I loved how the characters weren’t stupid. They made smart choices. But no matter how smart they were, they could barely, or couldn’t at all, beat the thing.
I felt so bad for those poor helpless dogs being trapped in the cage with that monster. You just knew that was gonna be bad. And when the crew heard the howling and rushed to find out what was happening... that's when one of the movie's great one-liners occurs. One of the crew asked what was in there and another replied "I dont know... but it's weird and pissed off!) Gotta Love it!
@@JacksMovieReviews to be fair I've only seen a portion of his filmography. I need to see more of his work. I really want to see In the Mouth of Madness.
In The Mouth of Madness is the best Lovecraftian movie that isn't a Lovecraft adaptation. Everyone should watch the movie to see how accurate it predicted our current cultural landscape.
In my opinion, the scene from “The Thing” that best embodies the three types of terror is the Blood Test Scene. 1. Dude’s head splits open, then another guy gets his head bitten off. 2. I mean, a man’s been possessed by an alien and his head turned into a giant mouth. What’s natural about that? 3. “He could be in this very room! He could be you! He could be ME! He could even be-” [gets head bitten off]
Good suggestion but I doubt any props survive today. Latex rots quickly and the mechanics would have been cannibalized for other projects. You could exhibit photos and storyboards though. For years I've wanted to make a Museum of Movie & TV Special Effects.
Actually, no: Stan Winston and his crew worked on only one sequence, the kennel transformation. The other creature effects were all created by Rob Bottin.
The Thing is definitely my favorite horror movie, and it’s definitely on my top 10 list for a favorite movies ever. For me I love the psychological horror of it, not knowing who was turned into a thing and when, not knowing who you can trust throughout the movie. I love re-watching it and trying to dissect it, trying to piece together all the facts of the movie that were never shown that happen off screen.
“it came out at the perfect time...”. Not for those involved it didn’t! Released at the same time as Bladerunner and the family friendly E.T., The Thing was a box office failure and panned by critics. It only became a cult classic much later on when released to video.
The clip you show at 4:07 is something that absolutely horrified me as a child. Like everything else in the movie never scared me and I loved it all but that scene in particular did it for me. Just the scream and the empty look in his eyes really fucked me up. P.s. I’m very hard to scare.
One of my favourite films. The ending in particular is haunting with that slow beating soundtrack and the characters' situation. Either the monster is still alive and it'll kill them, or they'll die from the cold.
specualtion is that one of them is the thing because no wapor from breathing. and some say that MCready gives him the ethanol and he happily drinks it.
I haven't seen "The Thing" in, well, I don't know how many years. A long time, that's for sure. But, after watching your review, I am going to seek it out. And, like you said, this time of year is a perfect time to watch it, again.
I am fairly certain that the Thing was a Haggunenon... To quote the guide: The Haggunenons of Vicissitus Three have the most impatient chromosomes in the Galaxy. Whereas most races are content to evolve slowly and carefully over thousands of generations, discarding a prehensile toe here, nervously hazarding another nostril there, the Haggunenons would do for Charles Darwin what a squadron of Acturan stunt apples would have done for Sir Isaac Newton. Their genetic structure, based on the quadruple sterated octohelix, is so chronically unstable, that far from passing their basic shape onto their children, they will frequently evolve several times over lunch. But they do this with such reckless abandon that if, sitting at a table, they are unable to reach a coffee spoon, they are liable without a moment's consideration to mutate into something with far longer arms ... but which is probably quite incapable of drinking the coffee. This, not unnaturally, produces a terrible sense of personal insecurity, and a jealous resentment of all stable life forms, or "filthy rotten stinking samelings" as they call them. They justify this by claiming that as they have personally experienced what it is like to be virtually everybody else they can think of, they are in a very good position to appreciate all their worst points. This "appreciation" is usually military in nature and is carried out with unmitigated savagery from the gunrooms of their horribly beweaponed Chameleoid Death Flotilla. Experience has shown that the most effective way of dealing with any Haggunenon you may meet is to run away terribly fast.
What’s scary about the thing, is it needs one cell to get to you in order to imitate you. It attacks other cells till the host is imitated which would hence its transformation its both a defensive front but could be offensive in the long term or your not careful.
Rob Bottin didn't choose to have the creature be able to change into anything. That was an element of the original short story the movie is based upon called 'Who Goes There?'.
Carpenter originally wanted this version to be much more similar to the 1951 version where the monster took only one form. Bottin convinced him to do it more like the book.Looking back I can totally see how that isn't clear.
The fact the monster is a celluar outer space alien working at a microscopic level wih few rules coded into it and able to mimic anything that's organic is truly horrifying
Great episode. The Thing is definitely one of my favourites too. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched it since it was released on video in the early 80’s. One of Carpenter’s best.
Yes! An all time favourite of mine. I mean this film just gives an unshakeable sombering feeling of dread and certain doom from the start..and it doesn't let up. That lovely theme that just sets up the tone for the entire film sounds like a heartbeat not quite in sync...an imitation. It's actually one of the last films I watch to close the year. In fact it sounds off but I watch it on Christmas. Thank you for the review Jack!
