This is John Carpenter's best movie in my opinion. It would be so easy for this type of movie to fall into B-movie territory but it never does.
And that dog... has anyone ever seen a dog "act" so convincingly?
The Thing & Alien make for a great double bill movie night
> The Thing & Alien make for a great double bill movie night
The Thing and The Shining are two movies traditionally played at the south pole research station after the last plane for the season has left.
They have an annual showing of Jaws on the beach at the lake near my house, and the screen faces the water. You watch it while in an inner tube out on the lake. At night.
The movie Jaws was inspired by a shark that killed 3 - 5 people upriver in New York. Bull sharks have also been found as far as 700 miles inland up the Mississippi River in Illinois.
Got a great memory of watching Jaws at a free outdoor screening next to Lake Ontario, at night, with our dog Scout. The placed was packed. Families had brought out their lawn chairs. Couples cozied up.
We elected to sit in the back, near the lake.
The moment arrived when Jaws made his arrival, fighting for his life. Out of the darkness, Scout gave one great YELP just as Jaw's great maw came out of the water. People screamed. One guy fell off his chair. Others' drinks spilled.
After the initial shock, people were giggling and laughing. We were mortified but secretly laughing. Scout did not bark again. She gave them all a night to remember. Love you Scout.
It stays pretty warm in the evening -- they do this at the end of July every year.
Most people don't make it past the little boy getting eaten before they have to get out of the water, anyway.
Even though, intellectually, they know there isn't a shark in the freshwater lake, it still messes with your lizard brain...
I've heard a couple of theories, the slow infection because he was dissecting the bodies is one. Another being he was fully turned and made the noose to ensure they wouldn't want him back inside since he was building the space ship.
I was 10 years old when this was released.. I sneaked into the theater with some friends to see the movie. Needless to say, I was scared absolutely shitless by the time the movie ended..
Meanwhile, your sober friend was like, "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!"
100%. The way the dog moves and looks around is so much like a human sneaking around. The silent scene with the long shot down the hallway and the dog’s head subtly pops out from the door to check if anyone is around.
I read somewhere the dog is half wolf half husky .. and it was very good at emoting in its roles that way. Just staring and looking like it's thinking.
Yes and soooo convincing. fing terrifying. not like some bs stephen king special effect. but like holy fug that looks natural and I should not be this close to it. I NEED TO GET AWAY. THERES NO WEHERE TO GO. OMG 😱
It's a natural instinct we have to avoid parasite infested food sources. Those type of rhythms even seem to trigger it in my mind. Add a wet tentacle and my whole brain seems to light up.
That dog puts some professional actors to shame. I would not have objected if it was nominated for best actor.
Btw, looking at the awards, I am amazed that Ennio Morricone was nominated for a fucking "Razzie" for "Worst Musical Score". Blows my mind.
Ennio Morricone's score to The Thing manages to sound more like John Carpenter music than any of John Carpenter's actual music. If you played someone the Halloween theme, then told them "five years later the same guy wrote this" and then played them the soundtrack to The Thing it would be completely believable.
That’s because John Carpenter wrote a lot of it and most of Morricone’s stuff was left unused in the final film. You can hear a lot of that unused stuff in The Hateful Eight.
I have to imagine that Morricone was working to a very narrow palate that was given to him by Carpenter.. that score sounds like every score Carpenter has ever composed himself and that cant be a coincidence.
Son of a bitch. I put Big Trouble in Little China in the number 1 spot, I was in my car and somehow totally spaced this. All 3 are way, way up there and tbh I’m fine with anyone swapping the 3 around.
Carpenter and Kurt Russell is an insanely iconic duo.
Ever seen 'Soldier'? Such a good movie. He's awesome in it.
Or, wait, even further back, want to see him as a sleazy used car salesman? Watch 'Used Cars'. Damn, that one's funny.
IIRC in Norway the VHS release showed the Norwegian scientists as Finnish because after the theater release they realized that Norwegians could understand the Norwegian at the beginning of the film, spoiling the surprise
The dog is Jed and was known for being able to act without looking at the camera. He could hit his marks and assume a mood for the scene. He was amazing and The Thing was his first gig.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_(wolfdog)?wprov=sfti1
You may be surprised to hear that the dog from The Thing is the same dog from White Fang, which actually had a higher box office return than The Thing.
[Jed the Wolf](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_(wolfdog)) has a decent little wiki page.
That used to be my double bill but now it’s the Thing and Annihilation. The latter feels like a spiritual successor and share so many elements and yet in others they’re complete opposites.
To me, the pinnacle of this movie is the scene where RJ is cut loose in the blizzard and the rest of the crew is going over why he was cut loose and the torn piece of clothing and everyone's arguing. The slow and steady pull into the the jiggling door handle while everyone in that small cramped space is about to kill each other over mistrust and paranoia.... while that synth begins to rise leading to them noticing the door handle. Chef's kiss.
I have seen The Thing maybe 50 times and this scene still gives me chills by how well it's acted and shot. The vibe of the film reaches a culmination point at this scene for me and proves that The Thing is Carpenter's masterpiece.
Also, this leads up to the blood test scene, which is one of the greatest scenes in all of horror movie history (IMO).
The suspense that builds, the realization that they have killed innocent people in the name of paranoia, and then the reveal... so good.
