Especially nowadays. I use the critic score now as an inverse to see if I like mainstream film now. If it gets a bad critic score I usually end up liking it.
Tommy Wiseau starring in _The Thing:_ "Hi, doggy...Thanks a lot. Bye!" "You are tearing me apart, Palmer!" "How can they say this about me? I don't believe it. I show them. I will record everything." "Oh, hi, Garry. I didn't know it was you." "You betrayed me, Blair! You're not good. You, you're just a chicken. Chip-chip-chip-chip-cheep-cheep." "Ha ha ha. What a story, Mac."
I saw "The Thing" at the time. I was 34 yrs old. I went back and saw it two more times. I thought it was the best horror flick since Alien. I wasn't surprised by the critics panning it. At the time their was a lot of concern about excessive violence in film. And, many of the critics felt it was their duty to keep these types of films suppressed. I am not surprised that time has proven this to be a classic horror film. Sure there are many plot holes (especially regarding how does the alien create new clothes to wear if it tears through the old clothes). But I love this film. Carpenter has been vindicated. Thanks for the podcast.
For Your Consideration watching it now lol, btw regarding the microscope scene with the cells, test audiences thought it looked too advanced and sci-f 😅 you guys should watch it with directors commentary on. Not only is the film a masterpiece the DVD has amazing commentary with Kurt Russell. Blade Runner also has good commentary, one of the options has two key writers fighting and arguing about who wrote lines and overall just misremembering stuff lol
While effects, acting and direction all get their just deserts regarding The Thing, my favorite bit, which the prequel utterly failed on, is the CASTING. You look at these guys and believe they've been working their fields for decades and somehow their choices led to... Antarctica. I watch The Thing and am totally sold on Palmer as a stoner, Mac as pilot, etc.
And BTW blame E.T for how bad The Thing was reviewed, since E.T came out first ; after seein such a cute friendly alien, who wants to even think about this horrific thing lol
1982 had some big film debuts. Bladerunner, the thing, Conan the barbarian, fast times at Ridgemont high, poltergeist, first blood, TRON, creepshow, rocky III, The Dark Crystal, 48 hours, the secret of nimh, pink floyds the Wall, the entity, swamp thing, Firefox, as well as a ton of films that went on to gain cult status. Shit.....1982 is kinda the year of the cult classics. If it flopped at box office, that's how you knew it was something special!
I love The Thing, and I think that it's the all time greatest Sci-Fi Horror movie. With that said, the criticism about "characterization" is kinda legit. There are too many characters to develop them, so Carpenter does rely somewhat on stereotypes and typecasting so that we will be able to get a basic understanding of who they are. Not that there is anything wrong with that. The movie is very efficient. You would have had to add maybe a half hour of screen time to flesh out Bennings or Norris and it wouldn't have been worth it.
Also THAT is what the thing turn you into. When you feeling Isolated and hab the feeling that you can,t trust anybody and that everybody could turn into your worst nightmare attacking us. You become nothing more but an Instinct Controlled Animal in Crisis. Or short 2 Charaktere a Killer and a Police Officer would act in the same way if they will be hunted by Michel while completly defensles.
Your comments on the lack of women in The Thing aren't entirely accurate. You seem to imply that, by having women present, there would automatically be romantic tension - and that's not true. Alien came out in 1979 and had women mixed among the cast while also lacking any kind of romantic tension. The protagonist - Ripley - being female didn't detract from the plot with random spin-off threads about romance at all. That being said, I didn't particularly mind that the cast of The Thing was exclusively male. I do not, however, think having a female cast member would have distracted from the main focus of the movie, especially in the hands of a talented writer who realizes women don't have to be written for romantic purposes only.
Of course a romantic subplot wouldn't be a given just by virtue of there being a female character in the film, but writers and studios, particularly in the '80s, tended to go there (the belief being that a romantic subplot was integral to giving 'the date' something to be interested in). I agree with you about Alien but I think when considering the '51 film adaptation had a romantic subplot, that easily could have been something that happened. And that's not to say that it couldn't have been done and done well. It could have added an extra feeling of peril if there were people who more intimately involved who could no longer trust they were who they were. It just often feels shoehorned into genre films like horror and sci-fi which studios saw as being predominantly a male market. Lest we forget the aforementioned Alien was originally going to have a scene where Ripley completely disrobes in the shuttle and the xenomorph ogles her naked body before she climbs in a space suit and blows it out of the airlock. We, thankfully, see a bit less of that these days. I was super appreciative that when they prequeled the movie they brought in Mary Elizabeth Winstead, a favourite actor of mine, in a role that made total sense to the plot and with no romantic entanglements. I loved her in that part. I think they kind of followed that Alien model you discussed for the 2011 version. Maybe I'm just cynical that Universal would have tried to mandate something somewhere along the line.
For Your Consideration Thank you for your response! I don't typically comment on UA-cam videos, so when I do, it's pleasant to get a response right from the creator of the video. I definitely wasn't expecting that. I'm sure you're right - perhaps the studio would have insisted that something Carpenter wouldn't have wanted be added if his cast had included a woman. We saw what happened with the 2011 prequel in terms of the special effects. It's clear that a lot of mistakes get made at the studio level, but that's not something I can comment on, being something of a layman when it comes to movies. Your statement just implied that women's roles are used more for romantic aspects and I wanted to open a discussion on that statement. Your commentary, is of course, really good and I appreciated every moment of it. I'm currently writing an essay on this movie, and I like hearing what other people have observed. John Carpenter's The Thing will always have a special place in my heart.
Thanks for your comment! Part of the mission statement for the podcast has always been to get people talking about these movies as we feel the classic or masterpiece designation gets bandied about a little too freely. And we just like talking about movies. I should also point out that I think the absence of women in a movie like The Thing isn't a conspicuous exclusion. It doesn't feel like they are being left out when there clearly needs to be female representation to tell the story properly or interestingly. There just doesn't happen to be any women in the story. I always feel a bit awkward when I defend the film for its all-male cast as men have never had any difficulty getting representation in cinema. It does border on historically accurate as the presence of American women working in Antarctica was extremely limited at that time (you could literally count them on one hand with several fingers to spare) and that may have been what the filmmakers were going for. There also aren't any female characters in the original Campbell novella so it might have been as simple a choice as that. There is no guarantee that the studio would have mandated some sort of exploitative role it's just a worst-case-scenario based on strong precedent. The exploitation of women in cinema and using them as romantic foils or as damsels in distress to validate or be a reward for the hero's journey is a longstanding trope. Or that whole woman in the refrigerator thing where they get tortured or killed to give a male hero something to rally behind. It is one of the reasons I am so excited to see where the impact of Wonder Woman, the #metoo movement, and the Weinstein scandal will take us in terms of the material we see on our screens. Not just female directors but female DPs as well. Female DPs have an unsurprisingly different perspective and tend fetishize the female body less. But I digress. Yeah, so the objection is less about actually including any women in the story (which I think they did really well in the 2011 version) and more about including any character, female or male, who is literally just shoehorned in as a hackneyed narrative tool. I feel The Thing is very similar to The Descent (another tense and amazing horror thriller if you haven't seen it) in that, as an all-female cast, I feel that film would have been done a real disservice by shoehorning any male characters into it to give it some kind of romantic subplot. There just isn't any need for male characters in that story. I don't even think I want to try and imagine it with anything but that core group of six women. Anyway, thanks for listening to the show. We appreciate the support!! P.S. What's the thesis of the essay you're writing if you don't mind sharing?
For Your Consideration I understand what you're saying! I didn't at all feel as the movie was being misogynistic in the slightest. The only part I disagreed with was the way you worded your own comment in the video, not the movie's lack of women. It is strange to defend the lack of women in any movie given the demonstrable lack of strong female characters in entertainment generally, but I never once got the feeling Carpenter disregarded women in his casting choice. As you noted in your video, I didn't even pay notice the lack of women in the movie until you mentioned it. Perhaps that's sad I didn't. Perhaps other women take umbrage to that that I don't. I've always said - per D&D - that my perception would be at a -3. At least it can be said that The Thing didn't include women only to underscore them with the dated tropes that were (and still are) used. I think we've got a long ways to go as far as representation goes in film, but we're taking steps in the right direction. I've seen The Descent and, although I can appreciate its quality, I didn't exactly like it. I have an extremely specific niche of genres I look for in horror movies, and it wasn't my usual thing. (When I say extremely specific, I legitimately mean it. There are a small handful of horror movies, out of the hundreds I've seen, that I would call favorites, and this is one of them.) I'm actually writing a comparative essay contrasting Alien and The Thing (surprise, surprise). I'm trying to discuss which one I personally felt was more terrifying based on my own criteria. I'm a movie novice and critical analysis of them doesn't really come naturally to me. I can usually only tell you whether or not I liked a movie - not necessarily anything about, say, its cinematography or chemistry between characters. My analysis leaned more towards the stories themselves, since I'm more confident discussing narrative elements, as a writer. My apologies in advance for any typos. I'm responding on my iPhone and the window in which I'm typing is small.
Plus I don't think the female lead in The 2011 reboot prequel TheThing detracted from the film it was the Studio meddling in the special effects (Changing from real effects to CGI) That ruined it.
