Jaws vs. Alien

Two very similar classic horror flicks (Alien was even marketed as Jaws in Space) both with great monsters, music, and actors. But which one does it better?

My vote goes to Jaws, I feel that it simply has better characters overall (the only really developed character in Alien would be Ripley) but both monsters in each movie are brilliant.

The music in Jaws is also just more iconic.

Can not possibly choose...

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Draw.

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My Favorite Films

Alien but both are brilliant.

I think Alien would only win if he gets help or if it stays behind Jaws and claws him up a bunch of times. all Jaws needs to do is chew up Alien.

Jaws, and it's not even remotely close. No disrespect to Alien, but I feel its overrated. To be quite honest, similar to Blade Runner, Alien at times just feels like it's dragging... almost to the point of being boring.

Jaws, on the other hand, is one of the most compelling films ever made... it grips you from the very first scene and NEVER loses your attention for a single moment.

Jaws has better acting than Alien, better dialogue, is better directed by a better director in general, with much more developed, far more interesting characters. The movie is sooooooo damn good, that you don't even care that the shark looks fake.

So again I say.... Jaws and it's not close.

Love them both, but the sci-fi in me says Alien.

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My vote is for Alien.

Both films withhold the monster – or the main monster at least – a lot don't they? Spielberg also uses the sea-level camera and other camera effects very dramatically too. I suppose there's not so much of that in Alien as what's on screen does the job for us. Arguably the Alien and all its forms are more successfully brought to life than the shark, irrespective of one being a real animal and the other a brilliant original concept.

The films' characters and the tensions between them are similar. I think Ian Holm's Ash is an extremely well developed character actually but importantly I don't think any of the Alien characters seem like "characters", so that's pretty good; even John Hurt's Kane with so little screen time. Someone mentioned recently that they didn't think much of the acting in Alien — I'd emplore them to go back to it and look again.

I suppose the musical difference is that Jerry Goldsmith was trying to find some weird sounds to suggest the alien. I believe a conch shell forms the basis of what he came up with and it's so effective, especially in the later killings. Marc Streitenfeld followed that kind of principle in his Prometheus score by using music being played backwards to get a comparably odd effect.

Yeah but what if Big Jaws turned up?

I don't think Jaws could win. If he chews Alien up he dies from the acid so the best case scenario for Jaws is a draw.

Hoping it kills alien first before it starts attacking humans or else it's gonna turn into Alien and Jaws v.s the humans

Time to be a nerd... stop referring to the shark as "Jaws". His name was Bruce.

And he's gonna eat y'all's leg.

That's very true, I should of thought of this

Both are great but I give the slight edge to Alien. I also think of Jaws as more of a thriller but I know that's debatable.

I find the horror genre very difficult to define. I've been thinking about a top-50 (or so) horror list and one of the most difficult things seems to be deciding whether some films belong there or not. Also for me the issue isn't just the usual horror vs thriller debate but there are some films that I'm tempted to call supernatural dramas (like Let the Right One In) instead of horror. Maybe I'll just check IMDb and if it's tagged as horror there I'll include.

I did a horror list and had the same issue. I'd say skip IMDb classification and use your own.

Jaws was great...but Alien was greater...now...if Dick Drefuss was teamed up with Harry Dean and Yaphet...forget about it...but alas,..it was not to be (J. Peterman)

I disagree with you, but I love your perspective, and I agree with you, at the same time, which is driving me nuts because..well..I disagree with you.

Jaws.

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