Difference between revisions of "The Thing"

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  <div class="large-6 columns">'''[[/Review|The Thing]]''' ([[:Category:1982|1982]], [[:Category:USA|USA]]) is a [[:Category:Science Fiction|Sci-Fi]]-[[:Category:Horror/Thrillers|Horror]] film directed by [[:Category: John Carpenter|John Carpenter]]. It is based on the same short story as [[The Thing From Another World]].
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*'''Contents''': [[/Trailer|Watch Trailer]] | [[/BluRay|Blu Ray]] | [[/Review|Film Review]] | [[The Thing (1982)|Poster Art]] | [[/Soundtrack|Soundtrack]] | [[/Press Kit|Press Kit]] | [[/DVD|DVD]] | [[/Fun Facts|Fun Facts]]
|[[Image:Thingposter.jpg|300px|center|]]
*'''Featured in''': [[Trailer Trauma 3: 80s Horrorthon (BluRay)]] | [[Drive In Delirium: Maximum 80s Overdrive (BluRay)]] | [[Terror in The Aisles]] | [[Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide Pt. 2]]
<center>'''The Thing Poster'''
[[Image:Thingpost2.jpg]]
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* [[The Thing (1982)|Poster Art]]
 
[[Image:Wdeulogo.jpg]]
<flashmp3>http://www.hhnvault.com/horror_revisited/audio/thethingtheme.mp3</flashmp3>
*"The Thing" radio spot
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{{USA}}
 
==Main Details==


* Released in 1982
===Main Details===
* Released in 1982  
* Color
* Color
==Cast and Crew==
* Running time: 109 minutes
* Written and Directed by [[John Carpenter]]
* Production Co.: [[:Category:Universal Pictures|Universal Pictures]] | Turman-Foster Company
* Distribution Co.: Universal Pictures
* Written and Directed by [[:Category: John Carpenter|John Carpenter]], based on John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?"
* Starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Donald Moffatt
* Starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Donald Moffatt
* Special Effects: Rob Bottin, Albert Whitlock, Roy Arbogast
* Special Effects: Rob Bottin, Albert Whitlock, Roy Arbogast
* Music by [[Ennio Morricone]]
* Music by [[:Category: Ennio Morricone|Ennio Morricone]]
 
==Film Review==
{{Science Fiction}}
{{Horror}}
{{Ennio Morricone}}
 
Of the huge crop of directors that came out of the late 60s/early 70s "film school generation", it is [[John Carpenter]]  who has suffered perhaps the most neglect overall. A lot of that has to do with the fact that his films, following the success of 1984's Starman, are largely unenterprising B-movies with large scale budgets and a lot of overtly hammy acting. But Carpenter also made taut and suspenseful films like [[Assault on Precinct 13]], [[The Fog]],  and the original [[Halloween]], and, perhaps most provocatively, The Thing.
 
Ostensibly a remake of director Howard Hawks' 1951 sci-fi/horror classic of the same name, Carpenter's film is more like a reworking, since it goes back to the original source material--namely the story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell--for its depiction of an American research team in Antarctica confronted with a shape-changing alien that had been frozen under the ice for 100,000 years, until it was dug up by Norwegian counterparts. The men involved, including [[Kurt Russell]], Keith David, Richard Dysart, and Donald Moffatt, are at the mercy of this thing, and inevitably at the mercy of each other, because they don't know who is human and who has morphed into "something else." Carpenter cagily explores this for all the suspense it's worth, as was his way in Halloween and The Fog; and the coda, with Russell and David sitting in the extreme cold as the camp burns down, is chillingly ambiguous in the manner of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 classic Straw Dogs.
 
Usually when Carpenter's The Thing is talked about, it is talked about in terms of the extremely gory special make-up effects work of Rob Bottin, who had worked with Carpenter on The Fog, and also on Joe Dante's 1980 werewolf opus The Howling. And these effects are quite spectacular, though they are also still stomach-turning at times as well. But as a result, [[The Thing]] would be nothing more than a high-end splatter film if the story, direction, and acting weren't up to snuff; and thankfully, all of those elements are. Russell shows the kind of Everyman credibility that would serve him well much later on in films like Tombstone and Breakdown. The other special effects work is provided by Albert Whitlock (who worked on many Hitchcock films, including The Birds) and Roy Arbogast (Close encounters of The Third Kind), with a fine synth-laden score by Ennio Morricone, who had composed the ultra-memorable scores for Sergio Leone's westerns, including The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and the magisterial Once Upon A Time In The West.


The Thing, when released by Universal in June 1982, was not initially a success because, for whatever reason, the studio released it right after it had released the far more family-friendly Spielberg classic E.T and much of the horror box office for that year was going to another Spielberg-produced (but not directed) movie, Poltergeist. These things, combined with the largely negative critical reviews it got, seriously damaged The Thing's box office prospects. But time and events have made the film into a memorable, extremely gory, but also extremely intelligent, study of psychological paranoia.  
===Plot Summary===
*A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.  


After his following two films (Christine and Starman), Carpenter arguably degenerated into something of a hack. It's a shame that this happened, because The Thing is, if not a masterpiece, then certainly one of the better films of its type from the 1980s.
===Taglines===
*Anytime. Anywhere. Anyone.
*Man is The Warmest Place to Hide.
*Look closely at your neighbour ... Trust no-one ... They might be THE THING [UK video box]
*The ultimate in alien terror.  


'''Reviewed by Biohazard - 12/31/07'''
__NOTOC__


[[Category:1982|Thing]][[Category:Films|Thing]][[Category: Reviews|Thing]][[Category:Science Fiction|Thing]][[Category: Horror/Thrillers|Thing]]
[[Category:1982|Thing]][[Category:Films|Thing]][[Category:Science Fiction|Thing]][[Category:Video Nasties|Thing]][[Category: Horror/Thrillers|Thing]][[Category:Ennio Morricone|Thing]][[Category:John Carpenter|Thing]][[Category:USA|Thing]][[Category:Kurt Russell|Thing]][[Category:TNT MonsterVision|Thing]][[Category:Universal Pictures|Thing]]
[[Category:Ennio Morricone|Thing]][[Category:John Carpenter|Thing]][[Category:USA|Thing]][[Category:WDEU AM 70|Thing]]

Latest revision as of 15:13, 25 September 2023

Main Details

  • Released in 1982
  • Color
  • Running time: 109 minutes
  • Production Co.: Universal Pictures | Turman-Foster Company
  • Distribution Co.: Universal Pictures
  • Written and Directed by John Carpenter, based on John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?"
  • Starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Donald Moffatt
  • Special Effects: Rob Bottin, Albert Whitlock, Roy Arbogast
  • Music by Ennio Morricone

Plot Summary

  • A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

Taglines

  • Anytime. Anywhere. Anyone.
  • Man is The Warmest Place to Hide.
  • Look closely at your neighbour ... Trust no-one ... They might be THE THING [UK video box]
  • The ultimate in alien terror.
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