Thank you for 60K subscribers! Your feedback and comments help us so much! We are thinking of doing a Q&A to answer all the questions you've had in our other videos. Feel free to ask more questions down below. Your opinions help us grow 😁
How did you take the sucess of your first video, the Sandworm one ? Like, first video and BOOM, millions of view (sorry if the question is not clear, french guy here, english not my language)
"This video is dubbed in Spanish and Portuguese on our Patreon!" Maybe just make this free? It's a huge middle-finger to people that don't fully understand English.
It took a couple of watches to click tbh. The effects were a bit silly. Jaws and alien hid that stuff, the thing stares at them like the are the best thing ever.. The best part of it is the paranoia and the interpersonal stuff, the gore puppets took me out. When it clicked it was great though.
Was a new era of effects. Many people were accustomed to horror movies with tension and a bit of blood, but those effects were next level. When the Exorcist and An American Werewolf in London were release, people had nightmares. In many respects it's like the difference between erotica and hard core porn.
I watched The Thing, back in 1982, and remember that, for one or two weeks after, I always looked up, to the ceiling of the bathroom, when get into it at night, as if something horrible was hanging there, waiting to jump at me.
Just two weeks? You are definitely a braver man than me. I have had the DVD for 32 years now, one of the first I bought (just the best movies), right on the shelf next to the entertainment set. Every time I see the cover, I think: It would be fantastic to watch it again; I know it would make my day, but... I'm alone in the house, and I don't dare!!
@@torquetheprisoner I have loved this movie since the first time I saw it, and I love it every time I see it again. It was one of my first movies in my DVDs collection. A fantastic combination of imagination and entertainment-pure 80's juiciness!!
I saw The Thing at the theater when it first came out. When watching a frightening film at a packed movie house, people will often laugh at a scary part. I suppose it's a way of dealing with nervous energy. HOWEVER... at the end of the "husky" sequence in The Thing, it was so freakin' horrifying, that the entire theater was absolutely dead quiet! I think we were all in a state of absolute shock. I've never witnessed anything quite like it since. That exceptional experience has stuck with me for over 40 years now!
People tend to laugh when watching horror movies, because often those "scary parts" just look silly to someone who is not caught up in the atmosphere of the film. For example, for me, the ending of Hereditary was and will always remain ridiculous, how can I be scared of some sped up figure running around on the walls, or on the ceiling like some Looney Toon on meth? As for the husky assimilation scene from The Thing, i think, even for someone who is not immersed in the film, this scene doesn't seem silly and silly-looking because of the combination of brilliant practical effects and great sound design.
Same here. I was absolutely shocked by the husky scene. Eraserhead freaked me out with subharmonics, Alien with jack-in-the-box appearances. But The Thing did it with horrifyingly good special effects. Of the three, it was the one that freaked me out the most.
42 years have passed...The Thing is still my favorite Sci-Fi Horror Movie....2nd to Alien. I saw them both as a Kid. These movies are undying classics.
Yes! And remember, Timothy...that THEME. the music theme that sounds building suspense and horror...that music theme WAS GREAT, especially in the opening moments. The slowly build to a boom, befor they introduce the first evidence of the alien horror and how it manifested with the snow Dogs...remember?
@@lukeyznaga7627 Yes. That was the best scene, the snowdogs. I always wondered....what and where the hell was that alien that went through the ceiling.
@@timothylee3105 YES!! You are so cool and Correct. I thought I was the only one! Where... where did that alien go that went through the roof? Like the name Fisk. Isn't that from daredevil..... Kingpin?
@@malachiXX Perhaps they were BOTH things at the end..but had absorbed enough Child's & MaCready's personality to feel ...each one ...that if the Thing was gonna take over the world it sure as HE\\ wasn't gonna be the OTHER personality calling the shots!😫....HALE NAW!!!
I have to say that US audience only is the benchmark for US, not the rest of the world. When The Thing came to Sweden a lot of people watched it. It's was and still is a great horror movie, even if we thought the Americans was stupid because we understand the Norwegian guy in the beginning :)
I'm curious about something, baring in mind when the movie is set (1982). When I was at university in 1987 (Heriot Watt, Edinburgh, Scotland), there were a lot of Norwegian students there, because of some kind of special arrangement with the Norwegian govt (about 10% in some departments; there were many in my comp sci class); there was even an annual Norwegian Evening party, which was enormous fun, long tables, everyone holding large glass mugs of beer or whatever, all shouting "Skål!" at the climax of the evening. Most of the friends I made were thus Norwegian. Good times. Point being, all of them spoke flawless English, and thus my question is, what is the likelihood that the Norwegian man at the start of the film would not have been able to speak English? Afterall, he would have known of the presence of the American base, and being a scientist it would surely have been to his advantage during his evolving career to have at least a reasonable grasp of English when undergoing operations abroad in such places, as interaction with scientists from many other nations is common (hmm, it is today anyway, perhaps not back then?). I was just wondering about the prevalence of English language skills, whether the universal presence of it among the students I met was a severe selection bias (and of course of a younger demographic than the scientist in the film), ie. whether among the general populatation in Norway back in 1982, it was actually fairly common for adults not to know English, or perhaps its regional, less common in certain areas. Heh, perhaps an unfair question to ask, assuming you're Swedish, but I'm asking anyway. :D You're right though about the US reaction to movies tending to dominate modern narratives of how movies were received upon first release. The Thing was very popular where I am in the UK IIRC, especially among the scifi student crowd when I started uni, as by then it had gained great notoriety via the VHS market and had been shown on TV many times. Indeed, when I bought my first VHS tapes that year, more than half of them were Carpenter movies, with The Thing top of the list of wants.
@@thomasedin764 Hmm, interesting, so I wonder how long the arrangement has been in place at the uni, I don't know (or if it still is, I graduated in 1994).
The movie wasn't released in Sweden originally so you likely saw it years later. It's numbers in the other countries it was released in (mostly Australia and New Zealand) were also underwhelming.
Saw The Exorcist for the first time at a drive-in theatre. We were tossing up whether or not to hang around for the second feature “something called The Thing”. We hung around. By the end of the movie, we had forgotten all about the first feature. Classic example horror and paranoia.
Great video! In 1982, I saw THE THING in a sneak preview in Boston. The audience seemed to love it, screaming and shouting at the screen. Afterward I was shocked by the bad review and how the movie was dismissed. I felt in a minority. Along with ALIEN, it's one of the great sci-fi/horrors ever made. PS- THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD was released in 1951
My dad took my brother and me to see "The Thing" at the theater when we were kids, and I remember thinking, "This is freaking awesome." I had no idea this movie was panned and dismissed by critics. Of course, I never listen to critics. Those who can't do, criticize. The funny thing is that my mom took us to see ET, and I liked it as well. Total opposite ends of the spectrum.
I wholeheartedly agree. Greatest Sci-Fi movies: Bladerunner, Alien, Aliens, Dune, The Thing, Mad Max 2, Repo Man (original). (Struggling to think of another)
They hated Carpenter for political reasons since he's a Libertarian, also the story has its roots in Lovecraft's work, which is also hated by the establishment.
@@dinosaur6756 I had the same thing as a kid. I saw The Thing and Blade Runner in the theater that year and loved them both. It wasn't until years and years later I found out that the two had become "cult classics" because they flopped at the theater. I couldn't understand it.
I think part of the thrill of The Thing is the unnerving feeling that something about its horror is deeply rooted in primal human psychology. It taps a kind of deep-rooted fear that we bury. Maybe this is the fear of being trapped with someone with nefarious motives, or the fear of viruses and parasites. It's also hard to shake the feeling that this kind of lifeform, or something akin to it, might be plausible somewhere out there in the cosmos.
That's a good analogy. People who have an aversion for bugs, part of their freaking out about them if one gets on them is their imagination taking off like a rocket about one still being on them somewhere that they don't know about.
The 1980s were an AMAZING time for movies. So many incredible and long lasting movies came out then that are still cherished to this day. And I was a teenager back then which made it even better... ;)
you said the truth, Justwasted! I recently did a weekend with my friends, where we binged on 10 great movies of the 80s. we had a great time. WE on purpose invited 2 new friends that had never seen these movies. THEY WERE IN AWE and it "affected" them, in their mind and soul. They didn't know - they didn't know there were movies like that. WE all agreed after that weekend, that THERE ARE VERY FEW movies that "affected " us [ a memory event, an event to reminisce among friends, you know what I mean ] like those 80 movies!
