Day Twenty: "The Thing" (1982)
The Thing is a masterpiece of horror film. It's creepy, atmospheric, and awesome.
Based on The Thing from Another World, this is the story of a bunch of scientists in Antarctica. The movie begins with two Norwegians in a helicopter trying to kill a dog. The dog flees to the American camp, and if anybody spoke Norwegian, the film would've been over in about ten minutes. Instead, the Americans kill the Norwegians and take the dog in. Only the dog is actually the THING! And it infects a bunch of people. And then Wilford Brimley tries to build a UFO in the basement. (Yes! It's much scarier than it sounds.) In the end, only two people survive and since they don't know if they're infected, they agree to stay in the snow and die.
And then they made a crappy comic sequel that makes no sense and was really stupid. And then a videogame sequel which makes absolutely no sense. And then a crappy prequel which threw out all of the good stuff from the first movie but has the exact same name for added confusion.
Honestly, The Thing is my favourite Carpenter film. (I'd like to point out I've met Carpenter and he's read my work. He led a workshop I attended one summer. And he thought my script has pacing issues but was really clever. He thought I like my characters too much. Apparently, I just need to kill people off and get it over with.) Back to the point, I've watched a lot of Carpenter's stuff. And this is my favourite of his work.
The music is so unsettling. It's really, REALLY effective. I can't believe critics complained about it when the film was released. It's iconic now.
The setting is used really well. You honestly feel like there is nobody they can turn to for help. Fortunately. Because this means the Thing can't escape either. When they go outside, you feel like they may freeze to death in the few minutes they're out there. So of course, they have to stay inside in close quarters. Which means anybody could've touched anybody else. So anyone could be the Thing!
The creature effects are fantastic. They're all practical and I think that really adds to the realism. The actors are reacting to something that's actually there, and I can tell the difference. (Not that CGI doesn't have it's place.) And the creatures are terrifying and otherworldly. I don't remember ever thinking, "FAKE!" Which is amazing.
This all adds together to make the audience just as paranoid as the characters. Which works amazingly well. I HIGHLY recommend The Thing.
Based on The Thing from Another World, this is the story of a bunch of scientists in Antarctica. The movie begins with two Norwegians in a helicopter trying to kill a dog. The dog flees to the American camp, and if anybody spoke Norwegian, the film would've been over in about ten minutes. Instead, the Americans kill the Norwegians and take the dog in. Only the dog is actually the THING! And it infects a bunch of people. And then Wilford Brimley tries to build a UFO in the basement. (Yes! It's much scarier than it sounds.) In the end, only two people survive and since they don't know if they're infected, they agree to stay in the snow and die.
And then they made a crappy comic sequel that makes no sense and was really stupid. And then a videogame sequel which makes absolutely no sense. And then a crappy prequel which threw out all of the good stuff from the first movie but has the exact same name for added confusion.
Honestly, The Thing is my favourite Carpenter film. (I'd like to point out I've met Carpenter and he's read my work. He led a workshop I attended one summer. And he thought my script has pacing issues but was really clever. He thought I like my characters too much. Apparently, I just need to kill people off and get it over with.) Back to the point, I've watched a lot of Carpenter's stuff. And this is my favourite of his work.
The music is so unsettling. It's really, REALLY effective. I can't believe critics complained about it when the film was released. It's iconic now.
The setting is used really well. You honestly feel like there is nobody they can turn to for help. Fortunately. Because this means the Thing can't escape either. When they go outside, you feel like they may freeze to death in the few minutes they're out there. So of course, they have to stay inside in close quarters. Which means anybody could've touched anybody else. So anyone could be the Thing!
The creature effects are fantastic. They're all practical and I think that really adds to the realism. The actors are reacting to something that's actually there, and I can tell the difference. (Not that CGI doesn't have it's place.) And the creatures are terrifying and otherworldly. I don't remember ever thinking, "FAKE!" Which is amazing.
This all adds together to make the audience just as paranoid as the characters. Which works amazingly well. I HIGHLY recommend The Thing.