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General Battuta posted:It's an incredible piece of atmosphere but I found it SO stressful I just couldn't keep going. Payndz posted:Same here. After playing it for a few days, I had an honest-to-god, wake-up-yelling nightmare about being chased through dark tunnels, which made me think "okay, maybe I should take a break for a while." It's the most intense game I've ever played. Did you guys play on tourist mode (ie whatever the lowest difficulty is)? That’s how I plan on playing it since from what I’ve heard it gets a bit tedious in places and honestly I’m just in it for the atmosphere.
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Dec 30, 2020 20:48
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I played it on whatever the default difficulty is, which in hindsight may have been a mistake. Also a mistake: playing it in a darkened room at night with headphones on.
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Dec 30, 2020 21:46
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General Battuta posted:It's an incredible piece of atmosphere but I found it SO stressful I just couldn't keep going. Might take some of the fun away but, Watch a speed run. They break the Alien's AI/pathing so bad, it is really cathartic imo. Takes a lot of tension out of the game when you see some of the moving bits behind the scenes. Awesome Game Done Quick had a good one a few years ago.
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Dec 31, 2020 00:40
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Isolation is way too long for what it is. And who you play is extremely eye rolling.
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Dec 31, 2020 04:51
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Groovelord Neato posted:Isolation is way too long for what it is. And who you play is extremely eye rolling. I mean, a lot of the plot is real eye rolling for sure, but it's probably tied for best Alien game with AvP2. the environment design alone is phenom
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Dec 31, 2020 05:42
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Loveshaft posted:Can you elaborate on this? In a Christmas film with a lot of Jesus stuff right outside of the edges, Elizabeth births the precursor to the entity that was worshipped by the Engineers just like John the Baptist was a magic birth as a precursor to Jesus. Also, I speedran Isolation just because the default pathing and tethering of the Alien ended up annoying me so much that I had to manipulate it instead.
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Dec 31, 2020 07:13
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As I understand it, John the Baptist evangelized to the powerful, having a royal patron and such. Much as Shaw's, er, child does to the Engineer 
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Dec 31, 2020 13:02
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Hodgepodge posted:As I understand it, John the Baptist evangelized to the powerful, having a royal patron and such. He was very popular, more so than Jesus was while they were living. Never heard of a royal patron, Herod Antipas had John executed for criticizing his divorce?
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Dec 31, 2020 22:18
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Blood Boils posted:He was very popular, more so than Jesus was while they were living. Never heard of a royal patron, Herod Antipas had John executed for criticizing his divorce? I think it was the hanging out in a kings court that lead to someone caring enough to execute him. The story is probably a paragraph long if I look it up but 
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Dec 31, 2020 22:48
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Hodgepodge posted:As I understand it, John the Baptist evangelized to the powerful, having a royal patron and such. Hodgepodge posted:I think it was the hanging out in a kings court that lead to someone caring enough to execute him. The story is probably a paragraph long if I look it up but Nope, totally wrong. The story, which may or may not be true, is roughly this: John publicly criticised Herod's marriage to Herodias (Herod's brothers widow) which pissed off Herodias. A bit later Herodias's daughter (so Herod's stepdaughter) Salome* danced her famous dance of the 7 veils to entertain Herod and his court on Herod's birthday. Herod was so impressed that he offered her anything she might wish as a reward. Salome rushed off and asked her mother what to ask for and Herodias told her to demand the head of John the Baptist. So, Herod had him killed and put his head on a plate for her. When Herod first heard stories about Jesus his first reaction was to think that it might be John raised from the dead. *She's not named in the New Testament versions of the story.
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Jan 1, 2021 04:18
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Aight so, to roll in 2021, I went through and examined every available Alien ripoff. The goal was to rank them in terms of both quality and Alien-ness. So, it turns out the objectively-best Alien ripoff of all time is DEATH MACHINE (1995). Congratulations, DEATH MACHINE!
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Jan 1, 2021 20:38
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With Brad dourif? Hell yeah I'm in
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Jan 1, 2021 20:47
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Which cut did you watch? (There are 3 afaik: Rated(US) the shortest, Directors Cut (UK), Uncut (German and Japanese) the longest.)
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Jan 1, 2021 21:04
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:Aight so, to roll in 2021, I went through and examined every available Alien ripoff. The goal was to rank them in terms of both quality and Alien-ness. I would like to know more about DEATH MACHINE (1995).
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Jan 1, 2021 21:08
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:Aight so, to roll in 2021, I went through and examined every available Alien ripoff. The goal was to rank them in terms of both quality and Alien-ness. Clearly a biased take from the ultimate killing machine.
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Jan 1, 2021 21:23
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Hodgepodge posted:I would like to know more about DEATH MACHINE (1995). Death Machine has so many alien references it’s pretty cool lmao.
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Jan 1, 2021 21:36
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I bought Death Machine in a Trimark dvd four pack back in the day. 
