Carpenter said a year or 2 ago that he'd be up for The Thing 2 and that it would answer the question from the end of the 1982 movie. I took it as some sort of threat.
@coinopanimator that's less fiction and more reality. Which is always more scary. I meant more fiction based. Just reading the quick description of son of Saul tells me that's some harrowing stuff
For the longest time I never even knew the prior 1951 film existed. Still, I prefer the 1982 masterpiece as it's closer to the original 1938 short story.
Carpenter actually endorsed the game and considers it the canon follow up to the movie. Spoilers if you don’t want to know what happens, but it’s discovered that Childs died of hypothermia and MacReady survived throughout the entirety of the game confirming that neither of them were the Thing at the end of the movie.
I've seen the original The Thing From Another World and John Carpenter's The Thing. Tbh, the original is actually really solid and stands out from many of its contemporaries. The remake by John Carpenter though is peak old school creature feature horror. It's one of those films that holds up now and probably will forever.
Kinda sad Ryan didn't mention Parasyte: The Maximum or Prototype, which definitely draw from The Thing more than Amongus. Prototype has you essentially playing AS The Thing and Parasyte pulls both the paranoia, the dog scene, and even the blood drawing scene (though they do it a bit different) from the movie
I love the you include Roger Ebert’s original reaction. That fucking hack was WILDLY wrong on a myriad of his takes on films. He even hated Aliens originally.
They're actually 4 movies one is less known it's called Horror Express. Based on the same book who goes there with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing it's very much the same concept only takes place on a train.
You're alone, you're scared, you're cold. A creature from another world stalks you. It can't get any worse...but...wait. You see a shape in the distance. It's him. Shia Lebouf.
You can find the scripts for the cancled thing sequel on the internet. Great read with fun references, parallels, and callbacks. If you're a fan of the thing, I recomend it. Hopefully it gets made one day.
As someone’s who’s been using these long form retrospectives as something to watch while working out, your channel is exactly the thing I’ve been looking for! Youve earned a subscriber!
Very nice! Will you eventually do retrospectives on series such as Puppet Master, and or The Living Dead, or Of The Dead series? Those are trickier, because Romero’s collaborator split off and took “The Living Dead” as a series, while Romero took “Of The Dead as his series
the thing 1982 is my favourite film, i saw it on pirate vhs in either 1982 or 1983 and i was only born in 1979, but you don't forget that first scene where the dog transforms
my mom always loved the original The Thing From Another World so that was the first i saw. Then I saw the prequel to John Carpenter's, and then saw The Thing (1982). I saw these movies in a very weird order lol but i still love them all.
The prequel was a passable enough movie up until it wasn't. The part that really made me dislike the movie was the "Test" scene. It was such a cool idea to have a test with that could give false positives and the potential for paranoia was amazing... Then not even 2 minutes later everything randomly goes to hell and most of the cast die in a completely unrelated CGI clusterf**k... They really wanted to have the "Test" scene and even came up with a good idea but couldn't be bothered to do a damn thing with it and that just irks me.
I think a whole movie of the sub story in the comics would make a fantastic movie. Being stuck on the bottom of the ocean and can’t use fire with the thing would be as isolated as it gets
Man, you REALLY have to check out Horror Express (1972), Harbinger Down (2015) and Zygote (2017). The first one is loosely based on the novel, the second one has multiple references to The Thing (JC) and its connected to the practical effects that were going to be used in the prequel and the last one is a mix between Alien and The Thing in the eyes if Neill Blomkamp, i’d love to see you touch these ones when making the new The Thing Game Review !!!
There was also a fourth adaptation of Who goes there? That happened between The Thing from Another World and The Thing (1982) and that was Horror Express (1972) starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and was basically a mashup between Who goes there and Murder on the Orient Express. Just thought I'd throw that interesting bit of trivia out there.
Dude!!! What. A thing retrospective. Awesome. It's my favorite horror film so I'll take it. I was going to suggest the predator franchise as your small retrospective before your next big one, but this is also good.
I know you didn't complain about the end of this movie and it being plot armor, but I never hear the same about the end of Alien. The xenomorph just happens to make its way to the escape shuttle and takes a nap, then lumbers about slowly as Ripley gets dressed.
