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The Thing (1982)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
25 June 1982 (USA) moreTagline:
Man is The Warmest Place to Hide. morePlot:
Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people that it kills. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
3 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(123 articles)
Weekly Ketchup: Conan Gets a New Austrian Bodybuilder (From Rotten Tomatoes. 19 June 2009, 7:12 AM, PDT)
Moon (Film Review)
(From Fangoria. 18 June 2009, 11:35 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
Good things come to those who wait moreUS TV Schedule:
| Sun. July 5 | 1:00 PM | MAX | |||
| Thur. July 16 | 8:00 PM | MAX |
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Kurt Russell | ... | R.J. MacReady | |
| Wilford Brimley | ... | Dr. Blair (as A. Wilford Brimley) | |
| 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 G. Waites | ... | Windows (as Thomas Waites) | |
| Norbert Weisser | ... | Norwegian | |
| Larry J. Franco | ... | Norwegian Passenger with Rifle (as Larry Franco) | |
| Nate Irwin | ... | Helicopter Pilot |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
John Carpenter's The Thing (USA) (complete title)Das Ding aus einer anderen Welt (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Cos (Poland) [pl]
L'effroyable chose (Canada: French title) [fr]
La cosa (Spain) [es]
La cosa (Italy) [it]
La cosa de otro mundo (Argentina) [es]
O Enigma de Outro Mundo (Brazil) [pt]
Stvor (Serbia) [sr]
The Thing (France) [fr]
The thing - 'se' jostakin (Finland) [fi]
Vec (Czechoslovakia) [cs]
Veio do Outro Mundo (Portugal) [pt]
more
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
109 minCountry:
USAColor:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
2.20 : 1 moreCertification:
Germany:18 (SPIO/JK) | Finland:K-16 (1999) (uncut) | Finland:K-16 (1989) (cut) | Finland:K-18 (1982) (cut) | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating) (2004) | Germany:16 (original rating) | Iceland:16 | Finland:(Banned) (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:18 | Netherlands:16 | Denmark:15 | New Zealand:R16 | UK:15 (re-rating) | Australia:R | France:-12 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM18 | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:(Banned) (original rating) | South Korea:18 (re-rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | Germany:BPjM RestrictedFun Stuff
Trivia:
The female voice on MacReady's computer was performed (uncredited) by the wife of director John Carpenter, actress Adrienne Barbeau. moreGoofs:
Crew or equipment visible: As the men come down the stairs into the generator room, Nauls and Garry head down a second flight of stairs as Mac holds up a flare. The shadow of a crew member is clearly visible on the floor holding a boom mic. The shadow even moves as the men walk away from the camera. moreQuotes:
MacReady: [talking into tape recorder] Nobody... nobody trusts anybody now, and we're all very tired... there's nothing more I can do, just wait... RJ MacReady, helicopter pilot, US outpost #31.[turns off recorder]
more
Soundtrack:
DON'T EXPLAIN moreFAQ
Why did the other men extinguish the flames so quickly after Childs had torched the thing,in the scene when it first reveals itself in the dog-kennel?Why didn't the Dog-Thing assimilate Clark?
What was the American team doing in Antarctica?
more
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* * * * ½ (4½ out of 5)
The Thing
Directed by: John Carpenter, 1982
Looking back on John Carpenter's The Thing today a highly treasured cult favourite one has to wonder why it was dismissed by both the audience and critics when it first came out in 1982.
Steven Spielberg's extra terrestrial adventure about a sweet alien that phoned home (that stole the hearts of both children and adults world wide) had opened just two weeks before and was on its historic box office rampage. Bad scheduling may have had a greater impact than anything else on the fate of Carpenter's first big studio effort for Universal Pictures. Nobody was prepared moreover wanted anything so dark, gory and scary as this genuine remake of the famous 1951 original. This was the time of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.
It then makes for great movie history trivia, that The Thing has gained such a remarkable afterlife on video, DVD and television. Both financially and critically. Carpenter's version is less a remake of the Howard Hawks' version than a more faithful adaptation of John W. Campbell's short story "Who Goes There?' (on which both were based), and critics today point out how well Carpenter plays his characters against each other. Kurt Russell will never top this one, and he gets a brilliant sparring from the entire cast.
It opens in Antarctica with a sled husky running from a pair of crazed and armed Norwegian men in a helicopter. The scene is long, slow and uneasy. It feels like the Apocalypse. It oozes doomsday.
This scene comprises one of the greatest opening sequences in film history.
Ennio Morricone's moody synth score (heavy on naked thumping bass lines in classic Carpenter style), the windswept massive white of the desolate polar ice and the majestic husky running across the tundra chased by the chopper, compromises a completely mesmerizing piece of scenery.
A satisfying example of a movie that today 18 years after looks downright muscular in its simplicity.
The budget was big ($14 mill), yet it allowed Carpenter to visualize his ideas better than ever before. There's a brooding darkness to this film, making the whites and blues of the icy Antarctic claustrophobia seem poetic and almost angelic. Dean Cundey's extraordinary photography created a palpable chill to every shot. The careful preparation (the crew went into a record 11-month pre-production) paid off immensely.
Horror specialist Rob Bottin was handpicked for the many gory and grotesque special effects. Be warned there's a lot of splatter and gore here. The Thing is actually notorious for its creature morphing scenes. Some find them disgusting, some mere cult.
An argument could be made against The Thing being an Alien rip-off; it has its origins in an old sci-fi story and it creates tension by popping a crowd of people (note: all-male) on an isolated outpost (an Antarctic research facility) terrorized by an alien life form.
Where Carpenter was clearly inspired by Ridley Scott's 1979 masterpiece, his own alien movie is original and intriguing in its own right. There's a rhythm and an environment that equals Scott's in every way.
The husky was in fact half-wolf and half-dog, and it was noted that it never barked or growled on or off the set (Horror Takes Shape, the making of - DVD version).
Watch in awe at the scene where it walks through the hallway and stares at a human shadow, slightly tilting its head forward in stalking position like a wild wolf. This is a fine piece of animal training, sure, but that's not the point. This is as spooky as anything ever made in a horror movie.
Carpenter had all the right tools here, and he utilized them to perfection, making The Thing his best movie alongside Halloween.