I really like the idea that 'The Thing' is an intelligent being and has consumed multiple worlds but humanity is the first time it's encountered another intelligent life and is freaking the fuck out.
It's interesting. In sci-fi, it seems like aliens always react to humans with blind malice or preachy superiority. You don't see a lot of stories where aliens are terrified by humans or find them adorable. In Ender's Game, the aliens just don't understand that humans aren't a hive mind, but they're not disgusted and terrified by the concept.
There is a good movie I forgot the name of. Where an alien hive mind comes to earth. It shows it infecting countless “lower” life forms in the galaxy. It makes sense how infecting animals can be easy. Yet when it encounters intelligent life, it struggles. Love it, love humanity. Monke make rock fly.
what sucks even more about the The Thing (Prequel) is you can see how in love with the first movie the crew were, how they went too great lengths to make everything seen at the norwegian base in the first movie match up, and show how it all got there, from the dead Norwegian, to the axe, the ice bed, to the corpses and finally who the two men chasing the Thing Dog were. You could tell that they wanted it to be as faithful to Carpenters movie as they could get, but in the end Corperate butchered it, as they always do.
Or they just used it as the lazy way to write a script. "Just use whatever was in the first movie and fill in the gaps", the same as usual prequel garbage stories "and this is how I got my hat, and this is where I meet a guy, I once mentioned in other movie".
@@fnot804people like to say the cgi ruined it. It isnt amazing but its not the real issue. Real issue is its a mediocre 2000s monster movie with pieces of a better movie scattered around, ironically to disguise it as something it is not.
I love the idea that the Thing hates MacReady with a fucking passion, especially after the blood test. I also like the idea that neither Childs and MacReady were the Thing and it was successfully killed. But it left such a psychological scar on both survivors that neither of them will take their eyes off of each other until whenever rescue arrives out of sheer paranoia.
@@baldrofasgard4793 Yeah the idea definitely feeds on the paranoia aspect of the movie. Though honestly, I just don't believe Childs is a Thing because it would make the end too bleak.
I remember showing this to my sister, she called it a boring stupid movie…… until the dog happened and she noped out. I love slow burners. And the “Tied to this couch” quote is my go to for vocal warmups.
I showed my family this movie and they said it was stupid and the effects were bad. Like my man it was made on a shoestring budget and they killed it with the practical effects. It was for MY BIRTHDAY they coulda just said it was good.
I agree with your interpretation that McCready and Childs are human at the end but don't know that and are still suspicious of each other. I think that speaks most to the human nature element to the story.
@@nickmcgowan6932 But wait, wasn't there a comic book continuation that revealed that Childs was the thing the whole time? Did the game and comic contradict eachother or are one or both non-canon?
The Thing was shown in local cinema a couple of weeks ago. The theatre was packed full, around half were young people (I almost felt warmth in my hollow chest). At the end people were clapping and cheering. Amazing.
The dog chase are another example of how much the script quality in Hollywood have regressed. A simple scene that give all the background information you need, without giving anything away. Something we just don't see today
This makes me miss the heart, work and soul that went into producing practical effects. While I don't think that CGI should be completely shunned, it'd be nice if movie studios went back to what made classic horror great.
It still blows my mind that people hated this movie when it first released. Very few movies that I've seen have managed to hold that tense atmosphere through an entire film. And the practical effects are top tier.
I think it was just one of those pieces of media that was made in the wrong time and place. Plus, critics are idiots and we didn't have the internet back then to allow more independent discussion.
It came out the same year as ET, so it got a bad rap because it wasn't a feel good "aliums are frens!" movie. So it basically suffered the same issue as Outlaw Star being accused of not being as good as Cowboy Bebop... bad timing in close proximity to another beloved classic.
Most professional "movie critics" of the period hated horror movies. Especially gory ones. Some would go on agitated rants about them like clockwork. The only way people heard/read something good or bad about movies back then was via those reviews, or word of mouth from someone who took a blind leap. The latter was related to marketing via TV commercials so if a film didn't get much marketing it didn't get as much notice. I suspect it was a combination of these things which meant some of the old greats just didn't get much attention from audiences when first released.
I heard the prequel movie had loads of real, practical effects and puppet work as a kind of respectful nod to the John Carpenter version. The studio intervened and a ton of film was cut because they were scared modern audiences wouldn't like the puppetry and practical effects work, so whole swathes of the movie had to be reshot with CGI. A shame, I wonder what that movie would've been like had the the suits not intervened.
I feel like the CGI was a good option for scenes that are mainly running sequences for the Thing. I just don’t think I could take someone in a suit seriously.
21:29 I like this interpretation the best too. It really hammers on the point that, regardless of their victory against the alien, these two men are still doomed, as help is extremelly unlikely to come and they'll probably both freeze to death unable to trust each other.
Watched this for the first time with all my siblings a few months back. One of the best horror movies I had ever seen. Loved the story, the ambiguity, and the practical effects. Truly a masterpiece.
Wondering if the test audiences and producers who were saying "there's too much backstory, the effects look like they're from the 1980's" to the original iteration of the prequel movie were the same species of people who demanded Event Horizon cut all those (now lost) scenes that were cut from the movie for being "too gory". Too gory. In a horror movie.
"It looks too much like an 80's movie" I...I just can't. Who the fuck are they getting to be the testers? Do they just grab people with no taste and so they can tell producers "Fuck this shit up fam".
Shout out to the thing video game on the PlayStation 2. A very flawed game, but the idea of having squad members possibly being infected, is a very interesting idea in survival horror. 🎩 🐍 no step on Snek!🇺🇸🇭🇰
Based on the scraps of interview material I could find, it was supposed to have a random infection chance mechanic amongst the NPCs. Meaning no same person would get infected on every playthrough. But unfortunately, amongst other interesting concepts the devs wanted to try, it got butchered due to the low budget. A shame too. The thing would've absolutely worked as a horror game.
The whole studio interference and screen testing thing with the 2011 Thing will never not piss me off. It enrages me when you see a group with passion behind the scenes get shafted by the studio. It had a lot of potential.
If you think that’s disappointing, there was a planned TV-miniseries sequel to the original movie that was going to air on Sci-Fi Channel in 2005 called ‘Return of The Thing’, but it was sadly never made.
At 13:50 you can also see that the Chess Wizard cheats to win, much like how the Thing "cheats" by absorbing people and stowing division amongst the uninfected Its such great foreshadowing this movie is awesome my brother's favorite (definitely my favorite horror movie next to Jacob's Ladder)
It doesn't cheat. It's just bad continuity. But the chess game reflects what happens. Not just what Macready does, but the placement of all the pieces.
That dog scene, as well as the mouth jaw scene lives rent free in my head to this day. Fucking loved this one a lot. Probably influenced my love of body horror and weird parasitical aliens too.
The Thing and the manga Parasyte found me around the same time I was dipping my toe into the horror genre and now I'm in the same camp with you. The dog scene is my favorite in the movie, I think.