Great video! Some thoughts from a random fan, maybe of value, maybe not; Focusing on Carpenter’s versions, I always, since first viewing in the mid 1980’s on tape, FINALLY with VCR (nobody wanted to take me in ‘82 and I was 14Y.O.…) was that it was amazing and smart. I absolutely loved it. You pointed out the very things that did it for me as well, including but not limited to the intelligent construction of situations and directing. The way it’s filmed without a clear leader at first, the way they used the original story, all the players are great, the pacing as they learn about their problem is perfect. The effects…. I mean, in the 80’s? Jesus, I was squirming in my couch a few times. I also feel a bit vindicated and jealous at the same time with all the attention the film gets now, with excellent videos like this and many more decent ones and waves of new fans building up…. when I was PLEADING for people to give Carpenter’s masterpiece a chance decades ago. No, I wasn’t alone, there were other fans and some critics gave it love, but it was rare hearing compliments about it let alone being included at all whether peers or strangers discussed movies. I want to yell at the world; “I told you so!”. The first film- I also love this film because it’s actually older yet better than countless monster movies that followed. The Hawkes’ trademark overlapping dialogue (you pointed it out!! Bravo!), is a good touch, and though it feels a bit forced and staged back then, I know it’s mostly because it was extremely rare (as you mentioned) in films prior. The third film drove me nuts because I love that actress M. E. Winstead (relatively new and young yet solid in everything I’ve seen her do); I loved the concept of a prequel; (always had great curiosity about that situation, which compliments the second film and story); and being new technology, had the chance of making it look amazing. I couldn’t stand the very things you complained about either, plus the way they omitted the stealthiness and intelligence of the creature used in the second film. What predator, anytime or anywhere, roars with announcements that it’s trying to stalk prey? An idiot predator. I also wanted to see if that creature was actually a stowaway, parasite picked up from somewhere…. and ALWAYS thought that should be the case whether intended or not by Campbell or filmmakers. Back in the 80’s upon first viewing, I figured it was the reason for the crash on Earth in the first place- the original beings trying to get rid of it caused chaos. Finally, I actually found the paperback including “Who goes there?” back in the 90’s while snooping around book stores in northern California, after the military stationed me at Travis AFB. I also found “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” AND “We can remember it for you wholesale” during those years of hunting for things I found cool yet most didn’t care about back then. It was disappointing many years later when using the internet to learn more about Campbell being sort of a jerk-turd, especially knowing I thought his story “Who goes there?” was genius. And I still do, actually. Sure there are better written, far better written sci-fi… but there SHOULD be because that was written BEFORE so many other authors were able to learn from each other! That long ago, limited science to work with, and coming up with something that terrifying? Holy sh-t! It unofficially means we should always give everyone a chance unless imminently dangerous. They might be trouble, but I take a look at their work for something good that came out of it. Thanks again for the great video.
Hey Ryan! Just binge watched all of your retrospectives. I am a narrative game designer so it is very important for me to know how different people tell different stories, horror included, But I am afraid of horror movies! But, thanks to your videos, I got to know a lot of new amazing things about a horror genre and movie industry. Thank you for your hard work!
So in the case of why the prequal plays out more like a traditional monster movie is because thats what it is. the lore goes that when assimilated by the thing it gains the memories of the one it takes over, also the thing was ejected from the ship (or it crawled out, either way) and froze in a block of ice. when it thawed out it would wake up no with no idea where the ship is. that being said and if i recall correctly it didnt head back to the ship until it absorbed somebody who knew the location of it. and it absorbs rapidly in the prequal because from the first person it took over the memories of that person would reveal there is another person who knows the exact location of the ship. and keep in mind at this point as far as the creature knows the ship is still intact. the prequal takes place over 2 maybe 3 days. As for the original, this is the things second run in with human beings now, creatures that burned, shot, cut, and blew up the thing. and as we know, the creature is a hive mind, meaning that everything one part of it knows all parts of it know. with this information we can see that in the original the thing bides its times assimilating who it thinks would the best option to turn the already violent humans against each other. it spends several days at outpost 31, so long that the crew have had to resort to making there own meals, TL;DR - The prequal takes place over a couple days because the thing is actively trying to escape the planet on it's still intact ship. It's lost, scared, and on the defense so it acts fast. The original takes place over several days because the thing has nothing but time now and has done this before. It's still lost, now its pissed, and now it knows humans. hell it's been 8 or 9 of then by this point. When i first saw these movies i watched the prequal first and then the original right after as they had both dropped on the netflix. I think this is the best way to view the story as it shows how the thing is able to adapt to its new enemies
The Thing is my ALL TIME favorite horror movie. The “prequel” from 2011 is also good in an “this is still fun to watch” kind way and dont tell mw otherwise
I know its very popular to say these days but the thing has been one of my favorite films since I first saw it back in the day on VHS. Such an incredible classic.
Nope, the whole point of The Thing is that it would kill everything on the planet if it gets to a population of basically any mammal. Antarctica worked because it explains why nothing saw it before as it was frozen. You can't really do the same thing twice, which is why the prequel sucked.
