Arrrrrrrrghhhhhhhh!!!! !!!!! (The Thing (DVD))

Member Name: Moominpapa

Product:	The Thing (DVD)
Date:	19/01/01 (30 review reads)
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Although a remake of Howard Hawk’s classic horror film, The Thing From Another World, john Carpenter’s gruesome vision is base much more closely on the original short story, Who Goes There? By John W Campbell. Where Hawk’s was a huge, sentient and humanoid vegetable (James Arness in a rubber suit), Carpenter’s is a cell-invasive shape-changing alien able to assume the form of any living creature.

The action takes place at an Antarctic research station manned by a disparate band of doctors and geologists, dope-fiends and social misfits. When a crew of Norwegian scientists blow themselves up trying to kill a husky dog, helicopter pilot McCreary (Russell) flies to their camp. There he finds the grisly remains of the Norwegians compatriots, having been burnt, mutilated or simply the victims of suicide. Something has clearly gone very, very wrong.

Back in the US camp, videotapes show the Norwegian team unearthing the frozen remains of a flying saucer and its pilot, which they then transport back to base. As the penny begins to drop, the US crew members start having second thoughts about the husky in their dog pen, and the twisted corpse that’s happily defrosting in their store room…

Shot between refrigeration sets in Hollywood and the frozen wilds of Alaska, Carpenter (assisted by cinematographer Dean Cundey) creates a totally authentic setting for the carnage which follows. The ensemble cast work well enough together (though no one really has any particular memorable lines), but it’s Rob Bottin’s extraordinary effects which gradually take centre stage. As The Thing infests and takes over members of the team, we’re treated to a series of increasingly bizarre transformations – most notably one in which a heart attack victim’s head decides that it wants to scuttle off on a mission of its own.

The already-fragile bonds between team members rapidly evaporate a growing unrest
turns into blatant distrust and eventual terror. Is that really Kurt Russell or merely a malevolent alien? (a question I’ve often asked), and so the film twists and turns before reaching its explosive, though oddly unfulfilling climax.

Although The Thing stiffed at the box office, it has since gone on to become a cult classic in the age of video – alongside much of Carpenter’s portfolio, ironically – and while the ground-breaking, pre-CGI effects have lost little of their allure, the movie still packs a hefty visual punch.

However, Carpenter’s stilted direction leaves certain segments of the film disjointed (it’s often difficult to keep track of all 12 characters), and the story stutters from set-piece to set-piece. Likewise the downbeat, nihilistic ending will confound many and annoy others. But despite all this, The Thing is still a very watchable movie. It’s not scary by any standard (the gory effects are morbidly appealing rather than disgusting), but it does manage to generate a disturbing sense of unease, punctuated by moments of black humour.

Carpenter, while never achieving true mainstream appreciation, is one of the few directors whose films always have a distinct (usually horrific) feel and you can generally spot one of them from a mile away. The Thing easily stands out as the best of his movies in terms of production design, characterisation and overall story and is still well regarded almost two decades later. So just how he went on to make the utterly appalling Escape from L.A. (sequel to the enjoyable Escape From New York) is anyone’s guess…

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