'The Thing(s)'

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Wildest cat from montana, Sep 14, 2021.

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  1. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader Thread Starter

    Location:
    ontario canada
    I realize there's a current thread about the 80s Thing movie but I wanted to expand on the series of movies about this particular ET.

    I dig the original. No gore to speak of and rapid fire dialogue makes it stand on it's own merits and it comes up aces.
    The creature may be a tad too Frankenstein-ish in appearance but that doesn't matter. This film is tight and holds your interest throughout.

    Saw the John Carpenter take on release. Plenty entertaining, enough so to warrant going again the next night for another viewing.

    Now onto the 'prequel'.
    I liked it well enough but there's something I don't understand.
    The female character apparently kills ' the thing' and she is the last man standing , so to speak.
    But what happened to her? Did she die? If not , did she make it out of there? If so, why did she not tell the world what happened?
     
    Dave Mac likes this.
  2. andy749

    andy749 Senior Member

    Love 1951 original.

    Can't take 80s version. Those cheezy ridiculous FX. No way.
     
  3. ralphb

    ralphb "First they came for..."

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    First one best one, no contest. One of the best nuclear era/cold war movies ever made.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2021
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  4. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    That new(ish) Thing, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead wasn't that bad!
     
  5. Hall Cat

    Hall Cat Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    1982 is one of my Top 3 of all time
     
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  6. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader Thread Starter

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Yes...I liked it too but can you explain the ending to me?
     
  7. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    It's been a while, but....I think (think, mind you....possible spoiler)







    it's in the dog?
     
  8. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader Thread Starter

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Not that. What happened to the woman?
     
  9. Toddarino

    Toddarino Total Hunk

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I assumed she froze to death in the vehicle.
    John Carpenter’s the Thing is one of the greatest science fiction films ever made.
     
  10. bostonscoots

    bostonscoots Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    This isn't even close - the 1951 The Thing. The smart, snappy script, terrific cast and inventive direction turned an even-then familiar idea into a 1950's sci-fi classic. Also, for a movie that takes place mostly in a confined location - a remote arctic base - The Thing is rich with memorable images: the crew forming a circle around edge of the ice-entombed spacecraft, tiny pods growing from the blood-drenched soil, the crew dousing the alien in kerosene and setting it ablaze in the darkened airmen's quarters (I love the moment when the burning alien claws the mattress shielding some of the crew, leaving a flaming tear behind). Watch the skies, indeed.

    ...and man, how about that theremin?

    Of the other Things, I still respect what John Carpenter was trying to do - film Joseph Campbell's original story - but his movie devolved into a confusing "who's the monster now?" gore-fest. One hell of a gore-fest, for sure - the physical in-camera effects work still stuns - but the movie's cast of unlikable characters left me not giving a damn who was "The Thing" and who wasn't. Having said that, it's better than The Thing prequel (First Thing First?) which brought the as-expected gore and even less likable characters.
     
  11. Sear

    Sear Dad rocker

    Location:
    Tarragona (Spain)
    Both are among my favourite movies ever. I'm a lifelong John Carpenter fan so the remake is a little bit better to me
     
  12. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Several people have been surprised when I've told them that the 20111 version is a prequel and not a remake.
     
  13. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader Thread Starter

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Excellent alternate title!
    Excellent post too. The original is a great movie.
     
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  14. SmallDarkCloud

    SmallDarkCloud Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I liked the movie, but it’s worth noting that the prequel was shot with practical effects. After filming wrapped, studio executives decided that the practical effects needed to be replaced with CGI. The film’s computer animation isn’t great, and looks like it was rushed to meet a deadline. I would have liked to see the movie with the original effects.

    To answer the question, it’s been awhile since I watched it, but I remember thinking that Winstead probably froze to death inside the ship in an act of sacrifice to stop the creature from taking off in it. The movie didn’t spell this out, though.
     
  15. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    It's unclear how long the 1982 crew spent at the 2011 crew's base, so I always assumed that they just didn't find her.
     