What a treat, this made my friday. The thing is such a classic, I never watched the original and thought that a movie about paranoia was the whole point of it and the alien, a device to make the "trust nobody" plausible.
This was a fantastic video! I haven't watched 'The Thing' by Carpenter in a few years & after watching this retrospective, I definitely feel an itch to seek it out again! The psychological elements of 'The Thing' (& perhaps all three films) is really the draw for me. The paranoia makes total sense and the consequences of failure could be world-ending! 😮
I saw the original first. Than at 7 I saw the thing on beta max in my dad’s collection and asked if it’s the same movie. He said no but you you can watch it if you promise not to get nightmares. It’s been my number one movie ever sense.
Wish I could've watched the stream last night but so glad you covered this! I watched Carpenter's 1982 version when I was around 16 I think. For me it's near perfect, favourite movie of all time.
The thing videogame was really awesome when it came out, but felt heavily outdated and clunky within a year or two. Which makes it the perfect project for the remaster we are about to get. Fingera crossed it turns out good
37:37 Amazing how the two greats of the sci-fi horror genre (Alien and The Thing) were trashed by critics at the time both have gone on to become recognised as masterpieces that get better with age and actually transcend the genre. The critics simply couldn't see past the gory and shocking elements, which doesn't say much for the objectivity of movie critics.
The 2002 video game is funnish schlock for what it is. There's a lot of interesting gameplay mechanics...in concept. In practice, the team either didn't have the skill, the budget, or the time to implement them in any functional way. There's a blood-test mechanic, but your teammates don't get "infected" by the thing. They are scripted to die or change at specific points in the game, so you can test someone and get a negative result, and then within 3 seconds you cross the event flag trigger and boom, they change into Things for no reason. Bigger things need to be weakened with gunfire and then burned to permanently kill them, and flamethrowers/blowtorches can be aimed at the ground to create a fire barrier to repel them, but it's kind of pointless to do when you can just burn them. NPCs have a "stress" meter, and being around grisly, gore-filled scenes will cause them to puke, freak out, and/or start crying and refuse to move. But just moving them outside the radius of what scares them will make them fine again. There's a trust system, but literally all you need to do to earn someone's trust is hand them a gun. Any gun, even a shitty pistol and some ammo they're loyal soldiers who will follow you into hell. Hopefully they truly remake this game a la RE2 remake, and not a lazy "remaster" for a game that honestly is pretty forgettable.
I've always thought that neither of them were the thing at the end. I always thought that the point was that the thing broke their minds' ability to trust anything anymore even if they were both pretty certain that the other one was not the thing. Which will and in their deaths, giving the thing one final victory.
The original Thing game was awesome. You can play it on emulation. It was well done. Carpenter has said that the PS2 game is actually canon. Really looking forward to the remaster because a) it's The Thing b) Nightdive Studios is doing it and they're pretty much amazing when they do these things and c) it's The Thing.
I think you are missing a movie based on this premis, it was called the Horror Express, where an expidition into China in the early 1900's. The movie was made in the 1970's, go give it a watch, you'll like it.
have you read the novella The Things? it tells the story from the perspective of the monster. I highly recommend it. there is and audio version on TH-cam about an hour long.
There should be more horror tales set in Arctic conditions Dark Matter by Michelle Paver I consider worthy of that setting even though it's a ghost story rather than a sci-fi
If I had to choose which version of the Thing I had to fight I would go with the 1951 plant thing, the reason behind that is because of what the Carpenter Thing can do to you. Now the 1951 thing may kill you and drain your blood to feed its seedlings but that’s just it, it’s plain death and harvesting, quick and painless (Well maybe not as quick and painless in certain circumstances but you get what I mean). The Carpenter Thing on the other hand when it gets you it doesn’t kill. No, it assimilates you, takes you over in both body and mind and basically makes you apart of itself. Now it’s not very well known what being assimilated is like, most have speculated in other videos and fan made books, but all possibilities are equally terrifying. Like what if somewhere inside the imitation you’re still alive or conscious in some degree, you can’t move, you can’t speak, you can’t even control you’re own body, and you can only watch as you’re whole being is used to inflict death and spread the infection and even feel you’re own form twisting and mutating into ungodly abominations. You are forced to go on and endure a possible eternity being trapped in a hellish purgatory along with any others who shared in you’re fate, unable to move on to the next plane and forever exsisting as a prisoner in a gestalt of souls trapped inside the warped biomass of an Alien violator. Add to that the unpleasant and violating experience having you’re body being converted and you have possibly one of the Worst Fates in Horror to date. So yeah, I’d definitely go with the plant guy.
It's criminal how little exposure your videos have on YT! Another phenomenal retrospective, this time encompassing all the media surrounding The Thing! Can't wait to see more!