I’d say this is absolutely Carpenter’s best, and as much as I love Halloween, I don’t think you can deny that he perfected his craft in pretty much every aspect from that movie to The Thing
This movie has infinite reward value because regardless of how many times you watch it, you will never be able to pin point when certain characters get infected. You could make an argument that Blair got infected early on or he got infected while he alone and locked in the shed. He might have destroyed the equipment to avoid any other infected crew members to contact the outside world or he could be infected and wants to avoid them trying to get help. There's no clear answer and I love that.
There’s a few assumptions made here about who’s infected and when. Blair destroying the helicopter doesn’t mean he was infected then - he could’ve still been himself then and was only infected afterwards (when he was locked up?). Then the Blair-Thing knew the helicopter and snow cat were disabled by Blair, but that it could still use pieces to make its own thing. We also don’t know who was infected by the dog: could’ve been Palmer or Norris.
The "Blair going nuts" scene was shortly after the computer sim scene predicting the end of the world, so I always felt he was still human at that point. Recently, however, I noticed that he touches the corpse of the dog-thing with his pencil eraser and then touches his lips with it, so who knows? I could be either he was infected at the autopsy of the dog-thing or some piece of the dog-thing escaped being burned and infected him when he was sedated and locked in the hut.
@mmilley Blair would have still been human when he killed the dogs and smashed the chopper. The thing would have no reason to deprive itself of transportation it coulduse to make contact with a greater number of hosts.
No yeah. If Blair really was infected when he was destroying the helicopter and everything, why would he have presumably tried to off himself when he was in isolation? It would make no sense for the creature to have tied a noose to kill itself because obviously its primary goal is self preservation judging by alien Blair's later actions and the noose makes Blair look extremely suspicious if anyone decides to check in on him for whatever reason. Plus, it makes way more sense if Blair was human up until some time while he was isolated as he found out that this alien has a very high chance of killing everyone leading to him trying to keep the alien contained in the base by destroying all possible escapes. So, when he is put into isolation and truly believes that everyone is doomed, he ties a noose and tries to die instead of letting himself possibly be assimilated and aid the alien. I am guessing his attempt was interrupted by one of the aliens coming in and assimilating him and just leaving the noose up because the thing didn't understand what a noose was or the intentions behind it. It is all really pure speculation and I could be missing out on a really obvious explanation for why an assimilated Blair would make a noose but, to me, the noose makes it pretty obvious that Blair was not assimilated until some time into his isolation.
I think you can really tell it's cautious and frustrated when Blair-thing looks both ways when assimilating Gary, it's definitely scared of being found out.
Strong contender for the greatest horror movie monster or maybe even outright horror movie antagonist of all time. And what do we call it, just, The Thing. It's perfect.
"The Thing" has to be one of the very best horror movies ever made, especially with the pracrical effects. The ambiance and how hopeless the situation truly is.
I've always thought the first shadow that gets infected by the dog-thing was Norris. I also don't think Blair was infected until AFTER they locked him up. I think he was perfectly sane when he sabotaged the vehicles; I think he was trying to ensure that they all died. His 'ranting' when he's busting up the communication equipment all makes perfect sense in hindsight: "At least ONE of you knows what's going on! You think it was trying to copy a dog? It wants to be uuuuuuuuus!"
Makes a lot of sense. Prevent the Thing from escaping in a vehicle or radioing for help to bring in more unsuspecting victims, at the cost of stranding themselves.
Regarding the original ending of the 2011 prequel, the idea of the Thing's spaceship not being actually its own comes from the original short story "Who Goes there?", where, upon finding out that the alien is a shapeshifter, the scientists realize that it had probably imitated the ship's crew as well. Personally, I think that a potential sequel to the 1982 original should take inspiration from The Departed (or more exactly from Infernal Affairs, which was remade as The Departed). We should follow the humans as they try to figure out who is an imitation, and also follow the imitations as they try not to give themselves away and take over the humans. Then you could explore some ideas that fans have droped over the years, like the Thing not wanting to assimilate all living creatures on Earth because it needs to feed on them, or the Soviets leaning about the Thing and trying to get a sample to weaponize it. You could even explore whether an imitation retains the thoughts and memories of all the creatures it has assimilated in the past, or if an imitation considers itself the new original because the true original doesn't exists anymore. There are so many things you can do, and yet what we got was just another lame prequel/remake.
This is literally one of the best movies in my opinion. Period. The first movie I bought with my own money was The Thing. I’m beyond elated that you’ve covered this film. Thank you brother.
Also the mad lady flying the helicopter actually offered to really crash the helicopter Which means the guy Lars was supposed to die in the crash and then shaken fork the crash die to the grenade he sought to use on the doggo. And the fact ‘oh hey how are we gonna get a smoke trail for the shot’ To wish… ‘you don’t want to know’ or someone saying it would make them mad. Yup they set up tires and set them on fire for the smoke trail shot. Also in the book Alan continues to rely a lot on the script and we get some really good details
Yes finally someone who agrees that they are both human in the end. It's the most appropriate ending considering a major theme of the movie is paranoia. Having one "actually" be infected feels too standard.
The absolute best horror movie that I’ve ever seen, mainly because of the smart characters being played and their brilliant acting. I remember seeing it when I was 14 years old not knowing anything about the film and just being consumed by the whole thing pun intended
26:00 A prequel could have had potential, if it it had been written, directed and acted by Scandinavians. How the prequel spoils itself is that it reveals the monster too early when there is no reason to do that, there has been no instigating situation for everyone to be on edge, so it could have started out very slow, with the Norwegians being unaware that the creature that thawed from the ice is a shapeshifter, so when they are out hunting for it, at first they might just think it's run off into the wilderness and frozen again and it wouldn't be until much later that some of the men start to realise what's going on.
You’ve played fear and hunger haven’t you. I recognize that intro music. It’s a very special game. It’s the only game/story I’ve experienced that has matched some of the fascinating cosmic horror aspects of berserks world building. Granted it took direct inspiration from it, see le’garde aka griffith, except worse things happen to him.
I think Carpenter has stated that the spaceship belonged to an advanced alien species that the thing stowed away on, and upon being attacked by the thing, Earth was where their ship just happened to crash. I also heard that he said that the things iconic scream was it trying to communicate in all of the thousands of languages it had learned, at once. Which means that there could be untold numbers of things out there, currently snuffing out entire advanced civilizations, just waiting for a chance to stumble across our tiny blue marble again. And I think these simple lore statements by Carpenter actually help to amplify the fear factor of the thing. Because even if they did succeed in killing it in this film… It’s still out there, somewhere.
The silhouette was Dick Warlock. I met him at a con this last summer and we had a good talk about it. He doubled for Kurt Russell since his Disney days and was there for that reason.
Before I even watch the video, I'd like to share my own interpretation of the ending. We know The Thing is protective over its every cell. Wether Childs's bottle contains alcohol, or kerosine, is irrelevant, they are both poisons that destroy cells. It wouldn't drink it, or at least would have reacted very violently. I think both Childs and MacReady are humans and the day was indeed saved. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for good endings.
