# The Thing (1982)



## Foxbat (Mar 3, 2005)

Please put your thoughts/deliberations/paranoia here


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## Leto (Mar 3, 2005)

This film is one of the rare case where I prefer the clone to the original (made in  1951 by Christian Niby). Not that the first one wasn't a good movie, it was. But this one is made by my favorite director, has Kurt Russel when he was still sexy and scares the hell out of me. And on a plus side, no "happy-end" ala Hollywood. 

One of my favorite scenes is at the beginning : the one in the kennel when the Thing attack the dogs. I still wonder how did they do such realistic FX.


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## Winters_Sorrow (Mar 3, 2005)

the bit where the doc operates and loses his hands! 

still scares me now - even when I know it's coming!

really good film with a 'believeable' reaction from the characters to the situation.......you almost believe they'll make it out alive..


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## Tsujigiri (Mar 4, 2005)

I have always enjoyed this film, it has strong a Lovecraft theme to it, a deserted and inhospitable place, isolation, paranoi and an unnameable 'Thing'.

The build up of tension could have been done better, but once established is quite excellent, Never knowing who may have been infected by the parasite keeps the characters guessing and bouncing off each other nicely.

I see strong parallels between this film and Lovecrafts book 'At the Mountains of Madness' although 'The Thing' has a far less intricate and evolved storyline.


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## Foxbat (Mar 4, 2005)

This movie is much closer to the original story (*Who Goes There?* by John Campbell) than the 50s version. It's probably down to the fact that special effects were just not up to making a film like this way back then. In saying that, the 50's _Thing From Another World_ is still a fine film and worth checking out  

Personally, I think this is one of Carpenter's best (if not _the _best) and his build up of paranoia even outshines the excellent visuals which still look good today. Russel is very good in this film - but has the luxury of a fine supporting cast which always makes it easier for an actor to shine.

As for Lovecraft connotations, I'd agree with that - but it's probably more likely that old HP influenced the story more than the movie (the Lovecraftian overtures being a  carry-over from Campbell's original text) 

All in all, one of my favourites and a film well worth revisiting


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## Leto (Mar 4, 2005)

Casting alchemy is one of the strength in most Carpenter's movies. (But the Best is Prince of Darkness IMO


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## rune (Mar 4, 2005)

I remember watching this with my Mam and she was grossed out by the movie (she remembered the first one with affection)

Personally I really like this movie.  Some of the scenes with the alien are kinda awful and I think that's why I like it so much.  The head that grows spider type legs really sticks with me, that did feel creepy.


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## ravenus (Mar 4, 2005)

I haven't seen this movie but...apart from the fact that it deals with people in an isolated environment, is Lovecraft really a significant ifnfluence. I ask because the concept of the parasite creature does not seem Lovecraftian to me. Lovecraft's 'things' are generally gargantuan mind-shatteringly powerful entities with whose very breath mortal civilizations would rise and perish.

I've seen the older movie though...unassuming B-pic, moderately amusing if obtained cheap.


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## Tsujigiri (Mar 4, 2005)

A lot of Lovecrafts entities were simpler that such beings as Cthulhu or Nyarlathotep. The Haunter of the Dark was a fairly simple if powerful creature.

However I wasn't suggesting that the script or screenplay was Lovecraftian entirely, but simply that there are parallels there.


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## Leto (Mar 4, 2005)

Checking for more detail on Lovecraft and John Carpenter's work : http://www.geocities.com/j_nada/carp/interview/theyliveretro.html Although IMO the Lovecraft influence is much more important in the second movie mentionned The Mouth of the Madness.


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## ravenus (Mar 5, 2005)

Oha, *Madness* was basically Carpenter's attempt to do a Lovecraftian story (even the title has its roots in _At the Mountains of Madness_). It was not all even but an interesting attempt all the same and from what I've heard more in the Lovecraft spirit than other so-called adaptations of HPL works.


