THE THING 1982
MOVIE REVIEW
BY
WILLIAM PAULEY III
Imagine that you are living on an American base located on the icy continent of Antarctica. Now imagine that you and your crew have discovered an alien being that can replicate anything or anyone it wishes. Now look around at your crew. Who can you trust? This is the situation that the characters in John Carpenter’s classic, “The Thing”, must overcome. This 1982 version of “The Thing” is a remake of the 1951 original, “The Thing From Another World”, directed by Howard Hawks. However, John Carpenter was more interested in the story that the original film was based off of [John W. Campbell Jr’s “Who Goes There?”] more than the film itself. His 1982 version of the alien is more faithful to Mr. Campbell’s written word, which makes for a much more horrific tale. Rob Bottin’s make-up effects sequences are some of the best I have ever seen in the history of film. In fact, the effects were so in-depth that even though Bottin spent 57 weeks working constantly [literally, Bottin even slept in the studio!] on the effects, he still had to turn one of the sequences over to Stan Winston in order to reach the deadline. Bottin finally finished in late May 1982 and the film debuted on June 11th! One of my all-time favorite scenes of suspense is found here in this film. The scene where MacReady [wonderfully acted by Carpenter-alumnus Kurt Russell] takes a blood sample from all of his crew members to test who is and who is not the creature. I won’t spoil the fun, but expect to leap out of your boots! “The Thing” is simply a must-see for any sci-fi/horror fan. |
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