 Thank you for checking out this no spoilers movie review. So let's go ahead and talk about this It is the 1982 the thing and this is by John Carpenter when I watched this it wasn't on stream or anything Actually, I watched it on this DVD with awful artwork. Look at this. This is a collector's edition and look at how bad Look at how bad That artwork is that's a great thing about horror community now and releases like with these Re-releases these days on the Blu-rays with you know, especially companies like shout factory and anchor Bay and stuff like that They're doing much better releases. They're putting really good artwork on the front not like this This is terrible and it for like I said for it to be a collector's edition So anyway, I just do I just want to say like this this I've owned it for a while It's obvious obviously because it's a DVD. It's not a Blu-ray at this point Sorry my cats in the background being crazy But Even on just DVD when I just watched it it looks great. It still looks great directed really well cinematography is really good Yeah, it looks really good. Well, let me just hit all that stuff up front You know, if you've seen this movie, then you know from a technical standpoint It's very well put together like I said directing is great cinematography is great Acting is great for the most part the writing of the script is really good a few weird Dialogue lines here and there but music is really good sound in general, but I'll talk about that a little bit later One of the things with this I always give some information Chloe. Can you please calm down? Sorry my cat. She actually was very very Doss I while I was watching the movie and all of a sudden I'm done with the movie And she's riled up and wants to do shit and I'm just like, okay, so anyway I usually give a lot of information up front with this But the problem with the thing is I can only give you a sum because there is a Durth of information out there on the internet about the making of it everything leading up to it the production Just the release the reception Everything about the film so I read through a lot of it, but I'm like I can't put everything in here So I just pulled out some things that I thought were Particularly interesting and I would just encourage everyone if you want to know more just Google The the thing and read as much as you can because there's a lot of interesting stuff out there So this was a remake a lot of people don't understand that this was a remake which is just kind of ridiculous to me because Well, I mean, I guess it's not that ridiculous if you just don't have the information You don't have the information But the fact that we're still at a point with how how much of a following this film has and people still think that It's an original It's kind of like no it's a remake we should understand that especially because there's a there's always that debate that comes up especially within the horror community of Inevitably someone in some Facebook group or forum or something says There are no good remakes and then you have to have people show up who really know what they're talking about and say Well, let me list all the really good remakes and the thing the 1982 the thing is one of the best remakes Along with the 1988 the blob in my opinion. There are other ones, but I'm not gonna go into all that right now Maybe I'll do a whole video on that at some point So when John Carpenter directed this film and he was involved in a little bit of the writing of the script by the way It was right after he had done escape from New York and right before he ended up doing Christine So the fact that Kurt Russell is in this isn't that big of a surprise because he worked with him on escape from New York Although the surprising thing is I believe I read that Kurt Russell was the last actor added to this film Which is weird because going into it and you know, John Carpenter being so familiar with him You would think that he would have been like the first but But I think maybe that's partially because they were trying to get this the studio is trying to get this movie made for a while And John Carpenter just finally happened to be you know the person to go with So it was actually almost directed by Toby Hooper at one point Toby Hooper was actually signed on and then this production studio decided that they didn't like his vision for the film You know story of Toby Hooper's life when it comes when it comes to making movies really sucks Like he's a great. He's a great director, but he's gotten like chucked out and forgotten so many times Sucks, but so he was signed on Toby Hooper But then they threw him out because of you know They didn't like his vision for it and then they tried to get John Landis that then end up happening and then eventually they settled on John Carpenter But then John Carpenter almost quit on this film because one of his passion projects as they say Called L Diablo it looked like was going to be moving forward and he would need to be doing stuff with it Instead of the thing, but then it became clear that that was not going to happen So they almost lost John Carpenter on the film very very glad they didn't because who knows what L Diablo actually I think L Diablo ended up getting made in the 90s in Some capacity and we don't know a whole lot about it. At least I don't so obviously the thing was the better option at that point For Kurt Russell, this was actually right after escape from New York, obviously But it was also after voicing copper in the animated film the Fox and the Hound which I believe is a Disney film So it's