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Jan 1, 2021 21:46
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EmptyVessel posted:Which cut did you watch? Hodgepodge posted:I would like to know more about DEATH MACHINE (1995). The basic plot is that embattled defense corporation CHAANK has hired genius cyberneticist Brad Dourif to develop its own line of universal soldiers (codenamed HARDMAN). Responding to public outcry over CHAANK's covert activities, the shareholders elect a new liberal CEO, who vows to reform the corporation. Little does she know, Dourif is totally psychotic and, left to his own devices, he has created a prototype DEATH MACHINE (codenamed WARBEAST). It is, unmistakably, a robot xenomorph. Also, meanwhile, terrorist hackers are plotting a late-night attack on CHAANK HQ....
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Jan 1, 2021 22:31
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DEATH MACHINE (1995) was directed by Stephen Norrington, who's directly linked to the Alien franchise as he built the chestburster for ALIENS (1986).
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Jan 1, 2021 22:49
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:From what I understand, the "uncut" cut is the actual director's cut. Yeah, I think that the Uncut version is the director's preferred one, which is confused by the UK cut being called the Director's Cut (presumably contractual shenanigans). Cheers.
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Jan 2, 2021 00:38
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:From what I understand, the "uncut" cut is the actual director's cut. The same director as Blade? Okay I'm in. Also love the Kojima-esque codenames (HARDMAN).
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Jan 2, 2021 01:12
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My spouse won't let me play isolation when they are around because I keep muttering "gently caress gently caress gently caress" under my breath and then occasionally scream. GOTY whenever I am playing it.
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Jan 2, 2021 06:21
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:
quote:Chairman of the Board Scott Ridley quote:Meanwhile, a trio of eco-warriors (Raimi, Weyland, and Yutani) 
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Jan 2, 2021 08:45
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It’s probably the only film I’ve ever seen that does that and I’m for it instead of annoyed haha.
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Jan 2, 2021 18:59
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Putting together a numbered list was pretty straightforward, because it turns out that there are fewer of these Alien ripoffs than you might expect. That’s good, because most suck badly! LEAST UNWATCHABLE ALIEN RIPOFFS: 1979-1999 1. DEATH MACHINE 2. MUTANT aka Forbidden World 3. DEEP RISING 4. INSECT! aka Blue Monkey 5. DNA 6. ALIEN 2: ON EARTH 7. METAMORPHOSIS: THE ALIEN FACTOR 8. INSEMINOID 9. VIRUS 10. LEGION LEAST UNWATCHABLE ALIEN RIPOFFS: 2000-2020 1. UNDERWATER 2. CRAWL OR DIE 3. THE THING 4. APOLLO 18 5. ISOLATION 6. LIFE 7. DEAD IN THE WATER 8. THE LAST DAYS ON MARS 9. INTERPLANETARY 10. SPUTNIK I’ve made a possibly-controversial decision to exclude “Galaxy Of Terror” films, where some intelligence directly manifests peoples’ nightmares. There’s a lot of overlap between those films and Alien (see: Prometheus) but they seem like their own distinct subgenre that branches off into stuff like IT, or even Nightmare On Elm Street. It’s also a bit of a judgement-call, in general, as to whether a film really qualifies. Deepstar Six, for example, has an obvious Alien influence - but it’s also a very conventional disaster movie in which the monster plays a fairly minor role. Same with Europa Report. Does Sunshine count? Does Red Planet count? (I also left out The Thing ‘82 and Predator because they’re just too obvious.)
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Jan 4, 2021 21:58
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The local AMC theater had a showing of Alien last Saturday. Don't worry about the Covid, only me and one other guy were there for the matinee. I noticed that Ash was drinking lots of milk. Is the consensus that it was actually milk or some kind of android nutrient drink? Also, I really noticed just how stereotypically gay his uniform looked. Powder blue and pink with his pants bloused into his sneakers.
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Jan 5, 2021 03:19
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SuperMechagodzilla, did you see Scooby-Doo: Moon Monster Madness? It's mostly a remake of Alien but with Scooby-Doo characters
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Jan 5, 2021 04:06
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We should have a new Alien thread for 2021, and SMG should make it.
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Jan 5, 2021 04:16
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Almost Blue posted:SuperMechagodzilla, did you see Scooby-Doo: Moon Monster Madness? It's mostly a remake of Alien but with Scooby-Doo characters As a fan of The Scooby-Doo Project, that seems worth checking out - but I didn't really look into Alien parodies for the ripoff list(s). A lot of these films veer towards the comedic, but even the jokiest one - Interplanetary - is a pastiche of z-grade Alien ripoffs and not a parody of them. On the other end of the spectrum, Isolation is the least 'fun', and really one of the most disgusting films I've ever encountered. Like, the entire runtime is the grodiest parts of Alien3.
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Jan 5, 2021 07:36
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Loveshaft posted:We should have a new Alien thread for 2021, and SMG should make it. It would send a bold and controversial message that this is a place where we enjoy talking about the Aliens films. It's been a rough few decades but now that there aren't any new ones coming out to worry about, I think people are ready to enjoy talking about movies again.