An extraordinary moment in this film, is when the outpost team is first introduced to the weird, gruesome remains brought back from the Norwegian camp in the examining room. While the focus circles around the table on the individual reactions of each character - it ends with R.J. MacReady intently analyzing the team, and not the creature. Shit's fixin to get real, gents. And we're gonna find out just who is who around here. John Carpenter, you magnificent bastard!
There actually is a female human presence of sorts in the film, as Carpenter's then-wife Adrienne Barbeau voiced the Chess Wizard, but that's it, unless there were photos of women on the wall of the rec room. I loved Jeb the dog. That has to be one of the bits of best canine acting I've ever seen. He does somehow look almost too smart to be just a dog. And I also love the transformation scene in the kennel, where one dog is so terrified that it frantically tries to get away from the dog-Thing by tearing through the fencing with its teeth. While that's not going to happen in real life, it did amp up the horror nicely. I find the cast uniformly top notch, and agree that Russell, Brimley, and David are the standout performances. Truly one of the greatest, and most layered sci-fi/horror movies of all time.
Man, that dog, right?? I don't think we can ever overemphasize that performance by Jeb. So controlled and so chilling. Thanks so much for checking out the episode!!
Jed (not Jeb, as I mistakenly put), was half wolf, half dog with the wolf predominating? I've listened to commentaries on the film by John Carpenter and Richard Masur, who played Clark, said Jeb was spooky to work with at first, because when he became disturbed he didn't bark or growl, but his stare grew intense. Jed's trainer finally helped Masur finally get comfortable with the dog by familiarizing himself with its traits. Start at 16*24 ua-cam.com/video/qUbclpxMyYs/v-deo.html Carpenter speaks of how special Jed's performance was in the following commentary with Kurt Russell (audio only), and showing how it was a really super intelligent animal. He mentions Jed in three different places: 14*27, 15*20, and 26*47 ua-cam.com/video/JhgJ82sDDuU/v-deo.html Jed deserved mention in the credits, because his character was almost as important as the human roles, and no dog could have been done any better than Jed. Thanks for your excellent analysis -- liked and subscribed.
You are correct, sir. It has been a while since I watched the film and I totally missed the Jeb misnomer in the original message and went and repeated it myself. The Carpenter/Russell commentary is one of my favourite commentaries. Listening to these two guys talk about this film (as well as Big Trouble, really) is a singular joy for fans and cinephiles. And that documentary is a benchmark of BTS looks at the production of a film. Great stuff. Thanks for the subscribe and hopefully we continue with equally excellent conversations on classic films!
I've never seen Big Trouble, but will check it out. I've heard it's pretty good. By the way, there is one other female presence in the film--albeit a very remote one. At 26 minutes in, just before bedlam breaks out in the kennel, Palmer and Childs are watching a video (and later smoking pot). The tape is of a wildly popular real life game show (first aired in 1963 & still going today), "Let's Make a Deal", and there are women seen as contestants & in the audience. Palmer turns it off, saying he knows how it ends. I like Carpenter's selection of the show. Whether he did it purposefully or not, the part of the program playing is where the contestant guesses behind which of three doors is the big prize. In a way, that suggests the predicament the crew at U.S. National Science Institute Station 4, not knowing who or _what_ lurks behind every door. Fun Fact: Kurt Russell almost killed himself making the film. mentalfloss.com/article/68365/13-fascinating-facts-about-thing
One of my favorite movie going memories: Saw this first-run at the Bel-Air Drive-In in Detroit. Set up lawn chairs next to the car, and happened to be next to the concession stand pathway. We had 3-D glasses from a screening of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon" the night before. We wore the glasses as people walked by- telling them the film was in 3D.(yeah- jerk kids) Anyhow - not an environment conducive to serious film watching. That all changed when the movie got going. We were riveted to our lawn chairs and practically falling out of them during the blood testing! Good times!!
This is one of three movies that truly scare me. I agree this is a masterpiece of suspense and paranoia and mystery. The timeline is intriging, and becuase you have no idea where everyone was, its hard to determine it...but none of the timeline is impossible. And this is scary because its alien attack on a cellular level...we can see the infection.
This was one of the first horror movies I ever saw. Caught it around 9 or 10 years old. Really fascinated me and left a lasting impression. The sense of paranoia is so palpable throughout the film. And that score by Ennio Morricone just underscores it perfectly.
Recently i was checking Palmer's behaviors, and the guy was one of the first to get assimilated, with Norris, and before Bennings. He/it was a smart, deceitful bastard, tried to convince the crew to blast and burn MacReady after he came back from his shack after Nauls. Then he kept pushing Windows buttons, the weakest character who froze and lost his shit constantly, and wanted to go alone with Childs who was one of the strongest characters, certainly a better ally if assimilated. These are awesome little details that make this masterpiece still relevant and unmatched.
As being the perfect age at 14, I remember it was the in your face gore that people were turned off by big time. I couldn’t understand that then I and my friends loved it.
I think the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the movie was definitely the gore and the devastatingly realistic portrayal of it. It always reminds me of the negative reaction to Event Horizon which, despite being released 15 years later, still had a very similar reaction as the Thing. Mostly due to the super-realistic and gory scenes from Hell. So my point is if gore is that well done it will be almost instantly reviled but only because the quality of it is so good. Exploitative gore is usually just forgotten. Since then both films have become cult films and The Thing has become a masterpiece. In the case of The Thing, the gore overshadowed the paranoia and plot which was a shame since the paranoia and the uncertainty really are fantastically well done. One of the best movies ever made, no doubt.
Definitely a masterpiece. The first time i saw it the movie made me paranoid for like a week, well me being 10 years old at a time might have contributed to it. This withstood the time test so well and it gives me creeps to this day. Its truly a shame that the "remake" was so disappointing since they had clear guidelines how to make it great and just ignored it with their Hollywood cliches and the overuse of CGI. 10/10 all day everyday for the 1982 one.
Nah, wouldve been unnecessary. Child's had his mind made up. Mac trying to defend himself wouldve been pointless. Plus he already had the upper hand and knew he'd be trusted again when he showed everyone he was human and fleshed out the imitation among them.
Nah, Childs dislike for Mac made him very biased at that point, and Mac didn't care, he was in command and like he said before they were going to see who's who.
The WHOLE camp goes! I always was so anxiety ridden with how close his flare is to the dynamite. I swear that was to close. All it would take is one little spark popping off and landing on the fuse. Then when Norris and Nauls grab him, what a stupid fuckin move on their part!!
I first saw THE THING on cable because it was waayyy too intense for me to see in the theater. I was young and squeamish enough that I would have had to leave the theater if I saw it there. It at least felt small and remote enough on a television screen for me to bear it. Actually, I'm still squeamish as a moviegoer-- but I've seen it enough to be okay. THE THING-- like BLADE RUNNER-- is one of those movies that is so deep in its storytelling and emotionality (is that a real word?) that you really cannot take in all of its subtleties in one viewing. Even critics, being human, fell to such craftiness. I'm really not big on screen violence but I'm fascinated by movies where the characters strike you as real human beings. This is why I love ALIEN so much. The sci-fi setting is what attracted me initially but the characters are what made the movie more horrifying; when they come across to a viewer as real people, their deaths hit deeply... because they felt as if you could relate to them and you care very much when they are taken. That's why I can't watch most horror films-- the characters are usually wooden and stereotypical. How can you care about a cardboard cutout getting killed? It almost seems to promote bloodthirstiness, in a way... "Get 'im. Get 'im". Also, the antagonist/creature in each of those movies is so unique that they can't help but stand out. I can't think of a more terrifying death than at the tendrils of the Thing invading your body... as opposed to some hockey-masked human with a knife. "Oh, you're only gonna stab me and pin me to a wall like a bug? How boring!" THE THING is the ultimate body horror film to me. And what can I say of the music? To me, this score is on par with John Williams' JAWS theme. Maybe Ennio Morricone's score is not as recognized in pop culture, but I think it's every bit as effective in conveying the mood of THE THING as the JAWS theme. It's that underlying "heartbeat" within the music. It indeed sounds like a heartbeat but with a somewhat alien and strange reverb tone. That's what makes THE THING creepy to me. I don't like violence-- but I still am fascinated by THE THING. What does that say of me?
The suspense in this film is underrated, what i mean by that is that yeah the practical effects are amazing and i cant say anything thats been said already about them but i do feel that if it weren't for the suspense and tension the film would've been a boring movie with great production value, i love the attention to detail Carpenter shows in this film and mostly on the rest of his films too, every scene reveals something that will require attention for something later on
This movie is a Masterpiece, Period. Don't know what the critics where smoking back in 1982, but glad it has aged like fine wine and is getting the recognition it deserves and just seems to get better every decade..
That spiderhead and the "what the fu..." scene imprinted itself on me when I was 9 or 10 and I first saw The Thing. Great stuff. The effect, and its impact on the viewer, never gets old.
It's Funny you picked out that scene with Wilf Brimley talking to clark. i swear to god THAT is the one that i think is some of the best acting to. It's the first scene where there is a facing realty between to members that has to be addressed. i NOW what you are saying mike. He gets alarmed n thinks I NEED TO KNOW this..then it's as if he doesnt want to face that realty cos it's TOO Grim and he also realizes he is ON HIS OWN With Clark and, as he wrote; "The chameleon strikes in the dark.." WHOOOOAA!. Wilf Brimley was a truly masterful and under exposed actor. He guys are also bang on when you said Kurt Russuel has never been better.