As a theory I reckon Mac creedy was the thing all along and was the smartest out of them and killed other things to prove he wasn’t one. And when Mac creedy laughs at the end I think it’s because he knows he won
I was 10 when this came out, I remember playing with my friends pretending to be in that situation. It was so exciting. Now this movie is still amazing to me.
@@kroy7881 theres nothing terrifying about the film, I like the movie as a whole due to its setting of space but its not terrifying. 1. We never see the Alien, I know less is more but too less is too less 2. The film is shot in such a "safe" way without any handheld footage until the end that you don't feel a sense of uneasiness
@@sameerhafeez7029 saying there’s nothing terrifying about the film as a fact is wrong imo. Yes, I’d say the thing is scarier but don’t forget the underlying tones and parallel meanings of Alien such as the pseudo sexual metaphors aided by the paranoid feeling of unwanted impregnation which makes the film truly scary. Also, the less is more aspect concluding with a full showcase of the creature at the end of the film actually does work to its case since it’s picking off the crew one by one, also giving us no idea of who the protagonist is until a certain point. With a full blown showdown at the end with Ripley and the Alien satisfies that notion and adds to the sense that, yes, finally we are seeing the protagonist giving her all to kill this thing. There’s tons more to back up why it’s a terrifying movie and saying it’s a tragedy doesn’t make sense to me. Also, not sure if you’ve seen the directors cut but it is actually better, in a horror aspect, than the theatrical. Now that I think about it, there’s a lot of similarities between Alien and Thing and they share similar horror tropes that make them scary
Is either Palmer or Norris listening outside the room that MacCready is recording his message in? The camera emphasises the space outside the door to this room and some of what MacCready says (Fuchs researching a test, the fact he knows the importance of the torn clothes, etc.) seems to be extremely useful for a Thing to be aware of, although it's unclear if this does affect the Things imminent actions
Jw Nj I've been watching him like crazy since I found him. I go to the bathroom in the morning expecting to watch a 10 minute video and the next thing I know my legs are numb and it's nighttime.
I'm so happy to see that this movie is getting more attention in recent years. I am not a hardcore horror fan but no matter how I look at it I can't deny that The Thing is hands down my all time favorite movie. Just the production values are on a top level, utilizing the best the cinema ever had to offer - greatly picked cast, spectacular practical effects, incredible attention to details (the sound of keys being dropped on the floor when Windows discovers Bennings being assimilated!) and tight writing which allows the audience to pick up their own pieces and try to play detectives on their own... Man, I miss the times when movies had less convoluted (convoluted like the last Star Wars, not convoluted as Tenet or Annihilation... there are moments where confusing the audience is a device and there are moments where it's a cheap trick to hide bad writing... u get me. Btw Annihilation, I'd say is the closest we can get in modern cinema to what Alien and The Thing made us feel) plots with enough time and space to tightly weave all the little plot points and characterization into a believable, living story.
Great review. The only part I disagree with is the Cold War comparison and Mac’s willingness to kill everyone and everything so long as the monster dies too. The only reason Mac was willing to kill and sacrifice himself and others was so that the world at large would be spared the alien threat. Humanity was his primary concern. I’m sure if he thought he could have kept The Thing in a freezer for safe keeping, he would have done that if it meant everyone at camp could survive. But unfortunately or fortunately for humanity, Mac knew that that wasn’t an option.
I love this movie, love horror... one of my top movies. I dont know why other than I started watching weird sci-fi horror when I was 4 or 5 and the images just stuck with me better than others. I'd have to agree with your assessment of the three types of horror... it's the third one that is most effective because that's where fear gets activated (in my opinion only.)
Yes, please. I could listen to you go on and on about The Thing, and horror in general. (I didn't notice the way the characters were never in the frame together in that scene. What a brilliant detail.) ❤ This film flew under my radar growing up and it blew me away when i finally saw it. It was the first time i'd seen makeup and animatronics done at that calibre and how they were shot played so well with the building madness in the story.
This is my favorite movie, and the score works well with the film, I'm not gonna even talk about how good Kurt Russell looks! Yummy!🤭 The Thing is the best. Great job on the video.
Your use of Morricone's music throughout this video reminded me just how excellent and important that music was.. even though most of the film is music-less.
Best horror, thriller, sci-fi movie ever made. Carpenter is a fucking genius... Also props to Kurt Russell. The greatest actor of all time. Maybe it's a man crush but fucking Big Trouble in Little China is the single most important piece of cinema that will ever exist. The Thing is number two... obviously
4th fundamental of horror: involved animals and children I'm disturb and upset on kennel-thing scene it brokes my hearth seeing a dog getting shot and attack by alien
The only type of horror worth watching for me are the ones that make you paranoid and think about how, who or why this is happening. alien and the shining are two others. But the thing is the GOAT.
@@xDJJDxZombies 83 on Rt, 57 metal critic, 8.1 imdb. The Thing might be special to you or you may not like it, but it is nowhere the general popularity and love of say The Shining of Silence of the Lambs.....heck even Halloween.