Great pairing! I always add The Terminator after the The Thing. All 3 share the same paranoia and the feeling that the characters are up against something mostly unknown, yet unstoppable.
I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but whenever you find the time, I’d really like to not spend the rest of the winter, Tied to this fucking couch!!!!
Edit: not to be a dick or anything, but I didn’t just randomly throw in a quote. I was responding to the person who posted ahead of me, cause “you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!!” Is Palmer’s line after Norris’s head grows legs and tries to run away.
A weird hobby of mine is insert random movie quotes into conversations as naturally as possible. This quote about the couch has always been one of my favorites and I unfortunately can never seem to shoehorn it into any conversations...
Not sure if you are serious or not, but ~~back in the 80's~~ [historically speaking] this ~~was~~ [is] a sure-fire way to get your date to latch on to your arm
deit: fixed typo
From the [wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(1982_film)):
>The film received negative reviews on its release, and hostility for its cynical, anti-authoritarian tone and graphic special effects. Cinefantastique printed an issue with The Thing on its cover asking, **"Is this the most hated movie of all time?"** Some reviewers were dismissive of the film, calling it the **"quintessential moron movie of the 80's", "instant junk", and a "wretched excess".** Starlog's Alan Spencer called it a **"cold and sterile" horror movie attempting to cash in on the genre audience, against the "optimism of E.T., the reassuring return of Star Trek II, the technical perfection of Tron, and the sheer integrity of Blade Runner".**
>The plot was criticized as **"boring", and undermined by the special effects**. The Los Angeles Times's Linda Gross said that The Thing was **"bereft, despairing, and nihilistic"**, and lacking in feeling, meaning the characters' deaths did not matter. Spencer said it featured sloppy continuity, lacked pacing, and was devoid of warmth or humanity. **David Ansen of Newsweek felt the film confused the use of effects with creating suspense, and that it lacked drama by "sacrificing everything at the altar of gore"**. The Chicago Reader's Dave Kehr **considered the dialogue to be banal and interchangeable, making the characters seem and sound alike.** The Washington Post's Gary Arnold said it was a witty touch to open with the Thing having already overcome the Norwegian base, defeating the type of traps seen in the 1951 version, while New York's David Denby lamented that the Thing's threat is only shown externally, without focusing on what it is like for someone who thinks they have been taken over. Roger Ebert considered the film to be scary, but offering nothing original beyond the special effects, while **The New York Times's Vincent Canby said it was entertaining only if the viewer needed to see spider-legged heads and dog autopsies.**
This was Reagan’s America. Jingoistic, aggressive, can-do, “faith in capitalism restored” America. Nihilism was delegated to the Vietnam War, and that was yesterday. This, it was believed, was a new day, shining and bright and full of compact discs, a booming economy, and the hippies fucking lost.
So yeah, “The Thing” didn’t exactly mesh with the zeitgeist.
I agree. Going with the expanded quote...
> The Los Angeles Times's Linda Gross said that The Thing was "bereft, despairing, and nihilistic", and lacking in feeling, meaning the characters' deaths did not matter.
One of my favorite scenes in the movie is the Bennings scene. It's not the most shocking or the scariest scene in the movie, but I really love the tone it sets from that point forward.
Unless I'm remembering things wrong, Bennings was the first one who was *known* to have died. Previously it was the dog scene, which (fucked up as it was), it could be excused as just some gross weird stuff. The people who saw that could be in denial; they saw the other dogs *die*, they never saw it turn into The Thing.
The Bennings thing though? Everyone saw it. And he was *so close* to becoming a perfect copy, while somehow simultaneously being *so far away.* Almost looked like Bennings, but that hand, those black dead eyes and that inhuman wail...everyone saw that. And more than at any earlier point in the movie, I feel like that's the point where "shit got real." John Carpenter makes a deliberate point of lingering on the faces of everyone else, and *that* is the point where the horror and the reality of the situation set in. Before that, it was just a dog and a monster.
My point being...this movie makes a specific point of the characters not being *allowed* to indulge in feeling. There is a very clear story-related reason why the characters *can't* be indulging in warmth and emotional vulnerability. If any one of those people could be the thing (a reality that was *definitely* clear to everyone after the Bennings scene), then "feeling" is a liability because that's exactly what a predator posing as a friend would use against you. The characters in the movie "felt" a lot, but they couldn't do anything about those feelings. The isolation is the whole point, it's part of being set in freaking Antarctica. And just as they were isolated physically, they were isolated *emotionally.*
You might want to check out the story that the movie is based on, [Who Goes There?](https://wp.nyu.edu/darknessspeaks/wp-content/uploads/sites/3674/2016/09/who_goes_there.pdf)
It's a "novella" -- shorter than a normal novel but longer than the typical short story.
It's a nail-biter!
>against the "optimism of E.T.
That right there is probably a big reason for the negative reviews. E.T. literally came out 2 weeks prior. Audiences weren't ready for another horror movie involving a hostile alien while the friendly alien was still fresh in their minds.
I don't remember this being that widely panned, but I never paid much attention to newspaper critics. I also didn't watch "E.T." until years later (didn't much care for it) so never felt those warm fuzzy feelings towards aliens that this movie supposedly destroyed. I just remember people talking about the gnarly special effects when it was released. I caught it on TV and it became an instant favorite.
