Ridley Scott: Alien was a B movie idea. A posh horror.

[SiL]

For those at the back, loooong ago movies were frequently shown on a double bill. You'd get the movie you actually wanted to see, the A-movie, with a smaller film that was basically there to hitch a ride, the "B-movie". B-movies were typically low-budget or genre fair -- horror, sci fi, etc. Some B-Movies were actually so popular that they became the reason people saw the double-bill, but this was rare. The A-Movie was almost always a bigger studio production that lots of money went into.

So when they say "A B-Movie with A-Movie treatment", they mean a film that would typically be made as a cheap trashy crowd-pleaser given the treatment of a studio's intended main attraction, which often had things like "a budget" and "actors who can act".

[BishopShouldGo]

Thanks for that. I mean, there's nothing to really agree or disagree on. These are the facts.

[Ingwar]

So everyone is clear on what a b-movie and/ or a rhetorical question is, yes?

The Jaws (1975) is a B idea movie that looks like A movie. While The Thing (1982) is a A idea movie but looks like B movie. I always thought that Carpenter's classic was a B idea movie till I have read The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror by Thomas Ligotti and I changed my mind. Overall, definition of A or B movie category is nowadays very relative.

Thanks for that. I mean, there's nothing to really agree or disagree on. These are the facts.

Generally yes, but sometimes it depends on your perspective. Let's take Transformers as an example. A or B movie?

[SiL]

The Thing is a B-movie concept. It's a gross genre film, which were always relegated to B.

It's not that the phrase is relative these days: it's just not relevant. We don't have A and B movies. Films like Jaws, Star Wars and Alien showed that there's a lot of money and even prestige in genre fair.

Hell, in the current Hollywood environment, your Transformers, Super hero movies, etc are the A movies and star driven genre movies are the lesser attraction. But you can't retroactively apply the current meaning to something said 40 years ago.

[SM]

Wouldn't the acting, writing and effects in The Thing elevate it?

[Ingwar]

Wouldn't the acting, writing and effects in The Thing elevate it?

Absolutely yes. It worked with Alien. On the contrary, imagine Alien made without Giger (no Xenomorph as we know it), without Scott (somebody else but not as good as Ridley) and with less budget. It wouldn't have been such a great movie anymore.

[SiL]

Wouldn't the acting, writing and effects in The Thing elevate it?

It's still a B concept.

[SM]

Concept yes, but execution? Does it stay B because of the violence and gore?

[SiL]

Critics at the time would say yes.

Personally I think it's the best horror movie ever made.

[OmegaZilla]

Do we really have to fit films into A and B and ZR categories tho?

[SiL]

No, we're just exploring a time when it actually meant something.

[Nyarlathotep]

Critics at the time would say yes.

Personally I think it's the best horror movie ever made.

Evan better than Alien?

[cliffhanger]

just remember for a second that if it weren't for the giger stuff, this is how the alien supposed to look like



so yes, B-movie.

oh and there were some alternate endings,
like that the xeno got sexually aroused by ripley's body.
and that the xeno would bite off ripley's head and communicate/call earth and use ripley's voice to do so.

[Nyarlathotep]

That thing looks straight up ridiculous.

[markweatherill]

Nothing new, Scott has stated before that ALIEN is a B movie with A level production values

...mostly. Don't forget Ash's head jump-cut, Ripley's hilariously dubbed line, Lambert's feet...