One of the best youtube recommendations I have ever gotten was the Dune video. I have been watching your videos as soon as they appear on the sub feed ever since and I ended up watching Frieren over 2 days after your video on it peaked my interest. Amazing videos all around, even the ones that don't hit the youtube algo!
> "Peaked" = "piqued." It's French for "pricked," as in, "stuck with a pin." It piqued my interest. But thanks for the recommendation. If this channel features good films, I will follow it.
I've recently started reading sci-fi and horror short stories and what you just said with them asking more questions than giving answers perfectly sums up why I love them. Thanks for putting my thoughts into words.
For me the scariest movie I saw was ‘The Ring’ when it came out on VHS in 2003. I was 11 at the time. Those 7 days after were awful LOL. And even afterwards, I still didn’t go near a TV for a whole month. I think one of the great things about being young is that it “feels” like it’s easier for a great movie experience to stick with you & resonate. But that’s just my opinion, and I could be way off the mark here
For a similar polar nightmare, try Alistair MacLean's Night Without End. It has a similar building tension as the book opens, enough that i recall the fear when reading it as an early teen many decades later
@@PetrusEksteen I've read Hull Zero Three. - It was excellent. Others from Greg Bear that should be read are Darwin's Radio, Darwin's Legacy and Blood Music
I agree with Quentin Tarantino at 1:27. I saw "The Thing" at a drive-in theater when I was a kid. My older sister made me walk BY MYSELF to the concession stand to get snacks for her and her boyfriend. Holy crap was I terrified!!! I've probably watched it two dozen times since. The only part that prevents it from being perfect in my eyes is the cheesy animation at the end when the alien takes on its "natural?" form. Other than that, I truly think it's a masterpiece.
"..what would you do if you could not trust anyone you know to actually be who they say they are?" holy fk! Living in this world. As a trauma survivor who was constantly gaslight by everyone around me, including society. And further I look with in myself: can I trust myself to be who I think I am? I think I most related to this film because I fear this 'thing' inside me, taking over and turning me into a monster...sometimes I already feel that it has. And that is what I felt, which I couldn't admit, as I left the theatre. I'm definitely watching this video again. I am also going to rewatch the movie in this context. So many metaphors for daily life I can't even count right now! Good job! Thanks for the upload.
It's funny how many times I've re watched Blade Runner and The Thing in comparison to just watching E.T many times as a child considering they all came out at the same time.
I watched E.T. so many times as a kid that my parents had to replace the VHS tape at least once XD. As an adult I have never seen "The Thing" so that's what I will fix today! cheers on loving my favorite film from childhood
I still like E.T, saw it in theater as a teenager, but I felt I outgrew it. I do recommend Super 8 as a more updated "version" of it. The Thing...man I loved it and am STILL creeped out by it.
Sadly I didn't see Blade Runner in the theater... Years later I saw it and was completely mesmerized I have to wonder how I would have reacted back then when it was first released
I have watched the Thing, at least 10 times. Blade runner and Alien and Conan and the Mad Max series several times. The early star trek movies were great. There is just some sort of "magic" to it when i see it. I also remember some of my friends that have passed away, that I saw the movies WITH, when in the theaters. Oh, well, memories and past adventures. I almost regret getting older and living in the current civilization.
Re Blade Runner: I saw on the first night it was shown in the small-town movie theatre of my hometown when it came out in 1982. And I was so amazed by it, that I took a woman I had just met a few days earlier to see it on our first date. And I’m guessing that my totally gushing about this movie with my date post-viewing convinced her to not take me up on another date.
I saw The Thing in the theatre with my dad. It blew me away. Everyone was silent. I think one of the reasons it has become so popular over the years is how much we all appreciated the practical special effects, especially once bad cgi started.
Amusing that I was in the same situation as your father experienced. Watching the movie on cable and walking home in a snow storm. Definitely understand the unsettling feeling he experienced.
That reminded me so much of seeing the Blair Witch Project in the theatre, with no clue what it was about, then having to make a long, midnight drive home through the middle of nowhere in the rain, surrounded by nothing but trees. To add to the mood, the next song on the mixtape in my car was "A Forest" by the Cure. I was just a bit on edge by that point. When I got home and the power went out from the storm, I admit that I screamed like a girl a bit.
@@swanprincess49 Not that piece of garbage from 2011 the original version of the Thing came out in the 50s. Carpenter's version is technically a remake.
@@Paul-vf2wl Its not a remake, its another adaptation of "The Thing from Another World" that is closer to the original short story/novel than the 1951 film.
I think another thing going against the thing during it's box office run was that blade runner's themes about what's really human and the difference in imitations are very similar to the imposters and paranoia of the Thing. Both competitive movies with similar themes in similar genres probably made it hard for them to financially coexist
@@pegasusactua2985 How do you know something is fantastic if you've never seen something like it? It had only been five years since Star Wars, a simple story of the hero's journey; Three years of Alien, true space terror straight to the screen; but from there to the techno-philosophical sci-fi of Blade Runner and the masterpiece of practical special effects that is The Thing, the minds of the adults of the time were simply not prepared for so much. I saw them in my first years of adolescence on HBO and Cinemax in 1984; they simply blew my mind. I immediately recognized the greatness of these movies, but I supposedly couldn't see them because of the age restriction. Their audience was always there, but we weren't "adults" yet!!
@@pegasusactua2985 Yes, sci-fi and horror were never seen as big earners, at least until Star Wars came out. A lot of people will simply never watch a sci-fi or horror movie - period.
A stretch to say they explore similar themes. Impostors doesn't really come up in Blade Runner nor the paranoia. BR is more a straight detective flick asking what does it meant to be "human". The Thing's problem is the effects are so visceral that it kind of shocks people who never examine the story line. A lot of reviewers saw it as gore porn. Don't forget Carpenter was never a Spielberg tier director and no where near the financial backing, so it's no surprise his film didn't do as well.
Great video! Really good analysis, will subscribe for more videos.💚 Just a note: Campbell would probably have _hated_ The Thing. While he wrote some stories, he is mostly known as the editor of Astounding stories/Analog science-fiction magazine for a good 3 decades or so. While he discovered and first published many classic authors like Arthur C. Clarke ( who would later write 2001 a space Odyssay), Isaac Asimov (Foundation, the robots series) or Robert Heinlein (Starship troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land), he was also kown for being racist and sexist even by the time standards, and straight-up refused stories with an explicit POV lead (Heinlein ended up putting hints in some novels the characters were not white, but was never explicit as to get away with it without Campbell noticing) and only rarely tolerated female leads either. He also explicitedly would not publish any story where aliens were shown as being physically/morally superior to humans (hence Asimov only using aliens for a few stories that he published in lesser-known magazines). As such, the thing being such an incredible threat and the pessimistic ending of the movie would have probably caused John Campbell to scream in outrage. (In the novels, all the things are definitively killed, and the men even managed to understand the alien's anti-gravity device, giving the US a boost in technologies.)
>Campbell... is mostly known as the editor of Astounding stories/Analog science-fiction magazine for a good 3 decades... Nice fact, I did not know that.
Campbell is reputed to have had a bet with L Ron Hubbard about him being able to set up a religion. I read recently that it was more Campbell daring Hubbard to try declaring his dianetics scam a religion to avoid tax.
@@DavidBritton-nl1wv I do remember Campbell being one of the few to still get along with Hubbard, maybe even once defending dianetics, so I could see it. I heard another version of the bet story, tho. in that one, Hubbard had made the bet with Robert Heinlein over who would have the most successful religion, with Heinlein's attempt being the religion seen ine "Stranger in a Strange Land." Who knows? They were all pretty damn weird/awful people.
I wasn't even aware that The Thing was initially a flop. I was awestruck by it when I saw it in the theaters and today I own a copy on DVD. It's a fascinating story.
When I was in my late teens, I had gone over to a friends house, which was about 5-6 blocks away from my own. I had only ever been at their house a few times before, and had always gone there in the day, either by bike, or on a skateboard, and always from a particular direction. This day, however, I stayed there well into the night, where we watched "Pet Semetary". Having walked over, I then had to walk home, alone, in the dark, through a place I had never really walked through before. The area to the north was a vast dark, empty, open space, and the neighborhood was dead silent, save for some weird bird sounds. It was hands down the spookiest walk I have ever had, and it was only because I had seen that movie just before.
That would be far worse than my only experience. I bicycled to watch a double billing of The Fly and Aliens 2. A one-two punch so to speak. That cycle home was not pleasant and I had streetlights all the way. lol.
When I was eleven we lived on the base at White Sands, New Mexico. The walk home in the dark through the desert after watching "Tarantula" was an experience that stayed with me.
