Most remakes are studies in folly.
No matter how much more ‘modern’ you make it or how much you dress it up in contemporary cinematic technique, the original film will always be the one an entire generation or more has grown up with. It is the rare remake that captures the imagination as thoroughly as the original, and John Carpenter’s THE THING is arguably the greatest remake of any film ever made. This movie is so good it has almost completely supplanted the 1951 original (“The Thing from Another World”) as the definitive telling of this story. THE THING boasts the kind of paranoid, claustrophobic atmosphere that John Carpenter excelled at. The tour-de-force ‘blood testing’ scene is a microcosm of how this entire film plays - lulling you with compelling dialogue and rhythmic comfort, then springing the Horror trap and unleashing some of the most terrifying creature designs you’ll ever see.
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The films opens with an Alaskan Malamute desperately running from a group of pursuers. The dog is being chased and shot at by an unseen group of people in a helicopter. A dropped charge destroys the helicopter and it crashes to the ground. One man survives and continues chasing the dog on foot. Finally arriving at a lonely research station, the dog is sheltered by the team of scientists stationed there. The remaining pursuer continues to shoot at he dog and behave erratically until the team’s commander, Garry (Donald Moffat) is forced to kill the man. It is determined that the dead man was from a nearby Norwegian station, so the team’s helicopter pilot, Macready (Kurt Russell) and doctor, Cooper (Wilford Brimley) head to the fly out there to find some answers. What they find is a burned out ruin with strange, deformed corpse inside which they bring back for an autopsy. It is soon clear that the dog is not what it seems to be - and that the Norwegian might have had a very good reason to be shooting at it…
This film was John Carpenter’s passion project, and it shows in the grand quality of the final result. Carpenter, working for the first time with a budget and with a major studio, poured everything he had into this film - bringing a calculated and meticulous approach to every detail. The whole movie has an elevated feel from the rest of Carpenter’s filmography, but it retains his signature style of pacing and mood. For the rest of the crew, Carpenter brought in the absolute best in the business, but two names really stand out.
Up to this point, John Carpenter had scored his own films, often composing music that has since become iconic in the Horror genre. Recognizing, however, that this film needed a more experienced hand, Carpenter passed the scoring duties to legendary film composer Ennio Morricone - who created an eerie, atmospheric vibe. One of the triumphs of Morricone’s score is how much it sounds like a John Carpenter score without sounding like an imitation.
For the creature effects, so critical to the success of this film, Carpenter turned to Rob Bottin, a young creature effects designer that he had previously used on “The Fog”. The models and costumes that make up this film’s creature effects still hold as some of the most convincing and most original ever conjured - and all created a full 11 years before CG was to take over the special effects world.
Given all of this, it’s difficult to conceive that the film was considered a failure when released in 1982. The studio blamed the bleak, unsettling ending for its poor reception among mainstream filmgoers and they may well have been right. The important fact is that THE THING has since rightfully taken its place as a Horror masterpiece and John Carpenter’s highest artistic achievement in film.
Parental Guide: Whoa Nelly, mature audiences only! 16+
THE THING fun facts - In an unaccredited performance, Adrienne Barbeau provides the female voice on MacReady’s computer. Barbeau was John Carpenter’s wife at the time.
Creature effects creator Rob Bottin was only 22 when he was brought onto the project.
It is now a tradition at British Antarctic research stations to watch the film as part of a Midwinter celebration.
The sets in Los Angeles were kept at 40 degrees to mimic the Arctic conditions.
Windows - “We're a thousand miles from nowhere, man. And it's gonna get a hell of a lot worse before it gets any better!”
Childs - “I just cannot believe any of this voodoo bullshit!”
Macready - “If we've got any surprises for each other, I don't think either one of us is in much shape to do anything about it…”