The CineFiles: John Carpenter's The Thing Vs The Thing (2011)

[AduneStormwind]

And in the Prequel, The Thing's behavior isn't completely far fetched. Don't forget, it's the creature's first encounter with humans and doesn't quite know what to expect. So it tries the aggressive approach first. By the end of the film and the beginning of JC's film. The Thing has had experience with Humans, it now knows how resourceful and dangerous humans are, so it takes a more subtle approach at Outpost 31.

[AduneStormwind]

I don't understand people people keep calling this a remake, It is not, It's a prequel and is very clearly a prequel. It's inferior to JC's film to be sure, that doesn't make it bad. And yes there's alot of similiarities, It's the same creature and they are in the same environment as in JC's film, what do you expect? I'm actually surprised how much different the film was, The tooth fillings test for a start.It's not great but it's a worthy companion piece to JC's The Thing

[LtActionCam]

whiny bitchz

[TheThingPrequel]

There is so much info that you guys talk about that sadly never happened the guy on teh right talks about the pods at 7:15 that is spot on how it was going to look before Universal put their hand sin the cookiejar. The director MAtthijs did a fantastic job with the little he had to work with he is def a big fan and treated the material like a pro. Sadly Universal fucked it up they wanted a movire "scary" monster and went CGI which is why it was re-shot. So sad really i love the movie but itcould

[TheThingPrequel]

I´ve been sitting here listening through everyting youve talked about and to be frank I can only come through with one conclution. Why are you comparing the 2 movies? You are approaching the prequel from a completely wrong angle. This movie never set out to be better or shine more than the 82 classic. The JC movie is damn near perfect but it to has flaws. It set out to wokr as a COMPANION-PIECE so you can see the 2 movies back-to-back and feel like you are watching one long movie. And that works

[CarrionBlack]

Great video. Very cathartic to hear my grievances poured out like that. I'm glad you went on as long as you did. What's frustrating about this remake is that it's not total crap, so we don't get the satisfaction of completely trashing it. It's closer to mediocre than crap, and it's more frustrating to dislike a film that actually possessed a few nuggets of potential.

Blair's critique of this remake: "THAT Thing wanted to be UUUUUUS!"

[CarrionBlack]

With all the interviews & commentaries I've absorbed over the years pertaining to Carpenter's Thing, I never got the sense that the poor box office performance of The Thing "ruined" John Carpenter. He made it up to Universal w/ Starman, which was tonally lighter & made money. Then Christine was a hit. I'd venture to say that Big Trouble put him on his slippery slope. And Memoirs of an Invisible Man wasn't the recovery that Starman was.

But screw box office, I love the whole Apocalypse Trilogy!

[Bloodsport1]

Edwin, great show man. But my man Ed, this comparable is clearly describe old school filmmaking and new filmmaking. The old movies, The Thing, TCM 1974, Predator 1987, they're all memorable, characters we like, feel for. Today movies, are forgetable. The other day Torque came on cable, I totally forgot about this movie, it made me realized 90% of movies from the mid 90's till now are forgetable. You guys MUST do a SHOW on this subject PLEASE!!!!!

[PapistWitness]

For the record, Richard Dysart wasn't in St. Elsewhere or The Ninth Configuration/Twinkle Twinkle Killer Kane; you're thinking of Ed Flanders. In fairness, Flanders and Dysart look pretty strikingly similar.

[BlowfishShorts]

Great video, lot of good points.

I for one liked "The Fillings Test", it was meant to only separate anyway, not to find out. Decent enough.

[AudioSlice]

Enjoyed this discussion and nice to know about the other endin where mac and childs were rescued. Im a big fan of the Carpenter movie and really enjoyed the prequel but think its no way as bad as your makin it out to be. You should review it for what it is and maybe not compare it so much with Carpenters version. Big trouble in little china, The thing and They live are my favorite Carpenter movies and are actually some of my all time favorites. 80s and early 90s for movies will always rule!

[txunderball]

Great discussion.

If you've never read it, check out (short and illustrated) blog by the main producer (a friend of Carpenter) of the '82 version who writes about the tough development of the original. Very interesting trivia stuff. There was over a dozen MacReadys including Tom Atkins at one point.

theoriginalfan.blogspot.com

I bet the new version had a one page memoir written by the studio, just like the movie's screenplay.