More people have seen The Thing than Halloween. Nothing about The Thing is underrated. Examples of horror movies that are underrated would be Candyman, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Day of the dead, House (1986), Magic (1978),
@@xDJJDxZombies Do you have any proof or are you just pulling that out of your ass? Now, there is no way to know who saw more, but we can go by box office and we will not even adjust for inflation. The Thing: Gross USA: $13,782,838. Halloween: Gross USA: $47,000,000. SOURCE: IMDB. Top 100 horror/thrillers from AFI #68 Halloween. The Thing is not even on there. FACTS DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS. AWWWWWW! PS You are a flat out moron if you think more people have seen The Thing than Halloween. You just don't know other people and you think you are the measure of all others. The Thing was a flat out financial disaster while Halloween was a box office hit and spawned the slasher genre of the 80s.
You’re idiotic. Box office numbers mean nothing those movies have been out for years over the years people see movies on home video or streaming. Halloween was rated by 192k people on IMDb & watched by 100k people on Letterboxd The Thing was rated by 316k on IMDb & watched by 104k on Letterboxd
When I first watched the movie, I was confused about the dog. Why were they shooting toward the dog? After like, 5 minutes it hit me. The THING was in the dog. I felt this sense of dread, but what enhanced it more is how it got away with not dying. It was all planned, the dog licked the guy at the beginning and transferred it's particles to him. I was frequently in awe of how perfectly hidden the Thing was amongst the cast.
I don't like horror; I love The Thing. I was about 11 when it came out and watched it through fingers over my eyes (especially couldn't stand the dog scenes), so when I re-watched as an adult it was like seeing it for the first time. And as I said before, I loved it. Terrifying. But also brutal on a human (psychological) scale.
I always thought the Sweden, oh shit the Norwegian said, "Okay assholes that's my dog, I was the one taking care of him, he's mine, mine....GODDAMNIT STOP LICKING THEM FOR FUCK SAKE!".
Perfect movie no doubt! This sci-fi spectacle is a grandiose display of Steven King's 3 conceots of horror, highly suspenseful, a masterful production, takes gore to the extreme and is one of the best quality creature features rather than a cheapy creepy. But it's SOOO criminally underrated. All cause of E.T the smae year. A great movie but indeed it has its flaws. Character development and argument isn't the best but its not the worst either. Acting is rough. The actors never seem truly shocked ( like that scene where MacReady & Copper find the humanoid corpse at the Norwegian base or the faces of... EVERYBODY in the kennel scene could've been better). Sadly, some little and avoidable mistakes are present. They put out the fire to soon in the the kennel scene and the Blair monster looks a little silly ( the deleted stop-motion edit would've done it justice ). The movie gets a little slow at times. Blood is sometimes to purple and we never see the Thing ( as in its true form ) when its by itself seeing what sick things it does. We never get to KNOW the character of the villain as a character. The movie could've been better and mistakes were easy to avoid but I love to watch it! Truly great. And fuck E.T!
Great movie... kurt Russell great cast... Sci-fi and horror great plot paranoia creepy scary music You don't know who is who... no one trust each other Creepy monster.... Great ending
My davorite movie of all time of lost track of how many times oh watched it, I don't even think of it as horror any more becaise its sorta a feel good movie for me lol
Ah! I really want to watch this movie! My favorite episode of the x files (ice) is based off of it, and I’m rewatching the x files with my boyfriend right now!!
Now Im actually remebering "How the ghost stole xmas" episode (s6.e6). Mulder and Scully draw their guns and point at each other while lying on the floor bleeding
I have some issues with this movie, but it is much better than 99% of horror movies and it is very memorable and a lot of thought and hard work went into its making.
I've got a big criticism for a point made near the end when talking about the amalgamation of those three types of horror. It is too naive to call the Thing evil. Before I go into my reasoning for the Thing isn't evil, I will refer to an interview Kurt Russell gave in 1982. In the Twilight Zone magazine, an article by Ed Naha gives Russell's account of the antagonist, "Personally, I like our monster. It's not an evil monster. It doesn't possess you. It doesn't try to take over your mind and turn you into a slave or a zombie. THE THING is a creature, stranded on an alien world, just trying to stay alive." It is debatable to simply believe that THE THING's trying to stay alive doesn't include some motive to continually imitate other life forms. Otherwise, it might through its own rational capacity deduce that people are not bad, or not that special, to imitate. There is a natural disposition to want to imitate and imitate more intellectual life forms (as in THE THING's choosing to imitate, according to Blair, people instead of dogs). Imitating others does not come across as an act of evil, unless one wants to suggest that imitating every living life form is THE THING's ultimate purpose. So what is wrong with being an imitation? It is not the same as having a moral character become corrupt, committing acts that are reprehensible. That transformation relates to character, not physiology and biology. Viruses are awful, but not evil. Consider and compare these two scenarios: THE THING destroys an entire planet of many living creatures and organisms; or, THE THING imitates every living thing on a planet. Which scenario caters to evil activities? Philosophically, the question of what is wrong with being an imitation has never been addressed and worth exploring.
Alfred of Wessex don't worry I wasn't implying that they stole this video at all, the scripts being completely different. I was simply acknowledging their past actions.
