I second that.
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BaldFriede wrote:Posted By: Shadowyzard
Date Posted: July 02 2020 at 05:44
I guess I haven't read "Who Goes There". I agree that The Thing has a more dominant horror aspect than sci-fi. Actually, I couldn't think of a similar movie to They Live from the 80s, so I decided to put another movie by John Carpenter, instead. |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: July 02 2020 at 08:37
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I was given as quite a young child an Astounding Horror anthology that included John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Who Goes There, and when I saw the film I hadn't expected the similarities. I love The Thing, but maybe, off the top of my head, Escape From New York. If you haven't yet seen that yet, it's a goody. Escape from LA, its sequel, I didn't enjoy as much other than its LOL surfing a tsunami scene. ------------- Just a fanboy passin' through. |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 02 2020 at 08:54
 ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: Shadowyzard
Date Posted: July 02 2020 at 09:57
Thanks for the recommendations, man. Escape From... movies are among the ones I heard a lot. I might have watched it/them. But, my initial foreign film culture consists of the ones that I watched earlier as dubbed (Turkish) with generally ridiculous Turkish titles that don't give even a hint about the original name and with lots of cut scenes. I even used to think that all the movies are 1 hours and 30 minutes long, until my adolescence because of that; ah, I still treasure that phase of my life. The magic TV times, haha. But the VHS movies that we abundantly rented compensated for the situation, omg some of those movies gave us some serious creeps. After my English improved, I began to watch English movies in their original language, and thus I began to know exactly "what" I was watching. As far as I remember, I haven't watched Escape From... movies during this period, but might have watched it/them on TV, when I was a kid or adolescent. (Yes, I have been watching horror since I was a kid.) |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: July 02 2020 at 10:33
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^ I love so many horror films, and have since I was a kid. The first one I can remember loving was The Omen, and then seeing The Shining, An American Werewolf in London, Videodrome, Rosemary's Baby... A major favourite of mine is The Wicker Man, although some would say it's not horror genre. I don't watch a lot of modern ones, but I did love the Babadook, Under the Skin, and The Witch (and various folk horror ones). Hereditary was excellent but hard for me to take. ------------- Just a fanboy passin' through. |
Posted By: Shadowyzard
Date Posted: July 02 2020 at 10:45
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Horror depends on lots of things, I think; firstly on the person who watches the product. Personally I find cheap "jumpscares" as an element of disturbance. I feel like I get tense out of nothing (or a cheap trick without substance). What I fear most are generally the elements devised by a wicked intelligence that are craftily appended to the movie while you were not expecting, but still seeming plausible. The first TV product that scared me profoundly was this series. It is not labelled as "horror", but it was definitely a work of horror from the early 80s, for a guy born in '81, which is me.   |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: July 02 2020 at 10:47
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I was born in the 70s, and I was an avid V watcher. Helps that I love sci-fi. There's commonly a lot of overlap between horror and fantasy especially (well, lots of horror is fantasy), and horror and sci-fi. I enjoy cinema and TV of the fantastic/ fantastique variety. Folk horror and psychological horror are often my faves. By the way, if you are comfortable enough listening to English (might be challenging), there is a very good podcast called The Evolution of Horror. If it's not for you, someone else might like it: https://www.evolutionofhorror.com/" rel="nofollow - https://www.evolutionofhorror.com/ And some wonderful Mark Gatiss documentaries on horror: A History of Horror and Horror Europa (wonderful to watch, I found). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEMUT_E4VI3E2DLy_BUZ4ZdPV-rh5VTp3" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEMUT_E4VI3E2DLy_BUZ4ZdPV-rh5VTp3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY8M5MmpLTE" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY8M5MmpLTE ------------- Just a fanboy passin' through. |
Posted By: Shadowyzard
Date Posted: July 02 2020 at 11:11
I'll check out the documentaries, but I don't have a habit of listening to any podcast. Thanks.  BTW, did you watch this UK/Canada horror flick? It is a 8/10 movie for me and that rating is high for me regarding the recent horror movies. It is not scary for my standarts, but a very well made film. (The Ritual - 2017) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5638642/" rel="nofollow - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5638642/ |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: July 02 2020 at 11:50
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^ Yep, seen the Ritual, I liked it. ------------- Just a fanboy passin' through. |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: July 04 2020 at 10:18
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ummm hmmmm "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." pfff... all good.. but then there is the greatest quote ever.. ending the greatest movie scene ever put to flim!!!! ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: July 04 2020 at 13:50
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The Thing.....but it's a bit over the top. The old b and w one was incorrect but as a kid it was fun. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Shadowyzard
Date Posted: July 04 2020 at 13:56
Everybody here, but me, is so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they are doing everything to ignore They Live. (Oops, overdosed on Morpheus' pills.) 
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Posted By: micky
Date Posted: July 04 2020 at 14:00
over the top is a great place to be at  .. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 01:45
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The Thing ------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake." Music Is Live Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… < |
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 02:49
 Piper will ALWAYS get my vote! ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: Shadowyzard
Date Posted: July 14 2020 at 05:14
 Happy to see that someone else picked They Live! Thank you Frenetic Zetetic. |