The Thing (DVD)

THE THING

In 1982 a thing from another world enthralled a new generation of cinema-goer. Kids of all ages were horrified as a little bugger known only as E.T. fell into a river and turned grey. Amongst a cinema auditorium filled with emotional little rascals, responsible parents should have placated their sobbing siblings with extra large bags of jelly babies and all-sorts, ensuring them that Spielberg’s marvellous alien creation ...
...were pre-occupied elsewhere. For in the auditorium across the corridor, away from the sobs of booing little children, there could be heard the shrieking screams of lingering terror. Parents were cringing at John Carpenter’s The Thing as it revealed itself in a concoction of immense gore, shocking mutilation and unbearable visual imagery. Horror had a new face, so to speak. One that transformed with every new incarnation Carpenter’s creation ... more

THE THING

In 1982 a thing from another world enthralled a new generation of cinema-goer. Kids of all ages were horrified as a little bugger known only as E.T. fell into a river and turned grey. Amongst a cinema auditorium filled with emotional little rascals, responsible parents should have placated their sobbing siblings with extra large bags of jelly babies and all-sorts, ensuring them that Spielberg’s marvellous alien creation would manage to return home by the end credits; but responsible parents were pre-occupied elsewhere. For in the auditorium across the corridor, away from the sobs of booing little children, there could be heard the shrieking screams of lingering terror. Parents were cringing at John Carpenter’s The Thing as it revealed itself in a concoction of immense gore, shocking mutilation and unbearable visual imagery. Horror had a new face, so to speak. One that transformed with every new incarnation Carpenter’s creation undertook. As some observers noted, nothing like it had been seen before. As Palmer (David Clennon) remarks after the most famous, eye-opening, sequence of The Thing’s exposure, “you’ve got to be fucking kidding.”

Following a brief pre-credits sequence highlighting an alien craft entering into the Earth’s atmosphere (a sequence which would be copied 5 years later in John McTiernan’s Predator), for a film that is very much intensely claustrophobic it ironically starts with a beautifully encompassing opening shot of the wide open expanses of Antarctica. Ennio Morricone’s fantastic synth score begins to resonate as a lone husky runs through the icy expanses of one of the world’s harshest environments, chased by a Norwegian helicopter crew who the audience guess are suffering from a severe case of cabin fever. Recklessly blowing themselves up in the pursuit of one little husky, the dog finds itself in the camp of a twelve man American team of bored, bickering hippies who have lost contact with the outside world. Restless from drinking to much scotch and playing chess with the camp’s only female (a computer chess simulation) R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) decides to fly over and investigate the Norwegian camp to find out what had driven these men stark raving bonkers. Among the few corpses found, some hideously disfigured and looking distinctly un-human, MacReady discovers a huge crater where a missing block of ice has been defrosted. Events will soon transpire that you wish the Norwegians had managed to get a better shot at the dog….

When the Thing does finally reveal itself in an orgy of gore and oodles of blood soaked tentacles, it transpires this alien is an organism that can replicate and perfectly imitate any other biological specimen it happens to absorb. One by one the men of the camp are slowly whittled down in a crimson bloodbath by a creature that only reveals its true self when in danger, causing mass hysteria among the ranks as each accuses the other of “not being themselves.” Among the in-fighting and paranoia, MacReady turns the reluctant, tenacious leader of the group in a bid to track down the Thing during the course of a storm before they’ve all become perfect imitations.

Of course, such a Thing had been seen previously. Beginning life as a short story entitled “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell and adapted to film in 1951 in the Howard Hawkes produced “The Thing from Another World,” Carpenter’s vision is a perfect example of how to produce a superior remake. Hawkes’ adaptation was a well made yet mediocre man-in-a-suit monster movie that only fleeting resembled the basic themes and storyline of “Who Goes There?” Carpenter, captivated by the film as a child, recognised that the original movie could be embellished upon and adapted to provide a very different, provocative and highly original remake. Going back to the source material, he removed the man-in-a-suit aspect and the teamwork ethos of the central characters, concentrating instead on Campbell’s themes of paranoia and mis-trust within a claustrophobic and isolated setting, providing a film where The Thing could assimilate any member of the cast at any time (providing the “man is the warmest place to hide” tag-line).

Ironically, Carpenter had created a genre-defining monster-in-a-man-suit horror flick.
Whilst gore is a pre-eminent factor of the movie, the source material dictated that The Thing would drastically swing from Carpenter’s scenes of flying gore and dismembered limbs to Campbell’s focus on elements of isolation and paranoia, providing a compelling exercise in suspense as survivors question which of them, if any, might still be human.