7:07 the comment about Alfred Hitchcock. Fun fact: special fx engineer Albert Whitlock who worked on "The Birds" also did matte painting effects for "The Thing".
John Carpenter to ME is one of the 10 greatest director's to ever do it... and one of the BIGGEST cases of how fu&^ing stupid many of the movie public are that epic's like Halloween, The Thing, and Escape from New York all have to take 10 to 20 to 30 years to make the money and appreciation they deserve ON RELEASE. Not to mention gems like Starman, Christine, Vampires, Assult on Precinct 13, or In the mouth of Madness and the gem that is Big Trouble in Little China. Hell even his average films of Prince of Darkness, or The Fog, and Village of the Dammned have 50% more style, heart and feel then 75% of the current shit of today. As this man should of been regarded as a great director from jump like Quentin T and not have to wait til now to 7 to 10 years ago to get his damn praise. Morons flock to Michael Bay's raping of our childhood (all the shit transformers or TMNT) meanwhile this man and genius of film was forced out due to not making enough $ to find work..... smh. Was nice to see this film get the spotlight here and a few others but as you two nailed it assclowns like Ebert and others routinely ruined many of his masterpieces out of their own ignorance.... pisses me off.
I actually just saw this movie for the first time and I’m 38, thought it was excellent and one of the best movies I’ve seen this decade. I was always the gamer in the family and played video games over watching tv and movies so I have a lot of old movie gems for rainy days. I also wonder what the pulse of society was then. Hollywood and the media have shown to be a bit of a club where if you don’t align with their agendas and suits you get shut out and negative coverage. Look what happened to Tim Allen, had a great show that was doing well in the ratings for wrong think, that is absolutely a possibility back in 1982.
I think Hollywood in general and the TV industry is mostly just insane. Great shows get cancelled, crappy ones go on forever, reality TV is still somehow a thing... I personally don't consider Tim Allen the slightest bit funny, but that's from his standup and from Home Improvement, I haven't seen Last Man Standing but if he still uses grunting as a punchline then I have no reason to even feign interest in whether he improved. The show did however get 5 seasons so it's not like it was just cancelled out of nowhere and even if the ratings were good were they good enough to cover costs? Was Allen getting millions per episode? Were the advertisers simply not paying enough for some other obscure reason? For The Thing the pulse was wanting to see sci-fi movies with friendly aliens. Pretty much that simple so far as I am aware. People wanted ET and things that weren't ET were bad, they had the wrong expectations for their experience and expectations can almost define an experience. I am finding it interesting how often I am reading about critics coming back to something after years and suddenly it is a Masterpiece. Though it doesn't seem to happen much the other way which is what we are here for ;) At least not without looking at the film and saying something like "Wow, that is absolutely horrid behaviour/content by today's standards... Let's just sweep 'Song of the South' under the rug and pretend it never happened except for the 'Zip a Dee Doo Dah' song."
It was a studio release, but Carpenter was always an underground filmmaker; this movie is COOL in a way that ET isn't ( ET is schmaltz, but great schmaltz). He's Spielberg's cooler, crazier brother, and has the same filmmaking chops, making Carpenter dangerous.
This film is, to John Carpenter what “TO LIVE & DIE IN L.A.” is, to Bill Friedkin : a masterpiece, woefully underrated. One of the relatively few times Roger Elbert’s apparent revised opinion landed well wide of the mark.
It was released when E.T. Was so it got panned with the influence of that, the Thing being a more depressing and dour picture even though it was brilliant and E.T. Being an upbeat kinda magical fantasy, either way The Thing is superb and definitely one of the greatest horror films with the Texas chainsaw massacre , the Exorcist, the Shining and Dawn of the Dead, Bottins creature effects are amazing, the paranoia is overwhelming and Kurt Russell as Mac is in my opinion his greatest ever role.
Assuming that this movie was somewhat ahead of its time, I will here share some notes - a sketch - for a theory of the message that this movie, in combination with other pieces of art, has for us in these current times . Remember this is more like a sharing of unsorted yellow post-it notes, with the intention that our collective brain together will sort out if there is something to this or not. The theory is that the average Joe out there can be grapped by an invasive type of consciousness, that are able to mimic perfectly who Joe is, but in a soulless manner. Something is able "to eat" Mr. and Mrs. Jones out there in a very subtle way, and continue their whereabouts in the world without anyone necessarily noticing. The theory is that we are starting to notice this on a global level now. We are all under the influence of 'the tentacles' of the thing, but we are not all assimilated. It is imitating and as long it is not "called out" it is keeping the hostility for itself. The moment we 'call out' that someone are imitators that is when "the shit will hit the fan". As Windows said in the movie 'its gonna get a hell lot worse before it gets better' (why would he say that?) Indicators of 'the thing' out there now: \- every single newspaper in the newspaperstand has a cover with a 'get boosted now' advertisement \- the system in china with total surveillance, a pre-requisite for 'the thing' to strike \- The digital development is not decided by the public , instead it is simply being force-fed to us The theory mentioned above might sound a little 'bleak' , but personally I am optimistic and believes in God also . That all is good. Still I believe we are not to be passive spectators in this creation, but maybe we are headed towards a very interesting singularity of some sort? Where a lot of interesting storylines will unfold, and we will get the opportunity to take part in them ? Just some ideas .. let me hear what you think? Joyful will, Johan ps. Two movies I would like to mention to bring in their perspectives to the matter is 'a space odyssey 2001' and 'the conversation' from 1974 The scene where MacReady pours whiskey in the PC made me think of Bowman using his resolve to physically unplug Hal. Also the scene where they sit in the tractor (Skidozer 301), it is said 'there is something wrong with Blair' , like they do in the shuttle where Hal cannot hear them ('there is something wrong with Hal') .. parallel between the thing and Hal9000 ? Coincidentally I saw the movie 'the conversation' by Francis Ford Coppola the day before seeing the Thing for the first time (yesterday) .. spoiler alert ... at the the end of the movie the home is completely destroyed by the main character , Harry Caul, .. and during the movie 'he is not himself' , 'he was once somebodys little boy but are not anymore' , he is a shadow of himself, simply working all the time, consumed by work, which we deem to be "normal", but are really the thing in action? .. the final destruction of his home, has a similarity to the destruction of the base in the thing
It has minor problems, I won’t lie, yet overall the magnitude of its successful aspects overshadow its failings. It struck such a primal chord in my consciousness that it quickly became my favorite horror film of all time. I can’t recommend it more highly than I do, I tell people to watch it as soon as possible, but also in the right atmospheric setting so that it doesn’t get ruined in the viewing by external distractions.
At the end of the movie when Kurt and Keith are sitting there and the camera pulls away to show the fires that are burning out in the camp, and that music playing gives the feeling of utter hopelessness. John Carpenter is a genius.
Don't remember Brimley? The hilariously delivered line "I'll kill yew!" That's one of my favorite parts. You can tell pains in ass that The Thing was female.
We don’t know whether it was Palmer, but the Thing definitely went to Macready’s shack to frame him. It left shredded underwear there with Macready’s nametag still on it and left the lights on to make sure somebody would come to investigate.
Saw this at the cinema in the UK on release and was absolutely mind blown! It's been at the top of my best films list, ever since. Sorry ladies but I am so glad there were no women in it and I always thought Wilfred Brimley rocked. Without doubt, a masterpiece!
Has anybody noticed during the bum rush of Blair in the radio room that McCready accidentally punches Fuchs. Fuchs says "Nice shot McCready" and falls over. I have yet to read anybody mention that tidbit, it almost feels adlibed, like Russell accidentally punched the actor and the just goes with it. I always smile at that comedic line during such an intense scene.
I noticed it too and was a little confused at why Fuchs fell over with some blood on his forehead. Thanks for clarifying. And NOBODY ever mentions it so good catch.
I've seen several videos on this movie and i've watched it several times over the years. I watched this on Halloween too. As a kid i used to think that Keith David's character in this movie was his character from They Live in an alternate universe.
Greetings, just wanted to give thanks for what you guys do, and to also mention something I noticed thru watching many fan theories and such, but one thing I picked up on, not sure if it's been spoke of, but, one of the little things I saw in how to figure out who was infected. Notice who has "human emotions", and who seems bland and unhumanly during various parts where as thoes who should be more expressive, are not.The Thing might be able to imitate anything perfectly on a genetic level, but it simply can not copy human emotions perfectly. Just a playfull thought to add in and to think about. Thanks.
Yeah, that is definitely something I am going to look for next time I watch the film. The copied versions of the cast do have an otherness to them but I think there might be an argument to be made there with Blair. It depends on when Blair was transformed. Anyway, thanks for the comment!
I disagree, the Thing has no problems showing emotions, just look at Palmer, the goofy, pot-smoking anti-establishment helicopter pilot. He was one of the more expressive characters even though he was probably taken over by the Thing quite early in the movie.
omegastar19 I love when they don't draw attention to details like that in the set design or costumes. It's there to see for the dedicated viewer and not necessarily vital to the storytelling but gives a deeper experience when noticed.
It has been so long since I have listened to this episode I don't even remember Dustin or I making that comment. lol I should probably give it a listen and refresh.
Thanks, please do more talks like this, thanks for letting us in on ya'lls conversation and it never occured to me that how long they been up, but it add a new layer to Garry's "It's gone Mcready" now stating he's too tired to do anything about it..