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## stencyl (Mar 12, 2005)

I'm not a huge horror fan, but I really enjoyed this film, especially in relation to the story, "who Goes There?" One of the things that struck me was the way that Carpenter dealt with an interesting aspect of character found in the story. Most of the guys in the story are described in terms of metal--McReady is "bronze", while others are iron, steel, etc. They are literally "men of steel" of sorts that the thing (described in terms of it's liquid, soft, mallablility) destroys them pretty easily. 

While Carpenter didn't have the ability to describe his characters in these terms, I was struck by the tough-guy nature of them all. The only womem that "appear" in the film are comptur with a female voice who beats McReady in chess (he calls the computer a "bitch" and pours his drink on it) and a few images posing on posters in the background (which I think are old army posters warning of the dangers of sex, if I am not mistaken). These guys weild guns, and Carpenter even takes advantage of the cowboy image in one scene where they are all standing around a table and the carmera pans across their waists revealing a holster and gun slung across a few.

One nice thing about this genre is that it can resist the Hollywood idea that everything will turn out okay in the end, and Capenter's ending does just that. He basically dismantles all the tough guy images with some great gore scenes and pacing that kept me interested. In the end, the cowboy-tough guy does not win, and thus I think that the film works to dimantle some of the more mainstream images of masculinity.


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## Foxbat (Mar 12, 2005)

> One nice thing about this genre is that it can resist the Hollywood idea that everything will turn out okay in the end, and Capenter's ending does just that. He basically dismantles all the tough guy images with some great gore scenes and pacing that kept me interested. In the end, the cowboy-tough guy does not win, and thus I think that the film works to dimantle some of the more mainstream images of masculinity.


 
Interesting comment. Carpenter is (more or less) quite independant when it comes to making films and not as restricted as some of his contemporaries by the demands of Hollywood. It makes me wonder what another director would have done with this.


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## Tsujigiri (Mar 12, 2005)

Just think...if Tarantino had done this....then we would have to lynch him....


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## Leto (Mar 12, 2005)

Foxbat said:
			
		

> Interesting comment. Carpenter is (more or less) quite independant when it comes to making films and not as restricted as some of his contemporaries by the demands of Hollywood. It makes me wonder what another director would have done with this.



BTW, someone have seen the recent remake of Assault on Precinct 13 with Laurence Fishburne and Ethan Hawke ?


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## Circus Cranium (Mar 13, 2005)

This is one of my all time favorite films. I think the character development is great, and Kurt Russell will always be MacReady to me. My favorite scene is where he ties them all up and they test the blood. Palmer's tied to the couch and he starts to change...

I think Carpenter builds added tension in all his films by use of soundtrack. It's always that sort of simplistic double bass...........boom boom......boom boom.....boom boom.....


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## Foxbat (Mar 14, 2005)

> BTW, someone have seen the recent remake of Assault on Precinct 13 with Laurence Fishburne and Ethan Hawke



Not yet. I generally like Fishburne as an actor but I just can't get past the old 'why remake in the first place' question.



> I think Carpenter builds added tension in all his films by use of soundtrack. It's always that sort of simplistic double bass...........boom boom......boom boom.....boom boom.....


 
Agreed. Carpenter is a man of many talents and generally does his own sondtrack. However, my favourite of his is the twanging bass on the slow 12 bar he uses in *They Live*.


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## Circus Cranium (Mar 14, 2005)

Oh man, I forgot about that one. 


"I'm here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum."


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## BAYLOR (Feb 6, 2017)

Unlike the 1951  Howard Hawks film which is a good  B Movie flick . The 1982 version with it shape shifting Alien is more in like with Jon W Campbell's story * Who Goes There.*


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## Rodders (Feb 6, 2017)

This movie stand up after multiple viewings. Excellent special effect, a great cast and a great script. There are so many great scenes that it's difficult to pick one out. Still one of my favourite movies, even now.

It's a shame they didn't do a sequel. Now that would've been dark.