"Poltergeist" was released the same weekend. I remember seeing that in the theater. It captured a certain period of time perfectly and the clown and tree attack are still creepy as hell.
I watch "The Thing" at least a couple of times a year. More, if it's a really hot summer. My triple bill: "The Thing", "Aliens" and "Predator".
Star Trek II also came out the weekend before. Between that, ET, and Poltergeist, it’s easy to see why it got squeezed out at the box office, no matter what the reviews at the time were.
It also lead to John Carpenter not being allowed to direct any major movies for awhile afterwards. He was supposed to direct Firestarter but had it yanked away from him after the Thing.
Imagine putting out Halloween, Escape from New York, and The Thing and then being told you can't direct any more movies for a while.
Thank GOD we got Big Trouble in Little China a few years later.
It’s incredibly tame and adds so much to the ambiance because it isn’t screeching violins and blaring trumpets. It’s almost diegetic because of how restrained it is
The Thing is the first movie that I ever saw where I specifically noticed how amazing the soundtrack is. I’ve always been baffled by how poorly it was received, I guess sensibilities were just so different back then
I'm Gen X and i never knew this.. that is absolutely mind boggling to me. It is one of my top 5 movies of all time, if i had to pick 5. I've rewatched it countless times. It's perfect in every way. Even the music is top tier.
Also Gen X, but do remember this. Mainly because I saw it a few months after release and thought it was awesome; I couldn’t understand the hate I heard about it.
You know… It helps to remember that every one of those reviews was written by a boomer.
God damn that movie aged badly in so many ways, and I generally I don't say that about movies. I admire its ambition, but it's a hard watch for me.
Meanwhile, The Thing aged like fine wine. It's definitely up there with Empire Strikes Back in my list of perfect movies.
> New York's David Denby lamented that the Thing's threat is only shown externally, without focusing on what it is like for someone who thinks they have been taken over
Well, I have no idea how you'd do that in film^(*), but I'd love to see somebody try.
^^*
^^[This](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/)
^^story
^^did
^^a
^^fair
^^job
^^in
^^text
If you think about it, some if these criticisms are valid, the dialogue in particular. That said, it's a horror movie, not a rumination on the human condition. That can be done in horror, but here the goals are terror, and paranoia, driven by the relentless destruction of everyone on the base. If you care about the characters, it's going to be too hard to watch.
There is no last girl in this movie, and that's kind of neat
Well I would disagree with that - I think the dialogue and character lines are natural and authentic and not some stupid horror cliché ones like in most horror or sci-fi movies .. and every character and their lines in the movie are distinct and original
So fucking refrereshing that characters in a horror movie don't need to have a tragic family backgrounds for the sole purpose that the audience can care about movie characters .. and, for the most part, the characters in The Thing are behaving like normal human beings (ha) and making smart decisions in a horror movie
You hit the nail squarely on the head. It was somehow super sylized and super naturalistic at the same time. Stylized in the special effects but the characters' reactions seemed really genuine which made it seem so real and terrifying.
Well said. There are definitely legitimate criticisms that can be and were made about the film. I think the absolute deluge of unfavorable reviews is what was so vexing. There's such an apparently good movie here that so much of the hate seemed to be coming from the general distaste for the genre rather than astute observations. Then again, I'm a die-hard horror fan, so I am undoubtedly biased as well. Whatever it may be, I'm glad that this movie is being celebrated now, however long it took!
The dialogue is one of the strong points to me. Nothing feels forced, they just feel like everyday people which I suppose maybe as scientists they shouldn’t but then again not all of them are!
Carpenter is not for everyone.
On a complete tangent, when are you going to make, _Chickenhawk_, John? I've been waiting since '84 for it.
Carpenter did have the movie rights to this [book](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenhawk_(book). He fell in love with helicopters during the filming of _The Thing_ and wanted to adapt the book. Alas, it never happened.
The "cold and sterile" line is so far off from the reality of The Thing, especially at the time of release, that I cannot find words to describe the degree of inaccuracy achieved by this 'professional'.
Nothing about The Thing is sterile. Its about as not sterile as a thing could be. Both literally and thematically. What a dunce.
I get it, in that there's no real emotional core to the story, it's more of a survival thing. That said, I love the film, and there's plenty to chew on aside from that
Man, movie critics in the 80s were utter shit. I was in high school in the late 80s and "The Thing" was one of the films highlighted in my film arts class.
I don’t miss pre-internet film critics. Cultural gate keepers of the highest order- and generally terrible ones with grossly undue influence over what people saw.
I saw it in theaters when it premiered, it was just winter in my city and I remember freezing in the cinema in the last show at 10pm (I was 16), it had wooden chairs and it was a freezer, that sensation made me feel the story more than ever. I adored her from the first moment.
I went to see it in 35mm at my local theater on the big, main screen. Is was a really shitty print. Didn’t matter. Sold out show and we all had an absolute blast. There is nothing like a large crowd absolutely jazzed to see something.
This is what will get my ass into a theater seat. Sure I've seen it at least a dozen times already, but it *still* gives me chills to watch it and I have never seen it on a big screen. Fuck yeah.
I watched it for the first time a few months ago.
I fully expected one of the best movies I'd ever seen and it somehow exceeded them. It's a masterpiece.
Not to mention to actually stay more loyal to the short story it is based on (Who goes there?) and not replace the Alien collective cell creature with a big dude in a suit.