Simon I dunno about that. I took that emphasised ‘gone’ to mean that the generator wasn’t just smashed, but that it had been physically ripped out and was literally missing. Just my take on it....
The universal thing was a haunted house attraction they had one year during halloween horror nights. Was and still is my favorite house they've had. Favorite part was this long tight hallway you went down, with mutated dog puppets snarling and barking at your from the left and right. Was so extreme, I loved it that house.
I never listen to movie critics after the end of Siskel and Ebert.....a good movie in anticipation is like a cookie of the future! Until you’ve tasted it yourself you just won’t know! And by then, it’s too late! Anticipation forever replaced by finding out for one’s self if the movie is “Good” or “bad” : and in doing so one appreciates the artwork for what it is....J. Carpenter’s The Thing is a masterpeice in my opinion, a definitive showing of how to manipulate characters, and keep it surrounded and grounded in Paranoia, confusion, and fear.
That was actually a legit sombrero McCready wore, not a cowboy hat. Even cooler! Regarding negative reaction at the time. I grew up in the 80s and although I was too young to see this in theatres (13), I remember how everyone was freaking out about "ET" and what a "heartwarming" flick it was. You know how fickle culture can be, especially in the U.S. Of course "The Thing" must have seemed "gross" in contrast. The world just wasn't ready for it yet, truly. Really happy it's now considered a classic as to me, it's always been the quintessential Sci-Fi/Horror flick. Arguably, "Cosmic Horror", technically...
Simply the best acting I’ve seen in a film to date. The genre of the film is beside the point, amazing shots -watch it simply for the actors performances and pay attention to how the shots are lined up. Carpenter breaks the 4th wall in the rec room behind where Blair is sitting.
Released 2 weeks after the end of another masterpiece of suspense and horror that unfolded a few miles away. But this one was real and I starred in it: the Falklands War.
This was my first real taste of a horror movie. 1999 I was really young and the kennel scene fucked me up so hard I couldn’t watch the movie for about 12 years. It was actually a preview for the 2011 thing that sparked me to try and arc it again, and horror movies aren’t my go to for movies, but the thing is hands downy favorite movie of all time and in my opinion probably the best movie ever made. Based on movies that deliver for you to feel a certain way. Purely terrifying.
Nauls was actually assimilated by Blair at the end. The scene was scripted where it showed him half digested with tentacles ripping out of his skin right before the Blair Thing erupts from the floorboards at the end. They didn’t have time to film it, though.
Wow you guys should be a much bigger channel. My favorite part is the ending and all the theories if Child's is a imitation and how he says "you the only one that made it?" as if he's not human also but Macready picks up on it and says "not the only one."
Thanks for the kind words, Sir Cumference. We really appreciate your checking us out and we agree with you 100%. We should be a much bigger channel!! ;) Word of mouth really helps with that so feel free to share the episode on social media and help spread the word. I have seen a lot of theories regarding the end of the film and, personally, I like leaving it open ended like Carpenter did. Not knowing if Childs is The Thing. We have been with MacReady through the whole film so we know he's human, but having that x-factor of not knowing where Childs has been and what his situation is just gives the ending that much more oomph. Thanks again for listening!
No, they're both human. The Thing (2011) game is a sequel to the movie approved by John Carpenter. Child dies of exposure to the cold and Macready helps the protagonist of the game defeat the last boss thing.
If he is a perfect imitation, then Childs also would have said "you the only one that made it". To expand, he could have meant "you the only one (of you, garry, and nauls) who survived going out to test blair?".
Yadid Chowdhury wait did you just say that the thing 2011 film was a sequel egh wrong it's a prequel get you're facts straight first and child's was the thing at the end you can tell with macreadys reaction when child's drank from the j&b bottle that little chuckle meant that he outsmarted the thing
Speaking of not knowing what happened to Nauls...Sequel idea.... Old, PTSD Nauls , as the only survivor , gets hauled into an investigation of what happened at the station when weird things are discovered there. Wonder what T.K. Carter is up to these days.
I'd read that script. Looks like Carter worked fairly steady up until ten years ago. Not sure if he is retired or doing theatre or if it's something else.
For Your Consideration How screwed in the head would someone be after living through the events of that film? Never sure if the thing is really gone. Never sure if those around you are really human. Hell. Never sure if you, yourself have , or have not, been infected. Living in constant fear that you have lost your mind and all of that was a hallucination, or fear it wasn't.
The best adaptation of Lovecraftian horror on the silver screen. Also, who cares if there isn't a woman in the film? IT doesn't matter. If anything, the lack of a female makes the suspense much more intense:no loving, nurturing, maternal persona to give the audience any sense of hope.
Mandela Effect, Palmer doesn't say "You got yo be fucking kidding me." I would have swore on a bible he did.... He just says "You got to be fucking kidding."
The Thing(1982) is one of my favorite movies and I call it a masterwork of suspense and a horror classic and a David Cronenberg style horror masterpiece I rated it high on my lists of movies
Ok enough about the "Oh no women, bad!" crap. In 1982 we had maybe 1 woman down in the entire Antarctic from the U.S. and the Brits had a ban on women at the time. Only on a South American or Soviet base would you find women. Guess what kinds of bases don't take place in the movie? SMH.
I'm a huge fan of the thing. I've seen this movie at least a 💯 time's. Probably more, but hey. Norris was the first victim of the thing. No doubt! Then it was Palmer. Palmer then got to Blair. From there every one else was eliminated by the thing or McCready. Nauls was killed by the thing, but his death scene was taken out of the movie. His a really good spoiler alert! The thing survived to the end. It was either child's or McCready? John carpenter himself admitted to this fact in an interview.
With this horrible virus spreading over the world I’m going to hunker down and watch my five favourite genre films on repeat- Wizard of Oz, Blazing Saddles, A New Hope, The Godfather and of course...The Thing .
Part of the problem with The Thing is that it was a remake of a classic. The classic had zero gore. The Thing had tons of gore. That's what I remember people having a problem with when it came out, the gore and violence. I remember loving the film. My husband hated it. Because of the gore. He also hates the remake of The Fly, because of the gore and because he loved the original. I tihnk this film had departed so far from classic horror and science fiction movies that people had a hard time accepting it. And now, of course, The Thing is the classic and newer movies are compared to the standard it set.
Pure masterpiece for atmosphere, horror, proper special effects, creature creation, amazing gem of a film.
You forgot the music!
To be fair, movie critics have never been a great at evaluating films.
Isaac Clarke 👍👍👍
Walter Smith Great comment.
Especially nowadays. I use the critic score now as an inverse to see if I like mainstream film now. If it gets a bad critic score I usually end up liking it.
Some people believe being a movie critic means criticizing anything for any reason, serious or not.
@@antoniudraculea4507 that is kind of the definition😅
"If it's all the same to you, I wouldn't mind not spending the winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!"
Movie is an absolute classic, and you get a more serious Kurt Russell than you would expect, the guys performance was really great
The other reason why I love The Thing(1982) is that it features the best dog performance ever in a movie
Hell yes
Jed was phenomenal.
Tommy Wiseau starring in _The Thing:_ "Hi, doggy...Thanks a lot. Bye!" "You are tearing me apart, Palmer!" "How can they say this about me? I don't believe it. I show them. I will record everything." "Oh, hi, Garry. I didn't know it was you." "You betrayed me, Blair! You're not good. You, you're just a chicken. Chip-chip-chip-chip-cheep-cheep." "Ha ha ha. What a story, Mac."
Actually, I would pay to see THAT remake-- (sotto voce) probably in more ways than monetarily...
HAHAHAHAHA
Introduced this film to my 20 year old niece...she was stunned. Between this and Kubrick's The Shining her whole attitude towards horror has changed.
I saw "The Thing" at the time. I was 34 yrs old. I went back and saw it two more times. I thought it was the best horror flick since Alien. I wasn't surprised by the critics panning it. At the time their was a lot of concern about excessive violence in film. And, many of the critics felt it was their duty to keep these types of films suppressed. I am not surprised that time has proven this to be a classic horror film. Sure there are many plot holes (especially regarding how does the alien create new clothes to wear if it tears through the old clothes). But I love this film. Carpenter has been vindicated. Thanks for the podcast.
Thats a big Bill and Ted, 'Whoah' I never though about the clothes!!
Masterpiece in every sense. Good to see this film placed in it's proper context. Still amazes me that some people don't get it.
People also manage, somehow, to "not get" RoboCop.
They are drain dead
Kurt Russell and kieth David are two of my favorite actors
But which one is The Thing?
*Keith
This film is my all time favorite horror film.
The humor in this movie is so overlooked. When everyone was tied to chairs. Amazing.
"TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!!!!"
Wow Masterpiece That’s easy
We will agree to agree on this.
For Your Consideration watching it now lol, btw regarding the microscope scene with the cells, test audiences thought it looked too advanced and sci-f 😅 you guys should watch it with directors commentary on. Not only is the film a masterpiece the DVD has amazing commentary with Kurt Russell. Blade Runner also has good commentary, one of the options has two key writers fighting and arguing about who wrote lines and overall just misremembering stuff lol
Blair: "I'll kill UUUUU" Bang! Bang! Bang!
Brimley always cracked me up the way he said that.
Nice shot, Macready
"That thing wanted TO BE UUUUHHHHHSSSSSSSSS!!"
do you hear we?
me too.
you think that thing wanted to be a dog? no dog can make it a thousand miles to the coast. no, it wanted to be us.