@mrpieceofwork I have a good one: While walking back home from the convenience store 4 blocks away, my friend and I at midnight on Halloween had been telling each other ghost stories. We decided to cut across the local cemetery to save 2 blocks walking. As we walked across a newly buried section one of our foot and lower half of the leg punched thru and dropped into a hidden sudden sinkhole. It was as if something had yanked the foot and leg downwards. I think we screamed and levitated across the remaining distance to the street lol.😅
The 1980s was a great decade for iconic movies; movies that have withstood the test of time. Somehow we've lost that with more modern movies. As for The Thing, I was already "adultish" by the time the film came out, and I was truly looking forward to it, having read the original novella and watched the 1950s version. I never went to see it in the movie theatre because the reviews "scared" me off. When I finally saw it on HBO, I was disappointed not in the film, but disappointed I let the reviews influence me. The remake of The Thing was an immediate classic. I don't agree that ET has lost its cultural relevance, but overall this was a great analysis. Subscribed.
> Somehow we've lost that with more modern movies. Most of the movies that have ever been made have been forgotten. Same with books and movies as well. We just don't know yet which movies or other art being made today will be iconic in 20 or 30 years.
I scrolled the comments to see what people were saying about Carpenter's The Thing. I am gratified to see that people Loved It! So did I from the first time I saw it, and I have re-watched it many times.
Weird how it wasn’t popular in the US. When it showed in NZ, The Thing was an instant hit, at least with everyone I knew. Instant classic. It was always booked out at blockbuster on VHS and Beta back then, and hard to get, but wow what a great movie. Still rate it highly even today, and its rather dated effects, but the story, just fantastic. Gee looking back at all those great movies in early 80s, what an amazing decade in movie making that was.
It really was patchy. Some years it was nothing which was frustrating because in other years it was a flood. 1979-1983 was explosive. Then it wound down a bit. I think 1985-1986 really only had Aliens and maybe one or two others. It picked up a little bit later in the decade with the early 1990s being very drama focussed. Have a look at the Wikipedia Years in film or YYYY in Film on IMDB listings to see what I mean.
I think The Thing was half a generation ahead of American audiences at the time. I was a GenX 13 year old and I DESPERATELY wanted to see it in theaters, but wasn't old enough to go without my parents. Considering my parents dragged me out of both 48 hours AND Blade Runner because of the violence, fat chance of me getting to see this one. I was absolutely mesmerized by Blade Runner and it was traumatic for me to be pulled out of a movie that I instantly knew was a masterpiece just because of some gun violence. It remains my favorite sci fi movie to this day, with the possible exception of Alien.
@@norwegianblue2017 - Same. I remember sneaking downstairs to catch The Thing late at night on HBO, and all of my friends loved it. It's strange to read the critics' comments on it. It's like they saw a different movie.
There’s nothing dated about the effects, especially when I saw it in 1996, with a light on and showing on a mono 4:3 TV, and it still managed to do what only A L I E N had done before. Rob Bottin is GOD.
Music from "The Thing" was definitely classic. That "Dun Dun.......Dun Dun......" has been living rent free in my head for years. Though, I am pretty sure some kind of blood test to verify someone isn't alien is topping my list of things to do in that situation.
Yes, The Thing is one of those films that makes you think, what would I do under these circumstances? There seem to be no right answers, to ensure self-preservation, you have to become a monster, or otherwise you risk being assimilated. At that point, how are you any "better" than your enemy? So you are reduced to being a species supremacist. Which depending on your political proclivities will determine how you feel about that. It makes you think about stuff you just took for granted.
I know going into more detail would complicate the narrative too much, especially since the video isn't really about Alien, but it does bother me that Ridley Scott is given so much credit for things beyond his directorial craftsmanship. Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett deserve more of that, as well as Walter Hill and David Giler, especially given that the result when Scott was actually put in charge rather than assigned to an existing script was Prometheus and Covenant.
Star Wars did not usher in a gold rush for “science fiction” movies, but for imitation Star Wars movies, and then Terminator 2 came along and we got a lot of action movies with sf veneer; Hollywood had found it’s winning template. Most of the actual science fiction movies that came out after Star Wars flopped at the box-office - the more vapid, or dumbed down the better, and Hollywood picked up on this. Gone were any hope of another 2001, Silent Running, Soylent Green, or Logan’s Run, all movies that came out before Star Wars, and it would be decades before films like that would get a decent shot.
My mother is a cinephile and she has a book that she recorded between the end of 80s and up to the year 1992 all the films she saw (in the cinema or on VHS), dividing them into categories. The favorites genres were suspense, horror and science fiction. Without a doubt, The Thing was registered and, I had to check there, but I knew because she told me it was a well-made film, it surprises me to have to hear from John Carpenter that the fans hated it... I feel out of place.
I have watched several of your videos and enjoyed them all. They are well made, interesting and informative. I have WAAAAAYYY too many subscriptions to youtube channels but when you said that your first exposure to The Thing was an SC2 mod map well.... let us just say you EARNED this sub sir! I look forward to more from this channel. As an addendum: The year 1982 and especially the summer was an amazing time to be a teen. You cannot now imagine the embarrassment of riches we enjoyed. Peaceful Skies.
Absolutely superb work. Questioning and insightful, but above all, entertaining. Could have happily watched this at twice the length. Great soundtrack too. Well done, mate.
Alien and the Thing made sci fi survival horror my favourite genre. Its all about the surviving against incredible odds. Its the rawest of human ingenuity. Its so satisfying and compelling story telling.
People still argue in online forums about who was and wasn't The Thing at the end of the movie all the time. Debates like that keep movies alive forever. 1982, the year I was born and look at all these great movies! Despite being a baby or not born yet when they came out I grew up with all of them as they were a mainstay of cable and regular TV throughout my early years and we owned a few of them on VHS.
E.T. is the first Movie I recall ever seeing in a Movie Theater. I was only 5 years old and saw it at the famous Tivoli Theater in Downers Grove, IL which was built in 1928. We were visiting my grandparents who lived there and those are some very fond memories. I didn't see "The Thing" until the 90's when I was a teenager and loved it immediately. It's really hard to understand how most professional movie Critics of the time didn't just fall in love with the film. I hope they all looked back years later and questioned themselves on how they didn't see a brilliance in a movie they were paid to watch and review.
Thank you for putting this together. I have loved The Thing since I first saw it, and my reaction to ET was much as you describe: "Yeah, it was pretty good." And leave it at that. Your writing is great, I really enjoy your commentary and your criticism.
Me and my siblings never saw E.T. when it was shown at the local theater. Mom thought E.T. looks gross 😆and his skin look like some tissue that covers an internal organ🤣 No amount of begging could change her mind. It was 30 years later when I finally got to see the movie. I realized E.T. really looks half disgusting to an adult. I consider E.T. is an example of how advertisements and promotions in media could convince the public that something that looks disgusting is a lovable character. Well, that's how the business world works.
The Thing has long been my favorite movie, although The Lighthouse has recently challenged it, but they both have similar themes of paranoia, isolation, and distrust. I love your videos and cheer anytime someone has the perceptiveness to recognize what a masterpiece The Thing is.
You are definitely right, The Thing was one of the secret kings of the rental store sub-culture period. My nerdy friends and I watched this when we were in high school in the early nineties. It was just another unknown horror movie from the local homegrown rental store. We had watched all kinds of random sci-fi and horror by that point but we were all shocked and like, "Wtf was that!"
@@filonin2 I saw over 200 movies in theaters last year, on track to see that many this year. Don't get caught up in this movement to hate movies. Great movies are being made and almost none of the movies that are hated deserve to be.
I saw "The Thing" when I was 11 years old at the drive-in. It completely terrified me and at the same time turned me into the horror fanatic that I am today. I had never seen anything as horrific as the scene in the dog pen in my entire life. Truth be told, "ET" was just as influential as "The Thing" when it comes to my love of Sci-Fi. There's something about it that just hits so hard for me as a kid in the 80's. I love both of these films equally for different reasons. They are both by far two of my favorite films of all time. They tap into different parts of my psyche and while they are completely different, they are both movies that fundamentally shaped me as a person.
I remember at 7 year's old standing in a line to watch ET with the family. The line wrapped around the theater and people were already lined up for the next showing, it was crazy looking back. That movie means so much to me, i still have my ET stuffed toy at my parent's house and visit him everytime i go home and visit lol. The Thing, Alien and Blade Runner are some of my favorite movie's.
I missed The Thing at the theater, but must have watched it 50 times on cable, in the 80's. I still have to watch it at least a couple times a year. One of the best films, ever!