I like how this and the first Predator are movies where the characters are actually pretty intelligent and capable but just feel astronomical odds. My favorite side character in this movie is probably Windows, since he was one of the first to have to deal with everything first hand, and it made him jumpier and more paranoid as the movie went on. From seeing Bennings get assimilated, to getting attacked and beat by Blair, it makes sense he immediately tries to go for guns and trust how brazen MacCready got. Great movie, and a great review as always. Cheers.
I like the 2nd predator due to the setting and the Ending where the MC got buster base as a reward from 1776 Makes it interesting since the recent predator movie takes place in more tribal times
A few years ago, I was in a thrift store looking for audio electronics, and I stumbled across a Laserdisc player for less than $10, along with a few Laserdiscs for $1 each. I only recognized one of the discs, and despite not being much of a horror movie fan I picked it up with the player and brought it home -- it was John Carpenter's The Thing. I watched it and loved it. It's a brilliant film, even in letterboxed 480i. Honestly, I don't care that much about resolution. Sometimes low res can hide flaws in a film's special effects and make an experience more immersive (not that there are any real flaws in The Thing's effects -- they're some of the best practical effects I've ever seen). I also think that having such a . . . particular first experience with the film only enhanced the atmosphere.
I played the game, I’m old AF LOL. The pilot who rescues the team at the end of the game is Mac. And early in the game, the body of a frozen Childs is in the little burnt hut, frozen dead and sitting upright. But, no Mac, and he is alive and well at the end of the game. So apparently, Mac is a Thing in the game. And now he finally has a ticket to civilization. I have heard it said that the game is canon.
I stopped watching Greylock to watch this video about something actually scary. ABSOLUTELY worth it. Great job, Loli, love the video. This vid actually makes me want to go rewatch the film because it’s been a long time since I first saw it. P.S.; Happy belated birthday
Easily the best Lovecraft movie, and one of the best movies ever made. Funny how At the mountains of Madness heavily inspired both Alien and The Thing. It really makes you wonder what was the creature goals and what would happen afterwards, would life on Earth survive at all. Personally I assumed that the creature could not care less about humans, and just wanted to go away, I though it was building a spaceship in the basement. The Thing was basically a virus, if it was not frozen in the middle of nowhere, it would transform all life on Earth, there is no way to fight it, so if any part of it gets away, the question would be "how long the apocalypse would last", really classic Lovecraftian story. For all we know, it would spread around the world, build a spaceship and leave, similar to the Roadside picnic aka Stalker. It really shows how believable they made it. You dont really need suspension of disbelief if whole thing is realistic. Uncovering some ancient virus, capable of wiping of humanity is completely possible, so if you watch it with impressionable people, you might say something about current finding in the Antarctica, to imply that the whole thing was basically a documentary. PS. In regards to actors, the dog was the most amazing dog actor I ever saw. I didnt think it was possible to make a dog act this creepy.
My favourite thing about The Thing is how Final Fantash 7 was clearly inspired and J-E-N-O-V-A is just a fantasy version of the alien. I wish remakes and spin offs would go more into her instead of endlessly expanding on Sephiroth like we give.
sad part in the 2011 prequel, is they genuinly had a lot of legendary Norwegian and dannish actors: Stig Hoff and Jan Gunnar being in Kraftidioten and Lilyhammer, Kristofer Hivju being known in Hollywood and that big guy from GOT. Jørgen Langhelle in a cult classic: UNO
My favorite "The Thing" game is Prototype No seriously, Alex Mercer is basically The Thing, especially after the lategame reveal that you're not actually playing as Alex Mercer, but youre playing as The Blackwatch virus and Mercer was just the first being you assimilated as, and taking his consciousness made you believe that you were Mercer. You can assimilate people and take their memories and their appearance and even accuse someone else of being the shapeshifter. Those games were good and i wish we got another one.
15:15 thinking? Or knowing that MacReady is infected. 22:59 glad you introduced the sequel game. 🤔 The Thing can survive freezing temperatures unlike Childs, who was frozen dead. That leaves one other survivor. Given that Childs dies from the cold, the other guy is flying a helicopter out of the camp alive. (The Thing music plays in the background). … humanity loses.
Been watching this movie for 30+ years but your video still shed new light on the whole "I'm a pretty light sleeper, Childs!" line; you make a great point about the Thing shying away from leadership positions; previously I thought Norris' rejection of the idea was another way to sow dissent and distrust amongst the rest a-la Palmer's refusal to go with Windows--another great point you make, that he wasn't just trying to sow more dissent and distrust, he was trying to get Childs alone. Thank you SIR
I just clicked on your newest video to tell you how much I apreciate your berserk material. I 100% agree with everything you say. Gonna start keeping up with all your content.
The Thing is TOP everything! What a great film. Writing, Direction, execution, acting, special effects/creature designs, you name it. The only thing that it lacked was box office, which isn't it's fault.
Shame that critics rated it that low back then... but this also somehow seems to be typical for cult movies. They just get the appreciation they deserve much later, sometimes too late.
The Thing is my favourite movie of all time, and I think part of why ties into what I think is the only real flaw with the movie: the opening. The ship flying by and heading down to Earth. The first time I ever saw the movie was just flipping through channels and stopping when I saw a dude shooting at a dog from a helicopter. It was so absurd and unexpected that I stopped to see what the hell was going on, and ended up watching the entire movie. And that feeling of not knowing what was going on, being in the exact same situation as the characters, really added a lot to my experience. That opening just kinda gives the whole mystery away. You know that, whatever is going on, it has something to do with space aliens. And I mean sure, it's revealed fairly early on but still, that initial lack of certainty was just perfect.
Fond memories of my grand mother “educating me on music and movies” with the original The War Of The Worlds, The Thing, Kiss and Queen Great movie, I literally watch this channel just for self affirmation at this point hahaha
Since you mentioned it in your video: You'll be surprised how entertaining it is to watch/listen to a 'what happened' video to a film you have already watched. It's like talking about a movie without speaking.
A hypothetical scenario that I would FREAKING LOVE re: Carpenter and Dead Space is for him to successfully get a film adaptation going, make it basically a love letter/companion piece to The Thing in aesthetics, character portrayals, etc., and for the final product to be the most profitable and critically successful film he's ever done. ...and then that's his last film. Whether due to passing on, or because he wants to end his directorial career on that, that's it. Close the Loop, we're fucking done here. Given how all the acclaim after the fact doesn't resolve the decades of issues where he made no money and got shat on in-the-moment when his films came out, Carpenter has the saltiest attitude about his success. He's like a curmudgeonly uncle who's gone through so many failures and BS, but he ends up being right at the end of the day. "What good does being right at the end of it all do me?! It doesn't make me the money I need or the praise I deserve when it matters." I love that exchange he had with del Toro about The Thing, so him finally getting that catharsis and then giving a final middle finger to everyone by dying after resounding success for a Dead Space film adaptation would be incredible; it fits John's personality and life perfectly. Maybe that's just me, though. I like a mix of bitter contempt with a somewhat happy-yet-bittersweet ending. Feels pretty Everyman. What do you think, Loli?
Fun fact about the chess robot. When Macready makes his final move on the board with his king and the computer with a rook, he’s not even in check to claim checkmate, the computer forces the loss for no reason hence why he calls the computer a “Cheating bitch.” Little bit of movie/chess trivia.