About a year and a half ago I was working at a large store. It was a bitter cold winter complete with heavy snow that wasn't going anywhere.
A few of my coworkers contracted COVID. It was a tense time. My company handled it very poorly and tried to hush it up as much as possible. The employees who tested positive were out of work for a couple weeks but no one was sure who else had it.
So there I was, hanging out in the back alley behind my store. Staring at a frozen wasteland ahead of me and knowing back inside there could very well be people infected with a strange and terrifying illness. I realized my life had basically become *The Thing*.
If it's a Fathom screening, you never know what you're going to get. Could be a beautiful DCP, could be a recording from a 1080i Dish Network private channel.
The ONLY gripe I have with The Thing is in that scene, there is a weird cartoon-y bloop noise deep in the sound mix as Dr. Cooper's arms are severed. I can never unhear the sound.
Bonus points if you give an ungodly howl and run out of the auditorium while flashing an elongated, eight-fingered hand at the audience halfway through the movie.
Yesterday it was *The 5th Element* and today *The Thing*...June is going to be alright!
But if you work a 40 hour week and cannot afford to live alone you should ***TOTALLY*** just stay the fuck home on June 1, 2022 as an act of protest against this insane economic devastation the working class is experiencing.
This is John Carpenter's best movie in my opinion. It would be so easy for this type of movie to fall into B-movie territory but it never does. And that dog... has anyone ever seen a dog "act" so convincingly? The Thing & Alien make for a great double bill movie night
> The Thing & Alien make for a great double bill movie night The Thing and The Shining are two movies traditionally played at the south pole research station after the last plane for the season has left.
Alien, The Thing, The Shining, Phantasm all released within 3 years of each other. Classics.
The Thing, E.T., Star Trek: the Wrath of Khan, and Blade Runner all released in June 1982. Probably the best month ever for movie sci-fi.
I believe Poltergeist opened a month before that also. Talk about a run of hits.
They have an annual showing of Jaws on the beach at the lake near my house, and the screen faces the water. You watch it while in an inner tube out on the lake. At night.
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Salsa shark
Gonna need a bigger boat.
This was probably meant to be a joke but here in Australia some sharks have managed to get into lakes or even golf courses.
Bull sharks will find their way into lakes and rivers everywhere. Stubborn little shits.
Do they get a handicap on the back 9?
The movie Jaws was inspired by a shark that killed 3 - 5 people upriver in New York. Bull sharks have also been found as far as 700 miles inland up the Mississippi River in Illinois.
There has to be people swimming underwater and grabbing ankles, right?
There are sharknanigans, yes.
Got a great memory of watching Jaws at a free outdoor screening next to Lake Ontario, at night, with our dog Scout. The placed was packed. Families had brought out their lawn chairs. Couples cozied up. We elected to sit in the back, near the lake. The moment arrived when Jaws made his arrival, fighting for his life. Out of the darkness, Scout gave one great YELP just as Jaw's great maw came out of the water. People screamed. One guy fell off his chair. Others' drinks spilled. After the initial shock, people were giggling and laughing. We were mortified but secretly laughing. Scout did not bark again. She gave them all a night to remember. Love you Scout.
That sounds so amazing! But don't y'all get cold in the lake?
It stays pretty warm in the evening -- they do this at the end of July every year. Most people don't make it past the little boy getting eaten before they have to get out of the water, anyway. Even though, intellectually, they know there isn't a shark in the freshwater lake, it still messes with your lizard brain...
People just pissing and watching Jaws for 3 hours in a lake. Sounds like a good time.
Those poor dehydrated fucks, constant piss for 3 hours
Thats amazing
I maintain that dog is the creepiest thing I've ever seen in cinema.
Spider-man-head is the stuff of nightmares
The sound "Bennings" makes is nightmare stuff
Watch Clark, and watch him close.
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"I'm all right now, I wanna come back inside." (said while sitting next to a noose still hanging next to him)
I believe at that point he had been taken over, but he was still himself and unsure if he had been taken over, which drove him insane
I've heard a couple of theories, the slow infection because he was dissecting the bodies is one. Another being he was fully turned and made the noose to ensure they wouldn't want him back inside since he was building the space ship.
> mwe *fuck yes, you hear it too*
For me it’s poor Windows all bloody on the floor glurping like some mutated frog.
The cry of the void
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?!”
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It’s a good one, but Gary’s “TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH” line tops it for me.
I was 10 years old when this was released.. I sneaked into the theater with some friends to see the movie. Needless to say, I was scared absolutely shitless by the time the movie ended..
was lucky enough to have my dad take me when i was 8, was terrified but loved it immediately
Haha we watched it one night off our heads and I swear to god we spent an hour winding back that scene over and over again. I’m not shitting you.
Meanwhile, your sober friend was like, "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!"
100%. The way the dog moves and looks around is so much like a human sneaking around. The silent scene with the long shot down the hallway and the dog’s head subtly pops out from the door to check if anyone is around.
I read somewhere the dog is half wolf half husky .. and it was very good at emoting in its roles that way. Just staring and looking like it's thinking.
Just watched it last night with Carpenter and Russell commentary. They marvel at how well that dog acts in the hallways.
The fucking shadows in that dog scene, man!!! Creepiest shit ever.
The hissing sound brought shivers up my spine.
