But Myers why have you given this movie a title that says its hated, when I love it so and its scared me for years? Because when it was released it was hated! No one went to see it at the cinema, and it bombed. Now it is hated because it scares the crap out of people! It was 1982’s 42nd grossing film and financially it is argued that this movie did make a profit but when you add post-production activities and promotion this profit would look a very slimline one, at best. On release it reached number 8 and then slipped out of the top 10 within 3 weeks of release. This movie didn’t really get traction until a growing cult of followers took interest after the cinema run was over and ‘The Thing’ finally crept out of the shadows of the other great 1982 movies. You see in 1982 ET was released and that is what people wanted. Aliens were supposed to be nice and friendly and not rip your face off and take over your very soul. This one however did just that and the world wasn’t quite ready for it. Based on a novel called ‘Who Goes There?’ by John W. Campbell Jr. whose story was then adapted in a screenplay by Bill Lancaster. This movie was produced by David Foster and Lawrence Turman. Directed by the legend in my eyes John Carpenter, with music from another legend Ennio Morricone whilst being distributed by Universal Pictures. Finance wise it cost $15m to make and then returned $19.6m apparently well in the end it did. It stars Kurt Russell, A. Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, and Thomas G. Waites. On its release it was instantly panned by the critics which probably helped drive people away for a current comparison IMDb has this at an impressive 8.1 out of 10 and Rotten Tomatoes even more so with an 84%. With its growing popularity it has spawned a prequel which was ruined by the executives and not the writers/directors. Countless number of games also a great one on the PS2 I seem to remember playing. As well as some great board games as well. If you talk to people about this film now, they like it and more so terrified of it. Enough already get to the plot!
In an American research station in Antarctica a group made up of (sorry I love a character list!!) twelve members R.J.MacReady, Blair, Nauls, Palmer, Childs, Dr Copper, Norris, George Bennings, Clark, Garry, Fuchs, and Windows. The crew is made up of helicopter pilots, doctors, researchers, radio controllers, dog handler etc. We join them just as Norwegian helicopter is chasing a sled dog (or Husky to me) which runs to their station. They come outside to watch the passenger of the helicopter accidently blow up the helicopter and himself. The pilot continues to pursue the dog as it runs into their station firing a rifle at it and shouting in Norwegian at them (I’ll come back to that later). Having bullets whistling past them until Bennings is shot. Reacting to this Garry pulls out his gun and kills the Pilot. The dog wanders around the station as they return to normal. MacReady (pilot) and Dr Copper decide to fly over to the Norwegian Station to investigate the whole situation. They find a burnt-out base of charred ruins and frozen corpses, they find also find remains of a malformed humanoid which they recover and fly back to their base along with videos and other items retrieved from their base. Blair the biologist performs an autopsy on the remains and initially finds normal human remains. Clark eventually puts the dog in the kennels with their own sled dogs. Soon after the dogs all go crazy and the new dog changes and starts to absorb the other dogs when the crew run in and eventually get a flame thrower and torch it. Later Blair concludes his autopsies into the new creature and learns that it can perfectly imitate other organisms. Watching the videos from the Norwegians they see that they dug something huge out of the ice looking like a spaceship. Blair realises that this thing could have taken the form of any of the other 11 members of the team and is wandering around right now. He starts to become withdrawn and afraid of everyone. Meanwhile the actual thing has taken over one of the team and is beginning to work it way through to the rest of them.
I think that sets the idea of the story for you, this thing could be anyone of them and could kill again. The special effects are amazing for its time and the isolation of their situation and the paranoia of it is played to perfection. I know that they filmed this in Alaska where they built the set and created the whole ‘research station’ knowing that the winter was coming and the entire area would be covered in snow, ready for filming. The original budget offered was $10m so Carpenter managed to blow that and an additional $5m on top. I know there were some issues as they tried to film in the Hollywood Studios in a refrigerated area were too small. So, they came up with the outside shots and filming in Alaska. It is set in Antarctica so it would be cold and breathe would be visible rather than just moisture in the area at a lovely warm and balmy set in California. Oh yes, I said I would come back to the Norwegian’s shouts and screams when they get out of the helicopter. Well, it ruins the whole film would they be able to understand what he was saying. He actually shouts - "Get the hell away from that thing!” then “That's not a dog, it's some sort of thing!” and “It's imitating a dog, it isn't real!” Finishing with “Get away you idiots!” If only they had listened, the fact that as the shot crew member is lying on the floor, he doesn’t shot to kill he walks straight past him as he is chasing the dog. Seems obvious when not directly in that situation. To highlight the point of this movie not being liked when released in the year of release this movie was beaten for box-office money by Ghost Story, My Favourite Year, Neighbors, Things are Tough All Over, The Toy, Sharky’s Machine, Taps, Reds, and the classic Young Doctors in Love. These may have had some famous names in but they got nowhere after their release, but they beat the pants off of The Thing in cinemas. John Carpenter’s first real big money production was left with the real prospect of not getting any future backing as he developed his young career. This is another suspense driven movie, but this has gore and bits of bodies here and there and random jump scare (getting down with the kids with that phrase). Back in my day we used to just say it scared the shit out of me. Wh-oops swore again! This is simply a fantastically scary, atmospheric and suspense filled horror movie from the top draw. You find yourself looking for clues as to who may have succumbed and become the thing that now stalks the others. If you watched this when you were young you are probably still traumatised by it. For me this was something I stumbled on and took some time to get into it, but this sucked me in slowly and then I was stuck forever in love with an interesting and intriguing movie. If you haven’t seen this without a good reason, I may stop taking to you.
Next up is another 80’s movie about a crew being stalked by an alien creature or creatures… its number three so it’s going to be great isn’t it.
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