Loved The Thing. First saw it at home on VHS (Right before The Blues Brothers). Will always remember the comment made when one of the character's head sprouts legs and tries to escape and the attempted defibrillation, but, two friends and I saw the original Susperia straight after The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the midnights at Coolangatta Theatre. When it finished we RAN back to a blacked out surf club wondering why the hell we stayed for the second movie. I'll never forget how dark and windy Griffith Street was that night 45 years ago.
I remember skimming some Thing fan-fiction that told the story from the perspective of the monster, who is consistently mystified why these humans can't accept the beauty of "communion" with it.
It occurred to me that you could draw parallels between the experience of The Thing and Paul Verhoeven's later and often misunderstood sci-fi epic, Starship troopers, which as also become a cult classic.
I was too young to see The Thing in its original theatrical run but I distinctly remember that striking poster at my local video store and eventually saw it sometime in the late 80's or early 90's. From the very first viewing, I knew it was one of the greatest movies I'd ever seen and it still is to this day. Art is not always appreciated in its day.
First off, I enjoy “campy” movies from the late 70’s on. When I saw The Thing, absolutely loved it. Not in spite of the special effects, but largely BECAUSE of the effects. All these years later, still one of my faves.
@paulmryglod4802 Which is the best way to watch them. But most people misunderstood the 2nd movie is not a sequel, but a prequel, from the Norwegian team's pov.😅
You're so right about post-ET-viewing discussions. I saw it with family - siblings, nieces, and nephews, and when we came out, I tried to ask what they thought about Spielberg's co-opting of Christian religious symbolism. That did NOT go well. And you're also right about the walk-in-the-dark after a great horror film. I didn't see the Carpenter's The Thing in a theater, but I did see his original Halloween with a buddy. I had a car, but we were both still in high school; and after the movie when we were walking back to that car, we both suddenly stopped, looked at each other, and got down low to look under it. Of course, we laughed at ourselves, continued on the doors... then stopped again and checked out the back seat. :-) Halloween was a great horror movie!
Being 13 in 1982, our family watched 'E.T. The Extraterrestrial' in theaters. When we got a satellite mid 80's is when I was first introduced to 'The Thing'. Making me about 15 or 16 years old at the time, and it scared the snot out of me. Having watched 'The Thing from Another World' (commonly called 'The Thing") I was ill prepared for 'The Thing' 1982 version.
The Thing was and still is my favorite horror movie (even though initially it was so scary I couldn't watch it fully), and Kurt Russel is one of my favorite actors. The movie came out in 1982, the year I was born. And recently, I found out that Kurt Russel and I share the same birth day.
I saw The Thing and just wanted to crawl out the back of my seat. I just wanted it to end already. Damn, still feel that way today! What a great freaking movie!!
It is weird that we all loved E.T so much back then but i cannot sit through it today and yet I never saw the Thing back then but I could watch it every year now and never get tired of it. I guess its like the difference between decoration and art.
My step-father had turned me onto this movie when I was twelve. I had straight up nightmares for two straight weeks! In that time during my nightmares I'd always gone back to The Thing. I had always loved this movie The moment I had seen it from the opening frame to the ominous BIG-TIME cliffhanger and I had to see what I could do to to always get that film in every single media in my childhood after I had seen the movie. VHS, DVD AND FINALLY BLU-RAY. Like this guy had said it sticks with you after end credits roll and you are there thinking about the biggest questions of the film that you can possibly imagine! I truly love this movie I have to say if you want to see a movie where you want to think that your stranded in the middle of winter cut-off from everything. The Shining gives that same narrative and those two films are by far my very favorite horror movies. Undeniably great horror movies that are both cult classics when they had come out into the theaters. I have to watch them both in the middle winter. I have both of them in my blu-ray collection of horror films and I hope that over time these films are as big as they were when I first saw it in the '90s when I was twelve now currently being 39 in 2024. Well done video of this classic movie with a great cast and a great horror director! One of the Greatest horror directors of the '70s, '80s and '90s. Bravo 👏 and thank you for the upload of your video! I enjoyed it thoroughly!
While it's nice to bring up The Thing's influence on board games and Among Us, I think one of the movie's most interesting influences is on Jenova in Final Fantasy VII. Jenova is essentially The Thing if it could also use magic, and it's terrifying.
Thank you for 60K subscribers! Your feedback and comments help us so much! We are thinking of doing a Q&A to answer all the questions you've had in our other videos. Feel free to ask more questions down below. Your opinions help us grow 😁
Amazing as always :)
How do you come up with these video ideas?
How did you take the sucess of your first video, the Sandworm one ? Like, first video and BOOM, millions of view (sorry if the question is not clear, french guy here, english not my language)
do you have favourite themes in storytelling to explore?
"This video is dubbed in Spanish and Portuguese on our Patreon!" Maybe just make this free? It's a huge middle-finger to people that don't fully understand English.
It's baffling how anyone could have watched the thing and not been blown away. I just can't even imagine.
I hated it! I didn't care about any of the characters. And I forgot about it 5 seconds later.
It took a couple of watches to click tbh. The effects were a bit silly. Jaws and alien hid that stuff, the thing stares at them like the are the best thing ever..
The best part of it is the paranoia and the interpersonal stuff, the gore puppets took me out.
When it clicked it was great though.
Was a new era of effects.
Many people were accustomed to horror movies with tension and a bit of blood, but those effects were next level.
When the Exorcist and An American Werewolf in London were release, people had nightmares.
In many respects it's like the difference between erotica and hard core porn.
@@Cheepchipsable suddenly "rick baker" was a name that got tossed around in the same hollywood conversations with a-level celebrities
It was too much for most people when it came out. And really, the same would be true today
I watched The Thing, back in 1982, and remember that, for one or two weeks after, I always looked up, to the ceiling of the bathroom, when get into it at night, as if something horrible was hanging there, waiting to jump at me.
Just two weeks? You are definitely a braver man than me. I have had the DVD for 32 years now, one of the first I bought (just the best movies), right on the shelf next to the entertainment set. Every time I see the cover, I think: It would be fantastic to watch it again; I know it would make my day, but... I'm alone in the house, and I don't dare!!
america did not like most of carpeners movie's
@@torquetheprisoner Crappy taste!!
@@JGARCIA2012FULL the one the really shocked me was big trouble in little china
@@torquetheprisoner I have loved this movie since the first time I saw it, and I love it every time I see it again. It was one of my first movies in my DVDs collection. A fantastic combination of imagination and entertainment-pure 80's juiciness!!
I saw The Thing at the theater when it first came out. When watching a frightening film at a packed movie house, people will often laugh at a scary part. I suppose it's a way of dealing with nervous energy. HOWEVER... at the end of the "husky" sequence in The Thing, it was so freakin' horrifying, that the entire theater was absolutely dead quiet! I think we were all in a state of absolute shock. I've never witnessed anything quite like it since. That exceptional experience has stuck with me for over 40 years now!
Yes, the best scene to shock a lot of people.
People tend to laugh when watching horror movies, because often those "scary parts" just look silly to someone who is not caught up in the atmosphere of the film. For example, for me, the ending of Hereditary was and will always remain ridiculous, how can I be scared of some sped up figure running around on the walls, or on the ceiling like some Looney Toon on meth? As for the husky assimilation scene from The Thing, i think, even for someone who is not immersed in the film, this scene doesn't seem silly and silly-looking because of the combination of brilliant practical effects and great sound design.
Same here. I was absolutely shocked by the husky scene. Eraserhead freaked me out with subharmonics, Alien with jack-in-the-box appearances. But The Thing did it with horrifyingly good special effects. Of the three, it was the one that freaked me out the most.
@@totalbiscuit4758Jack in the box... Lol...
42 years have passed...The Thing is still my favorite Sci-Fi Horror Movie....2nd to Alien. I saw them both as a Kid. These movies are undying classics.
Same for me both masterpieces never seen anything as good since.
The Thing still SFX stands up today, great movies both
Yes! And remember, Timothy...that THEME. the music theme that sounds building suspense and horror...that music theme WAS GREAT, especially in the opening moments. The slowly build to a boom, befor they introduce the first evidence of the alien horror and how it manifested with the snow Dogs...remember?
@@lukeyznaga7627 Yes. That was the best scene, the snowdogs. I always wondered....what and where the hell was that alien that went through the ceiling.
@@timothylee3105 YES!! You are so cool and Correct. I thought I was the only one! Where... where did that alien go that went through the roof? Like the name Fisk. Isn't that from daredevil..... Kingpin?
Why don't we just wait here for a little while, see what happens...
yes!