@@JacksMovieReviews I'm just glad Carpenter didn't quit after the negative reviews. One of my favorite films is The Night of the Hunter. It was Charles Laughton's only directed film. Now it's considered a classic and we can only imagine what he could have made if it wasn't panned. If The Thing was successful I wonder what could have been between the time of it's release to the time people changed their mind regarding the thing. Perhaps a sequel that wasn't in game form?
To be very honest I didn't felt the horror from watching this movie. I tried to watch it many times. Maybe in theory it creates a bone-chilling effect on the minds of the audience since the subject matter is focused on the quick imitation by an outer-space creature about which we humans don't anything, not even the researchers and the scientists. However, when this entire idea was given shape as a film like this, therefore it was not able to scare the shit out of me like the other horror movies did. Still I highly respect this movie but again not as a full fledged horror movie.
Um... with a little help from one of the great sci-fi masters that is.... Campbell is a master story teller, and Carpenters film is more faithful to his novel.
@@JacksMovieReviews means he's usual troupes like special effects, gross horrors are just too common in modern day horror films. Directors these days don't experiment or use their technical skills ,which sometimes make modern day horror films(not all but most) too bland and predictible. We don't see legendary horror movies like the the innocents(it will be great if you make a video on it) or dark psycho thrillers mixing elements of horror like peeping tom , psycho etc
I loved how the characters weren’t stupid. They made smart choices. But no matter how smart they were, they could barely, or couldn’t at all, beat the thing.
The effects were done by Rob Bottin, with Stan Winston only handling the Dog Thing after Bottin had to be hospitalized for exhaustion.
I instantly stopped watching the video when he said that...
@@theycallmedutch475 he was 22 at the time too it’s insane to be able to do all that at such a young age
Psychological horror is probably the most important.
And the hardest to write.
69 likes, make a wish!
Stan Winston only did the dog creature to help out a 22 year old Rob Bottin who did every other practical effect in the film.
Dan McCarthy thank you. That’s a glaring error in this otherwise decent vid essay.
Peter Zachos lol right on. where did rob go?
Dan McCarthy; Yes. Bottin did a fantastic job.
Colin Frasier
Apparently, he's retired & quite reclusive. As Rick Baker says, everything's CGI now.
I felt so bad for those poor helpless dogs being trapped in the cage with that monster. You just knew that was gonna be bad. And when the crew heard the howling and rushed to find out what was happening... that's when one of the movie's great one-liners occurs. One of the crew asked what was in there and another replied "I dont know... but it's weird and pissed off!) Gotta Love it!
This is probably my favorite Carpenter film.
You and me both!
@@JacksMovieReviews to be fair I've only seen a portion of his filmography. I need to see more of his work. I really want to see In the Mouth of Madness.
@@JacksMovieReviews I know it's not related but have you seen Event Horizon?
In The Mouth of Madness is the best Lovecraftian movie that isn't a Lovecraft adaptation. Everyone should watch the movie to see how accurate it predicted our current cultural landscape.
@@thecountofmontecristo2796 into the mouth of madness is my other favorite carpenter film... not sure if i prefer the thing or it.
In my opinion, the scene from “The Thing” that best embodies the three types of terror is the Blood Test Scene.
1. Dude’s head splits open, then another guy gets his head bitten off.
2. I mean, a man’s been possessed by an alien and his head turned into a giant mouth. What’s natural about that?
3. “He could be in this very room! He could be you! He could be ME! He could even be-” [gets head bitten off]
Those storyboards looked amazing. Someone should do a museum exhibition. Also throw in any of the leftover monster props that still exist.
I'd be first in line!
Good suggestion but I doubt any props survive today. Latex rots quickly and the mechanics would have been cannibalized for other projects. You could exhibit photos and storyboards though. For years I've wanted to make a Museum of Movie & TV Special Effects.
@@robertodell9193 Many props still exist, there is still remains of the exploded building sitting on the glacier where it was filmed.
Just that opening thump thump brings me right back.
Actually, no: Stan Winston and his crew worked on only one sequence, the kennel transformation. The other creature effects were all created by Rob Bottin.
The Thing is definitely my favorite horror movie, and it’s definitely on my top 10 list for a favorite movies ever. For me I love the psychological horror of it, not knowing who was turned into a thing and when, not knowing who you can trust throughout the movie. I love re-watching it and trying to dissect it, trying to piece together all the facts of the movie that were never shown that happen off screen.
No mention of the soundtrack part by Ennio Morricone..
There's always more I can talk about, I try to focus on what is most important
@@JacksMovieReviews And you do a fine job. That said, the music can be one of the more important aspects of a film.
John Carpenter wrote the electronic parts of the score while Morricone did the orchestral ones.
This is what horror really is. It's perfect in every way. Nothing else has ever come close.
My favourite film of all time
“it came out at the perfect time...”. Not for those involved it didn’t! Released at the same time as Bladerunner and the family friendly E.T., The Thing was a box office failure and panned by critics. It only became a cult classic much later on when released to video.