[ethansloan]

Thank you for the flashback to the james Bond episode. I would have had to watch the whole damn thing myself to find that clip.

[miggans21012]

Hello cinefiles! I got t a new Youtube account and had to say I love your program. Keep the shows coming.

[wolfengheist]

Shame that Carpenter got blackballed from Hollywood but then again his later movies weren't really all that up to snuff. Ghosts on Mars, Escape from LA, and Vampires were horrid. I luved his earlier films like The Fog, Thing, and Halloween.

[wolfengheist]

The thing 2011 movie should have been based on the dark horse comics which would have been just kick ass.

[redbaron932]

hey heres a thought you guys could do a show about the highlander films

[metronum]

Excellent episode!

[CastleRockFan]

The Cinefiles is my favorite group on YouTube. I watch every new episode as soon as I notice it on my homepage. Keep up the good work, guys.

And don't worry, Edwin. You're the shit.

[feyd8194]

I like Erics ideas at 8:18, how about the branched off team come across a burned up Childs and a frozen Macready

[92Tribeca]

and this will be my last coment im sure you will rejoice, but this is one opinion of many and it is obvious i am in a minority when it comes to my opinion of the show, if there is a minority at all as you know what matters is how you feel abut your work, you have a large fan base and i could not pull this off , as a production designer i could do wonders for ur set circa 2006 but someone beat me to it :D 1 critical review from hundreds of positive ones, ur doing better than Tim Burton

[92Tribeca]

i assumed something about a hidden agenda and made a ass out of myself adn umption .

[92Tribeca]

lol utube warriors. it was an honest if misinformed opinion, i maintain that there are flaws with the hosting and simply pointed out in a slightly too  direct way that if The CineFiles hope to get picked up, Edwin has some work to do. on the other side i maintain i cannot separate Edwin from the show, as i have said so i am in no way against him. i do love the show, but i am also an honest person who was annoyed with Jeff Gallashaw's absence and the reasons i assumed it was for

[MartinKoolhoven]

The original film (from ’51) is brilliant as well. About the FX: they DID shoot everything with old school effects, but they didn’t work and THEN they brought in the computers. Director told so. What did you think about bringing in a girl? I LOVED the fact that the original was an all-guy cast. How often do you get that?

[WalterLiddy]

I always assumed that the ship was not the 'thing's' ship. It was some alien species' ship and it crashed when the pilots were infected by the 'thing'. I thought it was really stupid to imply that the thing retains the intelligence and was a spacefaring race. It eliminated a lot of the creepiness and just made you wonder why such a species wouldn't be diplomatic.

[MartinKoolhoven]

@WalterLiddy Then how do you explain the thing MAKING a spaceship trying to get out...?

[LunarPoet]

I've seen everything I've found of you guys, and always love it. So yeah, keep trucking! Btw what the fuck... According to IMDb The Thing cost 15 million to make, and 1 month after release it had made 13 million. Then 6 months later it had made almost 20. That's not awesome, but it made more than it cost. In US box office alone that is. Never mind worldwide release and VHS sales. That's bad enough that he had problems getting new projects going? Really? I think it's pretty decent.

[oldmanwhithers]

why is there so much hate here? Thanks for all your efforts guys and yes Edwin I do watch every single one of these. Again - THANK YOU

[g2kmaster]

13:00 YES! Now lets get the filmmakers who keep re-editing their films (Save Ridley Scott) and the general mainstream audience to realize this.

[TheWrongHands18]

@cinefiles Watch the commentary and documentary about the 1982 THE THING. Rob Bottin did NOT do all the effects, in fact there were 3 different companies that worked on this film and one was... Stan Winston, so he DID work on the 1982 version.

And Yes, he did say 2 homages was too much in the James Bond thing.

[mikerants]

@TheWrongHands18 I believe Stan Winston's effect, although great, was an anamtronic dog which didn't look anywhere near as authentic as the other effects in the film imo. I love Stan Winston's work, but Bottin's work here was superior.

[TheWrongHands18]

@mikerants Was it the dog that had it's head split open? That wasn't that bad and creepy as hell the way it was shaking and then it just exploded it's head outwards like a flower. Very creepy, I was only 16 years old when it came out, so I was impressed. The other effects were also great, but copies of aliens from another world, so it didn't need to look like anything specific. It just needed to look as bizarre as possible.

