The Thing

This 4K Blu-ray release is absolutely amazing! An incredibly superior remastering in every regard. The picture quality is truly astounding! It didn't look this good in the theaters (and I know because I saw it on the big screen myself)!If you are a fan of this movie, this magnificent looking disc is absolutely the version to own!The Thing is typically thought of as a horror film (and it is one, and a classic in the genre, no argument), but it is also so much more than mere mindless scares. It is also top flight science fiction with a greater purpose, just as the novella it is based upon from legendary science fiction great John W. Campbell was.John Carpenter's version of "The Thing" is often compared to the original black and white classic, typically by critics who have never read the original source material, "Who Goes There?", which is actually an in-depth examination of the chilling effects of distrust and paranoia on the members of a small community. If they've never read the source they have no idea of how poor an adaptation the original was, or how good an adaptation Carpenter's version is.The original, although a fine film, threw away the book's entire theme and purpose and turned it into a straight monster movie (and admittedly, a superior one at that), but the entire point and purpose of the story was still utterly lost. It was a terrible adaptation of the source novella, even though it was a much better than average monster movie.This John Carpenter version, on the other hand, is a phenomenally good adaptation of the original literary piece. Just unbelievably true to the source material. And, it is a very good movie as well.The novella was inspired by the effects of paranoia Campbell saw among certain groupings and societies of people at variously troubling times.Campbell, a man who'd always been very interested in human psychology, became, in fact, so fascinated with the effects of societal paranoia that he decided to write a novella exploring the subject in great depth.In it, he created a minimum microcosm representing a small society out of the inhabitants of an isolated Arctic research station cut off from the outside world. He then created an organism that could take on any form, so that every person at this base knew anyone else could actually be the enemy, a reason nobody could be trusted by anyone else. He did this in order to illustrate very clearly the chilling effects of paranoia that would arise and grow from it--and to study in depth how warped human interactions could become as a result.At the beginning of the story the Arctic researchers may have their personal likes and dislikes of one another, but they all get along, all trust one another and all work together as a team. Once the paranoia begins, all of this begins to break down. Soon nobody trusts anyone else and they all fear the others around them. We see how their small society no longer functions without trust. Before long any small degree of suspicion puts them at one another's throats. Even in the final scene we see that distrust of one another still at play.This entire point and purpose of the novella was unfortunately left completely out of the original film and only the scares and frights remained. In the original there is no paranoia, no breakdown in trust, and they instead work together as a strongly unified team against the monster. The point of Campbell's tale has been completely excised from the story.In Carpenter's version, it is back in full form. And, boy did they get the screen adaptation right!The filmmakers were, by the way, so proud of how true to the source novella their final film was, that at the advanced screening held for the critics, they actually handed out copies of "Who Goes There?" so that the critics could read it and see just how faithful they'd been to the original novella.But, apparently, none of them ever bothered to read it, because they pretty much all initially blasted the film as worthless gross-out garbage with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. They couldn't see past the gory, yet revolutionary transformation special effects (which may have been repulsive to them in an unheard of manner back then, but such things have become quite commonplace in horror films today) and they clearly didn't get it. Only weeks after the release of the warm and fuzzy E.T. they simply couldn't get their minds past the barrage of disturbing and grotesque monster effects to see that the film was also actually saying something--and saying it very well.Over the years, though, horror films changed, opinions changed and The Thing has eventually been recognized as the classic that it is, both a terrifying horror masterpiece and a phenomenal screen adaptation of the original literary work illustrating the degeneration of a small society which takes place when everyone looks at everyone else through the eye of suspicion. Even in the final scene of the film we see that fear and distrust have not been vanquished.This is a film the original author would have thought was true to his intended vision. And, it is a phenomenally well done movie.This 4K disc is the penultimate edition of Carpenter's masterpiece of paranoia, suspense and horror and is a truly superior looking disc in every conceivable way. The sharpness, the color, the depth and richness of the image on this disc are all astoundingly impressive. The image quality is so good it looks like it was literally shot yesterday. I had read in advance that this mastering of the movie was going to be something very special to see, but I was totally unprepared for just how amazingly good this disc looks! It is absolutely incredible!I can't possibly conceive of a better looking edition of this fantastic film EVER coming into existence--this version is as close to utterly perfect looking as I've ever seen. It went way, way, way beyond merely meeting my very high expectations, it exceeded them!If you love this movie, you MUST own this disc! I don't think it is possible that there could EVER exist a better looking edition than this truly extraordinary version of this science fiction horror classic!My recommendation is the highest one possible!