I don't know....wondering if that title should go to the Blob instead...or maybe I just feel that way because that movie horrified me as a kid 😂 Don't get me wrong though Aliens still in my top 2, that title ain goin no where.
I would love to see another movie with Mary Elizabeth Winstead character "Kate" arriving at the Russian camp and then they head out to the American camp and find Childs & MacReady and the rest of the American camp in the way that they found the Norwegian camp in the original (Carpenter's version). From there the paranoia can start over again with Childs and or MacReady being the start for the members of the Russian camp.
You just implied that it's only been alive for around a thousand years. I don't think you're counting the freezing time, so I'm pretty sure they said that it was in the ice for 100,000 years making this thing ancient and making the alien ship interesting
I knew what to expect, and the visuals just in this video still ruined my appetite for lunch, lol. Shouldn’t have sat down to it during this. 😅 Great video though!!
Great retrospective this true classic is extraordinary. John Carpenter is a terrific director. One of my favorite movies along with "Alien". I've heard that Blumhouse Films is adapting "Frozen Hell" into a motion picture release date TBA. I hope they move forward on this project using practical SFX only. I'm new to your channel & already enjoying it. 👍 Long Live Horror Movies!!
The 1951 version was good especially the scene with the kerosene. 1982 version was perfect in every way and the 2011 is enjoyable as a popcorn flick and not much else.
I did think the idea for the prequal was sound. I always wondered what happened to the Norwegians whenever I watched The Thing. Let down unfortunately by the crappy CG effects
+1 Algorithm boost I’d absolutely LOVE a “The Thing” series of movies throughout different points in history. It would be my 1st hope for film. The only problem is that a majority of modern writing/action/suspense is absolutely sh*t and I wouldn’t trust modern film industry to do it well.
Watched the original Howard Hawks movie as a boy back in the seventies...scared the crap out of me then. Watched the Carpenter version at the cinema...kept looking over my shoulder all the way home 😂😂😂 the prequel.. let's call that a fan made homage...
Carpenter said a year or 2 ago that he'd be up for The Thing 2 and that it would answer the question from the end of the 1982 movie.
I took it as some sort of threat.
The question that never needs answered, I really hope he doesn't.
Carpenters been dead for like 10 years. But he did say that. He also confirmed that one of the two men at the end are indeed the thing
@@travisbrimstone9619 John Carpenter isn't dead.
@@MAJ0R_TOM Mandela effect
There already is The Thing "2" that explains what happened later. It's a video game, though.
John Carpenter's adaptation of the Thing in 1982 is best horror movie ever that hold it's own to this day
American Werewolf in london? Evil Dead? Alien? Texas Chainsaw?
@@coinopanimator all good. But not the best :)
@@alexinfinite7142 Thanks fellow connoisseur
@@alexinfinite7142 Son of Saul is terrifying
@coinopanimator that's less fiction and more reality. Which is always more scary. I meant more fiction based. Just reading the quick description of son of Saul tells me that's some harrowing stuff
My grandma watched The Thing (1982) with me and then told me about watching The Thing From Another World when she was younger ❤
John Carpenter's The Thing, is one of those movies I will watch every time a stumble upon in.
Another adaptation of "Who Goes There" that is never mentioned but very good is "Horror Express" with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
To me, John Carpenter's The Thing is the original even though I know it isn't, lol.
For the longest time I never even knew the prior 1951 film existed. Still, I prefer the 1982 masterpiece as it's closer to the original 1938 short story.
@@gjtrue same here, John Carpenters version will always be my favorite.
It’s much closer to the short story, so it gives off the feeling of being more “classic” than the original in my opinion.
Same.
Agreed
Carpenter actually endorsed the game and considers it the canon follow up to the movie. Spoilers if you don’t want to know what happens, but it’s discovered that Childs died of hypothermia and MacReady survived throughout the entirety of the game confirming that neither of them were the Thing at the end of the movie.
I've seen the original The Thing From Another World and John Carpenter's The Thing. Tbh, the original is actually really solid and stands out from many of its contemporaries. The remake by John Carpenter though is peak old school creature feature horror. It's one of those films that holds up now and probably will forever.
The fact that a 1951 movie had a softcore BDSM scene is insane.
Kinda sad Ryan didn't mention Parasyte: The Maximum or Prototype, which definitely draw from The Thing more than Amongus.
Prototype has you essentially playing AS The Thing and Parasyte pulls both the paranoia, the dog scene, and even the blood drawing scene (though they do it a bit different) from the movie
What they managed with the dogs scene is breathtaking.
I love the you include Roger Ebert’s original reaction. That fucking hack was WILDLY wrong on a myriad of his takes on films. He even hated Aliens originally.
