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The Thing

Started by Multibeast12, July 18, 2011, 06:14:42 PM

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Multibeast12

Quote from: cactusfan on July 20, 2011, 12:45:58 PM
Quote from: khalpin on July 20, 2011, 12:02:00 PM
As a side note, there's another remake of The Thing currently in post-production: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0905372/

they're calling it a prequel. it takes place at the norwegian camp.

i fear the worst.

Yup, Looks pretty dam terrible. The main character is being played by a chick. No-offense, but come on, seriously. I like thought how John Carpenter is noted for saying that he has nothing to do in anyway with this film

cactusfan

ugh. that looks bad. will they have the cajones to kill her off at the end? dying in the snow as she watches two guys take off in a helicopter to chase down a dog?

Multibeast12

Quote from: cactusfan on July 20, 2011, 02:16:59 PM
ugh. that looks bad. will they have the cajones to kill her off at the end? dying in the snow as she watches two guys take off in a helicopter to chase down a dog?
Would be awesome, I hate that they are calling this one The Thing. Like put something after it so it will never get confused with the JC one.

qop24

So.....

I have always had mixed thoughts about this film. I appreciate that it is well done, the cast is great, and it is a truly awesome story. However, "creature features" have always had a stigma in my mind.

The concept of being in total isolation, and finding out that some great evil is present is a solid premise for a horror film. It is always fascinating seeing this type of scenario, and seeing how the writers have the characters handle the situation by either turning on each other, sticking together, or some sort of combination / anything in between. "The Thing" presents this scenario and the resulting human interactions/decisions very well. Then you see the monster..........

I fully agree with whoever said it earlier (Multibeast maybe?) about it being truly awesome that it was hand-crafted with fine attention to detail, but by nature, the "creatures" pretty much never stand up to the test of time. This one held up much better than most, especially being from the early 80's, and it obviously would have been a whole lot cheesier if it were CGI, but this seems to be an inherent flaw in the genre (for me at least).

Overall, I really do like this movie because I find the story to be fascinating, but creature features do best when they leave the creature to the imagination so that it has a chance to remain timeless. "The Descent" is a great example of this - you barely ever see them, and when you do, it's in a pitch-black cave so it is still up to the viewer's imagination.
Quote from: Gumbo72203 on June 14, 2011, 11:26:55 PM
Trey actually is totally inspired with ideas up the ass

Quote from: kellerb on July 06, 2011, 07:16:17 PM
When you're on droogz you don't remember which eye's supposed to be lazy

gah

Quote from: qop24 on July 25, 2011, 10:14:43 AM


Overall, I really do like this movie because I find the story to be fascinating, but creature features do best when they leave the creature to the imagination so that it has a chance to remain timeless. "The Descent" is a great example of this - you barely ever see them, and when you do, it's in a pitch-black cave so it is still up to the viewer's imagination.

Good point. Also, I haven't seen the Descent, might check it out.
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own.

qop24

Quote from: goodabouthood on July 25, 2011, 10:19:55 AM
Quote from: qop24 on July 25, 2011, 10:14:43 AM


Overall, I really do like this movie because I find the story to be fascinating, but creature features do best when they leave the creature to the imagination so that it has a chance to remain timeless. "The Descent" is a great example of this - you barely ever see them, and when you do, it's in a pitch-black cave so it is still up to the viewer's imagination.

Good point. Also, I haven't seen the Descent, might check it out.

I highly recommend it, and the sequel was pretty awesome too (2nd one is on instant which is also a plus).
Quote from: Gumbo72203 on June 14, 2011, 11:26:55 PM
Trey actually is totally inspired with ideas up the ass

Quote from: kellerb on July 06, 2011, 07:16:17 PM
When you're on droogz you don't remember which eye's supposed to be lazy

rowjimmy

Loved this flick. It's been years and years since I've seen it so it was a solid treat.

Favorite part: MacReady holding everyone hostage with the bundle of dynamite while he's half frozen.

Quote from: barnesy305 on July 19, 2011, 01:02:47 PM
I know I'm not signed up for the movie club, but I wanted to chime in anyway. The psychological aspect of the film is very well done, I really liked Wilford Brimley's mental breakdown and how it snowballed in effect to the rest of the team.

This was very cool.
Also, I had a strange craving for oatmeal last night.



