The Thing (1982 film)
John Carpenter's The Thing | |
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File:Thething1982poster.jpg | |
Directed by | John Carpenter |
Written by | Novella: John W. Campbell, Jr. Screenplay: Bill Lancaster |
Produced by | David Foster Lawrence Turman |
Starring | Kurt Russell Keith David Wilford Brimley David Clennon Donald Moffat Thomas G. Waites Joel Polis Peter Maloney Charles Hallahan T.K. Carter Richard Dysart Richard Masur |
Music by | Ennio Morricone John Carpenter (Uncredited) |
Distributed by | MCA / Universal Pictures |
Release dates | June 25, 1982 |
Running time | 109 min. |
Languages | English Norwegian |
Budget | $10,000,000 (estimated) |
The Thing is a 1982 science fiction film, directed by John Carpenter. Ostensibly a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks film The Thing from Another World, Carpenter's film is actually more faithful to the original novella, "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr. (writing under the pseudonym of Don A. Stuart). The film's musical score was composed by Ennio Morricone, a rare instance of Carpenter not scoring one of his own films. Carpenter considers the film to be the first part of his Apocalypse Trilogy, followed by 1987's Prince of Darkness and 1995's In the Mouth of Madness. Though far from a success, it is now considered one of the greatest horror films ever made.
Plot
An American Antarctic research station is infiltrated by an alien creature with the ability to perfectly imitate any animal or human that it physically contacts. The crew of the station come to distrust each other as they cannot discern who is human and who is not. One by one they are killed, either by the creature or by each other.
The crew realize that if the creature were to reach the outside world, it would devour all life on earth in a few years. Although they destroy a vessel the creature was secretly building, the crew are ultimately forced to destroy the station in order to kill it, even if it means their own demise. In the end, there are only two survivors - neither of whom is sure if the other is human, but too weak to fight.
Cast
Actor | Role |
---|---|
Kurt Russell | R.J. MacReady |
A. Wilford Brimley | Dr. Blair |
T.K. Carter | Nauls |
David Clennon | Palmer |
Keith David | Childs |
Richard Dysart | Dr. Copper |
Charles Hallahan | Vance Norris |
Peter Maloney | George Bennings |
Richard Masur | Clark |
Donald Moffat | Garry |
Joel Polis | Fuchs |
Thomas Waites | Windows |
The only woman in the film is the voice of a chess computer, voiced by Carpenter regular (and then-wife) Adrienne Barbeau.
Some television versions feature a narrator during the opening that introduces the setting and characters.
Critical reception and themes
Upon its release, the film was lambasted by critics for Rob Bottin's special effects, which were seen as overly bloody and repulsive. [1] The film fared poorly at the box office, possibly due to the release of both E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial two weeks earlier, with its more optimistic view of alien visitation, and of Blade Runner the very same day, as speculated by Carpenter and writers that have covered him, such as Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell. Carpenter remarked that the audience for horror films had shrunk when questioned about the failure of The Thing in the book Prince of Darkness. The film's reputation improved in the late nineties through home video releases, with the film even penetrating the IMDB Top 250. A collector's edition DVD was released in 1998.
A scene from this film was listed as #48 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments. The film ranked #97 on Rotten Tomatoes' Journey Through Sci-Fi (100 Best-Reviewed Sci-Fi Movies).
This film is cited as the first installment in Carpenter's "Apocalypse Trilogy", followed by 1987's Prince of Darkness and 1995's In the Mouth of Madness. The plots and characters of the films are not related. The film is also notable in Carpenter's career for two reasons—it was his first foray into studio film-making and it was Carpenter's first film to be made without Debra Hill as co-producer. The Thing was the fourth film shot by cinematographer Dean Cundey (following Halloween, The Fog and Escape from New York).
Continuation of franchise
As of early 2007, there have been two announced projects to expand the franchise:
- The SCI FI planned to do a four-hour mini-series sequel to the film in 2003. Carpenter stated that he believed the project should proceed, but because of the lack of updates and the removal of all mention of it from the Sci-Fi Channel homepage, it is likely now abandoned, assuming it ever existed at all.
- In September of 2006, it was announced in Fangoria magazine that Strike Entertainment, the production company behind Slither and the Dawn of the Dead remake, is looking for a writer or writers to write a theatrical prequel to "The Thing.".[2]
- According to Variety, Strike Entertainment and Universal Pictures are preparing to remake The Thing. Ronald D. Moore is set to write the script with Marc Abraham and Eric Newman producing. David Foster, producer of the original film, will be executive producer of the remake.[3]
Video and DVD releases
After its cinema run, the film was released as usual on video, and also on laserdisc.
The Thing has been released twice on DVD by Universal. The first edition was a Universal Collector's Edition released in September of 1998. It contained the documentary The Thing: Terror Takes Shape on the making of the film, along with deleted scenes (shown in the television version), a theatrical trailer and production notes. The only omission was an anamorphic widescreen transfer which was remedied with a new DVD release in October of 2004, which features a new anamorphic transfer with identical supplements to the 1998 release. The Thing has also been released on HD DVD.
The Terror Takes Shape documentary on the Region 1 Universal Collector's Edition DVD contains the option to replace the documentary's dialog with the full, isolated Ennio Morricone soundtrack.
Other media
Video game
In 2002, The Thing video game was released, acting as a sequel to the film. The game uses elements of paranoia and mistrust intrinsic to the film, and was released on multiple video game platforms: PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. The game is horror-based with action elements. Some retailers, such as GameStop offered a free copy of the 1998 DVD release as an incentive for reserving the game.
Books and comics
There was a novelization by Alan Dean Foster published in 1982, based on the second draft of the screenplay. It includes the sequence in which MacReady, Bennings and Childs are forced to chase after some infected dogs who escape into the Antarctic tundra.
Dark Horse Comics published three comic miniseries sequels to the film, featuring the character of MacReady as the lone survivor of Outpost #31. The series was renamed The Thing from Another World (the 1951 Howard Hawks original film title) in order to avoid confusion (and possible legal conflict) with Marvel Comics' orange rock skinned Fantastic Four member also known as The Thing.
References
- ^ http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19820101/REVIEWS/201010349/1023
- ^ "September 6: THE THING prequel on the way". Retrieved 2006-09-08.
- ^ Michael Fleming (2006-11-16). "U preps for 'Thing' fling: Carpenter classic set for remake". Retrieved 2006-11-17.
Further Reading
External links
- Outpost #31 - The Ultimate THE THING Fan Site
- The Thing at IMDb
- eBook All About THE THING, analyses the film in depth
- thething.ca The world's largest The Thing memorabilia collection.
- The Thing at theofficialjohncarpenter.com
- The Thing: Between arrival and spontaneous emergence (The Thing and pulp-horror)
- Review of The Thing video game at Something Awful
- 1982 films
- 1980s horror films
- Alien visitation films
- American films
- Foreign films shot in Canada
- English-language films
- Films based on science fiction books
- Films directed by John Carpenter
- Films shot anamorphically
- Film remakes
- Lovecraftian films
- Monster movies
- Science fiction films
- Science fiction horror films
- Universal Pictures films