And so we did...and Carpenter's MASTERPIECE became an iconic classic...
Legend has it neither Childs or MacCready were the Thing… IT WAS E.T. ALL ALONG!!!
As so the debate began....who was the Thing at the end and who, if anyone, was still human?
@@malachiXX Perhaps they were BOTH things at the end..but had absorbed enough Child's & MaCready's personality to feel ...each one ...that if the Thing was gonna take over the world it sure as HE\\ wasn't gonna be the OTHER personality calling the shots!😫....HALE NAW!!!
I have to say that US audience only is the benchmark for US, not the rest of the world. When The Thing came to Sweden a lot of people watched it. It's was and still is a great horror movie, even if we thought the Americans was stupid because we understand the Norwegian guy in the beginning :)
I'm curious about something, baring in mind when the movie is set (1982). When I was at university in 1987 (Heriot Watt, Edinburgh, Scotland), there were a lot of Norwegian students there, because of some kind of special arrangement with the Norwegian govt (about 10% in some departments; there were many in my comp sci class); there was even an annual Norwegian Evening party, which was enormous fun, long tables, everyone holding large glass mugs of beer or whatever, all shouting "Skål!" at the climax of the evening. Most of the friends I made were thus Norwegian. Good times.
Point being, all of them spoke flawless English, and thus my question is, what is the likelihood that the Norwegian man at the start of the film would not have been able to speak English? Afterall, he would have known of the presence of the American base, and being a scientist it would surely have been to his advantage during his evolving career to have at least a reasonable grasp of English when undergoing operations abroad in such places, as interaction with scientists from many other nations is common (hmm, it is today anyway, perhaps not back then?).
I was just wondering about the prevalence of English language skills, whether the universal presence of it among the students I met was a severe selection bias (and of course of a younger demographic than the scientist in the film), ie. whether among the general populatation in Norway back in 1982, it was actually fairly common for adults not to know English, or perhaps its regional, less common in certain areas. Heh, perhaps an unfair question to ask, assuming you're Swedish, but I'm asking anyway. :D
You're right though about the US reaction to movies tending to dominate modern narratives of how movies were received upon first release. The Thing was very popular where I am in the UK IIRC, especially among the scifi student crowd when I started uni, as by then it had gained great notoriety via the VHS market and had been shown on TV many times. Indeed, when I bought my first VHS tapes that year, more than half of them were Carpenter movies, with The Thing top of the list of wants.
@@mapesdhs597Norway has a special relationship with UK because of the War. Another is because they are one of the founders of NATO.
@@thomasedin764 Hmm, interesting, so I wonder how long the arrangement has been in place at the uni, I don't know (or if it still is, I graduated in 1994).
The movie wasn't released in Sweden originally so you likely saw it years later. It's numbers in the other countries it was released in (mostly Australia and New Zealand) were also underwhelming.
The Thing and Alien are two of the most scary movies I ever saw as a kid. They're still iconic til this day
That edit of ET getting lit up in the cornfield, then Mac blasting away with the shotty, just made my day
First time I felt sorry for ET
ET: I’ll… be… right… here…
MacCready: Yeah FAWK YOU TOO!
Saw The Exorcist for the first time at a drive-in theatre. We were tossing up whether or not to hang around for the second feature “something called The Thing”. We hung around. By the end of the movie, we had forgotten all about the first feature. Classic example horror and paranoia.
The Thing scared the crap out me as a kid. I am now 55 and it is among my favourites along with Prince of Darkness and They Live
Great movies! Prince of Darkness is so sadly forgotten.
@@thing_under_the_stairsMaglite!!! 😂😉
Excellent choices!
Great video! In 1982, I saw THE THING in a sneak preview in Boston. The audience seemed to love it, screaming and shouting at the screen. Afterward I was shocked by the bad review and how the movie was dismissed. I felt in a minority. Along with ALIEN, it's one of the great sci-fi/horrors ever made. PS- THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD was released in 1951
The Thing was an atmospheric horror movie... Way ahead of it's time.
My dad took my brother and me to see "The Thing" at the theater when we were kids, and I remember thinking, "This is freaking awesome." I had no idea this movie was panned and dismissed by critics. Of course, I never listen to critics. Those who can't do, criticize. The funny thing is that my mom took us to see ET, and I liked it as well. Total opposite ends of the spectrum.
I wholeheartedly agree. Greatest Sci-Fi movies: Bladerunner, Alien, Aliens, Dune, The Thing, Mad Max 2, Repo Man (original). (Struggling to think of another)
They hated Carpenter for political reasons since he's a Libertarian, also the story has its roots in Lovecraft's work, which is also hated by the establishment.
@@dinosaur6756 I had the same thing as a kid. I saw The Thing and Blade Runner in the theater that year and loved them both. It wasn't until years and years later I found out that the two had become "cult classics" because they flopped at the theater. I couldn't understand it.
I think part of the thrill of The Thing is the unnerving feeling that something about its horror is deeply rooted in primal human psychology. It taps a kind of deep-rooted fear that we bury. Maybe this is the fear of being trapped with someone with nefarious motives, or the fear of viruses and parasites.
It's also hard to shake the feeling that this kind of lifeform, or something akin to it, might be plausible somewhere out there in the cosmos.
That's a good analogy. People who have an aversion for bugs, part of their freaking out about them if one gets on them is their imagination taking off like a rocket about one still being on them somewhere that they don't know about.
The 1980s were an AMAZING time for movies. So many incredible and long lasting movies came out then that are still cherished to this day. And I was a teenager back then which made it even better... ;)
you said the truth, Justwasted! I recently did a weekend with my friends, where we binged on 10 great movies of the 80s. we had a great time. WE on purpose invited 2 new friends that had never seen these movies. THEY WERE IN AWE and it "affected" them, in their mind and soul. They didn't know - they didn't know there were movies like that. WE all agreed after that weekend, that THERE ARE VERY FEW movies that "affected " us [ a memory event, an event to reminisce among friends, you know what I mean ] like those 80 movies!
@@lukeyznaga7627 10 movies? That's a full day! Yikes!
Same. Growing up in the 70s and 80s was a privilege.
They used to have double features!
MOvies and tv both, the 80s was a great time to grow up.
One of the best youtube recommendations I have ever gotten was the Dune video. I have been watching your videos as soon as they appear on the sub feed ever since and I ended up watching Frieren over 2 days after your video on it peaked my interest. Amazing videos all around, even the ones that don't hit the youtube algo!
Same with the Star Wars one. Watched Andor, then saw the video in my recommendations. All the other videos were just as good
> "Peaked" = "piqued." It's French for "pricked," as in, "stuck with a pin."
It piqued my interest.
But thanks for the recommendation. If this channel features good films, I will follow it.
I've recently started reading sci-fi and horror short stories and what you just said with them asking more questions than giving answers perfectly sums up why I love them. Thanks for putting my thoughts into words.
I would like to suggest Hull Zero Three by the late Greg Bear, not exactly a horror but one of my favorite sci-fi novels
For me the scariest movie I saw was ‘The Ring’ when it came out on VHS in 2003. I was 11 at the time. Those 7 days after were awful LOL. And even afterwards, I still didn’t go near a TV for a whole month.
I think one of the great things about being young is that it “feels” like it’s easier for a great movie experience to stick with you & resonate. But that’s just my opinion, and I could be way off the mark here
For a similar polar nightmare, try Alistair MacLean's Night Without End. It has a similar building tension as the book opens, enough that i recall the fear when reading it as an early teen many decades later
short story "Things With Beards" by Sam J Miller
Sort of depicts what happens after the end of The Thing.
Good story
@@PetrusEksteen I've read Hull Zero Three. - It was excellent. Others from Greg Bear that should be read are Darwin's Radio, Darwin's Legacy and Blood Music
I agree with Quentin Tarantino at 1:27. I saw "The Thing" at a drive-in theater when I was a kid. My older sister made me walk BY MYSELF to the concession stand to get snacks for her and her boyfriend. Holy crap was I terrified!!! I've probably watched it two dozen times since. The only part that prevents it from being perfect in my eyes is the cheesy animation at the end when the alien takes on its "natural?" form. Other than that, I truly think it's a masterpiece.
"..what would you do if you could not trust anyone you know to actually be who they say they are?" holy fk!
Living in this world. As a trauma survivor who was constantly gaslight by everyone around me, including society.
And further I look with in myself: can I trust myself to be who I think I am?
I think I most related to this film because I fear this 'thing' inside me, taking over and turning me into a monster...sometimes I already feel that it has.
And that is what I felt, which I couldn't admit, as I left the theatre.