[TheWrongHands18]

Too many characters in the new one so the paranoia doesn't matter because you can't remember how many characters there are at any given time. So, when they die... who cares. What would be cool, the Thing is a captive on the ship and contained, but when it crashes, the aliens who captured it can't survive the cold or the crash and the thing escapes and freezes.

At some point it assimilated one of those aliens, in the past, and knew how to operate the ship because of that.

[quaxk]

I thought the prequel was entertaining as a standalone, the cast was top notch, the creature design and gore was great, I don't understand that compulsive comparison with the carpenter movie, why not compare it to the real original film while your at it? you're cinephiles, you should be able to appreciate a film for what it is, and not continuously run it down in comparison to cult movies, and I really think you overestimate carpenter films, as usual his is campy and unsubtle, great SF though

[snake2006]

For the last time already.

Lars is NOT THE ONE WHO IS SHOT BY GARY. Watch John Carpenter's movie again, 7 minutes into the 82 film, you see the pilot get out of the right side of the chopper. He is holding the rifle. The guy firing the rifle earlier in the film, has a fur hood parka, he gets out and throws the grenade, then you see the fur hood parka while trying to recover the grenade. He blows up, that guy is Lars.

The pilot is the one who is shot.

[mikerants]

@snake2006 Yeah, there were scenes in the sequel that were cut implying Lars was accident prone, hence the dropped grenade.

[calreid]

@mikerants Same as the scenes that you told me about that implied the prequel was good ;)

[snake2006]

They couldn't go to the Russian base, for the simple reason that it is not addressed at all in the 82 film. Plus 3 bases all getting attacked by the same set of circumstances is a bit much.

[92Tribeca]

im glad the show at last have discussed The Thing - one of the greatest films ever made - after leaving it out of the Carpenter show. this is one of the best shows you have ever done. the biggest issue with the prequel was indeed The Thing itself. it felt mortal, Carpenter's felt unstoppable, like you noted it's all about survival. that is its agenda. TERRIFYING!! Joel Edgerton was completely mis casted, totally underused talent, "Ms. Winstead" haha, does her best. so many screenplay problems

[icingdeath1]

Alan Dean Foster wrote the novelization. Nauls kills himself when the door splinters and he uses the splinter and jabs himself in the neck. the novel was great.

[92Tribeca]

so you've ditched Jeff Gallashaw in the hopes of getting picked up? and if you don't get picked up by a self set deadline, you will end the show? first off, Edwin Samuelson is far too awkward. he doesn't make eye contact, in fact, avoids it, stumbles over his words, whines and interrupts. and often. i enjoy the show, but remove Eric and/or Michael and you've got something as useful as a stripper with clothes on. on a nice note, the new set up is great :D

[cinefiles]

@92Tribeca Perhaps, we'll end it earlier as you don't seem to like anything about me. --Edwin

[92Tribeca]

@cinefiles when you bring your A game you are as enjoyable and informative with your opinions as your co hosts, these recent episodes are great examples. but it is not often enough and theres still room for improvement. i hope this keeps up and wish The CineFiles many happy returns. besides this is all one opinion of many, i do love the show Edwin!

[cinefiles]

@92Tribeca I do my best, but I admit there's always room for improvement. I do appreciate you giving some credit. I do hope you understand why I was upset by your initial comments as you made it seem like I brought nothing to the show. BTW, are you affiliated with the 92Y in Tribeca?

[92Tribeca]

@cinefiles no! would not like to give you that impression, im a life long Tribeca res, familiar with 92Y but that is just a coincidence. and of course, the biggest compliment i could pay is that i can't imagine a different host. my initial comment seems harsh, im just surprised by Jeff Gallashaw's absence . Unfinished Business is my second favorite internet show, the first is The CineFiles :D appreciate both immensely, "by the film fans for the film fans"

[IceCreamSuit]

@92Tribeca If these latest shows are great examples, then why not leave it at that? "i do love the show Edwin!" You're a douche. A-game nonsense. Go watch bland, corporate bullshit.

[lightlittlebrownboy]

@cinefiles

You sound like Professor Frink from the Simpsons. That's reason enough to watch you guys and listen to everybody's different perspectives.