I saw the thing for the first time last year in the cinema as part of its 40th anniversary, and it was one of the best cinema experiences I've had. It was the 4k remaster of the film so it looked amazing on the big screen as well.
Now that is very cool. I missed out on the 40th anniversary (got to see the anniversary of Dawn of the Dead last month) but at a local Harkin theaters they played The Thing a couple of times.
My biggest problem with the prequel was the acting. Not that it was "bad". Even though that is debatable. It's the characters in I movie taking place in 1982 talk, move, and act like early 2010s.
In my opinion, the best part of the movie, aside from the amazing practical effects and acting obviously, is the fact that we genuinely *don't* have a clear timeline of infection for most of the movie. This combined with certain details being actively kept vague or outright never being disclosed really heightens the sense of paranoia, as even all these years later we still can only guess on when and where someone was infected and what the characters were doing offscreen.
I liked the original story version. It hated the people with a passion because when they thawed it out they were jabbing and hitting it with sharp objects. Then they went ahead and accidentally destroyed its ship. It also was a bit psychic and could read minds to an extent, giving off hateful vibes when it was discovered.
@TheAlmightyLoli Have you ever seen a movie called "The Void"? If not, I'm pretty sure you would like it. It has practical effects that are comparable to The Thing. I know that is a bold statement, but it is definitely worth a watch.
I'm glad this is a "one and done" movie. It's so compact and tightly written. But the lack of breath (seen) from Childs is that great obscure ending that is one of its main talking points
If I remember right, there's a movie called Harbinger Down that used some of the leftover creature parts from The Thing. Not really a great movie but neat practical effects and concepts.
My parents grew up with the original fifties adaptation "The Thing from Another World", and when they heard there was a remake, they eagerly went to see it in theaters....and were extremely horrified by what they saw. So, growing up, all I ever heard was that this movie was Bad. The edited version came on the Sci-Fi channel (yes, it wasn't always the syphilis channel) and I decided I was gonna watch it. After all, I was a very sheltered fourteen-year-old girl, I can take it. The moment the dog's face peeled like a banana, I backed the f*ck out. Took me years before I finally watched it again and realized that this was an absolutely BRILLIANT film, and is one of the only ones that fooled my husband. He is uncanny about how fast he figures out twists and mysteries, but this one fooled him. When he told me his guess during the blood scene, I had to remain calm because I was so thrilled that he guessed WRONG about who it was. EDIT: I forgot to mention that my favorite bit of trivia still remains that Stan Winston refused to put his name in the credits because he wanted Bottin to get all the credit.
One of my favorite films. The whole idea of some grotesque creature assimilating the people around you is truly terrifying. It takes Invasion of the Body Snatchers to another level, made worse by the fact everyone is trapped in a small building with nowhere to go.
To all the fans of the thing, you can watch an indie movie harbinger down. It's made by the special effects crew who wanted to make the prequel thing. It's not great, story wise, but it is made with love.
Funny you mention The Hateful Eight because when watching it with a friend he suddenly blurted out "This is just The Thing but with cowboys!" which really took me out of the movie!
YAY FINALLY! ALSO! Friend Almighty you are a wonderful creator who deserves so much more recognition than you get, I still remember every second of going through the berserk saga as it came out during the toughest time in my life so far, and it helped me through everything. Your style of review and analysis mixed with your sarcasm makes some of the best vid os on this site
Honestly the ‘every cell’ thing seems to just be a simplified In the original script there was a process for it to go: make a organ like spear, and that makes another thing from new bodies. How disturbing would it be to have spikes and shit form in the mass of dogs and then finding out later ‘every spike would have become a dog’ And the image of a dozen bodies thrashing in pain and agony while this thing has spears running through them while eating them It would’ve been fantastic and made the deaths seem more gruesome
I really like the idea that 'The Thing' is an intelligent being and has consumed multiple worlds but humanity is the first time it's encountered another intelligent life and is freaking the fuck out.
I actually really like that concept as well
It's interesting. In sci-fi, it seems like aliens always react to humans with blind malice or preachy superiority. You don't see a lot of stories where aliens are terrified by humans or find them adorable. In Ender's Game, the aliens just don't understand that humans aren't a hive mind, but they're not disgusted and terrified by the concept.
So this is where Dead Space got its thing from.
@@TheGreenKnight500you could argue starship troopers is like that, but the psychology of the bugs isn’t really explored in the book.
There is a good movie I forgot the name of. Where an alien hive mind comes to earth. It shows it infecting countless “lower” life forms in the galaxy. It makes sense how infecting animals can be easy. Yet when it encounters intelligent life, it struggles.
Love it, love humanity. Monke make rock fly.
I love the directors commentary where John and kurt are laughing like maniacs through the whole movie
Carpenter: Wilford Brimley. Russell: HAHAHAHA!
Every Carpenter/Russell commentary track is gold
That's awesome 😂
You can hear ice clinking in glasses and cigarettes being lit the entire time.
what sucks even more about the The Thing (Prequel) is you can see how in love with the first movie the crew were, how they went too great lengths to make everything seen at the norwegian base in the first movie match up, and show how it all got there, from the dead Norwegian, to the axe, the ice bed, to the corpses and finally who the two men chasing the Thing Dog were. You could tell that they wanted it to be as faithful to Carpenters movie as they could get, but in the end Corperate butchered it, as they always do.
We're already infected.
Isn’t life just grand?
Or they just used it as the lazy way to write a script. "Just use whatever was in the first movie and fill in the gaps", the same as usual prequel garbage stories "and this is how I got my hat, and this is where I meet a guy, I once mentioned in other movie".
@@fnot804people like to say the cgi ruined it. It isnt amazing but its not the real issue. Real issue is its a mediocre 2000s monster movie with pieces of a better movie scattered around, ironically to disguise it as something it is not.
It's writing was garbage. It wasn't just the cgi.
I love the idea that the Thing hates MacReady with a fucking passion, especially after the blood test. I also like the idea that neither Childs and MacReady were the Thing and it was successfully killed. But it left such a psychological scar on both survivors that neither of them will take their eyes off of each other until whenever rescue arrives out of sheer paranoia.
On the flipside this is why I interpret Childs as the Thing at the end. It knows it can't defeat MacReady, so it just tries to outlast him.
@@jimjamauto But why would it even show up then, if it just needs to outlast him? Why not just hide until Macready freezes to death?
@@shorewall For the dumbest reason: to show the audience their final confrontation
Childs was a confirmed thing,but that idea was better imo
@@baldrofasgard4793 Yeah the idea definitely feeds on the paranoia aspect of the movie. Though honestly, I just don't believe Childs is a Thing because it would make the end too bleak.
I remember showing this to my sister, she called it a boring stupid movie……
until the dog happened and she noped out. I love slow burners. And the “Tied to this couch” quote is my go to for vocal warmups.
I was enticed the second I heard Moricone's soundtrack.
I showed my family this movie and they said it was stupid and the effects were bad. Like my man it was made on a shoestring budget and they killed it with the practical effects. It was for MY BIRTHDAY they coulda just said it was good.
she is still your sister?
