There have been multiple battles between aliens: Godzilla vs. King Kong, Alien vs. Predator, to name a few. The biggest battle was at the box office between the most unlikely of combatants, an alien that crashed in Antartica and creates doppelgangers to survive and a short fat blob with long fingers, just wanting to go home. A fight to the death then: The Thing vs. E.T.
We all know who was the victor here, the p.g. goodness of E.T. slaughtered the gorefest that was The Thing. Does that make it the better film? Of course not, box office means nothing when films are advertised as the US box office hit, that means nothing to me; Bringing Down The House was a No.1 hit, shit, more like. To me, The Thing is a much better film, the emotions of E.T. that took over the world did not strike a chord with me. I found it downright dull and almost demeaning. That might anger some people who love it because it doesn't look down on children but to me it did. I grew up on the vhs diet and i loved adult drama. I know The Thing is far more grotesque of an adult drama but it does have it in essence with its paranoia. The direction from Carpenter is brilliant, his casting is amazing with the golden touch from Kurt Russell and an unsettling score from Ennio Morricone.