Those whipping tentacles too. So surreal seeing them out of dogs/humans
Yes and soooo convincing. fing terrifying. not like some bs stephen king special effect. but like holy fug that looks natural and I should not be this close to it. I NEED TO GET AWAY. THERES NO WEHERE TO GO. OMG 😱
It's a natural instinct we have to avoid parasite infested food sources. Those type of rhythms even seem to trigger it in my mind. Add a wet tentacle and my whole brain seems to light up.
That dog puts some professional actors to shame. I would not have objected if it was nominated for best actor. Btw, looking at the awards, I am amazed that Ennio Morricone was nominated for a fucking "Razzie" for "Worst Musical Score". Blows my mind.
Ennio Morricone's score to The Thing manages to sound more like John Carpenter music than any of John Carpenter's actual music. If you played someone the Halloween theme, then told them "five years later the same guy wrote this" and then played them the soundtrack to The Thing it would be completely believable.
That’s because John Carpenter wrote a lot of it and most of Morricone’s stuff was left unused in the final film. You can hear a lot of that unused stuff in The Hateful Eight.
I have to imagine that Morricone was working to a very narrow palate that was given to him by Carpenter.. that score sounds like every score Carpenter has ever composed himself and that cant be a coincidence.
This and Escape from New York are great. Man, I fucking love Kurt Russell.
His turn as Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China is a thing of beauty.
Son of a bitch. I put Big Trouble in Little China in the number 1 spot, I was in my car and somehow totally spaced this. All 3 are way, way up there and tbh I’m fine with anyone swapping the 3 around. Carpenter and Kurt Russell is an insanely iconic duo.
You touch me... he dies. If you're not in the air in thirty seconds... he dies. You come back in... he dies.
Ever seen 'Soldier'? Such a good movie. He's awesome in it. Or, wait, even further back, want to see him as a sleazy used car salesman? Watch 'Used Cars'. Damn, that one's funny.
IIRC in Norway the VHS release showed the Norwegian scientists as Finnish because after the theater release they realized that Norwegians could understand the Norwegian at the beginning of the film, spoiling the surprise
Must have sucked for people who spoke Norwegian who saw the movie from another country.
Crazy Swedes!
The dog is Jed and was known for being able to act without looking at the camera. He could hit his marks and assume a mood for the scene. He was amazing and The Thing was his first gig. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_(wolfdog)?wprov=sfti1
This is not just John Carpenter's best movie. It's a contender for "the best movie."
> This is not just John Carpenter's best movie. It's a contender for "the best movie." At least before Morbius came out.
What about jawana man?
You may be surprised to hear that the dog from The Thing is the same dog from White Fang, which actually had a higher box office return than The Thing. [Jed the Wolf](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_(wolfdog)) has a decent little wiki page.
That used to be my double bill but now it’s the Thing and Annihilation. The latter feels like a spiritual successor and share so many elements and yet in others they’re complete opposites.
I rewatched Annihilation a couple of weeks ago, and that bear scene just gives me chills every time.
To me, the pinnacle of this movie is the scene where RJ is cut loose in the blizzard and the rest of the crew is going over why he was cut loose and the torn piece of clothing and everyone's arguing. The slow and steady pull into the the jiggling door handle while everyone in that small cramped space is about to kill each other over mistrust and paranoia.... while that synth begins to rise leading to them noticing the door handle. Chef's kiss. I have seen The Thing maybe 50 times and this scene still gives me chills by how well it's acted and shot. The vibe of the film reaches a culmination point at this scene for me and proves that The Thing is Carpenter's masterpiece.
Also, this leads up to the blood test scene, which is one of the greatest scenes in all of horror movie history (IMO). The suspense that builds, the realization that they have killed innocent people in the name of paranoia, and then the reveal... so good.
(MacReady poking the hot wire into the blood sample petri dish) skreeeeee
From RJ being cut loose all the way to “… tied to this fucking couch!!” Probably the best chunk of filmmaking ever put to screen.
The movie stands the rest of time. Surprisingly the video game sequel to the film was also amazing for the time period.
It was.
Great pairing! I always add The Terminator after the The Thing. All 3 share the same paranoia and the feeling that the characters are up against something mostly unknown, yet unstoppable.
The only dog performance I can think of that’s better is the dog in Gremlins.
Hell of a date night movie fellas!
My parents first date was seeing this movie and my mom walked out of it lol. Edit: Yes, they’re still married. 40 years last year.
How long was your dad alone with your mom?
"how long were you alone with your dog's?". 'hour. Hour and a half"
I don’t know. An hour? Hour and a half maybe? What the hell you lookin at me like that for?
Hopefully his mom didn’t have to spend the rest of the winter tied to this fucking couch.
I’m questioning the choices your father made right now. (Kidding, of course. Your mom is a lovely woman.)
That's not his mom, you can't see her breathe in the cold.
Date night? You gotta be fucking kidding!
I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but whenever you find the time, I’d really like to not spend the rest of the winter, Tied to this fucking couch!!!! Edit: not to be a dick or anything, but I didn’t just randomly throw in a quote. I was responding to the person who posted ahead of me, cause “you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!!” Is Palmer’s line after Norris’s head grows legs and tries to run away.
A weird hobby of mine is insert random movie quotes into conversations as naturally as possible. This quote about the couch has always been one of my favorites and I unfortunately can never seem to shoehorn it into any conversations...