While effects, acting and direction all get their just deserts regarding The Thing, my favorite bit, which the prequel utterly failed on, is the CASTING.
You look at these guys and believe they've been working their fields for decades and somehow their choices led to... Antarctica.
I watch The Thing and am totally sold on Palmer as a stoner, Mac as pilot, etc.
Nauls as a cook lol
And BTW blame E.T for how bad The Thing was reviewed, since E.T came out first ; after seein such a cute friendly alien, who wants to even think about this horrific thing lol
E.T. killed Blade Runner at the box-office, too.
Nick Mattio #FuckET
it almost killed game industry too, that cursed thing.
@@dimas3829 It did kill it. Nintendo came around later and revived the corpse.
1982 had some big film debuts. Bladerunner, the thing, Conan the barbarian, fast times at Ridgemont high, poltergeist, first blood, TRON, creepshow, rocky III, The Dark Crystal, 48 hours, the secret of nimh, pink floyds the Wall, the entity, swamp thing, Firefox, as well as a ton of films that went on to gain cult status. Shit.....1982 is kinda the year of the cult classics. If it flopped at box office, that's how you knew it was something special!
I love The Thing, and I think that it's the all time greatest Sci-Fi Horror movie. With that said, the criticism about "characterization" is kinda legit. There are too many characters to develop them, so Carpenter does rely somewhat on stereotypes and typecasting so that we will be able to get a basic understanding of who they are. Not that there is anything wrong with that. The movie is very efficient. You would have had to add maybe a half hour of screen time to flesh out Bennings or Norris and it wouldn't have been worth it.
Also THAT is what the thing turn you into. When you feeling Isolated and hab the feeling that you can,t trust anybody and that everybody could turn into your worst nightmare attacking us. You become nothing more but an Instinct Controlled Animal in Crisis. Or short 2 Charaktere a Killer and a Police Officer would act in the same way if they will be hunted by Michel while completly defensles.
Your comments on the lack of women in The Thing aren't entirely accurate. You seem to imply that, by having women present, there would automatically be romantic tension - and that's not true. Alien came out in 1979 and had women mixed among the cast while also lacking any kind of romantic tension. The protagonist - Ripley - being female didn't detract from the plot with random spin-off threads about romance at all. That being said, I didn't particularly mind that the cast of The Thing was exclusively male. I do not, however, think having a female cast member would have distracted from the main focus of the movie, especially in the hands of a talented writer who realizes women don't have to be written for romantic purposes only.
Of course a romantic subplot wouldn't be a given just by virtue of there being a female character in the film, but writers and studios, particularly in the '80s, tended to go there (the belief being that a romantic subplot was integral to giving 'the date' something to be interested in). I agree with you about Alien but I think when considering the '51 film adaptation had a romantic subplot, that easily could have been something that happened.
And that's not to say that it couldn't have been done and done well. It could have added an extra feeling of peril if there were people who more intimately involved who could no longer trust they were who they were. It just often feels shoehorned into genre films like horror and sci-fi which studios saw as being predominantly a male market. Lest we forget the aforementioned Alien was originally going to have a scene where Ripley completely disrobes in the shuttle and the xenomorph ogles her naked body before she climbs in a space suit and blows it out of the airlock.
We, thankfully, see a bit less of that these days.
I was super appreciative that when they prequeled the movie they brought in Mary Elizabeth Winstead, a favourite actor of mine, in a role that made total sense to the plot and with no romantic entanglements. I loved her in that part. I think they kind of followed that Alien model you discussed for the 2011 version.
Maybe I'm just cynical that Universal would have tried to mandate something somewhere along the line.
For Your Consideration Thank you for your response! I don't typically comment on UA-cam videos, so when I do, it's pleasant to get a response right from the creator of the video. I definitely wasn't expecting that.
I'm sure you're right - perhaps the studio would have insisted that something Carpenter wouldn't have wanted be added if his cast had included a woman. We saw what happened with the 2011 prequel in terms of the special effects. It's clear that a lot of mistakes get made at the studio level, but that's not something I can comment on, being something of a layman when it comes to movies.
Your statement just implied that women's roles are used more for romantic aspects and I wanted to open a discussion on that statement.
Your commentary, is of course, really good and I appreciated every moment of it. I'm currently writing an essay on this movie, and I like hearing what other people have observed. John Carpenter's The Thing will always have a special place in my heart.
Thanks for your comment! Part of the mission statement for the podcast has always been to get people talking about these movies as we feel the classic or masterpiece designation gets bandied about a little too freely. And we just like talking about movies.
I should also point out that I think the absence of women in a movie like The Thing isn't a conspicuous exclusion. It doesn't feel like they are being left out when there clearly needs to be female representation to tell the story properly or interestingly. There just doesn't happen to be any women in the story.
I always feel a bit awkward when I defend the film for its all-male cast as men have never had any difficulty getting representation in cinema. It does border on historically accurate as the presence of American women working in Antarctica was extremely limited at that time (you could literally count them on one hand with several fingers to spare) and that may have been what the filmmakers were going for. There also aren't any female characters in the original Campbell novella so it might have been as simple a choice as that.
There is no guarantee that the studio would have mandated some sort of exploitative role it's just a worst-case-scenario based on strong precedent. The exploitation of women in cinema and using them as romantic foils or as damsels in distress to validate or be a reward for the hero's journey is a longstanding trope. Or that whole woman in the refrigerator thing where they get tortured or killed to give a male hero something to rally behind. It is one of the reasons I am so excited to see where the impact of Wonder Woman, the #metoo movement, and the Weinstein scandal will take us in terms of the material we see on our screens. Not just female directors but female DPs as well. Female DPs have an unsurprisingly different perspective and tend fetishize the female body less.
But I digress.
Yeah, so the objection is less about actually including any women in the story (which I think they did really well in the 2011 version) and more about including any character, female or male, who is literally just shoehorned in as a hackneyed narrative tool.
I feel The Thing is very similar to The Descent (another tense and amazing horror thriller if you haven't seen it) in that, as an all-female cast, I feel that film would have been done a real disservice by shoehorning any male characters into it to give it some kind of romantic subplot. There just isn't any need for male characters in that story. I don't even think I want to try and imagine it with anything but that core group of six women.
Anyway, thanks for listening to the show. We appreciate the support!!
P.S. What's the thesis of the essay you're writing if you don't mind sharing?
For Your Consideration I understand what you're saying! I didn't at all feel as the movie was being misogynistic in the slightest. The only part I disagreed with was the way you worded your own comment in the video, not the movie's lack of women.
It is strange to defend the lack of women in any movie given the demonstrable lack of strong female characters in entertainment generally, but I never once got the feeling Carpenter disregarded women in his casting choice.
As you noted in your video, I didn't even pay notice the lack of women in the movie until you mentioned it. Perhaps that's sad I didn't. Perhaps other women take umbrage to that that I don't. I've always said - per D&D - that my perception would be at a -3. At least it can be said that The Thing didn't include women only to underscore them with the dated tropes that were (and still are) used.
I think we've got a long ways to go as far as representation goes in film, but we're taking steps in the right direction. I've seen The Descent and, although I can appreciate its quality, I didn't exactly like it. I have an extremely specific niche of genres I look for in horror movies, and it wasn't my usual thing. (When I say extremely specific, I legitimately mean it. There are a small handful of horror movies, out of the hundreds I've seen, that I would call favorites, and this is one of them.)
I'm actually writing a comparative essay contrasting Alien and The Thing (surprise, surprise). I'm trying to discuss which one I personally felt was more terrifying based on my own criteria.
I'm a movie novice and critical analysis of them doesn't really come naturally to me. I can usually only tell you whether or not I liked a movie - not necessarily anything about, say, its cinematography or chemistry between characters. My analysis leaned more towards the stories themselves, since I'm more confident discussing narrative elements, as a writer.
My apologies in advance for any typos. I'm responding on my iPhone and the window in which I'm typing is small.
Plus I don't think the female lead in The 2011 reboot prequel TheThing detracted from the film it was the Studio meddling in the special effects (Changing from real effects to CGI) That ruined it.
An extraordinary moment in this film, is when the outpost team is first introduced to the weird, gruesome remains brought back from the Norwegian camp in the examining room. While the focus circles around the table on the individual reactions of each character - it ends with R.J. MacReady intently analyzing the team, and not the creature. Shit's fixin to get real, gents. And we're gonna find out just who is who around here. John Carpenter, you magnificent bastard!
There actually is a female human presence of sorts in the film, as Carpenter's then-wife Adrienne Barbeau voiced the Chess Wizard, but that's it, unless there were photos of women on the wall of the rec room.
I loved Jeb the dog. That has to be one of the bits of best canine acting I've ever seen. He does somehow look almost too smart to be just a dog. And I also love the transformation scene in the kennel, where one dog is so terrified that it frantically tries to get away from the dog-Thing by tearing through the fencing with its teeth. While that's not going to happen in real life, it did amp up the horror nicely.
I find the cast uniformly top notch, and agree that Russell, Brimley, and David are the standout performances. Truly one of the greatest, and most layered sci-fi/horror movies of all time.
Man, that dog, right?? I don't think we can ever overemphasize that performance by Jeb. So controlled and so chilling.