[MCFoltz]

@92Tribeca Actually, one of the reasons, if not the MAIN reason, Jeff is no longer on the Cinefiles is because he felt he didn't get to say enough. Of course, we still love Jeff and value his film opinions THUS he has Unfinished Business. And he loves it rather than trying to figure out when and what to say in the midst of all of us uber-talkative film geeks. Anyway, IF we would get picked up (Saints Preserve Us!), I'd want Jeff back on, for the record.

[P0TT5Y147]

@92Tribeca why would you come on somebody's channel and watch their video's just to slag them off, they obviously enjoy it and put alot of time and effort into their work. Stop being a twat, i would like to see you do anything better, fuck off you moron

[Numinous20111]

I'm really surprised you didn't discuss 'The Thing From Another World' and the Carpenter 'The Thing' instead. Didn't Alan Dean Foster's novelisation of the 1982 film have a longer ending between Childs and MacCready? Did Burt Lancaster's son wirte the 1982 screenplay? With 'Prometheus' due in 2012, do you guys think you could be having this same discussion, with the same conclusions, next year. Can you clarify Carpenter and Morricone's working relationship: did Carpenter rework the score?

[Layne618]

I've heard some speculation that the thing is such a rampaging monster in the prequel because this was the first time it had ever encountered humans and didn't think of them as much of a challenge. By the end of the prequel, it had learned that humans were much more dangerous than it originally thought so that's why it is much methodical in the Carpenter film.

[snake2006]

@Layne618

Or they wanted to turn it into a monster of the week creature.

[barrab]

Halloween has nothing on They Live.

[FilmMasterAdam]

John made a film last year and it was awesome! Go on Netflix and watch "The Ward"

[P0TT5Y147]

Have you guys reviewed any of Al Pacino's work, Heat, Scarface, Godfather, Carlito's way etc etc, really like to hear your opinions...

[FCWPM]

Very good show, guys. I love John Carpenter as well. He's one of my favorite directors. I'd actually heard that he was working on a gothic western. I just hope it's true. I'd love to see another movie of his come out. By the way, did you hear about Argento's version of DRACULA?

[ebuzzmiller34]

I liked that they didn't just remake the original, and actually tried to sync the two up, but man did they botch it. Then again the problem was we knew what was going to happen by the end, so where's the tension?

They should have taken a different approach, but I don't know how. I mean let's face it, it didn't need a prequel/sequel or anything. It was perfectly self-contained. Unlike say Alien where there was more room to say 'ok, yeah this could work again'.

[TrekBeatTK]

This show may be one of the few times you get to discuss both a brilliant remake and a terrible one!

After the mess that Battlestar Galactica became, I don't trust Ron Moore as a writer. He just likes mucking about in other people's universes now.

I am not ashamed to say that I have never yet seen The Thing. It's one of those movies I'm saving for a special occasion. But I did see that one X-Files episode "Ice" that lovingly ripped it off, and featured a young Felicity Huffman.

[FotogInkArt]

as for Carpenter....he HAS given up. He has said it so so many times. As far as marginalized - he did it to himself, which sucks. El Dorado wasn't bad, for a HBO movie, but it would have OWNED with Russell in the lead instead of "Goose" lol.

[badhead]

I think there is lot to be said for the 1950s version. The way they track the alien by its life signs and the fact that there is a strong female character. It was clearly an influence on Aliens

[guely55]

Sharing this one on my facebook. Greetings from Sweden!



[FotogInkArt]

So sad the prequel turned out. So so sad.



[Deavi783]

6:02 ... did I hear a fart?

[cinefiles]

@Deavi783 That was the chair scrapping the floor. If you want to hear a real fart, check out William Shatner ripping one in the film Mindmeld.

[woofian]

'The Thing' prequel is a very poor film. The scene in which to test if someone is alien by implying that the alien wouldn't know how to replicate filings but it knows how to replicate clothes?

Avoid this film, I only watched it as I like the actor Joel Edgerton and he has little to do here. Fine video by the way lads!

[Broyale26]

Thanks for this episode! Great discussion!

And whenever I read about John Carpenter moaning about how he can't get no more hollywood love, I think, "Ghost of fucking Mars and Escape from LA". Vampires was okay, but it got eclipsed by From Dusk to Dawn easily.

[nilan3000]

New episode, wohoo!

[feyd8194]

Dig it