The Thing has so much potential. Imagine that the film takes place in a time when Black Death was a pandemic and its revealed that it was the Thing👀
They're actually 4 movies one is less known it's called Horror Express. Based on the same book who goes there with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing it's very much the same concept only takes place on a train.
Yes! I always liked that film!
For years, I had the image of the creature walking down a dark corridor on the train with its mouth open and red eye
I never forgot it
Donald Sutherland passed away two days ago. He played Merrick in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie (and a lot of other roles).
You're alone, you're scared, you're cold.
A creature from another world stalks you.
It can't get any worse...but...wait. You see a shape in the distance.
It's him.
Shia Lebouf.
DO IT!!!!
GETTT MEEE OUT OF HEREREEE
Ayyy, love that you’ve added The Thing to your retrospective lineup.
"mini" retrospective lol
I appreciate the hour long content. Keeps me entertained while I work
You can find the scripts for the cancled thing sequel on the internet. Great read with fun references, parallels, and callbacks. If you're a fan of the thing, I recomend it.
Hopefully it gets made one day.
Well this was a suprising one
As someone’s who’s been using these long form retrospectives as something to watch while working out, your channel is exactly the thing I’ve been looking for! Youve earned a subscriber!
Very nice! Will you eventually do retrospectives on series such as Puppet Master, and or The Living Dead, or Of The Dead series? Those are trickier, because Romero’s collaborator split off and took “The Living Dead” as a series, while Romero took “Of The Dead as his series
+1 Living Dead
Definitely going to need some more mini retrospectives! Great video!
the thing 1982 is my favourite film, i saw it on pirate vhs in either 1982 or 1983 and i was only born in 1979, but you don't forget that first scene where the dog transforms
Horror Express 1972 is based on who goes there as well
my mom always loved the original The Thing From Another World so that was the first i saw. Then I saw the prequel to John Carpenter's, and then saw The Thing (1982).
I saw these movies in a very weird order lol but i still love them all.
The prequel was a passable enough movie up until it wasn't.
The part that really made me dislike the movie was the "Test" scene. It was such a cool idea to have a test with that could give false positives and the potential for paranoia was amazing... Then not even 2 minutes later everything randomly goes to hell and most of the cast die in a completely unrelated CGI clusterf**k... They really wanted to have the "Test" scene and even came up with a good idea but couldn't be bothered to do a damn thing with it and that just irks me.
Love these retros ryan! cant wait for the next!
I consume every Thing related media I can find. I seen dozens of videos like this. This is the cream of the crop. Thank you!
I think a whole movie of the sub story in the comics would make a fantastic movie. Being stuck on the bottom of the ocean and can’t use fire with the thing would be as isolated as it gets
I love Carpenters Thing so much, I’ve seen it a bunch of time. The effects still hold up today I think.
Man, you REALLY have to check out Horror Express (1972), Harbinger Down (2015) and Zygote (2017). The first one is loosely based on the novel, the second one has multiple references to The Thing (JC) and its connected to the practical effects that were going to be used in the prequel and the last one is a mix between Alien and The Thing in the eyes if Neill Blomkamp, i’d love to see you touch these ones when making the new The Thing Game Review !!!
There was also a fourth adaptation of Who goes there? That happened between The Thing from Another World and The Thing (1982) and that was Horror Express (1972) starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and was basically a mashup between Who goes there and Murder on the Orient Express. Just thought I'd throw that interesting bit of trivia out there.
The biggest continuity flaw was in the original they are watching a video of the Norwegians blowing up the spaceship when they try to thaw it out .
Dude!!! What. A thing retrospective. Awesome. It's my favorite horror film so I'll take it. I was going to suggest the predator franchise as your small retrospective before your next big one, but this is also good.
I know you didn't complain about the end of this movie and it being plot armor, but I never hear the same about the end of Alien.
The xenomorph just happens to make its way to the escape shuttle and takes a nap, then lumbers about slowly as Ripley gets dressed.
Great video! Some thoughts from a random fan, maybe of value, maybe not;
Focusing on Carpenter’s versions, I always, since first viewing in the mid 1980’s on tape, FINALLY with VCR (nobody wanted to take me in ‘82 and I was 14Y.O.…) was that it was amazing and smart. I absolutely loved it. You pointed out the very things that did it for me as well, including but not limited to the intelligent construction of situations and directing. The way it’s filmed without a clear leader at first, the way they used the original story, all the players are great, the pacing as they learn about their problem is perfect. The effects…. I mean, in the 80’s? Jesus, I was squirming in my couch a few times.