Thanks so much for checking out the episode!!
Jed (not Jeb, as I mistakenly put), was half wolf, half dog with the wolf predominating? I've listened to commentaries on the film by John Carpenter and Richard Masur, who played Clark, said Jeb was spooky to work with at first, because when he became disturbed he didn't bark or growl, but his stare grew intense. Jed's trainer finally helped Masur finally get comfortable with the dog by familiarizing himself with its traits. Start at 16*24 ua-cam.com/video/qUbclpxMyYs/v-deo.html
Carpenter speaks of how special Jed's performance was in the following commentary with Kurt Russell (audio only), and showing how it was a really super intelligent animal. He mentions Jed in three different places: 14*27, 15*20, and 26*47 ua-cam.com/video/JhgJ82sDDuU/v-deo.html
Jed deserved mention in the credits, because his character was almost as important as the human roles, and no dog could have been done any better than Jed. Thanks for your excellent analysis -- liked and subscribed.
You are correct, sir. It has been a while since I watched the film and I totally missed the Jeb misnomer in the original message and went and repeated it myself.
The Carpenter/Russell commentary is one of my favourite commentaries. Listening to these two guys talk about this film (as well as Big Trouble, really) is a singular joy for fans and cinephiles. And that documentary is a benchmark of BTS looks at the production of a film. Great stuff.
Thanks for the subscribe and hopefully we continue with equally excellent conversations on classic films!
I've never seen Big Trouble, but will check it out. I've heard it's pretty good.
By the way, there is one other female presence in the film--albeit a very remote one. At 26 minutes in, just before bedlam breaks out in the kennel, Palmer and Childs are watching a video (and later smoking pot). The tape is of a wildly popular real life game show (first aired in 1963 & still going today), "Let's Make a Deal", and there are women seen as contestants & in the audience. Palmer turns it off, saying he knows how it ends.
I like Carpenter's selection of the show. Whether he did it purposefully or not, the part of the program playing is where the contestant guesses behind which of three doors is the big prize. In a way, that suggests the predicament the crew at U.S. National Science Institute Station 4, not knowing who or _what_ lurks behind every door.
Fun Fact: Kurt Russell almost killed himself making the film. mentalfloss.com/article/68365/13-fascinating-facts-about-thing
There were deleted scenes with Mac and a female blow up doll.
One of my favorite movie going memories: Saw this first-run at the Bel-Air Drive-In in Detroit.
Set up lawn chairs next to the car, and happened to be next to the concession stand pathway.
We had 3-D glasses from a screening of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon" the night before.
We wore the glasses as people walked by- telling them the film was in 3D.(yeah- jerk kids)
Anyhow - not an environment conducive to serious film watching.
That all changed when the movie got going.
We were riveted to our lawn chairs and practically falling out of them during the blood testing!
Good times!!
Good times.....Good times
this movie is a god among kings
BLASPHEMOUS!!!!! (not referred to opinions)
This is one of three movies that truly scare me. I agree this is a masterpiece of suspense and paranoia and mystery. The timeline is intriging, and becuase you have no idea where everyone was, its hard to determine it...but none of the timeline is impossible. And this is scary because its alien attack on a cellular level...we can see the infection.
This was one of the first horror movies I ever saw. Caught it around 9 or 10 years old. Really fascinated me and left a lasting impression. The sense of paranoia is so palpable throughout the film. And that score by Ennio Morricone just underscores it perfectly.
And what about the other two?
RealKull Just came to ask the same
RealKull I see you been waiting 9 months so I won't hold my breath hahaha,unless she returns after giving birth hahaha
I was not quite two years old when this movie was in theatres, I could watch it til the day I die. Truly a masterpiece.
Recently i was checking Palmer's behaviors, and the guy was one of the first to get assimilated, with Norris, and before Bennings.
He/it was a smart, deceitful bastard, tried to convince the crew to blast and burn MacReady after he came back from his shack after Nauls. Then he kept pushing Windows buttons, the weakest character who froze and lost his shit constantly, and wanted to go alone with Childs who was one of the strongest characters, certainly a better ally if assimilated.
These are awesome little details that make this masterpiece still relevant and unmatched.
As being the perfect age at 14, I remember it was the in your face gore that people were turned off by big time. I couldn’t understand that then I and my friends loved it.
I think the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the movie was definitely the gore and the devastatingly realistic portrayal of it. It always reminds me of the negative reaction to Event Horizon which, despite being released 15 years later, still had a very similar reaction as the Thing. Mostly due to the super-realistic and gory scenes from Hell.
So my point is if gore is that well done it will be almost instantly reviled but only because the quality of it is so good. Exploitative gore is usually just forgotten. Since then both films have become cult films and The Thing has become a masterpiece. In the case of The Thing, the gore overshadowed the paranoia and plot which was a shame since the paranoia and the uncertainty really are fantastically well done.
One of the best movies ever made, no doubt.
Definitely a masterpiece. The first time i saw it the movie made me paranoid for like a week, well me being 10 years old at a time might have contributed to it. This withstood the time test so well and it gives me creeps to this day. Its truly a shame that the "remake" was so disappointing since they had clear guidelines how to make it great and just ignored it with their Hollywood cliches and the overuse of CGI. 10/10 all day everyday for the 1982 one.
2011 film was not a remake. It was a prequel.
@@robertarodecker2558 Yes, can't believe that comment is 4 years old ;D
A line I would have liked to see: "That makes you a murderer, don't it?!" "Like hell--it was self defense."
Nah, wouldve been unnecessary. Child's had his mind made up. Mac trying to defend himself wouldve been pointless. Plus he already had the upper hand and knew he'd be trusted again when he showed everyone he was human and fleshed out the imitation among them.
Nah, Childs dislike for Mac made him very biased at that point, and Mac didn't care, he was in command and like he said before they were going to see who's who.
Anybody touches me, and we go...
He's not BREATHIN'!
The WHOLE camp goes!
I always was so anxiety ridden with how close his flare is to the dynamite. I swear that was to close. All it would take is one little spark popping off and landing on the fuse. Then when Norris and Nauls grab him, what a stupid fuckin move on their part!!
This is simply the greatest horror movie ever made.
It was Norris' head! C'mon guys! Haha
I first saw THE THING on cable because it was waayyy too intense for me to see in the theater. I was young and squeamish enough that I would have had to leave the theater if I saw it there. It at least felt small and remote enough on a television screen for me to bear it. Actually, I'm still squeamish as a moviegoer-- but I've seen it enough to be okay.
THE THING-- like BLADE RUNNER-- is one of those movies that is so deep in its storytelling and emotionality (is that a real word?) that you really cannot take in all of its subtleties in one viewing. Even critics, being human, fell to such craftiness. I'm really not big on screen violence but I'm fascinated by movies where the characters strike you as real human beings. This is why I love ALIEN so much. The sci-fi setting is what attracted me initially but the characters are what made the movie more horrifying; when they come across to a viewer as real people, their deaths hit deeply... because they felt as if you could relate to them and you care very much when they are taken. That's why I can't watch most horror films-- the characters are usually wooden and stereotypical. How can you care about a cardboard cutout getting killed? It almost seems to promote bloodthirstiness, in a way... "Get 'im. Get 'im". Also, the antagonist/creature in each of those movies is so unique that they can't help but stand out. I can't think of a more terrifying death than at the tendrils of the Thing invading your body... as opposed to some hockey-masked human with a knife. "Oh, you're only gonna stab me and pin me to a wall like a bug? How boring!" THE THING is the ultimate body horror film to me.
And what can I say of the music? To me, this score is on par with John Williams' JAWS theme. Maybe Ennio Morricone's score is not as recognized in pop culture, but I think it's every bit as effective in conveying the mood of THE THING as the JAWS theme. It's that underlying "heartbeat" within the music. It indeed sounds like a heartbeat but with a somewhat alien and strange reverb tone. That's what makes THE THING creepy to me.
I don't like violence-- but I still am fascinated by THE THING. What does that say of me?
hendrsb33
It sayz dat u should check urself n, 4 mental evaluation, IMMEDIATELY!!!
The suspense in this film is underrated, what i mean by that is that yeah the practical effects are amazing and i cant say anything thats been said already about them but i do feel that if it weren't for the suspense and tension the film would've been a boring movie with great production value, i love the attention to detail Carpenter shows in this film and mostly on the rest of his films too, every scene reveals something that will require attention for something later on
It's a master class in suspense.
This movie is a Masterpiece, Period. Don't know what the critics where smoking back in 1982, but glad it has aged like fine wine and is getting the recognition it deserves and just seems to get better every decade..
Norris's Spiderhead !!!
That spiderhead and the "what the fu..." scene imprinted itself on me when I was 9 or 10 and I first saw The Thing. Great stuff. The effect, and its impact on the viewer, never gets old.
You gotta be f**king kidding
Thank you!
one of the best horror movies of all time and the score is just amazing. Love the channel as well \m/
A 30 minute long video on this move... this is gonna be good.
Hope it lived up to expectation!
19:10 Our House & Cocoon are how I'll always remember him
It's Funny you picked out that scene with Wilf Brimley talking to clark. i swear to god THAT is the one that i think is some of the best acting to. It's the first scene where there is a facing realty between to members that has to be addressed. i NOW what you are saying mike. He gets alarmed n thinks I NEED TO KNOW this..then it's as if he doesnt want to face that realty cos it's TOO Grim and he also realizes he is ON HIS OWN With Clark and, as he wrote; "The chameleon strikes in the dark.." WHOOOOAA!. Wilf Brimley was a truly masterful and under exposed actor. He guys are also bang on when you said Kurt Russuel has never been better.