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Jan 5, 2021 10:38
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:Putting together a numbered list was pretty straightforward, because it turns out that there are fewer of these Alien ripoffs than you might expect. That’s good, because most suck badly! i've only seen about half of these so this should be fun
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Jan 6, 2021 21:55
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DeimosRising posted:i've only seen about half of these so this should be fun I was actually surprised by how obscure some of these are. Nobody's heard of BLUE MONKEY or DNA, but they own. I think that the subgenre has just never been evaluated properly. Like, do an internet search for this stuff and you'll probably get dozens of lists citing Creature and Contamination as peak examples. Not only are those kinda plodding, but Contamination's actually a ripoff of Quatermass 2 (aka Enemy From Space)! It's got almost nothing in common with Alien. I've already gone over DEATH MACHINE, but some explanation for these more-unknown examples: INSECT (1987) is a Canadian tax-shelter production that combines a semi-serious homage to '50s creature features with a distinct Cronenberg vibe that comes from shooting in Toronto and nudging things into psychosexual territory. A rare insect causes an outbreak in a hospital. Of the films listed, this one features the best monster costume. DNA (1996), for those who don't know, is an unofficial Predator sequel in which Mark Dacascos (as a '90s Indiana Jones) battles a feral clone of the monster in the jungles of Borneo. A far better sequel in theme and content than any of the official Predator 2s, the creature is even based on Stan Winston's famously-unused JCVD costume. This movie is 100% canon. LEGION (1998) has a lot going against it - like having zero budget, legit awful spaceship CGI, and an extremely clumsy exposition-dump for an ending. But it also has top-quality cinematography for one of these DTV things, and a genuinely unique and interesting story. The colonial marines(?) send a Suicide Squad made up of traitors and war criminals to do a raid on an enemy facility, but then weird things start happening.... It's a little like Doom (2005), if you flipped the ratio of budget-to-quality. As with DNA above, this veers towards being a Predator ripoff - but Predator was already an Alien ripoff, so this is one by proxy. ISOLATION (2005): Ridley Scott wanted Alien to be The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in space, but this actually comes a lot closer to that goal by being Alien3 in an impoverished dairy farm. As noted before, the subject matter is very squirmy and off-putting, but it's deliberate enough to serve as a sort of distant prequel to Fincher's movie. DEAD IN THE WATER (2018): This one's more of a LIFE ripoff, but that's splitting hairs. DEAD IN THE WATER is exceedingly well made on next to no budget - which is especially impressive because it's a fuckin' SYFY Channel original movie. It's the real deal.
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Jan 7, 2021 20:05
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Can you tell me why it’s called blue monkey AND insect! or is that better left a surprise?
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Jan 8, 2021 01:14
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DeimosRising posted:Can you tell me why it’s called blue monkey AND insect! or is that better left a surprise? To the extent that BLUE MONKEY is known, it's because the title appears to be a totally baffling non-sequitur. (It was later changed to the more-marketable INSECT! because the movie's literally about a killer insect.) However - not really a spoiler - the titular Blue Monkey is an imaginary creature daydreamed by one of the child characters, which implies a psychological link between this childish fantasy and the emergence of this nightmare-monster. The original title underlines this by referring to the Insect as a Blue Monkey. I guess that's a long way of saying that 'Blue Monkey' is the name of the species, in the same way that Red Pandas aren't actually pandas. SuperMechagodzilla fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Jan 8, 2021 |
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Jan 8, 2021 04:02
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Have SYFY originals been getting better? It seems like I've seen several of them recommended
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Jan 8, 2021 05:06
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Speaking of Z-grade Alien rip-offs, does anybody remember the War of the Worlds series from the '80s? It was two seasons. But also two different shows. The way it was explained to me is that it got sued by the Wells/Welles estate so it had to either be completely different/conform to the story we all know. Either way, I'm talking about the season where it wasn't the Martians. The aliens had launched aluminum into the atmosphere to disrupt communications, would start cults, would turn a rich man's child into an immortality serum for him. It was Alien, Alien Nation and the Twilight Zone all on the cheap. Anyway, how can I watch this bad boy?
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Jan 9, 2021 07:54
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VinylonUnderground posted:Speaking of Z-grade Alien rip-offs, does anybody remember the War of the Worlds series from the '80s? It was two seasons. But also two different shows. The way it was explained to me is that it got sued by the Wells/Welles estate so it had to either be completely different/conform to the story we all know. The first season was almost admirable for its commitment to "how much gratuitous gore can we squeeze in on our very low budget?"
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Jan 9, 2021 10:03
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In case anyone was wondering, Breach (aka Anti-Life (with inexplicable Bruce Willis)) is exactly as blandly amateurish as it looks from the trailers - and it's very fashy on top of that. It's exactly like a feature-length version of the crummier "40th Anniversary" Alien fan shorts. Strong avoid!
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Jan 9, 2021 18:18
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I loved the war of the worlds tv show. First season was standard Cold War paranoia, second season did a time skip and took place in a post apocalyptic hellscape. poo poo was awesome.
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Jan 9, 2021 18:45
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gonna watch DNA tonight. will report back
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Jan 10, 2021 03:40
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