I also feel a bit vindicated and jealous at the same time with all the attention the film gets now, with excellent videos like this and many more decent ones and waves of new fans building up…. when I was PLEADING for people to give Carpenter’s masterpiece a chance decades ago.
No, I wasn’t alone, there were other fans and some critics gave it love, but it was rare hearing compliments about it let alone being included at all whether peers or strangers discussed movies.
I want to yell at the world; “I told you so!”.
The first film- I also love this film because it’s actually older yet better than countless monster movies that followed. The Hawkes’ trademark overlapping dialogue (you pointed it out!! Bravo!), is a good touch, and though it feels a bit forced and staged back then, I know it’s mostly because it was extremely rare (as you mentioned) in films prior.
The third film drove me nuts because I love that actress M. E. Winstead (relatively new and young yet solid in everything I’ve seen her do); I loved the concept of a prequel; (always had great curiosity about that situation, which compliments the second film and story); and being new technology, had the chance of making it look amazing.
I couldn’t stand the very things you complained about either, plus the way they omitted the stealthiness and intelligence of the creature used in the second film.
What predator, anytime or anywhere, roars with announcements that it’s trying to stalk prey? An idiot predator.
I also wanted to see if that creature was actually a stowaway, parasite picked up from somewhere…. and ALWAYS thought that should be the case whether intended or not by Campbell or filmmakers. Back in the 80’s upon first viewing, I figured it was the reason for the crash on Earth in the first place- the original beings trying to get rid of it caused chaos.
Finally, I actually found the paperback including “Who goes there?” back in the 90’s while snooping around book stores in northern California, after the military stationed me at Travis AFB. I also found “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” AND “We can remember it for you wholesale” during those years of hunting for things I found cool yet most didn’t care about back then.
It was disappointing many years later when using the internet to learn more about Campbell being sort of a jerk-turd, especially knowing I thought his story “Who goes there?” was genius. And I still do, actually. Sure there are better written, far better written sci-fi… but there SHOULD be because that was written BEFORE so many other authors were able to learn from each other!
That long ago, limited science to work with, and coming up with something that terrifying? Holy sh-t!
It unofficially means we should always give everyone a chance unless imminently dangerous. They might be trouble, but I take a look at their work for something good that came out of it.
Thanks again for the great video.
This was a wonderful surprise. One of my top favorite horror films.
Fantastic retrospective I also really recommend watching Morbid Zoo’s video on the 2011 Thing movie!
the 2011 needs to go back to its origin and use the live action devices over CGI.
Hey Ryan! Just binge watched all of your retrospectives. I am a narrative game designer so it is very important for me to know how different people tell different stories, horror included, But I am afraid of horror movies! But, thanks to your videos, I got to know a lot of new amazing things about a horror genre and movie industry. Thank you for your hard work!
I’ve been waiting for this video for 22 years.
Dude! I love your retrospectives! Hope you continue them! Ever thought about doing one on The Omen franchise? Or maybe The Exorcist franchise?
The Thing is awesome and I’m so happy the video game is getting remastered
So in the case of why the prequal plays out more like a traditional monster movie is because thats what it is. the lore goes that when assimilated by the thing it gains the memories of the one it takes over, also the thing was ejected from the ship (or it crawled out, either way) and froze in a block of ice. when it thawed out it would wake up no with no idea where the ship is. that being said and if i recall correctly it didnt head back to the ship until it absorbed somebody who knew the location of it. and it absorbs rapidly in the prequal because from the first person it took over the memories of that person would reveal there is another person who knows the exact location of the ship. and keep in mind at this point as far as the creature knows the ship is still intact. the prequal takes place over 2 maybe 3 days. As for the original, this is the things second run in with human beings now, creatures that burned, shot, cut, and blew up the thing. and as we know, the creature is a hive mind, meaning that everything one part of it knows all parts of it know. with this information we can see that in the original the thing bides its times assimilating who it thinks would the best option to turn the already violent humans against each other. it spends several days at outpost 31, so long that the crew have had to resort to making there own meals,
TL;DR - The prequal takes place over a couple days because the thing is actively trying to escape the planet on it's still intact ship. It's lost, scared, and on the defense so it acts fast.
The original takes place over several days because the thing has nothing but time now and has done this before. It's still lost, now its pissed, and now it knows humans. hell it's been 8 or 9 of then by this point.
When i first saw these movies i watched the prequal first and then the original right after as they had both dropped on the netflix. I think this is the best way to view the story as it shows how the thing is able to adapt to its new enemies
I like all 3 for what they are. Definitely all worthwhile watches. A end of the world scenario for every era.😂❤👽
The Thing from Another World and The Thing (1982) are perfect films
Either film has scary premises that would cause trouble today. Now add body snatchers abilities to the first version and...