I didn't mind the prequel and I get the criticism that it was essentially the same movie, but there's not a lot that you can do given it's the same setting and the same situation.


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## BAYLOR (Feb 6, 2017)

Rodders said:


> This movie stand up after multiple viewings. Excellent special effect, a great cast and a great script. There are so many great scenes that it's difficult to pick one out. Still one of my favourite movies, even now.
> 
> It's a shame they didn't do a sequel. Now that would've been dark.
> 
> I didn't mind the prequel and I get the criticism that it was essentially the same movie, but there's not a lot that you can do given it's the same setting and the same situation.



I thought the ending was brilliant.


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## Nick B (Feb 6, 2017)

The Thing is, in my opinion, one of the best horror films ever made. Genuinely scary, tense and extreme paranoia, not to mentim great casting and direction.

One of the best lines ever -

"What is that thing?"
"I don't know, but it's wierd and pissed off."


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## HanaBi (Feb 6, 2017)

Perhaps my favourite Carpenter film, although "_Assault_...", "_Escape_.." and "_Halloween_" are not too far behind in the entertainment stakes!

Rob Bottin's prosthetic sfx were, and still are, exceptionally well done, and truly terrifying even after repeat viewings!

And I particularly liked the downbeat ending!

And as for favourite lines! 

Palmer's "_You gotta be f***in' kidding!_"  always raises a smile. But the best of the best would be Fuch's "_There is still cellular activity in these burned remains. They're not dead yet!_"


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## Rodders (Feb 6, 2017)

I'd have to go with Macready's "Cheatin' bitch...".


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## J Riff (Feb 7, 2017)

No girls in the_ Thing_, only the computer voice that MacReady pours a drink into...
Part three has to come along eventualmoi. The Thing has to get loose, it's still alive, some bit of it, under the ice there...


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## Ignited Moth (Feb 7, 2017)

Such a good movie!
One of my favorites to bring up when discussing practical effects. Now I wanna re-watch it over the weekend.


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## HanaBi (Feb 7, 2017)

Rodders said:


> I'd have to go with Macready's "Cheatin' bitch...".



Being a bit of a computer geek (although more so in my youth 20 odd years ago),  I was quite shocked when MacReady poured that scotch into the innards of his "cheating" computer!

I kept on thinking to myself "But the motherboard, man! You've blown the motherboard!" (Never mind all the subsequent violence, terror and grizzly deaths to the humans: the guy blew away a perfectly good PC!!)

I seem to recall wanting The Thing to take swift & merciless vengence out on MacRready!


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## Vince W (Feb 7, 2017)

I remember seeing The Thing in the cinema in 1982. It was and still is the scariest film I've ever seen. When the head sprouts legs and starts walking I still cringe in fear.

One of my favourite quotes is when Garry says 'I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time, I'd rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS F**KING COUCH!'


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## BAYLOR (Feb 7, 2017)

Ignited Moth said:


> Such a good movie!
> One of my favorites to bring up when discussing practical effects. Now I wanna re-watch it over the weekend.



Alan Dean Foster did the novelization of movie.


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## Vince W (Feb 8, 2017)

BAYLOR said:


> Alan Dean Foster did the novelization of movie.



I read that one. It was pretty good as I recall. I may even still have it buried away somewhere.


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## BAYLOR (Feb 9, 2017)

Vince W said:


> I read that one. It was pretty good as I recall. I may even still have it buried away somewhere.



Foster is a terrific writer.


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## Rodders (Feb 9, 2017)

Indeed. Probably the largest single contributor to my adolescence reading.


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## HanaBi (Feb 9, 2017)

BAYLOR said:


> Foster is a terrific writer.



I have that book buried in my attic! It's been an age since it last saw daylight. Might be inclined to "go hunting" for it, or better still just download it to my Kindle, and see if it still stands up against the film


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## Frost Giant (Feb 22, 2017)

Leto said:


> BTW, someone have seen the recent remake of Assault on Precinct 13 with Laurence Fishburne and Ethan Hawke ?