Just watched this a couple months ago - still great all these years later
The clip you show at 4:07 is something that absolutely horrified me as a child. Like everything else in the movie never scared me and I loved it all but that scene in particular did it for me. Just the scream and the empty look in his eyes really fucked me up. P.s. I’m very hard to scare.
One of my favourite films. The ending in particular is haunting with that slow beating soundtrack and the characters' situation. Either the monster is still alive and it'll kill them, or they'll die from the cold.
Not to mention that the Thing may end up outliving all of them and may someday find a way to escape Antarctica, making their
sacrifice moot.
Tom Brophy
Or. . .one of them IS now the Thing.
❓❗
Actually the thing videogame(which is a sequel)confirmed that at least one of them survived
@@h.calvert7443 Carpenter confirmed that one of them is infected.
specualtion is that one of them is the thing because no wapor from breathing. and some say that MCready gives him the ethanol and he happily drinks it.
This movie is one of those movie that terrified me till now. Seeing the creature again give me some chills.
This is a movie that I revisit every Halloween and again when the winters get the coldest. Great analysis.
I haven't seen "The Thing" in, well, I don't know how many years. A long time, that's for sure. But, after watching your review, I am going to seek it out. And, like you said, this time of year is a perfect time to watch it, again.
Enjoy!
I am fairly certain that the Thing was a Haggunenon...
To quote the guide:
The Haggunenons of Vicissitus Three have the most impatient chromosomes in the Galaxy. Whereas most races are content to evolve slowly and carefully over thousands of generations, discarding a prehensile toe here, nervously hazarding another nostril there, the Haggunenons would do for Charles Darwin what a squadron of Acturan stunt apples would have done for Sir Isaac Newton. Their genetic structure, based on the quadruple sterated octohelix, is so chronically unstable, that far from passing their basic shape onto their children, they will frequently evolve several times over lunch. But they do this with such reckless abandon that if, sitting at a table, they are unable to reach a coffee spoon, they are liable without a moment's consideration to mutate into something with far longer arms ... but which is probably quite incapable of drinking the coffee.
This, not unnaturally, produces a terrible sense of personal insecurity, and a jealous resentment of all stable life forms, or "filthy rotten stinking samelings" as they call them. They justify this by claiming that as they have personally experienced what it is like to be virtually everybody else they can think of, they are in a very good position to appreciate all their worst points.
This "appreciation" is usually military in nature and is carried out with unmitigated savagery from the gunrooms of their horribly beweaponed Chameleoid Death Flotilla. Experience has shown that the most effective way of dealing with any Haggunenon you may meet is to run away terribly fast.
Fascinating!
Hitchhiker's guide
At first I didn't understand the reference
But the thing didnt evolve in the movie it stole the genes of humans and dogs look at the ending moster chest burst.
What a great Thing. I am talking about the video essay and the movie.
rob bottin did most of the animatronics and make up. stan winston only came in to help
@@ZigUncut But it was the perfect time for a project like this to get the funding it needed.
What’s scary about the thing, is it needs one cell to get to you in order to imitate you. It attacks other cells till the host is imitated which would hence its transformation its both a defensive front but could be offensive in the long term or your not careful.
Rob Bottin didn't choose to have the creature be able to change into anything. That was an element of the original short story the movie is based upon called 'Who Goes There?'.
Carpenter originally wanted this version to be much more similar to the 1951 version where the monster took only one form. Bottin convinced him to do it more like the book.Looking back I can totally see how that isn't clear.
The fact the monster is a celluar outer space alien working at a microscopic level wih few rules coded into it and able to mimic anything that's organic is truly horrifying
Great episode. The Thing is definitely one of my favourites too. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched it since it was released on video in the early 80’s. One of Carpenter’s best.
Probably my favorite Carpenter film!
This and Alien are two of the greatest for Hallowe'en watching. Great job. Thanks
Yes! An all time favourite of mine. I mean this film just gives an unshakeable sombering feeling of dread and certain doom from the start..and it doesn't let up. That lovely theme that just sets up the tone for the entire film sounds like a heartbeat not quite in sync...an imitation. It's actually one of the last films I watch to close the year. In fact it sounds off but I watch it on Christmas. Thank you for the review Jack!
As a theory I reckon Mac creedy was the thing all along and was the smartest out of them and killed other things to prove he wasn’t one. And when Mac creedy laughs at the end I think it’s because he knows he won
I was 10 when this came out, I remember playing with my friends pretending to be in that situation. It was so exciting. Now this movie is still amazing to me.
Lets do hereditary next. That movie psychologicaly messed me up even at the age that I'm at.
Haha.. yeah that one too was pretty twisted and well-crafted nightmare.
Alien and the Thing are probably two of the best horror films ever made
Alien isn't terrifying, it tragic. The Thing is terrifying
@@sameerhafeez7029 I’m pretty sure alien is also terrifying?