The Thing is my ALL TIME favorite horror movie. The “prequel” from 2011 is also good in an “this is still fun to watch” kind way and dont tell mw otherwise
I know its very popular to say these days but the thing has been one of my favorite films since I first saw it back in the day on VHS. Such an incredible classic.
The same way fans want to see the Predator in different time periods, seeing The Thing in different time periods trapped would be fun too!
Yep.
Nope, the whole point of The Thing is that it would kill everything on the planet if it gets to a population of basically any mammal.
Antarctica worked because it explains why nothing saw it before as it was frozen. You can't really do the same thing twice, which is why the prequel sucked.
There was a comic adaptation called “Northman Nightmare” that involves vikings encounters a Thing (or Things) in an isolated village.
What a pleasant surprise !! 🖤
Take a shot every time he says “thing”
What a treat, this made my friday.
The thing is such a classic, I never watched the original and thought that a movie about paranoia was the whole point of it and the alien, a device to make the "trust nobody" plausible.
Thank you for all the hard work you put into the retrospectives brother. Cant wait to see the next one!
TIGHT! More of these!
This was a fantastic video! I haven't watched 'The Thing' by Carpenter in a few years & after watching this retrospective, I definitely feel an itch to seek it out again!
The psychological elements of 'The Thing' (& perhaps all three films) is really the draw for me. The paranoia makes total sense and the consequences of failure could be world-ending! 😮
I saw the original first. Than at 7 I saw the thing on beta max in my dad’s collection and asked if it’s the same movie. He said no but you you can watch it if you promise not to get nightmares. It’s been my number one movie ever sense.
Wish I could've watched the stream last night but so glad you covered this! I watched Carpenter's 1982 version when I was around 16 I think. For me it's near perfect, favourite movie of all time.
I just discovered your channel, and I absolutely love it!!!
Let’s go, this is my favourite horror film, super excited to watch
Great vid as always Ryan!!
The thing videogame was really awesome when it came out, but felt heavily outdated and clunky within a year or two. Which makes it the perfect project for the remaster we are about to get. Fingera crossed it turns out good
37:37 Amazing how the two greats of the sci-fi horror genre (Alien and The Thing) were trashed by critics at the time both have gone on to become recognised as masterpieces that get better with age and actually transcend the genre. The critics simply couldn't see past the gory and shocking elements, which doesn't say much for the objectivity of movie critics.
The 2002 video game is funnish schlock for what it is. There's a lot of interesting gameplay mechanics...in concept. In practice, the team either didn't have the skill, the budget, or the time to implement them in any functional way. There's a blood-test mechanic, but your teammates don't get "infected" by the thing. They are scripted to die or change at specific points in the game, so you can test someone and get a negative result, and then within 3 seconds you cross the event flag trigger and boom, they change into Things for no reason. Bigger things need to be weakened with gunfire and then burned to permanently kill them, and flamethrowers/blowtorches can be aimed at the ground to create a fire barrier to repel them, but it's kind of pointless to do when you can just burn them. NPCs have a "stress" meter, and being around grisly, gore-filled scenes will cause them to puke, freak out, and/or start crying and refuse to move. But just moving them outside the radius of what scares them will make them fine again. There's a trust system, but literally all you need to do to earn someone's trust is hand them a gun. Any gun, even a shitty pistol and some ammo they're loyal soldiers who will follow you into hell.
Hopefully they truly remake this game a la RE2 remake, and not a lazy "remaster" for a game that honestly is pretty forgettable.
I had a lot of fun with the game and am pumped to hear its getting a remaster.
Hell Yeah, love your retrospectives!!
Honorable Mention to Parasyte the Maximum. It was inspired by The Thing.
I've always thought that neither of them were the thing at the end. I always thought that the point was that the thing broke their minds' ability to trust anything anymore even if they were both pretty certain that the other one was not the thing. Which will and in their deaths, giving the thing one final victory.
John Carpenter has made great movies and bad movies. As an artist that just means he's trying. Experimentation is key
The thing is my second favorite Carpenter film in my top 3… just a amazing practical effects
One of my favourite horrors, thanks Ryan love from London
The original Thing game was awesome. You can play it on emulation. It was well done. Carpenter has said that the PS2 game is actually canon. Really looking forward to the remaster because a) it's The Thing b) Nightdive Studios is doing it and they're pretty much amazing when they do these things and c) it's The Thing.
Honestly I really liked the 2011 movie. I can't figure out why everyone hates on it so much.
JC's The Thing is in my all time top 3 films
Of course. Stuntman Tom Steel. Middle name "Balls Of".
i'd say "spine of steel" instead.
Best suspense body horror movie ever made.
