Notes on John Carpenter’s “The Thing”

http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/03/04/dismembrance-of-the-things-past/

by yurn • 11 years ago

67 61 11 years ago

theparisreview.org

madengr2• 11 years ago

One of the best horror movies, ever.

bobbyi_settv• 11 years ago

In my opinion, the best.

Anyone who has access to the DVD/ Blu Ray should also check out the commentary track with John Carpenter and Kurt Russel. It is great.

bshimmin• 11 years ago

The other two films in what Carpenter calls his "Apocalypse Trilogy" are also well worth watching: "Prince of Darkness" and "In the Mouth of Madness". Neither has aged quite so well, but both are good and interesting horror films.

I feel that "Suspiria" and "Don't Look Now" are actually the best horror films ever made, but de gustibus non est disputandum, as they say.

mullen2• 11 years ago

I can not stress enough to the Hacker News community that if you have not seen this movie, go see this movie. John Carpenter did a really great job with this movie and story. Every scene in this movie plays to the story, there is literally no filler in this movie. Unlike movies today, which are epic 2 hour snoozefests that are chock full of pointless scene after pointless scene which adds nothing to the film or the story line. The Thing starts right off with the story and smoothly transition through it to the very end. Also, The Thing monster in this story is scary as hell too.

mattdotc• 11 years ago

Has an amazing ending, also.

knodi123• 11 years ago

*chock full

badloginagain2• 11 years ago

The monsters themselves are fantastic. CG in movies still have a long way to go to catch up to how real the monsters felt in The Thing.

And yet the monster scenes don't overshadow the human drama, the continuous buildup, the claustrophobia you feel from there being no escape.

The Thing is such a great movie, and definitely my favourite horror movie.

thrillgore2• 11 years ago

I don't think the CG/Post is the issue with making the unknown feel believable. It's entirely the way in which the actors interact with the physical prop, in essence. Something you can't replicate with stand-ins or match moving. Performance capture tends to get it right.

chiph2• 11 years ago

The monster scenes progress smoothly as well. Starting with the dog in the kennel, and leading up to the spider-head. Which still creeps me out to this day.

It's how a horror movie should be made.

adrianN2• 11 years ago

SPOILERALERT

farmdve• 11 years ago

I think the movie is good as well, but the article uses a really hard to read font.

sheensleeves• 11 years ago

The presentation of Websites is to HN as "sharp knees" are Fark.

spikej• 11 years ago

Try this:

http://www.readability.com/m?url=http://www.theparisreview.o...

adrianN2• 11 years ago

Just turn off Javascript.

DustinCalim• 11 years ago

I agree, this is the best horror film made

duaneb2• 11 years ago

Unlike movies today, which are epic 2 hour snoozefests that are chock full of pointless scene after pointless scene which adds nothing to the film or the story line.

Someone sounds a little jaded.

mullen2• 11 years ago

Someone sounds a little jaded.

I will admit, while not a horror story, I did have the latest Hobbit movie on my mind. I think I could cut 1/3 from from the latest movie and not impact the story. If anything, probably bring it inline with the book.

evo_9• 11 years ago

There is also a similarly impressive 'sequel' that came out as a PS2 game; it picked up from the end of the movie, the base reduced to burning wreckage you explored. Worth tracking down if you are a fan of Carpenters' reboot (the original came out in the 50's).

teddyh• 11 years ago

I remember playing the demo for that on the PC. Let’s check Wikipedia:

“Platforms: PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_%28video_game%29

cgh• 11 years ago

You might be interested to know that "The Thing" was filmed in my hometown[1]. I remember visiting the sets as a kid, seeing the freaky dog models, etc. The local museum still has some of the film props.

And yes, my town gets a lot of snow, typically around five-six metres. The "Antarctic base" in the movie was just a short drive away up a road that led to an old mine site[2]. We used to get rides up there and hike around when we were kids.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart,_British_Columbia

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granduc_Mine

manachar• 11 years ago

I honestly can't think of a single thing they could do to improve this.

This isn't your typical "smart" people doing stupid things. This is a bunch of smart and capable people completely overmatched by something far beyond their understanding.