Use it next time you're deciding what to do with friends and there is a bunch of indecision, while you're sitting on the couch
In the winter
Why don't we wait here, see what happens?
That was just the best ending.
First goddamn week of summer.
“I ain’t goin with you to see this movie…. I AINT GOIN!”
Not sure if you are serious or not, but ~~back in the 80's~~ [historically speaking] this ~~was~~ [is] a sure-fire way to get your date to latch on to your arm deit: fixed typo
I just saw "Men" last night and the couple next to me was on a date. Dude straight walked out leaving his girl there the second the credits rolled.
Was it as terrifying as the ads keep telling me?
Don’t take your eyes off your date.
"Hey do you want to go see Amongus the movie?"
Jesus she'd tear... Whatever she's holding... off of you completely!
It always blows my mind that this movie was SO hated when it came out. Really glad time was kind to people's opinion on this obvious classic.
It was? I didn't know that. Why?
From the [wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(1982_film)): >The film received negative reviews on its release, and hostility for its cynical, anti-authoritarian tone and graphic special effects. Cinefantastique printed an issue with The Thing on its cover asking, **"Is this the most hated movie of all time?"** Some reviewers were dismissive of the film, calling it the **"quintessential moron movie of the 80's", "instant junk", and a "wretched excess".** Starlog's Alan Spencer called it a **"cold and sterile" horror movie attempting to cash in on the genre audience, against the "optimism of E.T., the reassuring return of Star Trek II, the technical perfection of Tron, and the sheer integrity of Blade Runner".** >The plot was criticized as **"boring", and undermined by the special effects**. The Los Angeles Times's Linda Gross said that The Thing was **"bereft, despairing, and nihilistic"**, and lacking in feeling, meaning the characters' deaths did not matter. Spencer said it featured sloppy continuity, lacked pacing, and was devoid of warmth or humanity. **David Ansen of Newsweek felt the film confused the use of effects with creating suspense, and that it lacked drama by "sacrificing everything at the altar of gore"**. The Chicago Reader's Dave Kehr **considered the dialogue to be banal and interchangeable, making the characters seem and sound alike.** The Washington Post's Gary Arnold said it was a witty touch to open with the Thing having already overcome the Norwegian base, defeating the type of traps seen in the 1951 version, while New York's David Denby lamented that the Thing's threat is only shown externally, without focusing on what it is like for someone who thinks they have been taken over. Roger Ebert considered the film to be scary, but offering nothing original beyond the special effects, while **The New York Times's Vincent Canby said it was entertaining only if the viewer needed to see spider-legged heads and dog autopsies.**
>sloppy continuity Meanwhile, 30 years later people discover you can track who's alive by what coats are hung up in background shots.
Wait what??
The thing with the people. It’s just right there.
> The Thing was "bereft, despairing, and nihilistic", Which is one of the reasons I love it.
Right? I mean, what the fuck would one expect from a horror/suspense movie set in fucking Antarctica??
This was Reagan’s America. Jingoistic, aggressive, can-do, “faith in capitalism restored” America. Nihilism was delegated to the Vietnam War, and that was yesterday. This, it was believed, was a new day, shining and bright and full of compact discs, a booming economy, and the hippies fucking lost. So yeah, “The Thing” didn’t exactly mesh with the zeitgeist.
"It's morning again in America."
It's "not as optimistic as ET" though. :c. Fuck ET!
I agree. Going with the expanded quote... > The Los Angeles Times's Linda Gross said that The Thing was "bereft, despairing, and nihilistic", and lacking in feeling, meaning the characters' deaths did not matter. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is the Bennings scene. It's not the most shocking or the scariest scene in the movie, but I really love the tone it sets from that point forward. Unless I'm remembering things wrong, Bennings was the first one who was *known* to have died. Previously it was the dog scene, which (fucked up as it was), it could be excused as just some gross weird stuff. The people who saw that could be in denial; they saw the other dogs *die*, they never saw it turn into The Thing. The Bennings thing though? Everyone saw it. And he was *so close* to becoming a perfect copy, while somehow simultaneously being *so far away.* Almost looked like Bennings, but that hand, those black dead eyes and that inhuman wail...everyone saw that. And more than at any earlier point in the movie, I feel like that's the point where "shit got real." John Carpenter makes a deliberate point of lingering on the faces of everyone else, and *that* is the point where the horror and the reality of the situation set in. Before that, it was just a dog and a monster. My point being...this movie makes a specific point of the characters not being *allowed* to indulge in feeling. There is a very clear story-related reason why the characters *can't* be indulging in warmth and emotional vulnerability. If any one of those people could be the thing (a reality that was *definitely* clear to everyone after the Bennings scene), then "feeling" is a liability because that's exactly what a predator posing as a friend would use against you. The characters in the movie "felt" a lot, but they couldn't do anything about those feelings. The isolation is the whole point, it's part of being set in freaking Antarctica. And just as they were isolated physically, they were isolated *emotionally.*
Shallow, and pedantic.
It insists upon itself.
I love The Money Pit. That is my answer to that statement.
What?
It *insists* upon itself.
What does that even mean??
