Aliens vs. Titanic (2017) and Its Inspirations

Inspiration comes in many forms.  With movies, it might come from books, television, music, or the movies that came before.  Anything could be an inspiration, really.  That’s why so many movies have similar themes and techniques.  The people behind the film take from what they love and expand on it.  They pay homage to it.  They share what they love to a new audience, and maybe that audience will fall in love with it.

Aliens vs. Titanic, also known as Aliens vs. College Girls or Predator World, was one of those movies that took many of its aspects from what came before.  It was released in 2017 and followed a group of survivors trying to escape a planet they crash landed on.  They had to make due in the wilderness with no food while fending off an alien being.  There was sex, drugs, and fighting action to satisfy anyone’s desires.

There were three main movies that Aliens vs. Titanic took from.  Two of them were in the story.  Everything was split into two parts, the beginning and the rest.  The beginning was one of the homages while the rest of the story was the other.  The third way that a movie was referenced was through an obvious line of dialogue.  Subtlety was not a strong suit, and as such, none of the three aspects were being hidden.  They were surface level and easy to spot, had the movie been watched.

The first, and most obvious, of the elements was the Titanic element.  It was right in the title.  Aliens vs. Titanic.  Not knowing anything about the movie, it could be easy to think that it would be about aliens attacking the Titanic during its maiden voyage.  The classic real life story about the unsinkable boat hitting an iceberg and sinking into the Atlantic Ocean, but with the addition of science fiction elements.  That’s not quite the case.  It took that idea, and flipped it entirely into the science fiction realm.

Titan-1C was a space ship taking its maiden voyage.  It was a cruise ship, filled with people who wanted nothing more than to party.  Even the captain was having a good time, bringing women up to the deck to have sex with.  It was a party cruise, in outer space instead of on the ocean.  The iceberg was different too.  There aren’t too many icebergs that can be found in space.  That element was replaced by an asteroid.  The spaceship avoided most of the asteroids, but was hit along the side by one, ripping the ship open.  Only six people escaped on a life pod, crash landing on an unknown planet.

Once the survivors landed on the planet, Aliens vs. Titanic transitioned into the second storyline that it took from another movie.  This time, it was taking elements from The Thing, and these elements would last through the rest of the movie.  The alien creatures that had caused the asteroid to crash into the spaceship began taking over the bodies of the survivors, using them as hosts to eventually conquer the human race.  Nobody knew who was infected with the alien virus.  They lost trust in one another.  It was paranoid horror in a place that nobody knew.

Outside of the story being similar to The Thing, there were some beats that seemed to be taken directly from the John Carpenter film.  There was a moment where three characters argued over who might be infected by the alien.  Two of the characters tried to convince the other that they weren’t the alien.  One of them was.  The way that it was tested was what was stolen right out of The Thing.

In The Thing, the main characters tried to determine who the alien was by testing their blood.  McCready took a hot wire and stuck it into some blood, causing the creature to shoot out in pain.  There was a very similar scene in Aliens vs. Titanic where one of the characters burned a small alien creature, knowing that all of the alien creatures were connected to the one that was taking over the bodies.  When the creature was burned, the person who had been taken over screamed in pain and fled from the area.  It was like the creature in The Thing shooting out in pain, then the person who was being used as a host transforming into the alien creature.

The final element of Aliens vs. Titanic that felt derivative of movies that came before was a line of dialogue.  The line of dialogue was taken directly from another movie, which could easily be a movie in the Sunday “Bad” Movies during a future installment.  That movie was Snakes on a Plane.  It might be easy to figure out what line of dialogue would be used from that movie, and any guesses are likely right.

The surviving characters, who were dying one by one, had to put up with a lot of stuff during their time on the planet.  They had an alien taking over their friends, and a bunch of smaller alien creatures trying to terrorize them by burrowing into their skin.  It was one of the smaller creatures that caused the line to be spoken.  It flung itself at one of the survivor’s faces.  She grabbed it, and before ripping it apart, yelled “I am sick of these monkey fighting worms on this Monday to Friday planet!”  Well, no.  She said the uncensored version of the line from Snakes on a Plane.  It was the line, though.  The writer took a line from another, more famous movie, and used it to try and improve their own.

Movies can find influence in many places.  Whether they use a story, a concept, or even dialogue, the influences can come through the final product.  Audiences sometimes pick up on these influences.  Other times, they’re more subtle, giving the audience a vibe similar to something else without outright being that other thing.  Aliens vs. Titanic was one of those obvious ones where the influences were as clear as day.  That’s okay.  For what it was, there was an entertaining movie to be had.  It might not be the most well put together of the movies that have been featured, but it was fun.  The influences helped that.

Now for some notes, influences by the movie:

• Aliens vs. Titanic was suggested by @erincandy, who also suggested Glitter (week 22), Ghost Storm (week 97), Zombeavers (week 142), Dead Before Dawn 3-D (week 149), Bigfoot vs. Zombies (week 218), Jem and the Holograms (week 238), and Britney Ever After (week 258).
• Snakes on a Plane was mentioned.  That hasn’t been part of the Sunday “Bad” Movies, though the Asylum knock-off Snakes on a Train (week 29) was covered.
• Another versus movie that was covered was Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (week 33).
• Only one actor in Aliens vs. Titanic was in another Sunday “Bad” Movie.  That was Bree Olson, who was in The Human Centipede III (week 180).
• Have you seen Aliens vs. Titanic?  What were your thoughts?  Did I miss any references to other movies?  Let me know in the comments.
• You can also use the comments to let me know about movies that I should be checking out for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  I’m always fishing for movies that I might not know about.  Twitter is another way to find me.
• My snapchat (JurassicGriffin) is sometimes used to share clips from the bad movies that I watch.  If that interests you, add me.
• Here we are.  It’s the end of a post and I’m about to let you in on what the next movie will be.  Coming up pretty soon is Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD.  It was scheduled to coincide with the release of Avengers: Infinity War before the Avengers sequel was pushed up a week.  Now the movie is a week late on the connection.  Oh well.  See you in seven days for another bad movie post.