It's darn near a perfect movie.

protomyth• 11 years ago

Its amazing how not having the typical "here, hold my beer" response seen in a huge amount of movies (not just horror) enhances the movie. Ok, knowing what they know, it is a pretty good set of decisions. I do admit to committing one of the horror movie cliches in real life, but I'm not fond of them in my movies.

I absolutely hate movies populated by the smart-stupid-doers. For a low budget example, "Deep Star Six" is basically a comedy because of it.

subdane• 11 years ago

This was the first horror movie I saw, at 10. I didn't sleep for three nights. I still love this movie!

smorrow• 11 years ago

Unpopular opinion coming through: If you're not easily scared, films made only from scary-stuff-that-isn't-scary are really boring.

I'll give you an example: Alien. Literally all that film is is "they go down to this planet, a spider fucks a guy's face, and then a monster kills everyone." If you're not scared by that stuff, you get nothing out of that film, because there is nothing else that happens. The second one is better, something happens between the characters.

And yeah, I feel this way about The Thing.

e40• 11 years ago

OK, so I read it and I still don't know how it "nearly sabotaged John Carpenter's career"!

badloginagain2• 11 years ago

The article was fairly poorly written, I only got one line saying that the movie flopped because it released at the same time as E.T. I assume that jeopardized his career?

SerpentJoe• 11 years ago

Running dog-Thing has earned its customized bass lurk, composed by Ennio Morricone, which, in fairness to your ears and mine, could be an expensive John Carpenter imitation.
Carpenter’s Thing, for its part, discouraged the future of dog whispering, if not mankind in general. Running dog-Thing was played by Jed, a half wolf that neither growled nor barked. Richard Masur, who played the station dog handler, remembers how Jed would just give you “that look” when he grew uncomfortable on the set. That Thing look. So watch Jed closely. Watch Jed pad down empty hallways. Jed nosing the door open, looking out of windows. Jed listening to Stevie Wonder.
In the film, Wilford Brimley’s Dr. Blair supposes this while performing an autopsy on Norwegian Two-faced Thing, his eraser head traveling directly from an astro-parasitic entity to his own bottom lip. A clear violation of Thing health code.
Rob Bottin, who played the ghost of a vengeful seagoing leper in The Fog, was in charge of special effects for The Thing. ... Bottin would do such a thorough job—literally ending up inside the Thing, for the finale—that he’d check himself into a hospital after the shoot completed.
Meanwhile, I’m left wondering if the Thing can retain the dream memories of those it absorbs, turning to Freaks and Geeks for answers. For it was the great leveler Millie Kentner who once cried, “Life is not that dog’s dream!”

I was able to follow the author's meaning in parts but it's certainly challenging.

DanielBMarkham• 11 years ago

Agreed. Wow, what a terrible article.

The writer's got voice. Good for him. Now tell me what you plan on saying and then say it. Don't tease me with one thing in a headline and then drag me through ten minutes of reading stream-of-consciousness. E-gads what a mess.

acqq2• 11 years ago

I fully agree. It seems that the author is this guy:

http://howtowreckanicebeach.com/?page_id=16

"a former columnist for The Wire, writes frequently about hip-hop and popular music."

And I don't have the wish to compare his other writing with this.

jakejake2• 11 years ago

I'm right there with you - I clicked thinking of hearing behind-the-scenes stories about how The Thing was over budget, behind schedule, having technical problems, etc. But instead the article was just a kinda rambling collection of thoughts about the movie (which it is a great movie).

lobster_johnson2• 11 years ago

The "collector's edition" (DVD, not sure about BluRay) includes a really wonderful 83-minute documentary, "The Thing: Terror Takes Shape", about the making of the film, along with several other great extras, including a clip of the original ending. Highly recommended. Seems the whole film is on YouTube [1].

Also highly recommended is the site by one of the producers, Stuart Cohen [2]. It's a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes info, photos, rambling gossip and old-fashioned war stories from the set.