Anyway, Great film. I'm gonna give it 7 out of ten of these:
√√√√√√√√√√

susep

#22
The Thing

(KR = Kurt Russel/McCready)
canis = dog

trippy, ambient tones in the intro, at first glance I thought the ship was the Star ship Enterprise, interesting shot of Antarctica as the disc descends into Earth/South Pole, the blue hues reflecting life/water in an abyss of darkness/space,
geological wet dream opening shot, w/ vertical infusions, another macro/micro flying shot this time w/ a helicopter, sea of snow and ice, canis which are not common in A,
whiskey and chess, nice combo, "checkmate!"
gotta love the chevron gas can/free advertising near 6:19, bad move w/ the Chopper, dude is tripping over the dog, nice shot by the Gen to the head, quick to put the fire out
tempers are flaring, cabin fever, guy w/ stitches is ready to roll?!?!, infamous tail rotar shot,
canis under the table, listening
canis looks tripped out
"Very superstitious" cranking in the background, curious canis, silhouette into darkness
smoke = danger, just the opposite of their camp, something looking, observing, full blast hole w/ ice cycles, bloody axe ala "the shining" = icy, cold maze,
frozen dude/Norwegian, slashed(15million dollar budget reminder), "i'll check out the last few rooms" at 20:38, separation = death/foreshadow, high violins = trippy score, building tension as they look into the ice bed, charred remains,
meanwhile back at camp...
canis looking out, pensive, perplexed,
in the lab, acidic fumes?, Alien-esque, univeral DNA, bi facial being, canis looking tripped out, again
autopsy,
video taped shows, big fatty time at 26:41, canis jumping stitch head,
canis joins his fellow canis, winds are howling, increasing, holy shit, the dog's face exploded except just his tongue!?!?, this thing looks like part arachnid w/ hairy barbs and shoots a powerful liquid, the man returns and enters the pen, the dogs escape, hit the alarm!
this thing has morphed again but still a slimey canis, it uses its tentacles/ropes to kill, it takes quite a few blows from KR, 3-spiked hands, quick ascension into ceiling(much like Alien),
shot @ 32:22 is truly disgusting w/ lots of blood, human eyes and what appears to be a human stomach, again another Alien/lotus like extension before the flames, too quick a put out, all eyes on it,
more autopsy work, biological transformer? = the thing?,
canis wandering around all day
watching vids of the Norwegians
KR looks like an amigo
hello mother ship @38:40, "ET Phone home!", another liquid blue ice bed,
love the archaic dos readout, apocalyptic research by Blair, complete w/ Smirnoff and pistol, "noble prize", cellular activity in these remains, Benny = choked up:P,
trippy music into inferno, the fire seems so minimal in the Arctic/minimal to the Thing,
Blair losing it, the dog handler is losing it next,
"watch Clark", KR is the King
everyone is tripped out, interesting near 1:06:51 the "core" group are the younger men, rec room/pool hall converted into emergency control area, not at 1:07:07 the six pack of beer behind KR, scene at 1:07:21 reminds of a "lifeline", Everest esque, Blair pleading, locking down against KR and the chef/cook, "I cut him lose", KR holding a stick/clump of the big D, the dude in the gray sweater is contaminated, dog man w/. knife, CPR into chewed off hands!  holy F***!, again more Alien-esque like concepts, crazy worm like extension w/ face, cooked alive, the head still alive, even a partial is biologically active ala the extending tongue/appendage, spider head, see ya!, nice play between dog man and Childs, back fired on dog man, blood tests, radio man passes, stoner man is IT!, huge jaws!, stoner man blow to smithereens, KR burns the other infected being, Childs makes it, final four, another ice cave = self preservation by IT?, spacecraft?, larger heart beat for background music, generator room,, must be warm due to melting ice/runoff, the dark, barely lit caves sets up Blair nicely, silence, underneath, the mother ship, explodes, KR alone? where's Childs?  KR w/ his bottle, Childs appears, they share a drink, its over.


Conclusion: first time seeing this film.  nothing too amazing in terms of storyline and effects, I saw many parallels w/ Alien in a few shots.  funny to see a shaved Brimley in his role.  I like the music score as well.  decent pick but I think Alien, which preceeded it by 3 years, kills it.  I read where ET was released 2 weeks before this one which helped it flop but is now considered a classic.  I'd have to disagree here and point to Alien, a much better film in comparison.  Thanks for the pick! 
 