7:07 the comment about Alfred Hitchcock. Fun fact: special fx engineer Albert Whitlock who worked on "The Birds" also did matte painting effects for "The Thing".
John Carpenter to ME is one of the 10 greatest director's to ever do it... and one of the BIGGEST cases of how fu&^ing stupid many of the movie public are that epic's like Halloween, The Thing, and Escape from New York all have to take 10 to 20 to 30 years to make the money and appreciation they deserve ON RELEASE. Not to mention gems like Starman, Christine, Vampires, Assult on Precinct 13, or In the mouth of Madness and the gem that is Big Trouble in Little China. Hell even his average films of Prince of Darkness, or The Fog, and Village of the Dammned have 50% more style, heart and feel then 75% of the current shit of today. As this man should of been regarded as a great director from jump like Quentin T and not have to wait til now to 7 to 10 years ago to get his damn praise. Morons flock to Michael Bay's raping of our childhood (all the shit transformers or TMNT) meanwhile this man and genius of film was forced out due to not making enough $ to find work..... smh. Was nice to see this film get the spotlight here and a few others but as you two nailed it assclowns like Ebert and others routinely ruined many of his masterpieces out of their own ignorance.... pisses me off.
I actually just saw this movie for the first time and I’m 38, thought it was excellent and one of the best movies I’ve seen this decade. I was always the gamer in the family and played video games over watching tv and movies so I have a lot of old movie gems for rainy days.
I also wonder what the pulse of society was then. Hollywood and the media have shown to be a bit of a club where if you don’t align with their agendas and suits you get shut out and negative coverage. Look what happened to Tim Allen, had a great show that was doing well in the ratings for wrong think, that is absolutely a possibility back in 1982.
I think Hollywood in general and the TV industry is mostly just insane. Great shows get cancelled, crappy ones go on forever, reality TV is still somehow a thing... I personally don't consider Tim Allen the slightest bit funny, but that's from his standup and from Home Improvement, I haven't seen Last Man Standing but if he still uses grunting as a punchline then I have no reason to even feign interest in whether he improved. The show did however get 5 seasons so it's not like it was just cancelled out of nowhere and even if the ratings were good were they good enough to cover costs? Was Allen getting millions per episode? Were the advertisers simply not paying enough for some other obscure reason?
For The Thing the pulse was wanting to see sci-fi movies with friendly aliens. Pretty much that simple so far as I am aware. People wanted ET and things that weren't ET were bad, they had the wrong expectations for their experience and expectations can almost define an experience. I am finding it interesting how often I am reading about critics coming back to something after years and suddenly it is a Masterpiece. Though it doesn't seem to happen much the other way which is what we are here for ;)
At least not without looking at the film and saying something like "Wow, that is absolutely horrid behaviour/content by today's standards... Let's just sweep 'Song of the South' under the rug and pretend it never happened except for the 'Zip a Dee Doo Dah' song."
It was a studio release, but Carpenter was always an underground filmmaker; this movie is COOL in a way that ET isn't ( ET is schmaltz, but great schmaltz). He's Spielberg's cooler, crazier brother, and has the same filmmaking chops, making Carpenter dangerous.
This film is, to John Carpenter what “TO LIVE & DIE IN L.A.” is, to Bill Friedkin : a masterpiece, woefully underrated.
One of the relatively few times Roger Elbert’s apparent revised opinion landed well wide of the mark.
It was released when E.T. Was so it got panned with the influence of that, the Thing being a more depressing and dour picture even though it was brilliant and E.T. Being an upbeat kinda magical fantasy, either way The Thing is superb and definitely one of the greatest horror films with the Texas chainsaw massacre , the Exorcist, the Shining and Dawn of the Dead, Bottins creature effects are amazing, the paranoia is overwhelming and Kurt Russell as Mac is in my opinion his greatest ever role.
Assuming that this movie was somewhat ahead of its time, I will here share some notes - a sketch - for a theory of the message that this movie, in combination with other pieces of art, has for us in these current times .
Remember this is more like a sharing of unsorted yellow post-it notes, with the intention that our collective brain together will sort out if there is something to this or not.
The theory is that the average Joe out there can be grapped by an invasive type of consciousness, that are able to mimic perfectly who Joe is, but in a soulless manner. Something is able "to eat" Mr. and Mrs. Jones out there in a very subtle way, and continue their whereabouts in the world without anyone necessarily noticing.
The theory is that we are starting to notice this on a global level now. We are all under the influence of 'the tentacles' of the thing, but we are not all assimilated.
It is imitating and as long it is not "called out" it is keeping the hostility for itself.
The moment we 'call out' that someone are imitators that is when "the shit will hit the fan". As Windows said in the movie 'its gonna get a hell lot worse before it gets better' (why would he say that?)
Indicators of 'the thing' out there now:
\- every single newspaper in the newspaperstand has a cover with a 'get boosted now' advertisement
\- the system in china with total surveillance, a pre-requisite for 'the thing' to strike
\- The digital development is not decided by the public , instead it is simply being force-fed to us
The theory mentioned above might sound a little 'bleak' , but personally I am optimistic and believes in God also . That all is good. Still I believe we are not to be passive spectators in this creation, but maybe we are headed towards a very interesting singularity of some sort? Where a lot of interesting storylines will unfold, and we will get the opportunity to take part in them ?
Just some ideas .. let me hear what you think?
Joyful will,
Johan
ps. Two movies I would like to mention to bring in their perspectives to the matter is 'a space odyssey 2001' and 'the conversation' from 1974
The scene where MacReady pours whiskey in the PC made me think of Bowman using his resolve to physically unplug Hal. Also the scene where they sit in the tractor (Skidozer 301), it is said 'there is something wrong with Blair' , like they do in the shuttle where Hal cannot hear them ('there is something wrong with Hal') .. parallel between the thing and Hal9000 ?
Coincidentally I saw the movie 'the conversation' by Francis Ford Coppola the day before seeing the Thing for the first time (yesterday) .. spoiler alert ... at the the end of the movie the home is completely destroyed by the main character , Harry Caul, .. and during the movie 'he is not himself' , 'he was once somebodys little boy but are not anymore' , he is a shadow of himself, simply working all the time, consumed by work, which we deem to be "normal", but are really the thing in action? .. the final destruction of his home, has a similarity to the destruction of the base in the thing
22.50 The reason why he pours the beer into the computer is to symbolize the ending of him pouring the beer into chilles!
It has minor problems, I won’t lie, yet overall the magnitude of its successful aspects overshadow its failings. It struck such a primal chord in my consciousness that it quickly became my favorite horror film of all time. I can’t recommend it more highly than I do, I tell people to watch it as soon as possible, but also in the right atmospheric setting so that it doesn’t get ruined in the viewing by external distractions.
"It's fun...just not in an 'ET' kind of way." Lmao! That is so damn true!
At the end of the movie when Kurt and Keith are sitting there and the camera pulls away to show the fires that are burning out in the camp, and that music playing gives the feeling of utter hopelessness. John Carpenter is a genius.
Don't remember Brimley? The hilariously delivered line "I'll kill yew!" That's one of my favorite parts. You can tell pains in ass that The Thing was female.
But why is the light on in McCready's shack.
Michael Salisbury It is believed that the Palmer Thing went
into Mac's Shack to frame him and left da light on
That makes sense; thanks for replying.
palmer misdirection
We don’t know whether it was Palmer, but the Thing definitely went to Macready’s shack to frame him. It left shredded underwear there with Macready’s nametag still on it and left the lights on to make sure somebody would come to investigate.
The problem I have with Blair's computer stimulation is that the thing cell is overwriting the other cell, instead of copying it.
Saw this at the cinema in the UK on release and was absolutely mind blown! It's been at the top of my best films list, ever since. Sorry ladies but I am so glad there were no women in it and I always thought Wilfred Brimley rocked. Without doubt, a masterpiece!
Has anybody noticed during the bum rush of Blair in the radio room that McCready accidentally punches Fuchs. Fuchs says "Nice shot McCready" and falls over. I have yet to read anybody mention that tidbit, it almost feels adlibed, like Russell accidentally punched the actor and the just goes with it. I always smile at that comedic line during such an intense scene.
Chaos is chaotic ;) Kinda nice to see that things go wrong in a clusterfuck like a misplaced punch but I will have to pay more attention next time.
I noticed it too and was a little confused at why Fuchs fell over with some blood on his forehead. Thanks for clarifying. And NOBODY ever mentions it so good catch.
I've seen several videos on this movie and i've watched it several times over the years. I watched this on Halloween too. As a kid i used to think that Keith David's character in this movie was his character from They Live in an alternate universe.
Nate Dupree Yeah man and McCready is actually Snake Plisken,this is where he went off to away from society
The Thing is a classic movie I rewatch every year. I love this movie.
Greetings, just wanted to give thanks for what you guys do, and to also mention something I noticed thru watching many fan theories and such, but one thing I picked up on, not sure if it's been spoke of, but, one of the little things I saw in how to figure out who was infected. Notice who has "human emotions", and who seems bland and unhumanly during various parts where as thoes who should be more expressive, are not.The Thing might be able to imitate anything perfectly on a genetic level, but it simply can not copy human emotions perfectly. Just a playfull thought to add in and to think about. Thanks.