I'm definitely watching this video again. I am also going to rewatch the movie in this context. So many metaphors for daily life I can't even count right now!
Good job! Thanks for the upload.
It's funny how many times I've re watched Blade Runner and The Thing in comparison to just watching E.T many times as a child considering they all came out at the same time.
I watched E.T. so many times as a kid that my parents had to replace the VHS tape at least once XD. As an adult I have never seen "The Thing" so that's what I will fix today! cheers on loving my favorite film from childhood
1982 was a great year. I love the music from that year too
I still like E.T, saw it in theater as a teenager, but I felt I outgrew it. I do recommend Super 8 as a more updated "version" of it.
The Thing...man I loved it and am STILL creeped out by it.
Sadly I didn't see Blade Runner in the theater... Years later I saw it and was completely mesmerized I have to wonder how I would have reacted back then when it was first released
I have watched the Thing, at least 10 times. Blade runner and Alien and Conan and the Mad Max series several times. The early star trek movies were great. There is just some sort of "magic" to it when i see it. I also remember some of my friends that have passed away, that I saw the movies WITH, when in the theaters. Oh, well, memories and past adventures. I almost regret getting older and living in the current civilization.
Re Blade Runner: I saw on the first night it was shown in the small-town movie theatre of my hometown when it came out in 1982. And I was so amazed by it, that I took a woman I had just met a few days earlier to see it on our first date. And I’m guessing that my totally gushing about this movie with my date post-viewing convinced her to not take me up on another date.
Bullet dodged!
@@av_oid Totally! I don’t care HOW amazing the sex might have been. If she was turned off by the movie or my reaction to it, good riddance! 😉
I though the ending was that you to got married and lived happily ever after.
@@bondgabebond4907 🤣🤣🤣
You can't win em all.
I saw The Thing in the theatre with my dad. It blew me away. Everyone was silent. I think one of the reasons it has become so popular over the years is how much we all appreciated the practical special effects, especially once bad cgi started.
I would have loved to see spider legs popping out of Drew Barrymore's disembodied head.
And then Adam Sandler marries it
@@SpecimenX-9000 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Of course!
Amusing that I was in the same situation as your father experienced. Watching the movie on cable and walking home in a snow storm. Definitely understand the unsettling feeling he experienced.
That reminded me so much of seeing the Blair Witch Project in the theatre, with no clue what it was about, then having to make a long, midnight drive home through the middle of nowhere in the rain, surrounded by nothing but trees. To add to the mood, the next song on the mixtape in my car was "A Forest" by the Cure. I was just a bit on edge by that point. When I got home and the power went out from the storm, I admit that I screamed like a girl a bit.
AND THEN YOU COME ACROSS A HEDGE MAZE AND SEE THE SHADOW OF A MAN WITH AN AXE
IMO one of the most overlooked sci-fi films is 2009’s “Moon” with Sam Rockwell. Check it out.
Moon is great.
Great story!
It's just another "double" movie. Been seeing that story in TV series since the 70s
The Fountain I think is underrated.
@@godofcyclingTrue, but when the actor does an excellent job it can still be a very entertaining trope.
The remake of "The Thing" was a great movie. Carpenter should be very, very proud of having realized his vision.
Agreed.
Yep, 100% agree with ya.
It wasn't a remake. It's a prequel.
@@swanprincess49 Not that piece of garbage from 2011 the original version of the Thing came out in the 50s. Carpenter's version is technically a remake.
@@Paul-vf2wl Its not a remake, its another adaptation of "The Thing from Another World" that is closer to the original short story/novel than the 1951 film.
I think another thing going against the thing during it's box office run was that blade runner's themes about what's really human and the difference in imitations are very similar to the imposters and paranoia of the Thing. Both competitive movies with similar themes in similar genres probably made it hard for them to financially coexist
Both of them had dissapointing box returns though initially. So people weren't really receptive to either concepts.
@@pegasusactua2985 How do you know something is fantastic if you've never seen something like it? It had only been five years since Star Wars, a simple story of the hero's journey; Three years of Alien, true space terror straight to the screen; but from there to the techno-philosophical sci-fi of Blade Runner and the masterpiece of practical special effects that is The Thing, the minds of the adults of the time were simply not prepared for so much. I saw them in my first years of adolescence on HBO and Cinemax in 1984; they simply blew my mind. I immediately recognized the greatness of these movies, but I supposedly couldn't see them because of the age restriction. Their audience was always there, but we weren't "adults" yet!!
@@pegasusactua2985 Yes, sci-fi and horror were never seen as big earners, at least until Star Wars came out.
A lot of people will simply never watch a sci-fi or horror movie - period.
A stretch to say they explore similar themes.
Impostors doesn't really come up in Blade Runner nor the paranoia. BR is more a straight detective flick asking what does it meant to be "human".
The Thing's problem is the effects are so visceral that it kind of shocks people who never examine the story line.
A lot of reviewers saw it as gore porn.
Don't forget Carpenter was never a Spielberg tier director and no where near the financial backing, so it's no surprise his film didn't do as well.
Nah excessive special effects /gore was just not what people wanted to see in 1982 but that changed rapidly within a few years.
This essay is awesome- incredibly paced and really succunct. The soundtrack rocks, too- I'm glad to be here from the get-go of your channel!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video! Really good analysis, will subscribe for more videos.💚
Just a note: Campbell would probably have _hated_ The Thing. While he wrote some stories, he is mostly known as the editor of Astounding stories/Analog science-fiction magazine for a good 3 decades or so. While he discovered and first published many classic authors like Arthur C. Clarke ( who would later write 2001 a space Odyssay), Isaac Asimov (Foundation, the robots series) or Robert Heinlein (Starship troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land), he was also kown for being racist and sexist even by the time standards, and straight-up refused stories with an explicit POV lead (Heinlein ended up putting hints in some novels the characters were not white, but was never explicit as to get away with it without Campbell noticing) and only rarely tolerated female leads either.
He also explicitedly would not publish any story where aliens were shown as being physically/morally superior to humans (hence Asimov only using aliens for a few stories that he published in lesser-known magazines). As such, the thing being such an incredible threat and the pessimistic ending of the movie would have probably caused John Campbell to scream in outrage. (In the novels, all the things are definitively killed, and the men even managed to understand the alien's anti-gravity device, giving the US a boost in technologies.)
>Campbell... is mostly known as the editor of Astounding stories/Analog science-fiction magazine for a good 3 decades...
Nice fact, I did not know that.
Huh. Good to know.
Campbell is reputed to have had a bet with L Ron Hubbard about him being able to set up a religion. I read recently that it was more Campbell daring Hubbard to try declaring his dianetics scam a religion to avoid tax.
@@DavidBritton-nl1wv I do remember Campbell being one of the few to still get along with Hubbard, maybe even once defending dianetics, so I could see it.
I heard another version of the bet story, tho. in that one, Hubbard had made the bet with Robert Heinlein over who would have the most successful religion, with Heinlein's attempt being the religion seen ine "Stranger in a Strange Land." Who knows? They were all pretty damn weird/awful people.
@@oosbeckanderson3199
Yeah, I heard some story about him and Heinlein too. They were certainly a funny old lot. Funny peculiar.
I wasn't even aware that The Thing was initially a flop. I was awestruck by it when I saw it in the theaters and today I own a copy on DVD. It's a fascinating story.
When I was in my late teens, I had gone over to a friends house, which was about 5-6 blocks away from my own. I had only ever been at their house a few times before, and had always gone there in the day, either by bike, or on a skateboard, and always from a particular direction. This day, however, I stayed there well into the night, where we watched "Pet Semetary". Having walked over, I then had to walk home, alone, in the dark, through a place I had never really walked through before. The area to the north was a vast dark, empty, open space, and the neighborhood was dead silent, save for some weird bird sounds.
It was hands down the spookiest walk I have ever had, and it was only because I had seen that movie just before.
That would be far worse than my only experience. I bicycled to watch a double billing of The Fly and Aliens 2. A one-two punch so to speak. That cycle home was not pleasant and I had streetlights all the way. lol.
When I was eleven we lived on the base at White Sands, New Mexico. The walk home in the dark through the desert after watching "Tarantula" was an experience that stayed with me.
@mrpieceofwork I have a good one: While walking back home from the convenience store 4 blocks away, my friend and I at midnight on Halloween had been telling each other ghost stories. We decided to cut across the local cemetery to save 2 blocks walking. As we walked across a newly buried section one of our foot and lower half of the leg punched thru and dropped into a hidden sudden sinkhole. It was as if something had yanked the foot and leg downwards. I think we screamed and levitated across the remaining distance to the street lol.😅
The 1980s was a great decade for iconic movies; movies that have withstood the test of time. Somehow we've lost that with more modern movies.
