The Thing (18.)
Directed By John Carpenter. 1982.
Starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat. 109 mins. Out on Limited Edition Blu-ray and Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbook from Arrow Films on October 23rd.
Of all the now classic films that were commercial and /or critical flops when they came out – Kane, Oz, Darko, Blade Runner, Wonderful Life, Fight Club, etc – no film's rejection by both the audience and reviewers is quite as baffling as that of The Thing. Not only did it get hammered by the critics of the day, but audiences shunned it too. (In America it did come out just two weeks after ET, so there was an element of bad luck there.) You watch it today, 35 years later, in sheer disbelief that people couldn't see it as being one of the great horror movies. I could; my conscience is absolutely clear on this: I still remember walking home from the cinema on a dark, rainy Saturday afternoon, still a little peaked at being able to get into X rated movies aged 15 and still dropjawed at what I had seen, and jumping out of my skin when a cat sprung out of the dark in an alleyway. I knew then that this was something special. This was the film that made Alien look silly.
The great thing about The Thing is that it doesn't have a thing; it's a monster movie without a monster. Rather than simply remake Howard Hawks's 50s film The Thing From Another World, Carpenter's film goes back to the original source material, a novella by Joseph W. Campbell, where the creature found in a spaceship frozen in ice is a shapeshifter that takes over the personality and appearance of any creature it kills. In a remote Antarctic base this cause levels of paranoia and tension that are almost unbearable.
The irony is that although the set up seems tailor-made for a suggestive piece where the menace is unseen or skulking in the shadows, The Thing is still a full-on monster movie. It may take human form but when we see the Thing in action it is right in front of you, in plain sight. No cheats, nothing left to the imagination. (Maybe that's why the bad reviews?) Compare that to Alien. H.R, Giger's designs for the Xenomorph look wondrous in stills but it was rarely able to move around convincingly. It is like some ageing matinee idol who can only be shot from a certain angle and in a certain light, and only on its best side.
The Thing, when it emerges, is pure kinetic fury. The scenes where bits of humans or animals suddenly rip apart or spout alien limbs are still gruesome and shocking today; 35 years ago they would've had you leaping out of your seat in disgust. An early scene where a dog suddenly finds itself consumed by withering tentacles ripping through its flesh, trying to smother and engulf any other lifeform nearby, is very reminiscent of speeded up footage of dead animals decomposing.
And that's the power of the film. It's an affront to human certainty. We are muy fragil and can be copied as easily as the dogs.
The Thing is the complete deal: it offers gore and shocks, but also slow build tension. Even when you know what's coming, the waiting and uncertainty are excruciating. The relationships between the 12 men stranded on that arctic base are swiftly but honestly drawn. The camp seems divided between conventional Republican types and counterculture free spirits. Somewhere between them is helicopter pilot MacReady (Russell.) It may be sacrilege to say it, but Russell is kind of a flaw in the movie – he's too obviously the hero. It would be better with a cast of equals where we didn't know who was going to make it to the end.
Extras
The 35th anniversary is not normally one of the big'uns but with Blade Runner 2 in cinemas it seems fashionable at the moment, and Arrow have gone to town on the extras for this.
Probably the pick of them Who Goes There? In Search of the Thing which covers the whole story from the original novella, through Hawks version right up to its massacring by the critics.
Of course, in America it came out the same week as Blade Runner and two weeks after ET. The retrospective short documentary 1982: One Amazing Summer celebrates the unique summer of 1982 when every week saw a future classic open.
Brand new restoration from a 4K scan of the original negative, supervised and approved by director John Carpenter and director of photography Dean Cundey
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original Mono and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by John Carpenter and actor Kurt Russell
Who Goes There? In Search of The Thing – an all-new feature length documentary produced by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures exploring the history of The Thing, from the original novella to John Carpenter's terrifying science fiction classic. Featuring new interviews with the cast and crew, as well as authors, historians, and critics
1982: One Amazing Summer – an all-new retrospective documentary produced by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures about the unforgettable films released in the summer of 1982
John Carpenter's The Thing: Terror Takes Shape – archive documentary on the background and production of the film
Vintage Featurettes
Outtakes
Behind-the-Scenes
Trailers, Teasers, TV and Radio Spots
Still Galleries
Directed By John Carpenter. 1982.
Starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat. 109 mins. Out on Limited Edition Blu-ray and Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbook from Arrow Films on October 23rd.
Of all the now classic films that were commercial and /or critical flops when they came out – Kane, Oz, Darko, Blade Runner, Wonderful Life, Fight Club, etc – no film's rejection by both the audience and reviewers is quite as baffling as that of The Thing. Not only did it get hammered by the critics of the day, but audiences shunned it too. (In America it did come out just two weeks after ET, so there was an element of bad luck there.) You watch it today, 35 years later, in sheer disbelief that people couldn't see it as being one of the great horror movies. I could; my conscience is absolutely clear on this: I still remember walking home from the cinema on a dark, rainy Saturday afternoon, still a little peaked at being able to get into X rated movies aged 15 and still dropjawed at what I had seen, and jumping out of my skin when a cat sprung out of the dark in an alleyway. I knew then that this was something special. This was the film that made Alien look silly.
The great thing about The Thing is that it doesn't have a thing; it's a monster movie without a monster. Rather than simply remake Howard Hawks's 50s film The Thing From Another World, Carpenter's film goes back to the original source material, a novella by Joseph W. Campbell, where the creature found in a spaceship frozen in ice is a shapeshifter that takes over the personality and appearance of any creature it kills. In a remote Antarctic base this cause levels of paranoia and tension that are almost unbearable.
The irony is that although the set up seems tailor-made for a suggestive piece where the menace is unseen or skulking in the shadows, The Thing is still a full-on monster movie. It may take human form but when we see the Thing in action it is right in front of you, in plain sight. No cheats, nothing left to the imagination. (Maybe that's why the bad reviews?) Compare that to Alien. H.R, Giger's designs for the Xenomorph look wondrous in stills but it was rarely able to move around convincingly. It is like some ageing matinee idol who can only be shot from a certain angle and in a certain light, and only on its best side.
The Thing, when it emerges, is pure kinetic fury. The scenes where bits of humans or animals suddenly rip apart or spout alien limbs are still gruesome and shocking today; 35 years ago they would've had you leaping out of your seat in disgust. An early scene where a dog suddenly finds itself consumed by withering tentacles ripping through its flesh, trying to smother and engulf any other lifeform nearby, is very reminiscent of speeded up footage of dead animals decomposing.
And that's the power of the film. It's an affront to human certainty. We are muy fragil and can be copied as easily as the dogs.
The Thing is the complete deal: it offers gore and shocks, but also slow build tension. Even when you know what's coming, the waiting and uncertainty are excruciating. The relationships between the 12 men stranded on that arctic base are swiftly but honestly drawn. The camp seems divided between conventional Republican types and counterculture free spirits. Somewhere between them is helicopter pilot MacReady (Russell.) It may be sacrilege to say it, but Russell is kind of a flaw in the movie – he's too obviously the hero. It would be better with a cast of equals where we didn't know who was going to make it to the end.
Extras
The 35th anniversary is not normally one of the big'uns but with Blade Runner 2 in cinemas it seems fashionable at the moment, and Arrow have gone to town on the extras for this.
Probably the pick of them Who Goes There? In Search of the Thing which covers the whole story from the original novella, through Hawks version right up to its massacring by the critics.
Of course, in America it came out the same week as Blade Runner and two weeks after ET. The retrospective short documentary 1982: One Amazing Summer celebrates the unique summer of 1982 when every week saw a future classic open.
Brand new restoration from a 4K scan of the original negative, supervised and approved by director John Carpenter and director of photography Dean Cundey
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original Mono and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by John Carpenter and actor Kurt Russell
Who Goes There? In Search of The Thing – an all-new feature length documentary produced by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures exploring the history of The Thing, from the original novella to John Carpenter's terrifying science fiction classic. Featuring new interviews with the cast and crew, as well as authors, historians, and critics
1982: One Amazing Summer – an all-new retrospective documentary produced by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures about the unforgettable films released in the summer of 1982
John Carpenter's The Thing: Terror Takes Shape – archive documentary on the background and production of the film
Vintage Featurettes
Outtakes
Behind-the-Scenes
Trailers, Teasers, TV and Radio Spots
Still Galleries