Yeah, that is definitely something I am going to look for next time I watch the film. The copied versions of the cast do have an otherness to them but I think there might be an argument to be made there with Blair. It depends on when Blair was transformed. Anyway, thanks for the comment!
I disagree, the Thing has no problems showing emotions, just look at Palmer, the goofy, pot-smoking anti-establishment helicopter pilot. He was one of the more expressive characters even though he was probably taken over by the Thing quite early in the movie.
I knew this film was a masterpiece when I saw it on the big screen, at the movies in 1982. I walked home, shaking. The critics didn't.
I did not even notice there was a noose in Blair’s shack until my 5th or 6th viewing because they did not give it any attention.
omegastar19 I love when they don't draw attention to details like that in the set design or costumes. It's there to see for the dedicated viewer and not necessarily vital to the storytelling but gives a deeper experience when noticed.
this guy saying Evil Dead doesn't have gore... what?? u kidding me? granted the effects aren't as good or realistic but it's still bloody and gory
It has been so long since I have listened to this episode I don't even remember Dustin or I making that comment. lol I should probably give it a listen and refresh.
In my opinion evil dead is the best of all time horror flick
"too scared to be together" welcome to 2020
Thanks, please do more talks like this, thanks for letting us in on ya'lls conversation and it never occured to me that how long they been up, but it add a new layer to Garry's "It's gone Mcready" now stating he's too tired to do anything about it..
Simon I dunno about that. I took that emphasised ‘gone’ to mean that the generator wasn’t just smashed,
but that it had been physically ripped out and was literally missing. Just my take on it....
The universal thing was a haunted house attraction they had one year during halloween horror nights. Was and still is my favorite house they've had. Favorite part was this long tight hallway you went down, with mutated dog puppets snarling and barking at your from the left and right. Was so extreme, I loved it that house.
I never listen to movie critics after the end of Siskel and Ebert.....a good movie in anticipation is like a cookie of the future! Until you’ve tasted it yourself you just won’t know! And by then, it’s too late! Anticipation forever replaced by finding out for one’s self if the movie is “Good” or “bad” : and in doing so one appreciates the artwork for what it is....J. Carpenter’s The Thing is a masterpeice in my opinion, a definitive showing of how to manipulate characters, and keep it surrounded and grounded in Paranoia, confusion, and fear.
That was actually a legit sombrero McCready wore, not a cowboy hat. Even cooler!
Regarding negative reaction at the time. I grew up in the 80s and although I was too young to see this in theatres (13), I remember how everyone was freaking out about "ET" and what a "heartwarming" flick it was. You know how fickle culture can be, especially in the U.S. Of course "The Thing" must have seemed "gross" in contrast.
The world just wasn't ready for it yet, truly.
Really happy it's now considered a classic as to me, it's always been the quintessential Sci-Fi/Horror flick. Arguably, "Cosmic Horror", technically...
Simply the best acting I’ve seen in a film to date. The genre of the film is beside the point, amazing shots -watch it simply for the actors performances and pay attention to how the shots are lined up. Carpenter breaks the 4th wall in the rec room behind where Blair is sitting.
The chess game in the beginning was important in its foreshadowing.
Great Commentary Guys, Very Well Done!
Thanks 🖖🖖🖖
Probably my fav horror film of all time
Definitely one of ours as well.
Released 2 weeks after the end of another masterpiece of suspense and horror that unfolded a few miles away. But this one was real and I starred in it: the Falklands War.
FYI the universal studios exhibit was actually a haunted house area during Halloween horror nights one year. It was really well done too.
This was my first real taste of a horror movie. 1999 I was really young and the kennel scene fucked me up so hard I couldn’t watch the movie for about 12 years. It was actually a preview for the 2011 thing that sparked me to try and arc it again, and horror movies aren’t my go to for movies, but the thing is hands downy favorite movie of all time and in my opinion probably the best movie ever made. Based on movies that deliver for you to feel a certain way. Purely terrifying.
The Thing is absolutely The Godfather of sci-fi horror films. Period.
wait for the pre-prequel when the “thing” hoops on to the alien space ships kills the alien crew and then crash lands on earth. WTF? lol
You know, I'd probably watch that movie. 😀
Nauls was actually assimilated by Blair at the end. The scene was scripted where it showed him half digested with tentacles ripping out of his skin right before the Blair Thing erupts from the floorboards at the end. They didn’t have time to film it, though.
Actually there is a woman in the cast, the chess voice is Adrian barboa, which was John carpenters wife at the time
The chess scene with MacReady feels like an ode to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Wow you guys should be a much bigger channel. My favorite part is the ending and all the theories if Child's is a imitation and how he says "you the only one that made it?" as if he's not human also but Macready picks up on it and says "not the only one."
Thanks for the kind words, Sir Cumference. We really appreciate your checking us out and we agree with you 100%. We should be a much bigger channel!! ;) Word of mouth really helps with that so feel free to share the episode on social media and help spread the word.
I have seen a lot of theories regarding the end of the film and, personally, I like leaving it open ended like Carpenter did. Not knowing if Childs is The Thing. We have been with MacReady through the whole film so we know he's human, but having that x-factor of not knowing where Childs has been and what his situation is just gives the ending that much more oomph.
Thanks again for listening!
No, they're both human. The Thing (2011) game is a sequel to the movie approved by John Carpenter. Child dies of exposure to the cold and Macready helps the protagonist of the game defeat the last boss thing.
That ain't true Yadid.
If he is a perfect imitation, then Childs also would have said "you the only one that made it". To expand, he could have meant "you the only one (of you, garry, and nauls) who survived going out to test blair?".
Yadid Chowdhury wait did you just say that the thing 2011 film was a sequel egh wrong it's a prequel get you're facts straight first and child's was the thing at the end you can tell with macreadys reaction when child's drank from the j&b bottle that little chuckle meant that he outsmarted the thing
Speaking of not knowing what happened to Nauls...Sequel idea.... Old, PTSD Nauls , as the only survivor , gets hauled into an investigation of what happened at the station when weird things are discovered there. Wonder what T.K. Carter is up to these days.
I'd read that script. Looks like Carter worked fairly steady up until ten years ago. Not sure if he is retired or doing theatre or if it's something else.
For Your Consideration
How screwed in the head would someone be after living through the events of that film? Never sure if the thing is really gone. Never sure if those around you are really human. Hell. Never sure if you, yourself have , or have not, been infected. Living in constant fear that you have lost your mind and all of that was a hallucination, or fear it wasn't.
Storyboarding shows that Nauls was assimilated by Blair-Thing. The scene was Nauls yelling to be put down by MacReady while being assimilated.
The best adaptation of Lovecraftian horror on the silver screen. Also, who cares if there isn't a woman in the film? IT doesn't matter. If anything, the lack of a female makes the suspense much more intense:no loving, nurturing, maternal persona to give the audience any sense of hope.
Mandela Effect, Palmer doesn't say "You got yo be fucking kidding me." I would have swore on a bible he did.... He just says "You got to be fucking kidding."
Masterpiece, end of. People are still analysing many different parts of the movie more than 40 years later! Best horror movie made.
If this isn't already considered a masterpiece, the world is truly doomed.
I imagination it so hard with the Dr Evil Voice. XD
The Thing(1982) is one of my favorite movies and I call it a masterwork of suspense and a horror classic and a David Cronenberg style horror masterpiece I rated it high on my lists of movies
Ok enough about the "Oh no women, bad!" crap. In 1982 we had maybe 1 woman down in the entire Antarctic from the U.S. and the Brits had a ban on women at the time. Only on a South American or Soviet base would you find women.
Guess what kinds of bases don't take place in the movie? SMH.
My favourite movie of all time
Released on my 19th birthday.
This also produced my favorite meme.
"Yeah? FUCK YOU TOO!"
In my top 10 favorite films of all time.
I'm a huge fan of the thing. I've seen this movie at least a 💯 time's. Probably more, but hey. Norris was the first victim of the thing. No doubt! Then it was Palmer. Palmer then got to Blair. From there every one else was eliminated by the thing or McCready. Nauls was killed by the thing, but his death scene was taken out of the movie. His a really good spoiler alert! The thing survived to the end. It was either child's or McCready? John carpenter himself admitted to this fact in an interview.
With this horrible virus spreading over the world I’m going to hunker down and watch my five favourite genre films on repeat- Wizard of Oz, Blazing Saddles, A New Hope, The Godfather and of course...The Thing .
I care what I like, don't care about critic ratings
Part of the problem with The Thing is that it was a remake of a classic. The classic had zero gore. The Thing had tons of gore. That's what I remember people having a problem with when it came out, the gore and violence. I remember loving the film. My husband hated it. Because of the gore. He also hates the remake of The Fly, because of the gore and because he loved the original. I tihnk this film had departed so far from classic horror and science fiction movies that people had a hard time accepting it. And now, of course, The Thing is the classic and newer movies are compared to the standard it set.
You don't need to show much horror effects to shock audiences
An ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT film.
Wow. Thanks! Haven’t seen this one.
The Covid scare has made people extremely paranoid of others, just like in this film
Masterpiece or museum-piece? Why not both?
This film is a true masterpiece!
Perfect course of action