@@Greendawn-di3dlYou'd rather them lie to you on YoUr BiRtHdAy?
Not everyone likes the things you like.
Don't get mad when people tell you the truth.
@@jonahbrown5669 you seem fun.
I agree with your interpretation that McCready and Childs are human at the end but don't know that and are still suspicious of each other. I think that speaks most to the human nature element to the story.
Funny enough the game adaption actually confirmed this
So true
That's exactly how I've always interpreted the ending. Again, it feeds into the paranoia for both men.
@@nickmcgowan6932 But wait, wasn't there a comic book continuation that revealed that Childs was the thing the whole time? Did the game and comic contradict eachother or are one or both non-canon?
@@WeegeeSlayer123 Personally I consider all of the extra The Thing add on stories to be hypothetical situations and non necessarily canon.
The Thing was shown in local cinema a couple of weeks ago. The theatre was packed full, around half were young people (I almost felt warmth in my hollow chest). At the end people were clapping and cheering. Amazing.
I took my kids to see it last year.
The dog chase are another example of how much the script quality in Hollywood have regressed. A simple scene that give all the background information you need, without giving anything away. Something we just don't see today
I hate Hollywood
This makes me miss the heart, work and soul that went into producing practical effects.
While I don't think that CGI should be completely shunned, it'd be nice if movie studios went back to what made classic horror great.
CGI is a case of treating a nail and hammer like the perfect omnitool even when a screw and drill would get the job done far better.
It still blows my mind that people hated this movie when it first released. Very few movies that I've seen have managed to hold that tense atmosphere through an entire film. And the practical effects are top tier.
I think it was just one of those pieces of media that was made in the wrong time and place. Plus, critics are idiots and we didn't have the internet back then to allow more independent discussion.
Normie audiences are dumb and are actively detrimental to creativity.
It came out the same year as ET, so it got a bad rap because it wasn't a feel good "aliums are frens!" movie.
So it basically suffered the same issue as Outlaw Star being accused of not being as good as Cowboy Bebop... bad timing in close proximity to another beloved classic.
Most professional "movie critics" of the period hated horror movies. Especially gory ones. Some would go on agitated rants about them like clockwork.
The only way people heard/read something good or bad about movies back then was via those reviews, or word of mouth from someone who took a blind leap. The latter was related to marketing via TV commercials so if a film didn't get much marketing it didn't get as much notice. I suspect it was a combination of these things which meant some of the old greats just didn't get much attention from audiences when first released.
@@NefariousKoel True. Honestly, the more I see of Ebert and Siskel's "reviews," the more I question why people valued their opinion. They were idiots.
I consider this to be better than Halloween with its storytelling, characters and suspense. A true horror John Carpenter masterpiece
I think its better than alien to.
It's a masterpiece period that trumps literally any horror film made since its inception.
I heard the prequel movie had loads of real, practical effects and puppet work as a kind of respectful nod to the John Carpenter version. The studio intervened and a ton of film was cut because they were scared modern audiences wouldn't like the puppetry and practical effects work, so whole swathes of the movie had to be reshot with CGI.
A shame, I wonder what that movie would've been like had the the suits not intervened.
He says that in the video
I feel like the CGI was a good option for scenes that are mainly running sequences for the Thing. I just don’t think I could take someone in a suit seriously.
@mlgesus8362
Commenters are bots, I swear
21:29 I like this interpretation the best too. It really hammers on the point that, regardless of their victory against the alien, these two men are still doomed, as help is extremelly unlikely to come and they'll probably both freeze to death unable to trust each other.
Watched this for the first time with all my siblings a few months back. One of the best horror movies I had ever seen. Loved the story, the ambiguity, and the practical effects. Truly a masterpiece.
Wondering if the test audiences and producers who were saying "there's too much backstory, the effects look like they're from the 1980's" to the original iteration of the prequel movie were the same species of people who demanded Event Horizon cut all those (now lost) scenes that were cut from the movie for being "too gory".
Too gory. In a horror movie.
Event Horizon isn't that great either way.
@@morbius_of_krell
It's okay. Not good but not bad either. Just okay
unfiltered kino, absolutely loved it. it will stay on my shelf till the heat death of the universe.
Kiss the DVD case goodnight
i'm gonna kiss you goodnight, nerd @@Senator-Wary
Gae
>.> I am still unfamiliar with the term "Kino"... unless it has something to do with "Kino's Journey".
@hariman7727 kino is modern zoomer speak for good I guess
"It looks too much like an 80's movie"
I...I just can't. Who the fuck are they getting to be the testers? Do they just grab people with no taste and so they can tell producers "Fuck this shit up fam".
Shout out to the thing video game on the PlayStation 2.
A very flawed game, but the idea of having squad members possibly being infected, is a very interesting idea in survival horror.
🎩
🐍 no step on Snek!🇺🇸🇭🇰
Based on the scraps of interview material I could find, it was supposed to have a random infection chance mechanic amongst the NPCs. Meaning no same person would get infected on every playthrough. But unfortunately, amongst other interesting concepts the devs wanted to try, it got butchered due to the low budget. A shame too. The thing would've absolutely worked as a horror game.
@@frug5629 It didn't matter in the end anyway because whoever lived until the end of a level got infected anyway.
The game has a lot of issues but they did absolutely nail the atmosphere
Spoony's review of it was a lot of fun. The PC version also plays really nice with a modern fanpatch.
Oh hey, fancy seeing you here. A welcome surprise.
The whole studio interference and screen testing thing with the 2011 Thing will never not piss me off. It enrages me when you see a group with passion behind the scenes get shafted by the studio. It had a lot of potential.
If you think that’s disappointing, there was a planned TV-miniseries sequel to the original movie that was going to air on Sci-Fi Channel in 2005 called ‘Return of The Thing’, but it was sadly never made.
The writing was just bad man. Studio interference made a mediocre, by the numbers horror film more bad. Good Effects wouldn't have saved it.
carpenter bringing Dead Space to live action would be pretty frickin' rad to say the least
At 13:50 you can also see that the Chess Wizard cheats to win, much like how the Thing "cheats" by absorbing people and stowing division amongst the uninfected
Its such great foreshadowing this movie is awesome my brother's favorite (definitely my favorite horror movie next to Jacob's Ladder)
It doesn't cheat. It's just bad continuity. But the chess game reflects what happens. Not just what Macready does, but the placement of all the pieces.
this is a movie you can speculate endlessly about because there's so many unanswered questions. So ominous and eerie. Complete movie magic.
That dog scene, as well as the mouth jaw scene lives rent free in my head to this day. Fucking loved this one a lot. Probably influenced my love of body horror and weird parasitical aliens too.
why would it pay rent in your head?
The Thing and the manga Parasyte found me around the same time I was dipping my toe into the horror genre and now I'm in the same camp with you. The dog scene is my favorite in the movie, I think.
