The Thing (1982)

[Slater]

For anyone who's seen the 1982 sci-fi flick "The Thing" (with Kurt Russell), were you left hanging by the ending?
Do you think either survivor could have been infected, and would a sequel have worked?

 

[Dave]

Sorry, I can't remember the ending.

But I love all John Carpenter films- Assault on Precinct 15, Escape from New York (also with Kurt Russell).

Actually, Kurt Russell has been in some good movies- Stargate for one.

 

[Dave]

The Thing (1982) 109 Minutes.

Directed by John Carpenter.

With Kurt Russell.

http://uk.imdb.com/Title?0084787

'Man is the warmest place to hide'

A remake using the basis of the original story:

http://ascifi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3527

(the thing conceals itself with each of the characters in turn) but filled with revolting detail which alienated many audiences in 1982, but which is tame in respect to the norm for horror films since then.

 

[Tabitha]

Watched this film on dvd last night - I was very impressed! I had seen it before, but not for many years. I was particularly impressed by how little we actually see the titular "Thing", the movie comes across much more as a psychological horror than as basci SF horror.
The effects were okay, but even to put them in the context of other movies at the time (Alien, Bladerunner), I wasn't that impressed.
All the footage with the dog was chilling. Particularly when it was being led into the kennel with the other dogs - I was chilled to the bone before anything scary even started happening!

The DVD (Region 1, anyway) doesn't have that much in the way of extra features - but there is a fairly interesting 30 documentary on the making of the movie, with interviews with several cast members (including Kurt Russell) and John Carpenter, and many of the effects and production design team. I highly recommend taking a look.

 

[darkjedi77]

I absolutely love this movie. I have it on DVD and VHS, I am acutally watching it on sci-fi channel tonight. I saw it only once as a kid and it scared the **** out of me, the pasrt where the dog's face splits was where I said Game over, man!

 

[Tabitha]

New game based on "The Thing"

I think it is available on The X-Box, but I could be wrong.

The television adverts make this game look fabulous! Very mysterious and moody, and it looks as if they have really captured the atmosphere of the movie. Can't wait to play - has anyone out there tried it yet?

 

[MetalAlien]

I just want to drop a line of respect for what I consider to be one of the finest horror films ever made. I am a HUGE Alien fan, but this movie I put side by side with Alien as my favorite (if you knew me you'd understand how much that means, I live for Alien).

To date no other alien creature has be as truely frightening and incredible, but at the same time not completely impossible. The creature is basicly an expansion on what some single celled lifeforms and viruses do. It's like a virus with a mind. The REALLY scarey thing is some whacked out genetic engineer could make a creature like that one day. They'll be able to build custom cells in less than 50 years. After that it's just a matter of time before they start building biological weapons. Then some dumb son of a b*tch will make a cell like this alien and it will be the end of the world, for real!

No stopping it, nothing we could do, just wait until it comes for you. Science imitaing art, imitating you! Just one cell is enough to take over an entire world. Doomsday for real!

Love this movie!!!

 

[Dirk Gently]

I have to agree this is possible one of the best horror style movies ever made, just imagine being there, not knowing if your best friends is real or not, most of the film is not made up of special-fx but uses suspence to try and show who may be infected.

The scene with the head on the floor that grows legs has to be one of the most disturbing and at the same time funny moments of the film, to think that the idea for the film was first done in 1938 just shows what a good story it is, it was written by John W. Campbell Jr. (as Don A. Stuart) under the title Who Goes There?

I have the region 2 version of the film which has an audio commentary by Kurt Russel and John carpenter plus loads of other extras, if you really like this film see if there is a better region 1 version out now or get the region 2 version.

byeeeee.

 

[MetalAlien]

New Thing Drawing

Just sharing a drawing I just did of The Thing. I don't have a scanner so I had to stick together vidcaps to get enough resolution. Hope you like it.

http://www.angelfire.com/film/vidcaps/thing_drawing.JPG

 

[Starbeast]

This is a sci-fi masterpiece by John Carpenter, and for me, the best alien shape-shifter movie ever made. I highly recommend to everyone who loves this movie to watch it with the audio commentary on, you'll hear Kurt Russell and John Carpenter chat lively about this incredible sci-fi/horror flick.