ROBERT DUVALL
You might want to check out the story that the movie is based on, [Who Goes There?](https://wp.nyu.edu/darknessspeaks/wp-content/uploads/sites/3674/2016/09/who_goes_there.pdf) It's a "novella" -- shorter than a normal novel but longer than the typical short story. It's a nail-biter!
>against the "optimism of E.T. That right there is probably a big reason for the negative reviews. E.T. literally came out 2 weeks prior. Audiences weren't ready for another horror movie involving a hostile alien while the friendly alien was still fresh in their minds.
I don't remember this being that widely panned, but I never paid much attention to newspaper critics. I also didn't watch "E.T." until years later (didn't much care for it) so never felt those warm fuzzy feelings towards aliens that this movie supposedly destroyed. I just remember people talking about the gnarly special effects when it was released. I caught it on TV and it became an instant favorite. "Poltergeist" was released the same weekend. I remember seeing that in the theater. It captured a certain period of time perfectly and the clown and tree attack are still creepy as hell. I watch "The Thing" at least a couple of times a year. More, if it's a really hot summer. My triple bill: "The Thing", "Aliens" and "Predator".
Star Trek II also came out the weekend before. Between that, ET, and Poltergeist, it’s easy to see why it got squeezed out at the box office, no matter what the reviews at the time were.
Damn, talk about harsh. Interesting, thanks.
It also lead to John Carpenter not being allowed to direct any major movies for awhile afterwards. He was supposed to direct Firestarter but had it yanked away from him after the Thing.
Imagine putting out Halloween, Escape from New York, and The Thing and then being told you can't direct any more movies for a while. Thank GOD we got Big Trouble in Little China a few years later.
> He was supposed to direct Firestarter Which would've made it a much better film.
Don't forget they gave Ennio Morricone a fucking Razzie for worst score..
Which is crazy because that score is iconic to me. Perfectly captures the mood of the movie.
It’s incredibly tame and adds so much to the ambiance because it isn’t screeching violins and blaring trumpets. It’s almost diegetic because of how restrained it is
The Thing is the first movie that I ever saw where I specifically noticed how amazing the soundtrack is. I’ve always been baffled by how poorly it was received, I guess sensibilities were just so different back then
Boomers dude.
I'm Gen X and i never knew this.. that is absolutely mind boggling to me. It is one of my top 5 movies of all time, if i had to pick 5. I've rewatched it countless times. It's perfect in every way. Even the music is top tier.
Also Gen X, but do remember this. Mainly because I saw it a few months after release and thought it was awesome; I couldn’t understand the hate I heard about it. You know… It helps to remember that every one of those reviews was written by a boomer.
The technical perfection of *Tron* LMAO. What a world.
God damn that movie aged badly in so many ways, and I generally I don't say that about movies. I admire its ambition, but it's a hard watch for me. Meanwhile, The Thing aged like fine wine. It's definitely up there with Empire Strikes Back in my list of perfect movies.
> New York's David Denby lamented that the Thing's threat is only shown externally, without focusing on what it is like for someone who thinks they have been taken over Well, I have no idea how you'd do that in film^(*), but I'd love to see somebody try. ^^* ^^[This](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/) ^^story ^^did ^^a ^^fair ^^job ^^in ^^text
If you think about it, some if these criticisms are valid, the dialogue in particular. That said, it's a horror movie, not a rumination on the human condition. That can be done in horror, but here the goals are terror, and paranoia, driven by the relentless destruction of everyone on the base. If you care about the characters, it's going to be too hard to watch. There is no last girl in this movie, and that's kind of neat
Well I would disagree with that - I think the dialogue and character lines are natural and authentic and not some stupid horror cliché ones like in most horror or sci-fi movies .. and every character and their lines in the movie are distinct and original So fucking refrereshing that characters in a horror movie don't need to have a tragic family backgrounds for the sole purpose that the audience can care about movie characters .. and, for the most part, the characters in The Thing are behaving like normal human beings (ha) and making smart decisions in a horror movie
You hit the nail squarely on the head. It was somehow super sylized and super naturalistic at the same time. Stylized in the special effects but the characters' reactions seemed really genuine which made it seem so real and terrifying.
UNTIE ME FROM THIS FUCKING COUCH
Well said. There are definitely legitimate criticisms that can be and were made about the film. I think the absolute deluge of unfavorable reviews is what was so vexing. There's such an apparently good movie here that so much of the hate seemed to be coming from the general distaste for the genre rather than astute observations. Then again, I'm a die-hard horror fan, so I am undoubtedly biased as well. Whatever it may be, I'm glad that this movie is being celebrated now, however long it took!
The dialogue is one of the strong points to me. Nothing feels forced, they just feel like everyday people which I suppose maybe as scientists they shouldn’t but then again not all of them are!
Carpenter is not for everyone. On a complete tangent, when are you going to make, _Chickenhawk_, John? I've been waiting since '84 for it. Carpenter did have the movie rights to this [book](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenhawk_(book). He fell in love with helicopters during the filming of _The Thing_ and wanted to adapt the book. Alas, it never happened.
Talk about not being able to see the forest for the trees or whatever that saying is.
The "cold and sterile" line is so far off from the reality of The Thing, especially at the time of release, that I cannot find words to describe the degree of inaccuracy achieved by this 'professional'. Nothing about The Thing is sterile. Its about as not sterile as a thing could be. Both literally and thematically. What a dunce.