@@kroy7881 theres nothing terrifying about the film, I like the movie as a whole due to its setting of space but its not terrifying. 1. We never see the Alien, I know less is more but too less is too less 2. The film is shot in such a "safe" way without any handheld footage until the end that you don't feel a sense of uneasiness
@@sameerhafeez7029 saying there’s nothing terrifying about the film as a fact is wrong imo. Yes, I’d say the thing is scarier but don’t forget the underlying tones and parallel meanings of Alien such as the pseudo sexual metaphors aided by the paranoid feeling of unwanted impregnation which makes the film truly scary. Also, the less is more aspect concluding with a full showcase of the creature at the end of the film actually does work to its case since it’s picking off the crew one by one, also giving us no idea of who the protagonist is until a certain point. With a full blown showdown at the end with Ripley and the Alien satisfies that notion and adds to the sense that, yes, finally we are seeing the protagonist giving her all to kill this thing. There’s tons more to back up why it’s a terrifying movie and saying it’s a tragedy doesn’t make sense to me. Also, not sure if you’ve seen the directors cut but it is actually better, in a horror aspect, than the theatrical.
Now that I think about it, there’s a lot of similarities between Alien and Thing and they share similar horror tropes that make them scary
@@kroy7881 I've seen the DC
Is either Palmer or Norris listening outside the room that MacCready is recording his message in? The camera emphasises the space outside the door to this room and some of what MacCready says (Fuchs researching a test, the fact he knows the importance of the torn clothes, etc.) seems to be extremely useful for a Thing to be aware of, although it's unclear if this does affect the Things imminent actions
This is the film I watch on Halloween ironically enough. Been hoping for your analysis of The Thing since I found you!
If you're interested in film analysis, Rob Ager did few on The Thing & The Shining. he also debunked the moonlanding theory.
Jw Nj I've been watching him like crazy since I found him. I go to the bathroom in the morning expecting to watch a 10 minute video and the next thing I know my legs are numb and it's nighttime.
I feel your pain.
Thank you this is my favorite movie
This is one of the best horror movies of all time. Great review, and I'm glad people still appreciate it.
Are you going to a Halloween analysis? I really hope you do
Probably not, at least right now, the market seems pretty saturated!
I'm so happy to see that this movie is getting more attention in recent years. I am not a hardcore horror fan but no matter how I look at it I can't deny that The Thing is hands down my all time favorite movie. Just the production values are on a top level, utilizing the best the cinema ever had to offer - greatly picked cast, spectacular practical effects, incredible attention to details (the sound of keys being dropped on the floor when Windows discovers Bennings being assimilated!) and tight writing which allows the audience to pick up their own pieces and try to play detectives on their own... Man, I miss the times when movies had less convoluted (convoluted like the last Star Wars, not convoluted as Tenet or Annihilation... there are moments where confusing the audience is a device and there are moments where it's a cheap trick to hide bad writing... u get me. Btw Annihilation, I'd say is the closest we can get in modern cinema to what Alien and The Thing made us feel) plots with enough time and space to tightly weave all the little plot points and characterization into a believable, living story.
I remember watching the trailer on tv when i was 10 or 11 and it scared the crap out of me.
Thank you!
This was one of the better reviews of this Outstanding movie
Great review. The only part I disagree with is the Cold War comparison and Mac’s willingness to kill everyone and everything so long as the monster dies too. The only reason Mac was willing to kill and sacrifice himself and others was so that the world at large would be spared the alien threat. Humanity was his primary concern. I’m sure if he thought he could have kept The Thing in a freezer for safe keeping, he would have done that if it meant everyone at camp could survive. But unfortunately or fortunately for humanity, Mac knew that that wasn’t an option.
As with all Carpenter's films the music is absolutely amazing
I love this movie, love horror... one of my top movies. I dont know why other than I started watching weird sci-fi horror when I was 4 or 5 and the images just stuck with me better than others. I'd have to agree with your assessment of the three types of horror... it's the third one that is most effective because that's where fear gets activated (in my opinion only.)
1:10 Well done on that Stephen King effect.
Thanks Will! I recently invested into the Adobe suite so I'm hoping to incorporate more after effects work like this into my videos!
Yes, please. I could listen to you go on and on about The Thing, and horror in general. (I didn't notice the way the characters were never in the frame together in that scene. What a brilliant detail.) ❤
This film flew under my radar growing up and it blew me away when i finally saw it. It was the first time i'd seen makeup and animatronics done at that calibre and how they were shot played so well with the building madness in the story.
Awesome. Nice take on an excellent horror movie.
Thank you!
This is my favorite movie, and the score works well with the film, I'm not gonna even talk about how good Kurt Russell looks! Yummy!🤭 The Thing is the best. Great job on the video.
Do you think you could cover Enemy (2013) or The Lobster (2015)?
Your use of Morricone's music throughout this video reminded me just how excellent and important that music was.. even though most of the film is music-less.
most of the film is not music-less.
Best horror, thriller, sci-fi movie ever made. Carpenter is a fucking genius... Also props to Kurt Russell. The greatest actor of all time. Maybe it's a man crush but fucking Big Trouble in Little China is the single most important piece of cinema that will ever exist. The Thing is number two... obviously
One of my all time favorite movies
My favourite film of all time
4th fundamental of horror: involved animals and children
I'm disturb and upset on kennel-thing scene it brokes my hearth seeing a dog getting shot and attack by alien
Welp i mean they just try to survive no matter what it cost.