Indeed the vastly intelligent screenplay (written by Bill Lancaster) lifts The Thing above the usual quagmire of bog-standard horror bloodbaths that saturated cinema screens throughout the eighties and effectively enhances the film as a horror masterpiece. Its influence stems as far wide into other genres such as Quinten Tarantino’s crime-thriller Reservoir Dogs - essentially the same film, featuring bickering men in an isolated warehouse where not everything is at it seems. It is also a timely reminder of how Carpenter has yet to improve on what is currently his most defining moment. Halloween, Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China illustrated Carpenter’s exquisite visual style and eye behind the camera, yet with The Thing he expands upon this to provide an ensemble picture where the characters are just as central to the style of the movie. Starting off at a slow pace, allowing enough time for all twelve of the camps inhabitants to develop so the audience can understand their motivations and pet hates (Palmer always antagonising Windows is brilliantly understated), Carpenter uses the skill of the actors to ensure that the tension is wracked up to ten.

Without such a concern over the acting potential, The Thing could very much have fallen flat on its face. For without a convincing portrayal by the ensemble cast, the very nature and feeling of claustrophobia and paranoia would have been lost on the audience. A good thing Carpenter hired some of the finest ensemble actors around at the time. Kurt Russell, who had previously worked with Carpenter on Elvis and Escape to New York, is a stand-out. A criminally under-used actor of the old-school hero variety, where he uses his brains rather than brawn, he keeps the film together as helicopter pilot MacReady, making decisions his Arctic colleagues refuse to undertake in an incomprehensible situation. He is suitably backed up by Keith Davids Childs, who plays the chalk to MacReady’s cheese - ever antagonistic about MacReady’s leadership but willing to do as he says at the crunch.

But if the plot of The Thing and the suitable characterisations are part of a compelling exercise of suspense in isolated surroundings, Rob Bottin’s (a precocious 23 year-old at the time) prosthetic make-up effects provide the release that the built up tension deserves. After arguing the toss amongst each other about who might be the thing, it’s vital that when the alien does finally surface, it does so in a variety of memorable scenes for audience satisfaction. Bottin’s effects are both shocking and original, displaying the twisted mutations of The Thing’s defence mechanisms in a variety of blood, gore slime and tentacles. The film highlights even today how effective prosthetics and fake blood were back in the day, illustrating how films today employing over-done CGI look far from realistic in comparison. Indeed Bottin’s revealing make-up effects of a monster-in-a-man-suit are central to a number of scenes that expose why The Thing is such a memorable film, that has stood the test of time – a sci-fi classic even?

Whilst the acting direction and visual effects are outstanding, what really sets The Thing apart, what really makes this film unique within the vaults of horror, are the sequences that have come to transcend the movie and take on a reputation of their own. A revered film will usually contain only one such sequence; The Thing contains at least three. When Doc Copper (Richard Dyshart) pushes the heart paddles against Norris’ chest for the second time only for his arms to fall through a gaping hole and then bitten off by a giant set of teeth, the audience suddenly understands what Palmer means by “you’ve got to be fucking kidding!” Within the history of cinema, nothing like this has been seen before or since. Then it gets even more extreme (involving Norris’ head)…

And of course there’s the now often copied blood test scene (most recently spoofed in The Faculty). Here, Carpenter has produced one of the great tension fuelled sequences as characters the audience presume to be The Thing turn out not to be and are surprised to find out who is the nefarious creature at quite a seemingly dialogue driven moment. It’s the suddenness of it all that makes the scene, the shift of pace from the padded out slow pacing, to a sharp injection of visual energy as another of Bottin’s concoctions twists itself into another gore-filled shape - a master-class of slow-burning tension with a fantastic pay-off!

These are sequences that any other film would struggle to recover from. Look at how a movie like Blade pans out following its superior first 10 minutes. Just how do you end a film following such excess? Quietly and on a solemn, dour note. There’s no real conventional ending. Just a final beautifully scripted sequence as the camp burns down in a yellowy haze, ending with probably the greatest final line from any film, ever….

Overall – They simply don’t make them like this anymore. The Thing is Carpenter’s masterpiece. Whilst E.T. stole its thunder in 1982, it’s now a classic piece of horror science-fiction. A master-class of suspense and excessive gore-filled moments, directors seem scared to make a movie like these in today’s climate. And with a number of genre-defining twists (no big-busted female characters, the titular monster being revealed obscenely early, no last minute jump) an intelligent script, Morricone’s fantastic score and a number of now classic scenes, what more could you want?

Director: John Carpenter

Screenplay: Bill Lancaster

Cast:
Kurt Russell .... R.J. MacReady
A. Wilford Brimley .... Dr. Blair
T.K. Carter .... Nauls
David Clennon .... Palmer
Keith David .... Childs
Richard Dysart .... Dr. Copper
Charles Hallahan .... Vance Norris
Peter Maloney .... George Bennings
Richard Masur .... Clark
Donald Moffat .... Garry
Joel Polis .... Fuchs
Thomas Waites .... Windows

Certificate: 18 (Excessive gore, scenes of a disturbing nature, infrequent strong language).

Running Time: 109 Minutes

Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction/Thriller

 

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