I think you are missing a movie based on this premis, it was called the Horror Express, where an expidition into China in the early 1900's. The movie was made in the 1970's, go give it a watch, you'll like it.
have you read the novella The Things? it tells the story from the perspective of the monster. I highly recommend it. there is and audio version on TH-cam about an hour long.
The Thing is my all time favorite John Carpenter movie.
There should be more horror tales set in Arctic conditions
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver I consider worthy of that setting even though it's a ghost story rather than a sci-fi
If I had to choose which version of the Thing I had to fight I would go with the 1951 plant thing, the reason behind that is because of what the Carpenter Thing can do to you.
Now the 1951 thing may kill you and drain your blood to feed its seedlings but that’s just it, it’s plain death and harvesting, quick and painless (Well maybe not as quick and painless in certain circumstances but you get what I mean). The Carpenter Thing on the other hand when it gets you it doesn’t kill. No, it assimilates you, takes you over in both body and mind and basically makes you apart of itself.
Now it’s not very well known what being assimilated is like, most have speculated in other videos and fan made books, but all possibilities are equally terrifying. Like what if somewhere inside the imitation you’re still alive or conscious in some degree, you can’t move, you can’t speak, you can’t even control you’re own body, and you can only watch as you’re whole being is used to inflict death and spread the infection and even feel you’re own form twisting and mutating into ungodly abominations. You are forced to go on and endure a possible eternity being trapped in a hellish purgatory along with any others who shared in you’re fate, unable to move on to the next plane and forever exsisting as a prisoner in a gestalt of souls trapped inside the warped biomass of an Alien violator.
Add to that the unpleasant and violating experience having you’re body being converted and you have possibly one of the Worst Fates in Horror to date. So yeah, I’d definitely go with the plant guy.
It's criminal how little exposure your videos have on YT! Another phenomenal retrospective, this time encompassing all the media surrounding The Thing! Can't wait to see more!
Theres a story where it's from the things point of view from john carpenter's the thing out there. Its actually very interesting.
If Alien was the mother of Among us, then The Thing is it's father!
Nah more of a Godfather
I don't know....wondering if that title should go to the Blob instead...or maybe I just feel that way because that movie horrified me as a kid 😂
Don't get me wrong though Aliens still in my top 2, that title ain goin no where.
How is Alien the mother of Among Us? It has nothing to do with that game which is very clearly based on The Thing.
56:21 That is a great idea! Not only would she have killed an innocent, but could have made herself seem like she is the thing to her victim.
I would love to see another movie with Mary Elizabeth Winstead character "Kate" arriving at the Russian camp and then they head out to the American camp and find Childs & MacReady and the rest of the American camp in the way that they found the Norwegian camp in the original (Carpenter's version). From there the paranoia can start over again with Childs and or MacReady being the start for the members of the Russian camp.
You just implied that it's only been alive for around a thousand years. I don't think you're counting the freezing time, so I'm pretty sure they said that it was in the ice for 100,000 years making this thing ancient and making the alien ship interesting
I knew what to expect, and the visuals just in this video still ruined my appetite for lunch, lol. Shouldn’t have sat down to it during this. 😅 Great video though!!
“Mini Retrospective”
1 hour later:
Wish they had left the original effects in the prequel then we'd 3 great movies instead of only 2
Great retrospective this true classic is extraordinary. John Carpenter is a terrific director. One of my favorite movies along with "Alien". I've heard that Blumhouse Films is adapting "Frozen Hell" into a motion picture release date TBA. I hope they move forward on this project using practical SFX only. I'm new to your channel & already enjoying it. 👍 Long Live Horror Movies!!
The 1951 version was good especially the scene with the kerosene. 1982 version was perfect in every way and the 2011 is enjoyable as a popcorn flick and not much else.
I did think the idea for the prequal was sound. I always wondered what happened to the Norwegians whenever I watched The Thing. Let down unfortunately by the crappy CG effects
+1 Algorithm boost
I’d absolutely LOVE a “The Thing” series of movies throughout different points in history. It would be my 1st hope for film. The only problem is that a majority of modern writing/action/suspense is absolutely sh*t and I wouldn’t trust modern film industry to do it well.
That the 2011 version doesn't line up in just about every way with the 1982 film.
The pixel wall was the alien pilot who hung himself and who would be the thing that chases Kate in the end
Thanks for the video
Good choice here
Watched the original Howard Hawks movie as a boy back in the seventies...scared the crap out of me then. Watched the Carpenter version at the cinema...kept looking over my shoulder all the way home 😂😂😂 the prequel.. let's call that a fan made homage...
Can you do a retrospective on the Scream Franchise?
What if.
What if this wasn't a mini retro and instead it was a full 4 hour retro 😳