As for The Thing, I was already "adultish" by the time the film came out, and I was truly looking forward to it, having read the original novella and watched the 1950s version. I never went to see it in the movie theatre because the reviews "scared" me off. When I finally saw it on HBO, I was disappointed not in the film, but disappointed I let the reviews influence me. The remake of The Thing was an immediate classic.
I don't agree that ET has lost its cultural relevance, but overall this was a great analysis. Subscribed.
> Somehow we've lost that with more modern movies.
Most of the movies that have ever been made have been forgotten. Same with books and movies as well. We just don't know yet which movies or other art being made today will be iconic in 20 or 30 years.
@fnsmike Nothing modern is allowed to be a cult classic, considering how scrutinized everything and everyone is now.
I scrolled the comments to see what people were saying about Carpenter's The Thing. I am gratified to see that people Loved It! So did I from the first time I saw it, and I have re-watched it many times.
Weird how it wasn’t popular in the US. When it showed in NZ, The Thing was an instant hit, at least with everyone I knew. Instant classic. It was always booked out at blockbuster on VHS and Beta back then, and hard to get, but wow what a great movie. Still rate it highly even today, and its rather dated effects, but the story, just fantastic. Gee looking back at all those great movies in early 80s, what an amazing decade in movie making that was.
It really was patchy. Some years it was nothing which was frustrating because in other years it was a flood. 1979-1983 was explosive. Then it wound down a bit. I think 1985-1986 really only had Aliens and maybe one or two others. It picked up a little bit later in the decade with the early 1990s being very drama focussed. Have a look at the Wikipedia Years in film or YYYY in Film on IMDB listings to see what I mean.
I think The Thing was half a generation ahead of American audiences at the time. I was a GenX 13 year old and I DESPERATELY wanted to see it in theaters, but wasn't old enough to go without my parents. Considering my parents dragged me out of both 48 hours AND Blade Runner because of the violence, fat chance of me getting to see this one. I was absolutely mesmerized by Blade Runner and it was traumatic for me to be pulled out of a movie that I instantly knew was a masterpiece just because of some gun violence. It remains my favorite sci fi movie to this day, with the possible exception of Alien.
@@norwegianblue2017 - Same. I remember sneaking downstairs to catch The Thing late at night on HBO, and all of my friends loved it. It's strange to read the critics' comments on it. It's like they saw a different movie.
There’s nothing dated about the effects, especially when I saw it in 1996, with a light on and showing on a mono 4:3 TV, and it still managed to do what only A L I E N had done before.
Rob Bottin is GOD.
Instant hit? New Zealand was one of the few countries involved in the international release in 1982 and it grossed $1400.
Music from "The Thing" was definitely classic. That "Dun Dun.......Dun Dun......" has been living rent free in my head for years. Though, I am pretty sure some kind of blood test to verify someone isn't alien is topping my list of things to do in that situation.
Yes, The Thing is one of those films that makes you think, what would I do under these circumstances? There seem to be no right answers, to ensure self-preservation, you have to become a monster, or otherwise you risk being assimilated. At that point, how are you any "better" than your enemy? So you are reduced to being a species supremacist. Which depending on your political proclivities will determine how you feel about that. It makes you think about stuff you just took for granted.
13:34 There is even a "The Thing" videogame that released for PC xbox and PS2 in 2002
And for the boardgames - There's also The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 which plays out just like the movie, it's amazing.
There’s even an ET game that is considered to be responsible for the big American video game crash lol
the thing game is like a sudo sequal to the carpenter movie.😎
@@torquetheprisoner Carpenter even said the game was canon, so it technically _is_ a sequel.
There’s even an Alien game for the C64, Amstrad CPC and the ZX Spectrum.
Fun fact: Lucas had the top-grossing film in 1977 with Star Wars. Randal Kleiser did it in 1978 with Grease. They were roomies at USC Film School.
A beautiful summation. Thank you.
Thank you!
I know going into more detail would complicate the narrative too much, especially since the video isn't really about Alien, but it does bother me that Ridley Scott is given so much credit for things beyond his directorial craftsmanship.
Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett deserve more of that, as well as Walter Hill and David Giler, especially given that the result when Scott was actually put in charge rather than assigned to an existing script was Prometheus and Covenant.
Star Wars did not usher in a gold rush for “science fiction” movies, but for imitation Star Wars movies, and then Terminator 2 came along and we got a lot of action movies with sf veneer; Hollywood had found it’s winning template. Most of the actual science fiction movies that came out after Star Wars flopped at the box-office - the more vapid, or dumbed down the better, and Hollywood picked up on this. Gone were any hope of another 2001, Silent Running, Soylent Green, or Logan’s Run, all movies that came out before Star Wars, and it would be decades before films like that would get a decent shot.
It definitely gave Paramount the green light to resurrect Star Trek as a movie franchise.
Great production: editing, sound, narration and script. Well done.
That was a very well-made dive into both films. Thank you for that.
The score for ET moved me immensely as 5 year old!
My mother is a cinephile and she has a book that she recorded between the end of 80s and up to the year 1992 all the films she saw (in the cinema or on VHS), dividing them into categories. The favorites genres were suspense, horror and science fiction. Without a doubt, The Thing was registered and, I had to check there, but I knew because she told me it was a well-made film, it surprises me to have to hear from John Carpenter that the fans hated it... I feel out of place.
I have watched several of your videos and enjoyed them all. They are well made, interesting and informative. I have WAAAAAYYY too many subscriptions to youtube channels but when you said that your first exposure to The Thing was an SC2 mod map well.... let us just say you EARNED this sub sir! I look forward to more from this channel.
As an addendum: The year 1982 and especially the summer was an amazing time to be a teen. You cannot now imagine the embarrassment of riches we enjoyed.
Peaceful Skies.
There's nothing like finding a new channel that has videos with such quality. You just earned a new subscriber.
Absolutely superb work. Questioning and insightful, but above all, entertaining. Could have happily watched this at twice the length. Great soundtrack too. Well done, mate.
what an amazing and well put together video. I can’t say enough great things. Look forward to exploring your other content.
This channel is pure gold!
Alien and the Thing made sci fi survival horror my favourite genre. Its all about the surviving against incredible odds. Its the rawest of human ingenuity. Its so satisfying and compelling story telling.
Saw The Thing and ET at theatres (Klamath Falls OR) back in 82. Fav is The Thing.
my day just got better because of the new video!
thanks!!
People still argue in online forums about who was and wasn't The Thing at the end of the movie all the time. Debates like that keep movies alive forever. 1982, the year I was born and look at all these great movies! Despite being a baby or not born yet when they came out I grew up with all of them as they were a mainstay of cable and regular TV throughout my early years and we owned a few of them on VHS.
Now it’s corporations selling toy knickknacks and memberberries that keep properties alive.
Thank you very much for your analysis. Fantastic piece of work.
Cheers!
E.T. is the first Movie I recall ever seeing in a Movie Theater. I was only 5 years old and saw it at the famous Tivoli Theater in Downers Grove, IL which was built in 1928. We were visiting my grandparents who lived there and those are some very fond memories. I didn't see "The Thing" until the 90's when I was a teenager and loved it immediately. It's really hard to understand how most professional movie Critics of the time didn't just fall in love with the film. I hope they all looked back years later and questioned themselves on how they didn't see a brilliance in a movie they were paid to watch and review.
The first movie I remember was a few years later Superman 4 in '87
Thank you for putting this together. I have loved The Thing since I first saw it, and my reaction to ET was much as you describe: "Yeah, it was pretty good." And leave it at that.
Your writing is great, I really enjoy your commentary and your criticism.
ET petrified me as a child. I cannot explain why but the alien still freaks me out, even now.
Me and my siblings never saw E.T. when it was shown at the local theater. Mom thought E.T. looks gross 😆and his skin look like some tissue that covers an internal organ🤣 No amount of begging could change her mind. It was 30 years later when I finally got to see the movie. I realized E.T. really looks half disgusting to an adult. I consider E.T. is an example of how advertisements and promotions in media could convince the public that something that looks disgusting is a lovable character. Well, that's how the business world works.
Kind of like how Cthulhu is now sold as a plush doll and Funko pop.
I can see that, ET is hideous. I don't know what Spielberg was going for on it's character design
The Thing has long been my favorite movie, although The Lighthouse has recently challenged it, but they both have similar themes of paranoia, isolation, and distrust. I love your videos and cheer anytime someone has the perceptiveness to recognize what a masterpiece The Thing is.
