Predalien and Neomorph, closest to Big Chap?

[Berend]

I've always had this little theory about the Predalien seen in Alien vs predator: R and now more recently the Neomorph from the latest Covenant.

and I wonder if there are people who have maybe thought something similar.


You see, the Big Chap from the original 1979 Alien really was a different beast altogheter, compared to later incarnations of the now famously called: xenomorphs

The thing was ( to quote Parker ) well it was big, it was huge. Like a man. It was obviously no human, but I wouldn't have described it a simple animal out on the hunt either. The way it seemed to stalk its prey, studying it up close for a while with this strange childlike curiousity made it come of more like a serial killer.
If my view on the beast wasn't so tainted by future sequels I'd say the Alien is a creature who enjoys the killing. The way it revelled in Lambert anguish, the way it toyed with Ripley in the shuttle.
It wasn't just a creature bent on survival instinct, it actively sought out its prey and terrorized them for a while before doing god knows what to them ( Brett, Dallas, Lambert )

Now that was just a small love letter to the original Alien. What I was trying to get across is: does anybody think The Predalien and the Neomorph have been the closest we got so far in recreating that original terror from space?

Not so much in design, but the way they moved and behaved towards their victims?
The Predalien was a HUGE m**f**er, always standing on two legs, and wasn't a typical 'rush in with blind rage to kill' Xenomorph ( unlike its brethren and ofspring ) it was calculating and intimidating and one you couldn't easily bring down with a couple of bullets.

The Neomorph, while a lot more animalistic likewise approached things it didn't understand at first, and studied them with this off-world intelligence.
Imagine if we had seen the Xenomorph approach the neck-bite girl the same way, or David.
It would have been somewhat glorious.

Instead it seemed to go straight for the kill the moment something started moving.

[Scorpio]

Interesting theory.  Big chap isn't 'kill or capture on sight', it toys with its victims first, yes.  The Neomorph is sometimes mildly curious but mostly kill on sight.  The Predalien is impregnate or kill, I didn't get the same sense of big chap from the predalien.

[NeoXenoPred]

Yeah man, Big Chap is more of a Serial Killer or an Intelligent species yet can't speak a word. The Xenomorphs from Aliens also intelligent, but in  their own way. They are more animalistic and their personality aren't described more than just kill or be killed, although it was hinted that they are more intelligent than what they seem, like to cut out the powers, but i believe that Big Chap is more personalized and creepy. The way it killed Parker is so disturbing, like it enjoyed all of Parker's pain.

The Predalien's more like a Queen than Big Chap to me. They both want to breed and walked on two legs. It was intimidating and smart, still disturbing when it impregnated the pregnant womans. Still, its tendency although like a Queen still resembles Big Chap, like its sadistic tendency and very stealthy.

The Neomorph also possess some intelligent traits, like it inspected Rosenthal first and when it encounters David it just stood, acknowledging his presence.

Still, the Neomorph combined the traits from A:R and Aliens, while the Predalien is more Antartica Queen for me.

[SM]

Not sure I'd say the Neomorph did much studying.  Within seconds of being born it went Karine, then it went Farris, then it went Dani, then it went Walter, then it went Dani again, then it went Ankor before Rosey killed it.

The second one killed Rosey as its first act upon accessing the cathedral, pausing for a handful of seconds.

I found the PredAlien (may its name be forever cursed) too comical to take seriously.

[windebieste]

Don't worry about the Xenos in 'ALIENS' being intelligent.  They most certainly are.  The SE demonstrates this capacity more clearly. 

The sentry guns prove to be an impassable obstacle for them and the guns provide the opportunity for the xenos to demonstrate their problem solving ability.  They cease the assault and start looking for other ways to access where the survivors are holed up.  They figure out using the roof space above the suspended ceiling is an ideal alternate route.

For this reason, the sentry gun scene is important.  Otherwise, without the sentry gun scene, the xenos just figure out the access without any real motivation - no thought process involved.  The sentry guns provide a rationale for them to be considered intelligent.

Some people consider the sentry gun scene to be superfluous and unnecessary.  That's just not the case.  The scene demonstrates the xenos ability to engage in problem solving situations - and overcome them. 

The result is the final assault in Ops.  Now that's intelligence at work.

-Windebieste.

[Le Celticant]

The closest I can think of big chap is the dog-born Alien in Alien³.
The Predalien is mostly a joke, serves as a queen but is never either fully one.

What makes a difference between Big Chap and the one in Aliens is the Queen and Hive organization structure.
Queen may have some kind of brain directive not bothering sacrificing drones for the bigger picture.

Also, pulse rifles...

[Scorpio]

The shower scene in Alien Covenant is a bit like big chap's behaviour as well.  The weird thing it was doing with its tail..  There is a deleted scene in Alien like this.

[ChrisPachi]

There is a deleted scene in Alien like this.

Not deleted at all - the tail moves in between Lambert's legs and curls up to her buttocks just before she cries out in pain. What it was doing with it's tail is pretty unambiguous IMO. The Alien doesn't use it's tail in the A:C shower scene, but you could assume that it was intending to before Upworth spotted it.

[SM]

What it was doing with it's tail is pretty unambiguous IMO

Stabbing in the back.

[Corporal Hicks]

It's original placement for those curious.

[Highland]

Did Windebieste just say something nice about Aliens...? 

I've said before that's how you make the Alien scary again or just movie monsters scary in general. I can't remember which thread I put it in, but having the Alien just act like a hungry Lion isn't scary at all. If you make it seem inquisitive though, or make it do something slowly it becomes more disturbing, more like you really wouldn't want to be in that situation and you'd rather just die quickly.

Some people laugh at the Alien on all fours bit that was cut from Alien, but I seriously think it's a bit freaky. Like WTF is it doing? Why's it doing that? SHIT! That's what I want to be watching. Not just a foamed mouth Xeno jumping around like Spiderman. 

[Scorpio]

The crabwalk scene looks awful.  I do like the slow unraveling of the tail, though.  And seeing it slowly rise up next to Lambert.

[Corporal Hicks]

I've said before that's how you make the Alien scary again or just movie monsters scary in general. I can't remember which thread I put it in, but having the Alien just act like a hungry Lion isn't scary at all. If you make it seem inquisitive though, or make it do something slowly it becomes more disturbing, more like you really wouldn't want to be in that situation and you'd rather just die quickly.

I do think it'd be nice to see a slower Alien, something that takes its time like Big Chap and some moments with Stompy. I think that has the potential to be really creepy.

[Highland]

The crabwalk scene looks awful.  I do like the slow unraveling of the tail, though.  And seeing it slowly rise up next to Lambert.

I agree it does look awful, but it's still unnatural, with a bit lighting and some different angles you could turn that into something nightmarish.

I've said before that's how you make the Alien scary again or just movie monsters scary in general. I can't remember which thread I put it in, but having the Alien just act like a hungry Lion isn't scary at all. If you make it seem inquisitive though, or make it do something slowly it becomes more disturbing, more like you really wouldn't want to be in that situation and you'd rather just die quickly.

I do think it'd be nice to see a slower Alien, something that takes its time like Big Chap and some moments with Stompy. I think that has the potential to be really creepy.

The best scene in the entire Covenant is the hanger stand up bit. Just needs to be more of that.

[SM]

The hanger stand up bit was also partially obscured.