Grade:  C+

danje

One of my favorite South Park's has a great parody of the blood test scene. Hilarious episode too check it out:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s11e03-lice-capades

cactusfan

Quote from: susep on July 31, 2011, 02:15:23 PM
The Thing

(KR = Kurt Russel/McCready)
canis = dog

trippy, ambient tones in the intro, at first glance I thought the ship was the Star ship Enterprise, interesting shot of Antarctica as the disc descends into Earth/South Pole, the blue hues reflecting life/water in an abyss of darkness/space,
geological wet dream opening shot, w/ vertical infusions, another macro/micro flying shot this time w/ a helicopter, sea of snow and ice, canis which are not common in A,
whiskey and chess, nice combo, "checkmate!"
gotta love the chevron gas can/free advertising near 6:19, bad move w/ the Chopper, dude is tripping over the dog, nice shot by the Gen to the head, quick to put the fire out
tempers are flaring, cabin fever, guy w/ stitches is ready to roll?!?!, infamous tail rotar shot,
canis under the table, listening
canis looks tripped out
"Very superstitious" cranking in the background, curious canis, silhouette into darkness
smoke = danger, just the opposite of their camp, something looking, observing, full blast hole w/ ice cycles, bloody axe ala "the shining" = icy, cold maze,
frozen dude/Norwegian, slashed(15million dollar budget reminder), "i'll check out the last few rooms" at 20:38, separation = death/foreshadow, high violins = trippy score, building tension as they look into the ice bed, charred remains,
meanwhile back at camp...
canis looking out, pensive, perplexed,
in the lab, acidic fumes?, Alien-esque, univeral DNA, bi facial being, canis looking tripped out, again
autopsy,
video taped shows, big fatty time at 26:41, canis jumping stitch head,
canis joins his fellow canis, winds are howling, increasing, holy shit, the dog's face exploded except just his tongue!?!?, this thing looks like part arachnid w/ hairy barbs and shoots a powerful liquid, the man returns and enters the pen, the dogs escape, hit the alarm!
this thing has morphed again but still a slimey canis, it uses its tentacles/ropes to kill, it takes quite a few blows from KR, 3-spiked hands, quick ascension into ceiling(much like Alien),
shot @ 32:22 is truly disgusting w/ lots of blood, human eyes and what appears to be a human stomach, again another Alien/lotus like extension before the flames, too quick a put out, all eyes on it,
more autopsy work, biological transformer? = the thing?,
canis wandering around all day
watching vids of the Norwegians
KR looks like an amigo
hello mother ship @38:40, "ET Phone home!", another liquid blue ice bed,
love the archaic dos readout, apocalyptic research by Blair, complete w/ Smirnoff and pistol, "noble prize", cellular activity in these remains, Benny = choked up:P,
trippy music into inferno, the fire seems so minimal in the Arctic/minimal to the Thing,
Blair losing it, the dog handler is losing it next,
"watch Clark", KR is the King
everyone is tripped out, interesting near 1:06:51 the "core" group are the younger men, rec room/pool hall converted into emergency control area, not at 1:07:07 the six pack of beer behind KR, scene at 1:07:21 reminds of a "lifeline", Everest esque, Blair pleading, locking down against KR and the chef/cook, "I cut him lose", KR holding a stick/clump of the big D, the dude in the gray sweater is contaminated, dog man w/. knife, CPR into chewed off hands!  holy F***!, again more Alien-esque like concepts, crazy worm like extension w/ face, cooked alive, the head still alive, even a partial is biologically active ala the extending tongue/appendage, spider head, see ya!, nice play between dog man and Childs, back fired on dog man, blood tests, radio man passes, stoner man is IT!, huge jaws!, stoner man blow to smithereens, KR burns the other infected being, Childs makes it, final four, another ice cave = self preservation by IT?, spacecraft?, larger heart beat for background music, generator room,, must be warm due to melting ice/runoff, the dark, barely lit caves sets up Blair nicely, silence, underneath, the mother ship, explodes, KR alone? where's Childs?  KR w/ his bottle, Childs appears, they share a drink, its over.


Conclusion: first time seeing this film.  nothing too amazing in terms of storyline and effects, I saw many parallels w/ Alien in a few shots.  funny to see a shaved Brimley in his role.  I like the music score as well.  decent pick but I think Alien, which preceeded it by 3 years, kills it.  I read where ET was released 2 weeks before this one which helped it flop but is now considered a classic.  I'd have to disagree here and point to Alien, a much better film in comparison.  Thanks for the pick! 
 

Grade:  C+


Interesting points regarding Alien. Which I just watched last week for the first time in a long while. Though, like The Thing, it's a movie I watched so many times when I was younger that I pretty much know it frame by frame.