Yes, I actually ended up seeing it in the theater. It's not an all time classic or anything, but it's a decent dirty cop/siege type film. Worth seeing at least once. Good actors, good performances.


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## clovis-man (Mar 9, 2017)

BAYLOR said:


> Alan Dean Foster did the novelization of movie.



If you get an opportunity to read Campbell's original story, it still retains all the suspense and paranoia that Carpenter captured in the movie. Even all these years later.


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## Gnrevolution (Mar 22, 2017)

Absolutely love this film, one of my favs of all time.  Loads of great characters and lines, and the sfx still hold up today, which is more than be said for a lot of the dross out there (i happened to catch a bit of Phantom Menace on TV the other day, man that dated horribly!). Gotta love Macready and the gang, many of the infamous scenes and lines have already been mentioned, although the autopsy always stuck out in my mind as a great scene as well, particularly the gagging by the doctor whose carrying it out!.

Never saw the prequel, heard so many bad things about it, always had in mind that they would make a sequel whereby the radio operator (Windows?) has actually managed to get the message out, and once the storm clears a rescue team from McMurdo Station which is much larger (~250 inhabitants) comes to get them, possibly led by some form of military (I believe it's a US base so they're bound to have an armed presence ).  Of course, Macready and Childs are still alive, although Macready is unresponsive so they take them both back and, well you can imagine how it continues from there!  

**Spoiler Alert** You just know Childs was infected at the end of the original, although it's never revealed, else where did he go during the climatic battle?  It's probably a bit late to do the sequel now so we'll just never know, but I always had it as the transition a la Alien > Aliens


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## Rodders (Mar 22, 2017)

I didn't think that the prequel was that bad. The problem with it is that it's essentially the same movie. (although in fairness, given the location it could only ever be the same movie.) 

Something that i didn't think was explored enough was the intelligence possessed by the creature (either natural intelligence, or gained as part of the absortion).


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## J Riff (Mar 22, 2017)

The prequel did a good thing though. It left our heroine headed back across the ice, towards the camp where MacReady and the other guy are still alive.
So we can start with her getting there. Kurt Russel doesn't have to be there, or the other guy, they can be Thinged by then, or whatever. It's pretty well set up.


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## Bugg (Mar 22, 2017)

Well this has just made me want to watch it again 

Has anyone else listened to the Carpenter/Russell commentary on the DVD?  I think they may both have been a little . . . tipsy


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## Venusian Broon (Mar 22, 2017)

Tis such a great film. Talking about drinks and the film, I love the fan theory that McCready actually starts drinking petrol (or gasoline for our American cousins) right at the end instead of scotch, to test Childs to see if he was an alien. From memory Childs takes a big slug with no ill effect, so McCready knows all he can do is do nothing, freeze it (and himself) to stop it spreading...


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## BAYLOR (Mar 22, 2017)

clovis-man said:


> If you get an opportunity to read Campbell's original story, it still retains all the suspense and paranoia that Carpenter captured in the movie. Even all these years later.



I have read Campbell's story and I quite agree.


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## Danny McG (Mar 23, 2017)

clovis-man said:


> If you get an opportunity to read Campbell's original story, it still retains all the suspense and paranoia that Carpenter captured in the movie. Even all these years later.



Like, I suspect, a good number of Chrons, I've read the Campbell story and the Foster novelization and IMO the Foster version comes out on top. Just like the films - eighties trumps fifties.


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## Danny McG (Mar 23, 2017)

Some 'olden days' Chronners had a discussion about The Thing as well
The Thing (1982)


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## Galactic Journey (Jul 3, 2017)

Foxbat said:


> This movie is much closer to the original story (*Who Goes There?* by John Campbell) than the 50s version.



Truth.  In fact, they're the same story except for the number of characters.  Basically, Carpenter whittled down the number such that the alien had a 50/50 chance of survival.

One of the best films of any genre and any time (even if The Thing violates the Second Law...)


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