One of the best movies of all time
The Thing (1982)
Good Fellas
The great Escape.
Cool hand luke.
All hell i could on forever!
My favourite film of all time
Great video. Very concise. Great analysis.
One caveat: it sounds like you say "comic horror" instead of "cosmic horror".
FX were phenomenal! Even down to Blair stretching Garry’s face 2ft!
The only type of horror worth watching for me are the ones that make you paranoid and think about how, who or why this is happening. alien and the shining are two others. But the thing is the GOAT.
The Thing has always seemed like a better version of The Crucible to me lmao
I like this better than the original, because it kept the paranoid atmosphere, and the thing is scarer then james arnez in monster makeup
This has to be one of the most criminally underrated movies. This is on the level of The Shining and The Silence of the Lambs.
Underrated? Nice joke
@@xDJJDxZombies 83 on Rt, 57 metal critic, 8.1 imdb. The Thing might be special to you or you may not like it, but it is nowhere the general popularity and love of say The Shining of Silence of the Lambs.....heck even Halloween.
More people have seen The Thing than Halloween. Nothing about The Thing is underrated.
Examples of horror movies that are underrated would be Candyman, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Day of the dead, House (1986), Magic (1978),
@@xDJJDxZombies Do you have any proof or are you just pulling that out of your ass? Now, there is no way to know who saw more, but we can go by box office and we will not even adjust for inflation. The Thing: Gross USA: $13,782,838. Halloween: Gross USA: $47,000,000. SOURCE: IMDB. Top 100 horror/thrillers from AFI #68 Halloween. The Thing is not even on there. FACTS DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS. AWWWWWW!
PS You are a flat out moron if you think more people have seen The Thing than Halloween. You just don't know other people and you think you are the measure of all others. The Thing was a flat out financial disaster while Halloween was a box office hit and spawned the slasher genre of the 80s.
You’re idiotic. Box office numbers mean nothing those movies have been out for years over the years people see movies on home video or streaming.
Halloween was rated by 192k people on IMDb & watched by 100k people on Letterboxd
The Thing was rated by 316k on IMDb & watched by 104k on Letterboxd
Halloween scared the hell out of me when I saw it and the thing really didn’t.
I just rewatched this with my girlfriend last night!
Perfect timing!
@@JacksMovieReviews Totally!
When I first watched the movie, I was confused about the dog. Why were they shooting toward the dog? After like, 5 minutes it hit me. The THING was in the dog. I felt this sense of dread, but what enhanced it more is how it got away with not dying. It was all planned, the dog licked the guy at the beginning and transferred it's particles to him. I was frequently in awe of how perfectly hidden the Thing was amongst the cast.
Who would have thought The Thing’s concept now become a game?
There was a game in 2002, made as a sequel endorsed by Carpenter. Also check out Unfortunate Spacemen. It's free
I don't like horror; I love The Thing.
I was about 11 when it came out and watched it through fingers over my eyes (especially couldn't stand the dog scenes), so when I re-watched as an adult it was like seeing it for the first time. And as I said before, I loved it. Terrifying. But also brutal on a human (psychological) scale.
I always thought the Sweden, oh shit the Norwegian said, "Okay assholes that's my dog, I was the one taking care of him, he's mine, mine....GODDAMNIT STOP LICKING THEM FOR FUCK SAKE!".
Perfect movie no doubt! This sci-fi spectacle is a grandiose display of Steven King's 3 conceots of horror, highly suspenseful, a masterful production, takes gore to the extreme and is one of the best quality creature features rather than a cheapy creepy. But it's SOOO criminally underrated. All cause of E.T the smae year. A great movie but indeed it has its flaws. Character development and argument isn't the best but its not the worst either. Acting is rough. The actors never seem truly shocked ( like that scene where MacReady & Copper find the humanoid corpse at the Norwegian base or the faces of... EVERYBODY in the kennel scene could've been better). Sadly, some little and avoidable mistakes are present. They put out the fire to soon in the the kennel scene and the Blair monster looks a little silly ( the deleted stop-motion edit would've done it justice ). The movie gets a little slow at times. Blood is sometimes to purple and we never see the Thing ( as in its true form ) when its by itself seeing what sick things it does. We never get to KNOW the character of the villain as a character. The movie could've been better and mistakes were easy to avoid but I love to watch it! Truly great. And fuck E.T!
Bad time to be chowing down on some spaghetti.
Bei diesen Horrorfilm hat sich John Carpenter sich selbst übertroffen.
Great movie... kurt Russell great cast... Sci-fi and horror great plot paranoia creepy scary music You don't know who is who... no one trust each other Creepy monster.... Great ending
You wanna see a horror movie that sticks with you days after watching??....check out hereditary....that shit is off the fucking chain
My davorite movie of all time of lost track of how many times oh watched it, I don't even think of it as horror any more becaise its sorta a feel good movie for me lol
I know what you mean, Blair
Ah! I really want to watch this movie! My favorite episode of the x files (ice) is based off of it, and I’m rewatching the x files with my boyfriend right now!!
good one. Only time Mulder and Scully ever pointed a gun at each other? thats a question for a real x-fan
X-phile
Now Im actually remebering "How the ghost stole xmas" episode (s6.e6). Mulder and Scully draw their guns and point at each other while lying on the floor bleeding
I have some issues with this movie, but it is much better than 99% of horror movies and it is very memorable and a lot of thought and hard work went into its making.
