The Thing (1982)

"The Thing" aka "John Carpenter's The Thing" (1982, John Carpenter, Turman-Foster Company, Universal Pictures) is one of the most defining and masterful pieces from genre great, John Carpenter. I'm a Carpenter fan, but "The Thing" really stands out as one of his finest films. It's also one of my favourite sci-fi films which comfortably straddles the worlds of horror and science fiction.

Based in the Antarctic, a group of American researchers are disrupted by an apparently crazed Norwegian helicopter chasing after and shooting at a dog. The dog is saved, but the Norwegian gentlemen and their chopper are not so lucky. The crew of Americans are shaken, but put the dog along with their own and decide to investigate the Norwegian camp. They send their own 'copter pilot, Macready (Kurt Russell), and camp Doctor, Dr. Copper (Richard Dysart), over to find out what they can but all they find is the burnt remains of the Norwegian camp, some research and a grotesquely misshapen corpse.

Their troubles really begin, however, when they return back to their own base to find that the creature they saved is not in fact a dog and that this Thing is now amongst them....

An intense and well crafted sci-fi mystery with a good cast of three-dimensional characters and some truly disturbing effects (which still stand up today). The plot keeps moving along at a good pace as our team begin to unravel, each suspecting that he is alone amongst imposters. It's a good character study on the human mind's reaction to fight or flight survival. The character banter-turned-bickering really helps hammer home the change in team dynamic, too.

I'll just put my hands up now and admit how much I like Kurt Russell: he is one of my favourite actors. It helps, of course, that he was as handsome as hell in this film, but he really is one talented and very cool guy. Macready loses his shit along with the rest of his camp-mates, but he does it with style and a big hat, and you have to respect that.

"The Thing" remains a disturbing film and, as much as special effects have developed and changed over the years, this film still holds its own and churns the stomach. But it's more than just the effects. "The Thing" creates a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere that draws the viewer in to the camp where the danger isn't just the lurking creature, but the other frightened humans ready to murder each other to survive.

[Image: Turman-Foster Company, Universal Pictures]

Sure, I could have chosen a monster-pic.... But Kurt Russell just seemed like the right choice to me...

 

Ok... Here's a monster pic too for good measure:

Happy?

 

Hani

 



The Thing (2011)

"The Thing" (2011, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., Strike Entertainment) is the prequel to the 1982 original John Carpenter film also called "The Thing". Why they didn't just come up with a different name, I don't know!

As a film it's ok. The special effects are fantastic and they try very hard to make it feel like the early 80s. And it's convincing.

But it lacks the tension and plot of the original. The lead protagonist, Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), jumps almost instantly to the conclusion that the alien they've dug up is copying and becoming people. Despite having only some crude equipment, an odd corpse and 80s science to base this on... And the others don't take that long to believe her. Now, fair enough, their Norwegian buddy has just been eaten by something that they dug out of the ice (dead)! But, I expected more "You're just crazy, lady" before the big agreement bandwagon jump-on.

The film pretty much redoes the original; it begins differently and it ties in to the orginal in some ways, but on the whole it goes through all the motions of the original plot, but with less finesse. The effect thing/alien is very well achieved, and I liked how they explained the two-headed corpse from the original film. And who doesn't appreciate an insect-like killer hand every now and again?

I feel that it must have been an interesting script to work on, like making a film backwards from what we already know from the original and reconstructing the events leading up to it. But, unfortunately, as interesting as that process must have been, the outcome seems a bit hollow when viewed as an outsider.

The whole checking-for-tooth-fillings-thing-to-be-sure-that-you're-you is a bit cruddy, I'd say. I mean, I would say because I don't have any fillings (oh yeah! 24 years old and no fillings, I am truly that awesome!)! But the little point on body jewellery was a valid one. But, surely, she could have at least tried to converse with the only talkative and apparently 'sane' alien?! See what the hell it was up to? Ask if it just wanted an aspirin or something?

There was also a point where I thought they'd killed off the female protagonist before the end of the film, and I thought Wow, that was a brave move, I like it! and then she came back. Damn.

There's a lot of flamethrower action, too. Which is fine, but gets a little dull after a while.

By far, the point I was waiting on was how they ended it so that it was set up for the beginning of the original film. I think they achieved this well. I was waiting with baited breath, fearing that they had killed off all the possible useful characters for this scene (remembering that the two guys in the helicopter are Norwegian at the start of the original film, not American or English. Oh, and they're also men), and then voila! They saved it.

However, on the whole, it wasn't so groundbreaking that I'd rather watch this than the original masterpiece! But worth it for the special effects.

[Picture: Strike Entertainment]

Hani