I’d say this is absolutely Carpenter’s best, and as much as I love Halloween, I don’t think you can deny that he perfected his craft in pretty much every aspect from that movie to The Thing
This movie has infinite reward value because regardless of how many times you watch it, you will never be able to pin point when certain characters get infected. You could make an argument that Blair got infected early on or he got infected while he alone and locked in the shed. He might have destroyed the equipment to avoid any other infected crew members to contact the outside world or he could be infected and wants to avoid them trying to get help. There's no clear answer and I love that.
I really think Blair was infected after he was isolated. The Thing wants to get into society as much as possible. You will never find it then.
There’s a few assumptions made here about who’s infected and when. Blair destroying the helicopter doesn’t mean he was infected then - he could’ve still been himself then and was only infected afterwards (when he was locked up?). Then the Blair-Thing knew the helicopter and snow cat were disabled by Blair, but that it could still use pieces to make its own thing. We also don’t know who was infected by the dog: could’ve been Palmer or Norris.
Zack Cherry has done a decent breakdown of who killed who in The Thing.
Don't remember where I heard this, but I was told that there's intentional plot holes to keep people guessing who got infected when.
The "Blair going nuts" scene was shortly after the computer sim scene predicting the end of the world, so I always felt he was still human at that point. Recently, however, I noticed that he touches the corpse of the dog-thing with his pencil eraser and then touches his lips with it, so who knows? I could be either he was infected at the autopsy of the dog-thing or some piece of the dog-thing escaped being burned and infected him when he was sedated and locked in the hut.
@mmilley Blair would have still been human when he killed the dogs and smashed the chopper. The thing would have no reason to deprive itself of transportation it coulduse to make contact with a greater number of hosts.
No yeah. If Blair really was infected when he was destroying the helicopter and everything, why would he have presumably tried to off himself when he was in isolation?
It would make no sense for the creature to have tied a noose to kill itself because obviously its primary goal is self preservation judging by alien Blair's later actions and the noose makes Blair look extremely suspicious if anyone decides to check in on him for whatever reason.
Plus, it makes way more sense if Blair was human up until some time while he was isolated as he found out that this alien has a very high chance of killing everyone leading to him trying to keep the alien contained in the base by destroying all possible escapes. So, when he is put into isolation and truly believes that everyone is doomed, he ties a noose and tries to die instead of letting himself possibly be assimilated and aid the alien. I am guessing his attempt was interrupted by one of the aliens coming in and assimilating him and just leaving the noose up because the thing didn't understand what a noose was or the intentions behind it.
It is all really pure speculation and I could be missing out on a really obvious explanation for why an assimilated Blair would make a noose but, to me, the noose makes it pretty obvious that Blair was not assimilated until some time into his isolation.
One of the greatest movies ever made. The critics did not understand it and I’m glad it is now getting the love that it deserved.
I think you can really tell it's cautious and frustrated when Blair-thing looks both ways when assimilating Gary, it's definitely scared of being found out.
My favourite horror film of all time.
Rest in Peace Wilford Brimley.
Press D for Diabeetus 😔
Strong contender for the greatest horror movie monster or maybe even outright horror movie antagonist of all time. And what do we call it, just, The Thing. It's perfect.
I can't wait to get a remake/reboot/sequel with an all female cast that doesn't live up to this movie like everything else I love has gotten.
Don’t look up ‘the thing 2024 trailer’
._.
@@silent_stalker3687 ༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽Oh God Please NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
@@sukamadik5983 leslie jones replaced Nauls
It’s worse than I could’ve imagined
Kurt Russel’s hair in this movie is so good. It almost takes you out of his “gruff” character. It’s so funny how good his hair is.
One of the best horror movies and use of practical effects ever in a movie.
"The Thing" has to be one of the very best horror movies ever made, especially with the pracrical effects. The ambiance and how hopeless the situation truly is.
I've always thought the first shadow that gets infected by the dog-thing was Norris. I also don't think Blair was infected until AFTER they locked him up. I think he was perfectly sane when he sabotaged the vehicles; I think he was trying to ensure that they all died. His 'ranting' when he's busting up the communication equipment all makes perfect sense in hindsight: "At least ONE of you knows what's going on! You think it was trying to copy a dog? It wants to be uuuuuuuuus!"
Makes a lot of sense. Prevent the Thing from escaping in a vehicle or radioing for help to bring in more unsuspecting victims, at the cost of stranding themselves.
Regarding the original ending of the 2011 prequel, the idea of the Thing's spaceship not being actually its own comes from the original short story "Who Goes there?", where, upon finding out that the alien is a shapeshifter, the scientists realize that it had probably imitated the ship's crew as well. Personally, I think that a potential sequel to the 1982 original should take inspiration from The Departed (or more exactly from Infernal Affairs, which was remade as The Departed). We should follow the humans as they try to figure out who is an imitation, and also follow the imitations as they try not to give themselves away and take over the humans. Then you could explore some ideas that fans have droped over the years, like the Thing not wanting to assimilate all living creatures on Earth because it needs to feed on them, or the Soviets leaning about the Thing and trying to get a sample to weaponize it. You could even explore whether an imitation retains the thoughts and memories of all the creatures it has assimilated in the past, or if an imitation considers itself the new original because the true original doesn't exists anymore. There are so many things you can do, and yet what we got was just another lame prequel/remake.
The thing in my opinion is one of the greatest films of all time.
Not an opinion, but a fact.
This is literally one of the best movies in my opinion. Period. The first movie I bought with my own money was The Thing. I’m beyond elated that you’ve covered this film. Thank you brother.
Also the mad lady flying the helicopter actually offered to really crash the helicopter
Which means the guy Lars was supposed to die in the crash and then shaken fork the crash die to the grenade he sought to use on the doggo.
And the fact ‘oh hey how are we gonna get a smoke trail for the shot’
To wish… ‘you don’t want to know’ or someone saying it would make them mad.
Yup they set up tires and set them on fire for the smoke trail shot.
Also in the book Alan continues to rely a lot on the script and we get some really good details
Yes finally someone who agrees that they are both human in the end. It's the most appropriate ending considering a major theme of the movie is paranoia. Having one "actually" be infected feels too standard.
I saw one theory that the chess game mirrors the ending, but yeah I like that idea too. The only real question is what was in that bottle.
The absolute best horror movie that I’ve ever seen, mainly because of the smart characters being played and their brilliant acting. I remember seeing it when I was 14 years old not knowing anything about the film and just being consumed by the whole thing pun intended
26:00 A prequel could have had potential, if it it had been written, directed and acted by Scandinavians. How the prequel spoils itself is that it reveals the monster too early when there is no reason to do that, there has been no instigating situation for everyone to be on edge, so it could have started out very slow, with the Norwegians being unaware that the creature that thawed from the ice is a shapeshifter, so when they are out hunting for it, at first they might just think it's run off into the wilderness and frozen again and it wouldn't be until much later that some of the men start to realise what's going on.
You’ve played fear and hunger haven’t you. I recognize that intro music. It’s a very special game. It’s the only game/story I’ve experienced that has matched some of the fascinating cosmic horror aspects of berserks world building. Granted it took direct inspiration from it, see le’garde aka griffith, except worse things happen to him.