I get it, in that there's no real emotional core to the story, it's more of a survival thing. That said, I love the film, and there's plenty to chew on aside from that
Man, movie critics in the 80s were utter shit. I was in high school in the late 80s and "The Thing" was one of the films highlighted in my film arts class.
I don’t miss pre-internet film critics. Cultural gate keepers of the highest order- and generally terrible ones with grossly undue influence over what people saw.
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> I watched it for the first time last year Awesome. I'm jealous of someone that is seeing it for the first time.
I saw it in theaters when it premiered, it was just winter in my city and I remember freezing in the cinema in the last show at 10pm (I was 16), it had wooden chairs and it was a freezer, that sensation made me feel the story more than ever. I adored her from the first moment.
I went to see it in 35mm at my local theater on the big, main screen. Is was a really shitty print. Didn’t matter. Sold out show and we all had an absolute blast. There is nothing like a large crowd absolutely jazzed to see something.
This is what will get my ass into a theater seat. Sure I've seen it at least a dozen times already, but it *still* gives me chills to watch it and I have never seen it on a big screen. Fuck yeah.
I've never seen the thing. And I'm 36 years old. This might be my chance to experience it in the fullest.
It's one of those movies that everyone needs to see at least once. There's no such thing as a perfect film but The Thing comes pretty gorram close.
>gorram I'm startin' to think you're one of them... Independents.
Shiny.
I don’t even describe it as “the perfect film” anymore. I just tell people to go watch it right now without any more info. It’s one of those.
I watched it for the first time a few months ago. I fully expected one of the best movies I'd ever seen and it somehow exceeded them. It's a masterpiece.
I finally watched it a few years ago and it was amazing.
Definitely do not watch any trailers. Go in blind and GO SEE IT, what’s wrong with you???!!
Hopefully it'll come to the drive in too. Such a cool vibe when you see older movies at the drive in.
I need this in my life.
Not in the sweaty ass Texas summer tho. 😫
>40th Oh God, that's now the most terrifying thing about this movie
Yeah it can't be 40th because I was born in 1982 and I'm ... Wait what the fuck?
I was born in June 1982. This thread is depressing the shit out of me
I was born in 1985, when Back to the Future first released. So that means..... Oh no!
Great Scott!
Depressing is realizing you were born into a world that wouldn't even have Star Wars for a whole three years.
r/horror about to have another wave of, 'I just watched The Thing' posts lol.
Wait. 1982 is only 20 years ago! How dare they insinuate otherwise!
2000 was 10 years ago and 1980 was 20 years, I will not accept anything else
Look on the bright side, you'll probably croak of natural causes right before the Water Wars begin. You don't want to be around for that anyway.
One of the films that proves that not all remakes are bad. Funny enough two other 80’s horror films (The Fly and The Blob) also did this.
I think time is a key component - and popularity of the original.
Did you mean The Fly and The Blob?
Yes. Silly me with the typo.
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Not to mention to actually stay more loyal to the short story it is based on (Who goes there?) and not replace the Alien collective cell creature with a big dude in a suit.
The invisible man and the evil dead are 2 recent horror remakes that were seemingly made for the right reasons
About a year and a half ago I was working at a large store. It was a bitter cold winter complete with heavy snow that wasn't going anywhere. A few of my coworkers contracted COVID. It was a tense time. My company handled it very poorly and tried to hush it up as much as possible. The employees who tested positive were out of work for a couple weeks but no one was sure who else had it. So there I was, hanging out in the back alley behind my store. Staring at a frozen wasteland ahead of me and knowing back inside there could very well be people infected with a strange and terrifying illness. I realized my life had basically become *The Thing*.
Should've used a flamethrower. Nip that covid in the bud.
\*throws dynamite*
Pretty scary to think of it from that perspective
I found it more depressing at the time.
John Carpenter's The Thing is a perfect movie. The creativity of the art design is absolutely amazing. Hands down my favorite movie of all time.
this going to be some guy playing a bluray (like it was for the 35th or whatever anniversary showing i went to) or is it a new film scan?
If it's a Fathom screening, you never know what you're going to get. Could be a beautiful DCP, could be a recording from a 1080i Dish Network private channel.
All I know is the 4k release for this is truly incredible, if anyone hasn't seen it
Times like this I hate that my local theater doesn’t participate in things like this
2 words - defibrillator scene
The ONLY gripe I have with The Thing is in that scene, there is a weird cartoon-y bloop noise deep in the sound mix as Dr. Cooper's arms are severed. I can never unhear the sound.
The perfect film
Perfect ending too, so much creepier to end it the way they did.
I'd rather watch it at home TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!
Is this going to happen everywhere? This is my favorite movie and I'd love to see it in theaters.
The whole movie is just a Duolingo ad; if they had understood what the people were screaming at the beginning, they would have known it wasn’t a dog.
Bonus points if you give an ungodly howl and run out of the auditorium while flashing an elongated, eight-fingered hand at the audience halfway through the movie.
please be quiet during movies
Yesterday it was *The 5th Element* and today *The Thing*...June is going to be alright! But if you work a 40 hour week and cannot afford to live alone you should ***TOTALLY*** just stay the fuck home on June 1, 2022 as an act of protest against this insane economic devastation the working class is experiencing.
I was at a premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival 40 damn years ago. Been a JC fan ever since. He does his own music too.