Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to the Alien and Predator Films

by David A. McIntee

Book Overview

The end of the 1970s was a turning point for science fiction and horror films. A new film would blend these genres together into a cinematic experience that would cross boundries, and which would... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1903889944
• ISBN13: 9781903889947
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: TELOS
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A serious book on the franchise that never ends

Welcome to your one-stop shopping center for all things ALIEN and PREDATOR. As McIntee points out, the ALIEN series was as much a horror series as it was a science fiction one, and both the ALIEN and PREDATOR series blended several genres, including horror. While "Beautiful Monsters" may very well seem, a mere cash-grab to take advantage of the, then, upcoming ALIEN vs. PREDATOR movie, it is instead, a condensed, detailed, and entertaining compendium of tech details, including trivia, bios, and much, much more. "Beautiful Monsters" also puts the movies into perspective by telling and showing us how continuity in both series was constantly compromised, and how both series evolved. McIntee takes apart, in detail, each franchise and movie, with at times fascinating details on how each movie's scripts evolved; and even what the movies that were never made would have been like. Each chapter, one for each movie, ends with a review, pointing out both the good and bad. Wouldn't it be fascinating to read a novelization of the movies that were never made, but cannibalized for their various parts for the movies? "Beautiful Monsters" has a special section that lists all the comics and novelizations, through 2003, giving most a thumbnail review, some of which I disagree with him on. (Alan Dean Foster's were workmanlike at best, and I thought A. C. Crispen's the best, with Paul Monette's "Predator" possibly the worst that I have ever read). I also enjoyed all of the comic novelizations, and had a higher opinion of the ALIEN vs. PREDATOR movie than he did. Still, McIntee does an admirable job of covering all the books, comics, games, and most of the legit merch. Some of the details in "Beautiful Monsters" are by virtue of publishing time lags, obsolete. And since the books publications, some actors have died, others have gone to better things, there has been a second ALIEN vs. PREDATOR movie, and there have been several new original novels in both the Predator and Alien series. He makes a few mistakes along the way, though. For example, Robert Sheckley is technically not a well known writer of the seventies, but moreso of the fifties, and is best known for "The Seventh Victim" (pub: 1953, filmed: 1965, novelized: 1966, sequeled: 1987, 1988), and the novel "Immortality, Inc." (a.k.a.: FREEJACK, pub: 1958, filmed: 1969, 1992) and not for the robot novel "Roderick", which was written by the late John Sladek. It's also perplexing that he reviews the novels first, as most of the novels are derived from the comics, so you may not know what McIntee is talking about until you read the comics section that comes later in the book. And, I seriously disagree with him that the first Alien movie wasn't sf, and that sf has to have some high minded purpose. Yeah, some could quibble with a few mistakes here and there, but, in the end, nothing is perfect, and nothing comes close to this reference book on the whole Alien and Predator series of films and r

I havent even bought this book, I want to, and will!

This looks like a Freakin' awesome book. I love both of those movie franchises and even AVP. it should be the perfect companion to the unltimate avp fan.

The book I was waiting for.

This is probably the single-most informative book there is on the AvP universe. It dissects each of the movies in extreme detail, talking about its trivia, its goofs, its questionable science, the actual production, even gives short biographies on the actors and top crew members, then it stretches out to delve into the comics and novels! It's all intuitively organized by sections then chapters, and its obligatory index page is all but unused because anything you can ever want to know, you can flip through the book and find within 15 seconds. This is saying a lot, considering it's 266 pages without a single picture. The best way I could describe this book is, it's all the best behind-the-scenes specials, essays, and reviews all condensed into a single source. If you're a fan of any or all of these franchises, this book is indispensable.