I think Carpenter has stated that the spaceship belonged to an advanced alien species that the thing stowed away on, and upon being attacked by the thing, Earth was where their ship just happened to crash. I also heard that he said that the things iconic scream was it trying to communicate in all of the thousands of languages it had learned, at once.
Which means that there could be untold numbers of things out there, currently snuffing out entire advanced civilizations, just waiting for a chance to stumble across our tiny blue marble again.
And I think these simple lore statements by Carpenter actually help to amplify the fear factor of the thing. Because even if they did succeed in killing it in this film… It’s still out there, somewhere.
The silhouette was Dick Warlock. I met him at a con this last summer and we had a good talk about it. He doubled for Kurt Russell since his Disney days and was there for that reason.
Before I watch, this is one of the top 10 movies out there. It's a good example for what makes a perfect movie.
i wanted them to do a dead space movie so bad
A new The Thing game made by a competent development studio would be so sick.
Didnt expect to hear bob odenkirk talking about the thing movies
Me neither. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one ^_^
Before I even watch the video, I'd like to share my own interpretation of the ending. We know The Thing is protective over its every cell. Wether Childs's bottle contains alcohol, or kerosine, is irrelevant, they are both poisons that destroy cells. It wouldn't drink it, or at least would have reacted very violently. I think both Childs and MacReady are humans and the day was indeed saved. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for good endings.
I like how this and the first Predator are movies where the characters are actually pretty intelligent and capable but just feel astronomical odds. My favorite side character in this movie is probably Windows, since he was one of the first to have to deal with everything first hand, and it made him jumpier and more paranoid as the movie went on. From seeing Bennings get assimilated, to getting attacked and beat by Blair, it makes sense he immediately tries to go for guns and trust how brazen MacCready got. Great movie, and a great review as always. Cheers.
I like the 2nd predator due to the setting and the Ending where the MC got buster base as a reward from 1776
Makes it interesting since the recent predator movie takes place in more tribal times
31:20 This actually sounds like a very interesting concept, I can see why corporate would sabotage it!
A few years ago, I was in a thrift store looking for audio electronics, and I stumbled across a Laserdisc player for less than $10, along with a few Laserdiscs for $1 each. I only recognized one of the discs, and despite not being much of a horror movie fan I picked it up with the player and brought it home -- it was John Carpenter's The Thing. I watched it and loved it. It's a brilliant film, even in letterboxed 480i. Honestly, I don't care that much about resolution. Sometimes low res can hide flaws in a film's special effects and make an experience more immersive (not that there are any real flaws in The Thing's effects -- they're some of the best practical effects I've ever seen). I also think that having such a . . . particular first experience with the film only enhanced the atmosphere.
I played the game, I’m old AF LOL. The pilot who rescues the team at the end of the game is Mac. And early in the game, the body of a frozen Childs is in the little burnt hut, frozen dead and sitting upright. But, no Mac, and he is alive and well at the end of the game. So apparently, Mac is a Thing in the game. And now he finally has a ticket to civilization. I have heard it said that the game is canon.
Amazing series of videos, I've rewatched all the movies after finishing your vids
I stopped watching Greylock to watch this video about something actually scary. ABSOLUTELY worth it. Great job, Loli, love the video. This vid actually makes me want to go rewatch the film because it’s been a long time since I first saw it.
P.S.; Happy belated birthday
Easily the best Lovecraft movie, and one of the best movies ever made. Funny how At the mountains of Madness heavily inspired both Alien and The Thing. It really makes you wonder what was the creature goals and what would happen afterwards, would life on Earth survive at all. Personally I assumed that the creature could not care less about humans, and just wanted to go away, I though it was building a spaceship in the basement. The Thing was basically a virus, if it was not frozen in the middle of nowhere, it would transform all life on Earth, there is no way to fight it, so if any part of it gets away, the question would be "how long the apocalypse would last", really classic Lovecraftian story. For all we know, it would spread around the world, build a spaceship and leave, similar to the Roadside picnic aka Stalker.
It really shows how believable they made it. You dont really need suspension of disbelief if whole thing is realistic. Uncovering some ancient virus, capable of wiping of humanity is completely possible, so if you watch it with impressionable people, you might say something about current finding in the Antarctica, to imply that the whole thing was basically a documentary.
PS. In regards to actors, the dog was the most amazing dog actor I ever saw. I didnt think it was possible to make a dog act this creepy.
My favourite thing about The Thing is how Final Fantash 7 was clearly inspired and J-E-N-O-V-A is just a fantasy version of the alien. I wish remakes and spin offs would go more into her instead of endlessly expanding on Sephiroth like we give.
sad part in the 2011 prequel, is they genuinly had a lot of legendary Norwegian and dannish actors: Stig Hoff and Jan Gunnar being in Kraftidioten and Lilyhammer, Kristofer Hivju being known in Hollywood and that big guy from GOT. Jørgen Langhelle in a cult classic: UNO
My favorite "The Thing" game is Prototype
No seriously, Alex Mercer is basically The Thing, especially after the lategame reveal that you're not actually playing as Alex Mercer, but youre playing as The Blackwatch virus and Mercer was just the first being you assimilated as, and taking his consciousness made you believe that you were Mercer. You can assimilate people and take their memories and their appearance and even accuse someone else of being the shapeshifter. Those games were good and i wish we got another one.
15:15 thinking? Or knowing that MacReady is infected.
22:59 glad you introduced the sequel game. 🤔 The Thing can survive freezing temperatures unlike Childs, who was frozen dead. That leaves one other survivor. Given that Childs dies from the cold, the other guy is flying a helicopter out of the camp alive. (The Thing music plays in the background).
… humanity loses.
The Thing is one of my favorite movies ever since I first watched it in HS film class. Plus it’s great for scarring your younger siblings with.
Big Bang Theory : I made scientifics and geeks cool !
The Thing : Shut up and get me a whisky kid...
Been watching this movie for 30+ years but your video still shed new light on the whole "I'm a pretty light sleeper, Childs!" line; you make a great point about the Thing shying away from leadership positions; previously I thought Norris' rejection of the idea was another way to sow dissent and distrust amongst the rest a-la Palmer's refusal to go with Windows--another great point you make, that he wasn't just trying to sow more dissent and distrust, he was trying to get Childs alone. Thank you SIR
I just clicked on your newest video to tell you how much I apreciate your berserk material. I 100% agree with everything you say. Gonna start keeping up with all your content.
Carpenter's opus magnum
I'd love to hear you recap The Return of The Thing scrip.
It's absolutely criminal it's never been properly released.
Now I want to see a live action Dead Space movie, directed by John Carpenter! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
You and me both.
The concept of the half goat man thing appeared in the sequel comic books when they’re in South America
If John Carpenter directs a Dead Space movie, I'll die!
Dead Space is one of my favorite games.
Saul as a recurring character to correct yourself is one of my favorite TH-cam channel bits. Ngl.
The Thing is TOP everything! What a great film. Writing, Direction, execution, acting, special effects/creature designs, you name it. The only thing that it lacked was box office, which isn't it's fault.