  16. SquishySounds

    SquishySounds Yo mama so fat Thanos had to snap twice.

    Location:
    New York
    [​IMG]
    If you really, really love rubber monsters you’d probably enjoy 2016’s The Void
     
  17. elaterium

    elaterium Forum Resident

    I love the remake though the story makes little sense and the end is a bit wanting.
     
  18. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    Didn't even bother to see the prequel.

    John Carpenter's The Thing is a totally different movie that REALLY earns its title "The Thing" instead of the 1951 original that deserves to be called The Thing From Another World that comes across as just another '50's B-picture sci-fi alien movie with its noir stylized casual acting similar to TV dramas of that day.

    I saw the original several months ago as a rerun on cable TV and wasn't as impressed or entertained due to the not credible makeup and costume design on James Arness.

    John Carpenter's intellectually offers so many layers both psychological and scientific to ponder over. And then the soundtrack by Ennio Morricone's droning synthesizer just brings out a whole other level of emotional foreboding that almost made me depressed for what was about to happen to all the crew considering their realism in their reactions to their situation and personal conflicts and comradery with one another that made the plot of this movie so real and horrific.

    The original did not make me want to care about what was going to happen to them dealing with the silly looking getup James Arness had to project as a menacing monster. It just didn't land with me.

    Carpenter's is what I consider the classic version.
     
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  19. noname74

    noname74 Allegedly Canadian

    Location:
    .
    Great movie with no CGI.
     
  20. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    We watched the new 4K disc last weekend, and even though I've seen the film a dozen times it was my partner's second time and a good time was had. Plenty of scares and "WTF is that!" moments.

    Can't see why anyone would prefer digital monsters over the effects work in this film.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2021
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  21. Pizza

    Pizza With extra pepperoni

    Location:
    USA
    Well, she had to die otherwise she’d be around to warn the folks that populate the previous second part.
     
  22. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    :crazy::crazy::crazy:

    Rob Bottin's effects are some of the greatest, most impressive practical creature FX of all time.
     
  23. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    One of the most ridiculous things about that whole debacle was the reason *why* the execs wanted the CGI... they claimed that the practical effects looked "too 80's".

    *insert facepalm*

    :rolleyes:
     
  24. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    The Thing From Another World - 8/10, great Hawks film

    The Thing (1982) - 10/10, one of my top 3 films of all time.

    The Thing (last version, which is a prequel to the 1982) - Ok, 6/10. Top marks for creating everything that would appear in the 1982 version, like the axe in the door, but spolit by a silly ending and bad CGI after they were ordered to remove the real effects they had planned to use.

    Coincidently...very conincidently...I was reading a copy of Marvel Team Up with Spidey and The Torch from the 1970's where Spidey asks Torch if he has seen the The Thing as he copies the method for fighting the villain. Cool name check and funny now considering how the latest MCU Spidey uses film knowledge to beat villains.
     
  25. SmallDarkCloud

    SmallDarkCloud Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    Regarding the ending of the 2011 film, it was imposed on the director by the studio (Universal reportedly meddled with the film frequently). The ending that was originally planned, and partially shot, was somewhat different.

    [Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen the film]

    Winstead would have explored more of the spaceship , discovering the body of the alien (not a Thing) that was the pilot. She figures out that the pilot was collecting alien races, the Thing was one of them, and it had escaped. We would have seen much more of the interior of the ship, which was a fully constructed set.

    This would have lead to her running into the other two survivors, and not knowing if one or both of them were Things. Joel Edgerton then kills the human pilot, revealing that the pilot was a Thing. Winstead is temporarily relieved, assuming that one Thing wouldn’t kill another.

    That would have lead to the scene that remains in the film, of Winstead realizing Edgerton is also a Thing. Not sure this original ending was better, but I do think it’s more interesting.

    I can’t fault the 2011 film, or at least the writer and director, too much. The studio’s interference with the production has been well documented. The CGI replacements is just one example.
     
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