They are very similar plotwise. But then again, it's not even remotely an original plot. In terms of movie history, it actually goes back to WWII, with the classic scenerio of a group of soldiers hemmed in by the enemy getting picked off one by one until the last man stands triumphant. And then in monster movies the scenario has been around forever. Even John Carpenter's early film Assault On Precinct 13 is essentially the same set-up.

Alien's originality came in the setting, a spaceship far from earth, and in making that spaceship not a warship with laser guns and shit, but a mining vessel with a bunch of blue collar workers on board. And then of course the absolutely genius special effects and art direction. All in all, I agree that it's a better movie than The Thing. It wins in that it's cinematically so beautiful. Ridley Scott made every shot gorgeous. And the alien itself is one of coolest monsters in movie history.

(Scott is currently shooting Prometheus, by the way, a sort of but not quite prequel to Alien, which he says simply takes place in the same universe as Alien. Very curious to see that one)

The Thing was original in that the monster wasn't any set 'thing', but a shapeshifter that's never the same thing twice. Which is very unusual. I'm surprised you were so unimpressed by the effects. In terms of creative gore, there's not much that tops it.

The other thing that sets it apart from Alien and similar movies is the ending, in which the humans lose. Yes, it's possible they killed the thing by burning the camp, although just as likely they didn't, but in either case, the entire cast dies in the end. Not many examples of that previously. Night of The Living Dead is one, although the final death there is an ironic death making a stark political statement, and isn't caused by the zombies.

Anway. Maybe I'm just a sucker for old Carpenter flicks.


Multibeast12

susep, didn't read your review yet, but looking forward to in the Morning.

But quick thing on the prometheus thing,
Cool bootlegged images from it. Looks like it's gonna be awesome

qop24

Hadn't heard about Prometheus yet....and yeah if Ridley Scott is doing it, and it looks anything like some of those stills, I'm on board!
Quote from: Gumbo72203 on June 14, 2011, 11:26:55 PM
Trey actually is totally inspired with ideas up the ass

Quote from: kellerb on July 06, 2011, 07:16:17 PM
When you're on droogz you don't remember which eye's supposed to be lazy

Multibeast12

Quote from: qop24 on August 02, 2011, 08:59:56 AM
Hadn't heard about Prometheus yet....and yeah if Ridley Scott is doing it, and it looks anything like some of those stills, I'm on board!
Yeah, i was excited when i heard he was gonna do a sci fi flick again, but after i saw these stills i'm so pumped. I can't wait for eventually a trailer to come out.

susep

Quote from: cactusfan on August 02, 2011, 01:38:32 AM
Quote from: susep on July 31, 2011, 02:15:23 PM
The Thing