Shame that critics rated it that low back then... but this also somehow seems to be typical for cult movies. They just get the appreciation they deserve much later, sometimes too late.
Critics are hacks. I am no movie buff, but damn do they have shite takes.
The Thing is my favourite movie of all time, and I think part of why ties into what I think is the only real flaw with the movie: the opening. The ship flying by and heading down to Earth.
The first time I ever saw the movie was just flipping through channels and stopping when I saw a dude shooting at a dog from a helicopter. It was so absurd and unexpected that I stopped to see what the hell was going on, and ended up watching the entire movie. And that feeling of not knowing what was going on, being in the exact same situation as the characters, really added a lot to my experience. That opening just kinda gives the whole mystery away. You know that, whatever is going on, it has something to do with space aliens. And I mean sure, it's revealed fairly early on but still, that initial lack of certainty was just perfect.
I never knew that the movie didn't start with the dog and helicopter scene. I agree that that's way better.
Fond memories of my grand mother “educating me on music and movies” with the original The War Of The Worlds, The Thing, Kiss and Queen
Great movie, I literally watch this channel just for self affirmation at this point hahaha
>Movie has all male cast
>One of the only movies with smart characters
What did they mean by this?
Since you mentioned it in your video: You'll be surprised how entertaining it is to watch/listen to a 'what happened' video to a film you have already watched. It's like talking about a movie without speaking.
A hypothetical scenario that I would FREAKING LOVE re: Carpenter and Dead Space is for him to successfully get a film adaptation going, make it basically a love letter/companion piece to The Thing in aesthetics, character portrayals, etc., and for the final product to be the most profitable and critically successful film he's ever done.
...and then that's his last film. Whether due to passing on, or because he wants to end his directorial career on that, that's it. Close the Loop, we're fucking done here. Given how all the acclaim after the fact doesn't resolve the decades of issues where he made no money and got shat on in-the-moment when his films came out, Carpenter has the saltiest attitude about his success. He's like a curmudgeonly uncle who's gone through so many failures and BS, but he ends up being right at the end of the day. "What good does being right at the end of it all do me?! It doesn't make me the money I need or the praise I deserve when it matters." I love that exchange he had with del Toro about The Thing, so him finally getting that catharsis and then giving a final middle finger to everyone by dying after resounding success for a Dead Space film adaptation would be incredible; it fits John's personality and life perfectly.
Maybe that's just me, though. I like a mix of bitter contempt with a somewhat happy-yet-bittersweet ending. Feels pretty Everyman. What do you think, Loli?
Fun fact about the chess robot. When Macready makes his final move on the board with his king and the computer with a rook, he’s not even in check to claim checkmate, the computer forces the loss for no reason hence why he calls the computer a “Cheating bitch.” Little bit of movie/chess trivia.
The Thing really stands-out from other horror films given its cast's intelligence and masculinity.
I saw the thing for the first time last year in the cinema as part of its 40th anniversary, and it was one of the best cinema experiences I've had. It was the 4k remaster of the film so it looked amazing on the big screen as well.
Now that is very cool. I missed out on the 40th anniversary (got to see the anniversary of Dawn of the Dead last month) but at a local Harkin theaters they played The Thing a couple of times.
My biggest problem with the prequel was the acting. Not that it was "bad". Even though that is debatable. It's the characters in I movie taking place in 1982 talk, move, and act like early 2010s.
In my opinion, the best part of the movie, aside from the amazing practical effects and acting obviously, is the fact that we genuinely *don't* have a clear timeline of infection for most of the movie. This combined with certain details being actively kept vague or outright never being disclosed really heightens the sense of paranoia, as even all these years later we still can only guess on when and where someone was infected and what the characters were doing offscreen.
I liked the original story version. It hated the people with a passion because when they thawed it out they were jabbing and hitting it with sharp objects. Then they went ahead and accidentally destroyed its ship. It also was a bit psychic and could read minds to an extent, giving off hateful vibes when it was discovered.
@TheAlmightyLoli Have you ever seen a movie called "The Void"? If not, I'm pretty sure you would like it. It has practical effects that are comparable to The Thing. I know that is a bold statement, but it is definitely worth a watch.
I'm glad this is a "one and done" movie. It's so compact and tightly written. But the lack of breath (seen) from Childs is that great obscure ending that is one of its main talking points
Genuinely one of the best movies I have ever watched . I can rewatch damn near any horror movie and no longer be scared but this one is something else
If I remember right, there's a movie called Harbinger Down that used some of the leftover creature parts from The Thing. Not really a great movie but neat practical effects and concepts.
My parents grew up with the original fifties adaptation "The Thing from Another World", and when they heard there was a remake, they eagerly went to see it in theaters....and were extremely horrified by what they saw. So, growing up, all I ever heard was that this movie was Bad. The edited version came on the Sci-Fi channel (yes, it wasn't always the syphilis channel) and I decided I was gonna watch it. After all, I was a very sheltered fourteen-year-old girl, I can take it.
The moment the dog's face peeled like a banana, I backed the f*ck out. Took me years before I finally watched it again and realized that this was an absolutely BRILLIANT film, and is one of the only ones that fooled my husband. He is uncanny about how fast he figures out twists and mysteries, but this one fooled him. When he told me his guess during the blood scene, I had to remain calm because I was so thrilled that he guessed WRONG about who it was.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that my favorite bit of trivia still remains that Stan Winston refused to put his name in the credits because he wanted Bottin to get all the credit.
If you understand Norwegian, you will get why the norwegians are shooting a the dog/alien right away.
They spell it out.
One of my favorite films. The whole idea of some grotesque creature assimilating the people around you is truly terrifying. It takes Invasion of the Body Snatchers to another level, made worse by the fact everyone is trapped in a small building with nowhere to go.
“You all need to sit down and watch this movie”
I’ve done it a hundred times, what’s once more?
To all the fans of the thing, you can watch an indie movie harbinger down. It's made by the special effects crew who wanted to make the prequel thing. It's not great, story wise, but it is made with love.
Funny you mention The Hateful Eight because when watching it with a friend he suddenly blurted out "This is just The Thing but with cowboys!" which really took me out of the movie!
Good video. I'll say I'm a big fan of John Carpenter's Prince Of Darkness
YAY FINALLY!
ALSO!
Friend Almighty you are a wonderful creator who deserves so much more recognition than you get, I still remember every second of going through the berserk saga as it came out during the toughest time in my life so far, and it helped me through everything. Your style of review and analysis mixed with your sarcasm makes some of the best vid os on this site
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 FUCKING COUCH!
14:40 he would be Creole not Cajun, Cajuns are white people of French descent and Creoles are black people of French descent
Among Us if it was set during the early-80s.
Honestly the ‘every cell’ thing seems to just be a simplified
In the original script there was a process for it to go: make a organ like spear, and that makes another thing from new bodies.
How disturbing would it be to have spikes and shit form in the mass of dogs and then finding out later ‘every spike would have become a dog’
And the image of a dozen bodies thrashing in pain and agony while this thing has spears running through them while eating them
It would’ve been fantastic and made the deaths seem more gruesome
The film Splinter is just like this, I bet you'd enjoy it