Just wanted to mention this was a remake
No joke. I saw that movie about ... 150 times I think.
I've got a big criticism for a point made near the end when talking about the amalgamation of those three types of horror.
It is too naive to call the Thing evil. Before I go into my reasoning for the Thing isn't evil, I will refer to an interview Kurt Russell gave in 1982. In the Twilight Zone magazine, an article by Ed Naha gives Russell's account of the antagonist, "Personally, I like our monster. It's not an evil monster. It doesn't possess you. It doesn't try to take over your mind and turn you into a slave or a zombie. THE THING is a creature, stranded on an alien world, just trying to stay alive."
It is debatable to simply believe that THE THING's trying to stay alive doesn't include some motive to continually imitate other life forms. Otherwise, it might through its own rational capacity deduce that people are not bad, or not that special, to imitate. There is a natural disposition to want to imitate and imitate more intellectual life forms (as in THE THING's choosing to imitate, according to Blair, people instead of dogs).
Imitating others does not come across as an act of evil, unless one wants to suggest that imitating every living life form is THE THING's ultimate purpose.
So what is wrong with being an imitation? It is not the same as having a moral character become corrupt, committing acts that are reprehensible. That transformation relates to character, not physiology and biology. Viruses are awful, but not evil.
Consider and compare these two scenarios: THE THING destroys an entire planet of many living creatures and organisms; or, THE THING imitates every living thing on a planet.
Which scenario caters to evil activities? Philosophically, the question of what is wrong with being an imitation has never been addressed and worth exploring.
Work with the sound of the video! It's sounds very weird!
Woah! How dare you miss Rob Bottin sir!!!? Stan Winston worked on one effect! Wash your mouth out!
This gets uploaded just as Screen Prism uploads 'You Know It's John Carpenter If...'? Coincidence...?
Alfred of Wessex I think it is coincidence considering how close to Halloween we are. Although screenprism are quite known for stealing people's work.
@@Jude3e Don't be so ridiculous lol they couldn't possibly have stolen this video
Alfred of Wessex don't worry I wasn't implying that they stole this video at all, the scripts being completely different. I was simply acknowledging their past actions.
@@Jude3e Ah, I thought you were referring to this one sorry
Alfred of Wessex No problemo
It's sad this was panned when it came out.
Why is that?
@@JacksMovieReviews I'm just glad Carpenter didn't quit after the negative reviews. One of my favorite films is The Night of the Hunter. It was Charles Laughton's only directed film. Now it's considered a classic and we can only imagine what he could have made if it wasn't panned. If The Thing was successful I wonder what could have been between the time of it's release to the time people changed their mind regarding the thing. Perhaps a sequel that wasn't in game form?
Who’s not afraid of a man in a mask with a knife..... just me ok 👍
DO A VIDEO ON SPONGBOB? ;)
the thing noises are from hell.
To be very honest I didn't felt the horror from watching this movie. I tried to watch it many times. Maybe in theory it creates a bone-chilling effect on the minds of the audience since the subject matter is focused on the quick imitation by an outer-space creature about which we humans don't anything, not even the researchers and the scientists. However, when this entire idea was given shape as a film like this, therefore it was not able to scare the shit out of me like the other horror movies did.
Still I highly respect this movie but again not as a full fledged horror movie.
do mid 90s
Um... with a little help from one of the great sci-fi masters that is.... Campbell is a master story teller, and Carpenters film is more faithful to his novel.
I see the thing as a metaphor for the AIDS virus and so does John carpenter
:D
:D
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The Thing is a classic for all the right reasons. The remake/prequel is a bag of shit.
John carpenter is good horror director but he's too mainstream. Maybe, it's because of explosion of the slasher genre
What do you mean “too mainstream?”
Lol. Pretentious Film Student Alert!
@@JacksMovieReviews means he's usual troupes like special effects, gross horrors are just too common in modern day horror films. Directors these days don't experiment or use their technical skills ,which sometimes make modern day horror films(not all but most) too bland and predictible.
We don't see legendary horror movies like the the innocents(it will be great if you make a video on it) or dark psycho thrillers mixing elements of horror like peeping tom , psycho etc
@@karlkarlos3545 how thoughtful.
@@sirlordhenrymortimer6620 Also try to use articles for a change
This was one of the biggest movie disappointments of my life. I couldn't get into it, just completely bored me.
Travis Spazz you must have bad taste then
I felt the same way when I first watched it. Then I watched it 8 years later, in the dark, and alone and boy did it make all the difference.
Really? Odd...I guess you didn't like Eraserhead either.
@@jwnj9716 I........... appreciate Eraserhead. I'm more of a Twin Peaks Mulholland Drive Lynch fan.
@@chips5840 I guess. My favorite movie of the year is Annihilation. I feel like their slightly similar.