(KR = Kurt Russel/McCready)
canis = dog

trippy, ambient tones in the intro, at first glance I thought the ship was the Star ship Enterprise, interesting shot of Antarctica as the disc descends into Earth/South Pole, the blue hues reflecting life/water in an abyss of darkness/space,
geological wet dream opening shot, w/ vertical infusions, another macro/micro flying shot this time w/ a helicopter, sea of snow and ice, canis which are not common in A,
whiskey and chess, nice combo, "checkmate!"
gotta love the chevron gas can/free advertising near 6:19, bad move w/ the Chopper, dude is tripping over the dog, nice shot by the Gen to the head, quick to put the fire out
tempers are flaring, cabin fever, guy w/ stitches is ready to roll?!?!, infamous tail rotar shot,
canis under the table, listening
canis looks tripped out
"Very superstitious" cranking in the background, curious canis, silhouette into darkness
smoke = danger, just the opposite of their camp, something looking, observing, full blast hole w/ ice cycles, bloody axe ala "the shining" = icy, cold maze,
frozen dude/Norwegian, slashed(15million dollar budget reminder), "i'll check out the last few rooms" at 20:38, separation = death/foreshadow, high violins = trippy score, building tension as they look into the ice bed, charred remains,
meanwhile back at camp...
canis looking out, pensive, perplexed,
in the lab, acidic fumes?, Alien-esque, univeral DNA, bi facial being, canis looking tripped out, again
autopsy,
video taped shows, big fatty time at 26:41, canis jumping stitch head,
canis joins his fellow canis, winds are howling, increasing, holy shit, the dog's face exploded except just his tongue!?!?, this thing looks like part arachnid w/ hairy barbs and shoots a powerful liquid, the man returns and enters the pen, the dogs escape, hit the alarm!
this thing has morphed again but still a slimey canis, it uses its tentacles/ropes to kill, it takes quite a few blows from KR, 3-spiked hands, quick ascension into ceiling(much like Alien),
shot @ 32:22 is truly disgusting w/ lots of blood, human eyes and what appears to be a human stomach, again another Alien/lotus like extension before the flames, too quick a put out, all eyes on it,
more autopsy work, biological transformer? = the thing?,
canis wandering around all day
watching vids of the Norwegians
KR looks like an amigo
hello mother ship @38:40, "ET Phone home!", another liquid blue ice bed,
love the archaic dos readout, apocalyptic research by Blair, complete w/ Smirnoff and pistol, "noble prize", cellular activity in these remains, Benny = choked up:P,
trippy music into inferno, the fire seems so minimal in the Arctic/minimal to the Thing,
Blair losing it, the dog handler is losing it next,
"watch Clark", KR is the King
everyone is tripped out, interesting near 1:06:51 the "core" group are the younger men, rec room/pool hall converted into emergency control area, not at 1:07:07 the six pack of beer behind KR, scene at 1:07:21 reminds of a "lifeline", Everest esque, Blair pleading, locking down against KR and the chef/cook, "I cut him lose", KR holding a stick/clump of the big D, the dude in the gray sweater is contaminated, dog man w/. knife, CPR into chewed off hands!  holy F***!, again more Alien-esque like concepts, crazy worm like extension w/ face, cooked alive, the head still alive, even a partial is biologically active ala the extending tongue/appendage, spider head, see ya!, nice play between dog man and Childs, back fired on dog man, blood tests, radio man passes, stoner man is IT!, huge jaws!, stoner man blow to smithereens, KR burns the other infected being, Childs makes it, final four, another ice cave = self preservation by IT?, spacecraft?, larger heart beat for background music, generator room,, must be warm due to melting ice/runoff, the dark, barely lit caves sets up Blair nicely, silence, underneath, the mother ship, explodes, KR alone? where's Childs?  KR w/ his bottle, Childs appears, they share a drink, its over.


Conclusion: first time seeing this film.  nothing too amazing in terms of storyline and effects, I saw many parallels w/ Alien in a few shots.  funny to see a shaved Brimley in his role.  I like the music score as well.  decent pick but I think Alien, which preceeded it by 3 years, kills it.  I read where ET was released 2 weeks before this one which helped it flop but is now considered a classic.  I'd have to disagree here and point to Alien, a much better film in comparison.  Thanks for the pick! 
 

Grade:  C+


Interesting points regarding Alien. Which I just watched last week for the first time in a long while. Though, like The Thing, it's a movie I watched so many times when I was younger that I pretty much know it frame by frame.

They are very similar plotwise. But then again, it's not even remotely an original plot. In terms of movie history, it actually goes back to WWII, with the classic scenerio of a group of soldiers hemmed in by the enemy getting picked off one by one until the last man stands triumphant. And then in monster movies the scenario has been around forever. Even John Carpenter's early film Assault On Precinct 13 is essentially the same set-up.

Alien's originality came in the setting, a spaceship far from earth, and in making that spaceship not a warship with laser guns and shit, but a mining vessel with a bunch of blue collar workers on board. And then of course the absolutely genius special effects and art direction. All in all, I agree that it's a better movie than The Thing. It wins in that it's cinematically so beautiful. Ridley Scott made every shot gorgeous. And the alien itself is one of coolest monsters in movie history.

(Scott is currently shooting Prometheus, by the way, a sort of but not quite prequel to Alien, which he says simply takes place in the same universe as Alien. Very curious to see that one)

The Thing was original in that the monster wasn't any set 'thing', but a shapeshifter that's never the same thing twice. Which is very unusual. I'm surprised you were so unimpressed by the effects. In terms of creative gore, there's not much that tops it.

The other thing that sets it apart from Alien and similar movies is the ending, in which the humans lose. Yes, it's possible they killed the thing by burning the camp, although just as likely they didn't, but in either case, the entire cast dies in the end. Not many examples of that previously. Night of The Living Dead is one, although the final death there is an ironic death making a stark political statement, and isn't caused by the zombies.

Anway. Maybe I'm just a sucker for old Carpenter flicks.

I appreciate your perspective, thanks.  I did like the effects I mean like someone else mentioned before, when that dude morphed into the long, snake like neck, in preety much every gory scene I was laughing and still intrigued because like you mentioned the thing was a conglomerate and I was naturally perplexed by its form.  the ending is interesting from a direct foreshadow of the opening scene where MacCready is drinking whiskey and loses a game of chess to the computer.  fun pick.