:
Kurt Russell,
Kurt Russell,
Wilford Brimley,
more...
:
John Carpenter,
John Carpenter
see all cast/crew...
: 
: Universal Studios
: Horror, Science Fiction , Aliens, Killer Critters
: 109 min.
: English, Spanish, French
: English, Spanish
see additional details...
This title is currently out of print.
|
|
John Carpenter's The Thing is both a remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 film of the same name and a re-adaptation of the John W. Campbell Jr. story "Who Goes There?" on which it was based. Carpenter's film is more faithful to Campbell's story than Hawks' version and also substantially more reliant on special effects, provided in abundance by a team of over 40 technicians, including veteran creature-effects artists Rob Bottin and Stan Winston. The film opens enigmatically with a Siberian Husky running through the Antarctic tundra, chased by two men in a helicopter firing at it from above. Even after the dog finds shelter at an American research outpost, the men in the helicopter (Norwegians from an outpost nearby) land and keep shooting. One of the Norwegians drops a grenade and blows himself and the helicopter to pieces; the other is shot dead in the snow by Garry (Donald Moffat), the American outpost captain. American helicopter pilot MacReady (Kurt Russell, fresh from Carpenter's Escape From New York) and camp doctor Copper (Richard Dysart) fly off to find the Norwegian base and discover some pretty strange goings-on. The base is in ruins, and the only occupants are a man frozen to a chair (having cut his own throat) and the burned remains of what could be one man or several men. In a side room, Copper and MacReady find a coffin-like block of ice from which something has been recently cut. That night at the American base, the Husky changes into the Thing, and the Americans learn first-hand that the creature has the ability to mutate into anything it kills. For the rest of the film the men fight a losing (and very gory) battle against it, never knowing if one of their own dwindling number is the Thing in disguise. Though resurrected as a cult favorite, The Thing failed at the box office during its initial run, possibly because of its release just two weeks after Steven Spielberg's warmly received E.T.The Extra-Terrestrial. Along with Ridley Scott's futuristic Alien, The Thing helped stimulate a new wave of sci-fi horror films in which action and special effects wizardry were often seen as ends in themselves. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide
|
| A classic sci-fi / fx / horror movie
by nhunter
December 6, 2005 - 8:14 AM PST
|
|
|
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
|
I saw John Carpenter's The Thing in the theatre when it was originally released and a couple of times on video since then. Last week I rented the dvd. It holds up very well for a film made nearly a quarter century ago. The film is especially satisfying because of the psychological tension as well plenty of cool gory prosthetics and creature effects. The ending is surprisingly touching.
I watched it with my wife, who doesn't usually enjoy horror movies, and my 12 year old daughter, who was initially pretty sceptical that such an old movie could hold any interest. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.
No extras at all, not even the theatrical trailer. |
| One of the all-time best of the classics
by TnJWilson
August 30, 2005 - 9:56 AM PDT
|
|
|
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
|
| Although a classic, I must note that this is technically a remake of a black & white film. But the differences in quality, writing, directing, acting--and mostly--GORE are so great, that it is hard to compare them. This is one of the all-time greats of "classic" sci-fi/horror. The story is fairly simple. It has some of the quirky things that make this classics great (like why do they have so many guns and flame throwers at an Antarctic science research station?). Kurt Russell when he was still cool (see also Escape From NY but NOT Escape From LA) and John Carpenter when he was not afraid to make an R-rated film. |
|
|
GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.54)
690 Votes
add to list 
|
|
|
Your cart
JPdellamorte
chaosmind
© 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. Portions of content provided by All Movie Guide®,
a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.