A brilliant video, I love your thoughtful analysis of the films you talk about, not just the thing. New sub here.
One gem of an actor who really helped ET be as good as it was: Dee Wallace. Watch her in 1982’s Cujo. Oscar level performance in a mid budget movie.
You are definitely right, The Thing was one of the secret kings of the rental store sub-culture period. My nerdy friends and I watched this when we were in high school in the early nineties. It was just another unknown horror movie from the local homegrown rental store. We had watched all kinds of random sci-fi and horror by that point but we were all shocked and like, "Wtf was that!"
The main selling point in The Thing is the alien entity that represent the inner terror within us. For example, Alien and Dead Space animations.
You put into words the why of how i think back about those two movies. Kudos!👍
You did an excellent job on this! Subbed
I kept waiting to hear the opening bass line from the thing after one of your cuts to black
That's one SUPERB video, dude. Well done!
those were the days when you went to the cinema and could decide WHICH film to see. Not like to day...
Those days are long gone 😭
That doesn’t make any sense at all.
@@artman2oo3 Good movies are rare now as opposed to back then when you had to decide which of the many good films to see.
@filonin2 “Good” wasn’t implied, but mmmkuy.
@@filonin2 I saw over 200 movies in theaters last year, on track to see that many this year. Don't get caught up in this movement to hate movies. Great movies are being made and almost none of the movies that are hated deserve to be.
"E.T.: The Extraterrestrial" (John Williams) vs. "The Thing" (Ennio Morricone) : A tale of two soundtracks by different film music composers.
I saw "The Thing" when I was 11 years old at the drive-in. It completely terrified me and at the same time turned me into the horror fanatic that I am today. I had never seen anything as horrific as the scene in the dog pen in my entire life. Truth be told, "ET" was just as influential as "The Thing" when it comes to my love of Sci-Fi. There's something about it that just hits so hard for me as a kid in the 80's. I love both of these films equally for different reasons. They are both by far two of my favorite films of all time. They tap into different parts of my psyche and while they are completely different, they are both movies that fundamentally shaped me as a person.
I remember at 7 year's old standing in a line to watch ET with the family. The line wrapped around the theater and people were already lined up for the next showing, it was crazy looking back. That movie means so much to me, i still have my ET stuffed toy at my parent's house and visit him everytime i go home and visit lol. The Thing, Alien and Blade Runner are some of my favorite movie's.
I missed The Thing at the theater, but must have watched it 50 times on cable, in the 80's. I still have to watch it at least a couple times a year.
One of the best films, ever!
I saw 'The Thing' in the late 80's when i was a kid, it scared me and left me unsettled - it certainly did it's job and I love the movie for that.
Loved The Thing. First saw it at home on VHS (Right before The Blues Brothers). Will always remember the comment made when one of the character's head sprouts legs and tries to escape and the attempted defibrillation, but, two friends and I saw the original Susperia straight after The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the midnights at Coolangatta Theatre. When it finished we RAN back to a blacked out surf club wondering why the hell we stayed for the second movie. I'll never forget how dark and windy Griffith Street was that night 45 years ago.
Excellent, thought provoking video! Well done!
I remember skimming some Thing fan-fiction that told the story from the perspective of the monster, who is consistently mystified why these humans can't accept the beauty of "communion" with it.
That story is well worth googling and reading.
Have you got a title for that? I'm very curious now...
@@thing_under_the_stairs en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Things_(short_story)
@@thing_under_the_stairs Unfortunately no, I wish I did.
@@colindunnigan8621 Oh well, I'm sure my searching skills will be able to dig it up somewhere! It sounds so worth reading.
NEW BEGHAST VIDEO 🚨🚨🚨 YOU GUYS ARE KILLIN IT
Thanks!
Amazing video! Great work
It occurred to me that you could draw parallels between the experience of The Thing and Paul Verhoeven's later and often misunderstood sci-fi epic, Starship troopers, which as also become a cult classic.
Don't know about that. But I think a better one is ' Total Recall ', with The Arnold.😅
Nice analysis and well made video. Thank you for sharing.
This was fantastic, thank you
LOL at Kurt Russell blasting E.T. with a shotgun 😂
I was too young to see The Thing in its original theatrical run but I distinctly remember that striking poster at my local video store and eventually saw it sometime in the late 80's or early 90's. From the very first viewing, I knew it was one of the greatest movies I'd ever seen and it still is to this day. Art is not always appreciated in its day.
im of those that dont consider the thing to be a remake of the 1950's movie. because the "original" takes very little from the book.
First off, I enjoy “campy” movies from the late 70’s on. When I saw The Thing, absolutely loved it. Not in spite of the special effects, but largely BECAUSE of the effects. All these years later, still one of my faves.
Just last week i saw the modern sequel to the thing after watching the thing again. I really enjoyed watching them back to back
@paulmryglod4802 Which is the best way to watch them. But most people misunderstood the 2nd movie is not a sequel, but a prequel, from the Norwegian team's pov.😅
@@0wl999 yeah I didn't know what to expect at first, but within a few minutes I was like oh sweet a prequel!
There are some lovely works that express the point of view of "the thing" and I've quite fallen in love with one of them.
My sci-fi movie of 1982 was TRON.
NOW THAT IS A BIG DOOR!
You're so right about post-ET-viewing discussions. I saw it with family - siblings, nieces, and nephews, and when we came out, I tried to ask what they thought about Spielberg's co-opting of Christian religious symbolism. That did NOT go well.
And you're also right about the walk-in-the-dark after a great horror film. I didn't see the Carpenter's The Thing in a theater, but I did see his original Halloween with a buddy. I had a car, but we were both still in high school; and after the movie when we were walking back to that car, we both suddenly stopped, looked at each other, and got down low to look under it. Of course, we laughed at ourselves, continued on the doors... then stopped again and checked out the back seat. :-) Halloween was a great horror movie!
Being 13 in 1982, our family watched 'E.T. The Extraterrestrial' in theaters. When we got a satellite mid 80's is when I was first introduced to 'The Thing'. Making me about 15 or 16 years old at the time, and it scared the snot out of me. Having watched 'The Thing from Another World' (commonly called 'The Thing") I was ill prepared for 'The Thing' 1982 version.
The Thing is one of the films I wish I could forget once I’ve watched it so I get to watch for the first time again.
The Thing was and still is my favorite horror movie (even though initially it was so scary I couldn't watch it fully), and Kurt Russel is one of my favorite actors. The movie came out in 1982, the year I was born. And recently, I found out that Kurt Russel and I share the same birth day.
Another great one! ❤️
I was coming here to say the same thing
My goodness; what an excellent doc: congratulations 🎉🎊
that was one crazy summer. I saw so many of these movies in the theater!
I saw The Thing and just wanted to crawl out the back of my seat. I just wanted it to end already. Damn, still feel that way today! What a great freaking movie!!
It is weird that we all loved E.T so much back then but i cannot sit through it today and yet I never saw the Thing back then but I could watch it every year now and never get tired of it. I guess its like the difference between decoration and art.
My step-father had turned me onto this movie when I was twelve. I had straight up nightmares for two straight weeks! In that time during my nightmares I'd always gone back to The Thing. I had always loved this movie The moment I had seen it from the opening frame to the ominous BIG-TIME cliffhanger and I had to see what I could do to to always get that film in every single media in my childhood after I had seen the movie. VHS, DVD AND FINALLY BLU-RAY. Like this guy had said it sticks with you after end credits roll and you are there thinking about the biggest questions of the film that you can possibly imagine! I truly love this movie I have to say if you want to see a movie where you want to think that your stranded in the middle of winter cut-off from everything. The Shining gives that same narrative and those two films are by far my very favorite horror movies. Undeniably great horror movies that are both cult classics when they had come out into the theaters. I have to watch them both in the middle winter. I have both of them in my blu-ray collection of horror films and I hope that over time these films are as big as they were when I first saw it in the '90s when I was twelve now currently being 39 in 2024. Well done video of this classic movie with a great cast and a great horror director! One of the Greatest horror directors of the '70s, '80s and '90s. Bravo 👏 and thank you for the upload of your video! I enjoyed it thoroughly!
Looking back at it, 82 was an amazing year for sci-fi.
The edit where he shines the flashlight on et and then starts blasting had me laughing out loud.
While it's nice to bring up The Thing's influence on board games and Among Us, I think one of the movie's most interesting influences is on Jenova in Final Fantasy VII. Jenova is essentially The Thing if it could also use magic, and it's terrifying.