Alien Vs Preditor: the Frankenstien Meets the wolfman Curse

Cafe Society
1

I had just finished watching the old Universal Flick Frankenstien Meets the Wolfman and by pure chance when I switched back to TV there was a commercial for Alien Vs Preditor and it suddenly dawned on me. I may not be so keen to watch this new flick afterwards. The more I think about it the more I see a pattern which may not bode well.

I will temper this view with the knowledge that the directors and writers may have had the smarts and imagination to avoid the problems I will bring up but odds may be I will be correct. Also I will admit to being a fan of both franchizes and for a while the thought of a battle between the both creatures seemed cool.

Now for the big “However”:

The biggest draw is also the biggest draw back in this film. Like the movie goers of yesteryear the idea of a major battle between two Horror movie stars seemed like a good idea except we have two non speaking creatures. Think about it. These non human characters don’t speak a single line of dialogue.

Also these two alien species give us no one to really relate to. Sure we can root for one side or the other but as aliens and monsters we can not really relate to them on that truly emotional level as we do with say other human beings.

That means unless the producers are willing to have a movie without words and characters that the audience can not identify with the script writers will have to resort to the dreaded expositionary characters. These cyphers will be set up to deliver dialogue to fill in non explosion screaming squealing scenes. They will be set up as potential victims we are supposed to feel for.

Fine and dandy except these are not the people most movie goers will come out to see. Instead, My guess is, try as the makers will to make us like these characters they will be annoying and eat up most of the films running time. After all, we have to get to know them, and watch their little subplots and watch them drop one by one until the actual fight we want to see breaks out. Plus it is cheaper than all the effects required for a full 2 hr drag out fight. No, better to have a few small ones involving these characters and maybe a small pre fight then end with a twenty minute blowout.

These folks will be like the annoying scientists, soldiers, lovers, goofy comedic relief and kids in the Godzilla films. These are the same characters who sit around talking large clunky exposition and then sit on the sides like useless tools when the carnage breaks out.

Then comes the final problem. Like the battle between Wolfman and Frankenstien’s monster, there can be no clear winner. Both creatures have their fan base and no one would want to offend either plus there are the sequels to look forward to so you can’t have one kill the other(s).
We may have both groups killed by an explosion (Dam blowing up) set up by the feeble characters, or something to forcebly seperate them in the end.
Either way there will be no clear victor between the two.

The more I think of it the more I’ll wait for it to come on DVD. I could, of course, be completely wrong.

2

The problem with your theory is that King Kong vs. Godzilla was a fuckin’ awesome flick.

3

I wonder if they’re going to have subtitles for the Predators.

In any case, it has be better than that steaming pile Van Helsing.

4

That would certainly be in keeping with the comics. However, I think the story could be told just fine entirely from the human perspective.

5

I vote for FMTWM as the third best of the Universal Frankenstein films (after the original & BRIDE, the fourth best is Abbott & Costello).

6

Another problem with your theory is that Frankenstein and the Wolfman come from two completely different storylines, whereas there’s a well-established link between the Aliens and the Predators – the Aliens, as I understand it, were bred by the Predators to be a challenging species to hunt.

And injecting characters into the story to give it a human perspective is a very easy thing to do, I’d be surprised if the miss that trick – though what I know of the director is not encouraging.

7

kingpengvin, you seem to be under the impression that there won’t be any humans in the cast and that the cast will just be aliens and predators, but there is a cast of humans in the movie (including Lance Henriksen reprising his role from Alien 3).

As far as not being able to have a clear winner because there are fans of both franchises, it’s not as if the entirety of both species is involved here. It’s just a few predators against a bunch of (but certainly not all) aliens.

8

It’s a matter of money.

Dracula and Frankenstein starred in their own movies, so long as the profits made sense to keep them separate.

When the profit margin dropped low enough, it began to make sense to plug them in a movie together.

The Aliens franchise is largely played out; idiot corporate decisionmaking and uninspired writing and direction has pretty much put paid to it. I would have thought the Predator franchise could have run longer, but apparently the powers that be have decided it’s too expensive, too.

Now, we have them matched off against each other. Will uninspired writing and mediocre direction result in further dreck? Or will the clash of the titans perhaps rekindle something in both franchises?

Only time can tell.

9

You should do stand-up.

10

Oh quite the contrary, I know there will be humans. What I lament is that this is likely to be a group of dull uninspiring folk that we will have to watch eat up minutes while we wait for the fight we paid for.

True, but that doesn’t mean we’ll have a clear winner. You see they can’t give bragging rights to either side without pissing off the other. Best to play it safe and have a long drawn out fight with no clear winner (Just like FMW).

Just like the old film, it will be those pesky humans that will kill off the lot because we can’t end a film with the world about to be over run. Well we could but that would require imagination and guts on the part of the producers. What are the odds? Not to worry though as the music rises I’m sure we’ll have a set up for a sequel.