22 Years Ago, Two Iconic Sci-Fi Monsters Finally Fought In A “Spectacularly Stupid” Crossover That Defied Critics & Dominated the Box Office
Although the Alien and Predator franchises finally had a long-awaited crossover in 2004, the resulting sci-fi horror mashup was only a success at the box office. If there’s one term guaranteed to send a chill down the spine of even the most forgiving ’00s horror fan, it is “action horror.” While fond memories of Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy movies might have convinced some fairweather fans that this sub genre wasn’t so bad, those of us who were around for the heyday of action horror know the truth.
While some of these titles are now viewed as guilty pleasures, the critical failures of Thirteen Ghosts, Ghosts of Mars, the Underworld series, the Resident Evil movies, Doom, and House of the Dead proved that action and horror made loud, un-scary bedfellows during the peak of the sub genre’s popularity in the early ’00s. It was around this time that, long before Prey redeemed the entire Predator series in 2022, the Alien and Predator franchises met at a shared low point in their history. The result was perhaps the single most infamous action horror movie, 2004’s AVP: Alien vs. Predator.
AVP: Alien vs. Predator Premiered On August 13, 2004
While Tim Brayton of Alternate Ending correctly notes in their retrospective review that AVP: Alien vs. Predator was always going to be “Spectacularly stupid” on account of its inherently silly premise, the movie’s unique failures can still be blamed on the action horror boom specifically. The movie’s incoherently fast cutting, its lengthy setup, its excessive lineup of supporting characters, and its sanitized PG-13 rating were all an attempt to turn two gory, R-rated horror franchises into a more family-friendly, sci-fi action blockbuster crossover.
The result was a total critical catastrophe, with reviewers calling AVP: Alien vs. Predator overlong, sluggish, and devoid of the scares, gore, and thrills of both original franchises. While M. Night Shyamalan’s alien invasion horror Signs managed to get away with a PG-13 rating only two years earlier, that movie benefitted from the audience goodwill of Shyamalan’s then-recent hits The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Crucially, Signs also wasn’t part of a franchise known for its memorable gore.
In contrast, from the discovery of the Predator’s skinned victims in the jungle during the original 1987 movie to the chestburster’s shocking introduction in 1979’s Alien, both the Alien and Predator franchises were known for their infamously uncompromising graphic violence. Stripping the two series of this vital element left Event Horizon director Paul W.S. Anderson with little to do beyond building atmosphere in a slow, talky story that was heavy on lore, but eventually went nowhere.
The Alien and Predator Franchises Still Don’t Have A Satisfying Movie Crossover 22 Years Later
AVP: Alien vs. Predator might have been a complete critical dud, but the showdown was a hit at the box office and earned over $177 million on a budget of around $70 million. Thus, 2007’s sequel Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem was an inevitability, and the arrival of the Saw and Hostel franchises in the intervening years meant that the years of horror movies emulating PG-13 hits like 1999’s The Sixth Sense were well and truly over.
Sadly for fans of both franchises, Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem was a dour, mean-spirited misfire whose plentiful gratuitous gore only served to prove that the original movie was missing much more than just nasty onscreen violence. Since Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem was as un-scary as its predecessor, despite all its brutality, there still has not been a worthwhile Alien and Predator franchise crossover some 22 years after AVP: Alien vs. Predator‘s release.