[1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=B48Yp00LitE

[2] http://theoriginalfan.blogspot.com

ebbv• 11 years ago

Yeah the article is terrible, but it does mention once; because it flopped. It flopped because it opened against E.T.

kt103099• 11 years ago

Misleading HN title. The actual title of the article is 'Dismembrance of the Thing’s Past'. Don't know where OP got the 'nearly sabotaged' career part.

dang• 11 years ago

Ouch, I don't know how we missed that all day. Sorry, everybody.

Submitters: it's against the rules to rewrite titles, except when the original is misleading or linkbait.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

(Submitted title was "“The Thing” – The film that nearly sabotaged John Carpenter’s career". We changed it to the doc title.)

hitlin37• 11 years ago

there is a game by the same name. it was one of the best game of its time. pretty scary. and chilly.

inanutshellus• 11 years ago

The video game, incidentally, is the official sequel to the film. If you saw the movie and loved it and want to know what happened next, there's yer chance.

freehunter3• 11 years ago

Yeah, I had it on PS2 and it was fantastic. Challenging, scary, and fun to play. I'm afraid to go back and look again though, because IMO very few games from that time period actually hold up these days. What's the opposite of the uncanny valley, where you can understand what the thing is supposed to represent, but you have a hard time actually seeing it that way? Things were simpler back then, and once you've been spoiled its hard to go back.

thrillgore2• 11 years ago

When I first played it, it really felt cheesy as hell but I recently revisited it on my PS2 and I love it. There's only a handful of great movie/game transitions and I like to think that's one of them (the Riddick games being the others on that short list). I really wish we had another horror game with the same gameplay elements.

acqq2• 11 years ago

The most dramatic setting in which "The Thing" is traditionally watched:

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/04.13/01-winterover.htm...

"Shortly after the last plane leaves, the winter-overs gather in the main dining room, the Galley, for a showing of the science fiction movie "The Thing," about an alien that attacks researchers in an isolated Antarctic base. "

The winter personnel are physically isolated from the rest of the world between mid-February and late October.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%E2%80%93Scott_South_Po...

patmcguire• 11 years ago

I can't see something about the antarctic without linking this: Alcoholism in Antarctica http://www.funraniumlabs.com/2013/06/alcoholism-in-antarctic...

drpgq• 11 years ago

I always like Carpenter's They Live. Who knew Roddy Piper could act? Or at least sort of act.

grubles• 11 years ago

That's a great movie as well. Roddy Piper also shows up in an episode or two of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".

wyldfire• 11 years ago

Here's a cool Hugo-nominated story based on "The Thing": "The Things" [0] -- it's retold from "The Thing's" point of view.

[0] http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/

tjradcliffe• 11 years ago

That's awesome!

So far no one here has mentioned that the whole "thing" is based on the John W Campbell story "Who Goes There": http://www.scaryforkids.com/who-goes-there-by-john-w-campbel...

Carpenter's movie is great in part because it's so true to the source material.

peterwwillis• 11 years ago

.....the fuck did I just read?

jksmith• 11 years ago

I love how Wilford Brimley was probing the alien with a pencil, then starts tapping his lips with the same pencil. The Thing is a true classic.

andrewstuart• 11 years ago

The Thing is one of my fave movies, have watched it at least 30 times but never noticed that till I watched it again last week.

throwawayornot2• 11 years ago

great making-of doc on The Thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B48Yp00LitE

badocr• 11 years ago

Someone once posted on the film's IMDb forum a blog post by one of the movie producers. Lovely and juicy behind the scenes details.

http://theoriginalfan.blogspot.com/

lobster_johnson2• 11 years ago

Very poor article. I think I understand what the author was going for, but I expected much better from The Paris Review.

Fans looking for more behind the scenes stuff about the movie should check out "The Thing: Terror Takes Shape", about the making of the film, with much of the cast and principal crew included. The whole film is on YouTube [1], and also on several releases of the movie.

Also highly recommended is the site by one of the producers, Stuart Cohen [2]. It's a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes info, photos, rambling gossip and old-fashioned war stories from the set.

[1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=B48Yp00LitE

[2] http://theoriginalfan.blogspot.com

Notes on John Carpenter’s “The Thing”

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