I believe a prequel is being made, and we will fianlly see what happened to the Norwegian scientific team who found the saucer and the amazing, but deadly being.

 

[Rodders]

A definate masteriece for both the SF and Horror genres. In the surface it's just a typical 80s gorefest movie, but when you look closer it's a deceptively intelligent movie.

As well as the prequel movie (which i am very much looking forward to) i also believe that there was a game released that was supposed to capture the feel of the film quite well. (I never played it. )

 

[Diggler]

Yes! The Thing, is by far John Carpenter's masterpiece. It was panned on release, and eclipsed by E.T. So it ended up being a box office failure. I snapped up the HD-DVD when it came out. It looks fantastic in HD and holds up extremely well. Though the supplements are just ripped straight from the SE DVD.

The game was quite glitchy, and prone to issues, though it did it's job extremely well when it came to suspense. You had to balance between trust, and fear.

Your team mates were prone to going crazy if they saw too much blood and guts or aliens. Though they could also be acting odd because they are not people any more, and could turn into a monster at any moment. You were capable of literally executing any of your team members, at any time. But if they were a human, then your own team mates will turn on you, and possibly even try to kill you.

This was not a game to play in the dark, because it was scary as hell!

 

[Rodders]

LOL. This is one of those movies that's going to make me want a Blu Ray player. Does anyone know if the Blu-Ray transfer holds up well?

 

[Diggler]

It's a direct rip of the HD-DVD Rodders. While it isn't like Transformers, it's a very nice print. Here's a full size screeny from the Blu Ray.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews41/the%20thing%20blu-ray/large/large%20the%20thing%20blu-rayx3.jpg

 

[Metryq]

I saw this in the cinema when it was first released.

My brother, a real wiseguy, went to see it a second time and made sure to sit down right next to someone he didn't know. (The cinemas were rarely packed, and people tended to spread around.) He waited until that scene when everyone is tied to the sofa and MacReady is testing blood samples with a hot wire.

Mac finds an infected person, and the guy immediately begins to shape-shift: twitching and quivering. At the same moment, my brother also started twitching and quivering. He really freaked out the guy next to him.

 

[Starbeast]

I also believe that there was a game released that was supposed to capture the feel of the film quite well. (I never played it. )

I'm sure you can still find The Thing video game, it was released in 2002, it has a great spooky atmosphere with Carpenter's eerie music, and it's a good game to play in the dark (that's how I like to play horror games). I hope when the prequel comes out that a new video game based on both movies is created, because with the animated graphics that we have today, it would make the game very freaky indeed.

Here's the opening for the original game.............

 

[clovis-man]

My older granddaughter, who is fine with just about any creepy film had a little trouble with this one. She's fine with zombies, vampires, etc. Even thought Psycho and Alien were cool. But this one was a little too "wet & slimy" for her. She couldn't get through it.

 

[Starbeast]

My older granddaughter, who is fine with just about any creepy film had a little trouble with this one. She couldn't get through it.

When my mother and brother saw this film in the cinema, they saw two grown men run out of the theater when the scene where the dogs are attacked in the kennel. After the creature was destroyed by fire, the two men returned to their seats from the lobby.

I've seen young people leave their seats from film The Exorcist.

Has anyone else ever seen anyone run away from a horror movie?

 

[steve12553]

This one was interesting for me because I saw the Howard Hawks version as a child in the early sixties and really enjoyed it (scary and intense). I read the novella (?) Who Goes There? in the seventies and thought that the movie could have been better. I then saw the Carpenter version when it came out and enjoyed it. This sits with me kinda like the Blade Runner/ Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? quandy. They all seem to work in there own right. I own both films on DVD and the book. I will rewatch or reread all of them periodically.

 

[clovis-man]

This one was interesting for me because I saw the Howard Hawks version as a child in the early sixties and really enjoyed it (scary and intense). I read the novella (?) Who Goes There? in the seventies and thought that the movie could have been better. I then saw the Carpenter version when it came out and enjoyed it. This sits with me kinda like the Blade Runner/ Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? quandy. They all seem to work in there own right. I own both films on DVD and the book. I will rewatch or reread all of them periodically.

Ditto.

The only difference is that I first read the Campbell story in the 1950s, when I was a lad.