My first encounter with John Carpenter's The Thing was back around November of 2001, where I only saw a snippet of the movie on TNT. Just my luck, I tuned in at one of the most gruesome scenes in the movie. Even at the age of 14, when I was more seasoned to creepy films, still found it too disturbing to follow through the rest of the movie, and just tuned in to something else (probably The Simpsons). I wouldn't come into contact with this movie for another eight years.In September of 2009, I went to the nearby Family Video to look for a good movie to watch. I found a copy of The Thing at the store, and looked at the description of it, and thought to myself "Hey, I remember watching a bit of this a while back." For a mere dollar, I rented The Thing and I don't regret it at all.STORYThe Thing is set in Antarctica 1982 (when this movie was released), and an American research team is shocked when a Norwegian scientist lands his helicopter nearby and starts shooting at a runaway dog. Due to a language barrier and overall panicked state the Norwegian is in, he can't properly communicate to the Americans, accidentally blows up his helicopter, and shoots one of the Americans in the leg. The Norwegian ends up getting shot and the American research team takes in the dog that was fleeing from the helicopter. Things start to turn awry when MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Doc Copper (Richard Dysart) investigate the charred remains of the Norwegian research facility and bring back a mutated, humanoid corpse to their facility.CHARACTERSWhat I think helps make The Thing such a great movie is that the characters feel like real people. The cast is a group of men stuck in a research outpost in the Antarctic, and they certainly act like people who've been stuck in a frozen, confined place for a long time. They're not really bad guys, but they're certainly not people that are totally likeable. A lot of them are cranky, probably from being stuck in the same place out in a frozen continent. Palmer (David Clennon) sticks out as the most awkward of the bunch, since you see him smoking marijuana and rambling about some government conspiracies. While MacReady steals the show, Childs (Keith David) is probably my favorite since David is such a great actor and does a great job a playing a man with a sense of reason and is a tad against MacReady when he claims authority in the group.My only real grip with them is that they seem pretty unprofessional for a group of government researchers in the Antarctic, but this could also be that they're in a bout of downtime allotted by the government.It's also worth noting that Wilford Brimley plays Blair, a medical scientist who loses his mind in the wake of these Things taking over the crew of the research outpost.HORROR/SPECIAL EFFECTSBecause The Thing is a sci-fi/horror hybrid, the horror element is extremely important. Thankfully, with director John Carpenter and special effects artist Rob Bottin working on this movie, The Thing has some of the best horror you can get in this genre.Thanks to excellent story and character development, a great location to set up the movie, and amazingly creepy monsters, this movie is replete with natural feelings of isolation, tension, and dread. Being stuck in a research center in the middle of Antarctica, not knowing that someone else in your research team might actually be a nefarious, invasive alien lifeform, this will certainly creep anyone out.Given the premise of alien lifeforms taking over other lifeforms with grizzly results, I can easily see how this movie was extremely influential to Visceral Games when they created the Dead Space series.Rob Bottin has to be one of the best special effects artists that ever worked in cinema. His animatronic monsters in this movie are some of the creepiest you'll ever see because aside from the fact that they look so disgusting, they look very realistic, too. It's crazy that this movie came out in 1982, yet the various Thing monsters in this movie look better than some of the best CGI effects available today.I don't want to give away too much of the scary parts in this movie, but one of the creepy scenes that sticks in my head the most has to be near the beginning, when that dog that escaped from the Norwegian scientists mutates in the dog pen and turns into a sheer abomination that doesn't look like any living creature of this Earth.It's funny to note that some of the materials used to bring these special effects to life, because according the documentary that came with the collector's edition DVD of this movie, Rob Bottin used a bunch of K-Y jelly to give the mutated creatures a slimy, greasy look.STORYTELLINGCarpenter was at the top of his game when directing this movie, and like any director worth his salt, relies on the "show, don't tell" principle of storytelling. Only the necessary amounts of dialogue are used to give background to certain things. What really struck out at me was the scene where Blair was researching the Thing cells, and you see a computer screen depicting highly-pixelated images of the Thing cells taking over the dog cells (taken from the mutated dog's corpse) and spreading to the others. Not a single word was used to explain how the Thing cells work in this scene, yet it gave us all the information we needed to understand the Things.SOUNDTRACKEnnio Morricone's compositions in this movie are some of the best music compositions for horror motion pictures you'll ever hear. Morricone departs from his background in using a whole orchestra and uses primarily electronic keyboards to create the music here. The minimal nature of most of the tracks in the movie's score is perfect for the chilling atmosphere here, since it enhances the said atmosphere and imagery instead of distracting you away from it. The music here is so great, I actually bought an MP3 copy of Morricone's score for this movie.MATURE CONTENTThis is not a movie for the kids to see. There's a good deal of profanity, some drug use, and intensely creepy monsters and gore. You see a dog mutate (with plenty of gore coming from the dog as it mutates) and attack other dogs after it mutates. There's also a scene where a man gets his arms bitten off by one of the Things and it mutates into something really ugly that I can't describe in words, you have to see it for yourself.There's also a scene of a slain dog with an ax embedded into its neck. I know that some people are pretty sensitive to seeing animals getting killed in movies, so if this is a concern for you, you may not like that scene or of the dogs getting attacked by one of the Things.FINAL WORDIn John Carpenter's filmography, I think The Thing is his crowning jewel. If you love horror movies, this is a mandatory movie to have in your library.I should close in saying that sometimes, there is justice in the movie world. The Thing was originally not received well when it first came out, but thankfully it became a hit on video and has now gotten the "classic" status it totally deserves.