very funny for him to go voicing an animated cute little Fox. All right. I think he was the Fox It was copper the Fox. I think so from going and voicing a creature a cute creature in a Animated film to going to the thing which is certainly not cute and very intense and actually the reception That this film got when it initially came out was terrible people hated it It did very very poorly until it actually was out on video And then that's when it started to like gain steam and people started really liking it a lot of people hated it when it initially came out because of how repulsive it is and And it is because the practical effects are amazing and they still hold up today and I'll talk about that a little bit more later But yeah because of that people are like it's repulsive. It's repugnant. It's terrible Also, another big criticism is that the characters didn't have a whole lot of development Which I can agree with that that is kind of a little bit of a shortcoming But at the same time with the subject matter here with the overall story. Do you really need that? I feel like you don't and I feel like the big thing is We don't need each individual character to change and we don't need that much change within the characters and that much development Because all it has to do with During the film is the situation at hand and for something intense and terrifying and terrible like this That is all you would be able to focus on it wouldn't be like a change of let me be a better person Let me figure out who I am blah blah blah. No, it's this is messed up. Let's do whatever we can to take care of this situation Let's do this. So it's realistic in that sense So take note. This is something that I that I didn't read about but I had just you know Noticed one time when I was watching the film Halloween Which by the way when I go over like themes and everything that I see in this film It is not stuff. I'm reading it is stuff that I'm getting out of the films as I just sit there and watch them the the The research portion of like the what goes on during the production and the writing of the script and the acting and stuff like that is All you know from the internet, but everything after that like the film analysis. That's all me So anyway, take note if you watch John Carpenter's original Halloween, which I think is from 78 1978 I believe The original thing movie, which was called the thing from another world from 1951 Is a movie playing on the television a few times during the movie Halloween, which is really cool and Do-do-do-do That was two years before Yeah, Halloween was two years before Oh wait, hold on. Let me read this. I'm sorry. Oh, he was I'm sorry I didn't read the full thing. He was approached to John Carpenter was approached to direct the thing two years before Halloween was made so We could look at that as maybe like a little Easter egg as here's my next project Showing that in in the film Halloween. I like to think of it that way I'm not sure if that's what the case is, but I just thought a cool thing to know about so The original the 1951 Version the one called the thing from another world was based on 1938 not novella by John W. Campbell, Jr And that novella was called who goes there. So when the remake of The the remake of that was done and just called the thing I believe it moved further away from the actual book and John Carpenter put a lot more of his kind of stamp on in his spin because he did have a go at Messing around with the script So a bunch of scenes actually were changed during the filming of it because John Carpenter ended up realizing You know, there's a lot of portions of people just kind of standing around here So on the fly he just made some decisions to kind of put more action into it put more movement into it Which you know, I don't know what was more standing and what turned out to be less standing But as it is now, I think it's a good mix like it. It's a movie. That's not far from two hours long Which is kind of crazy for a horror film. It's probably more like an hour and 45 minutes, you know taking out the credits and everything So but it doesn't really feel like that because it's very engaging and even though like it is kind of slow In a sense it doesn't feel slow because the story's so good and there's so much mystery to it It was shot in California actually in refrigerate in on Refrigerated sets which is crazy and apparently something I was reading I don't know if this is true or not was saying that it was like 28 degrees on the set Which is nuts and they did a great job with the refrigerated sets because it looks Legit like it looks cold there. It looks like it would look at a research station in Alaska in the secluded area That's how it looks now If people have seen my review of the howling which when I'm Reviewing this I just put it out I had a portion where I was talking about Rob botten who did the practical effects for the howling And I was like Rob botten like I know the name and I keep not thinking at the moment like what else he's done Dang he did the practical effects for the thing. It's so funny because I watched the howling the next day I watched the thing and it's Rob botten. So That's why it's familiar to me I don't know why I don't remember that because as far as practical effects go this might be my favorite movie for practical effects Because if you've seen it if you're watching this and you've seen it, you know It is nuts the practical effects are nuts and nuts in the best way possible. They're amazing The just the creature Imagination creature design looks I wrote it down somewhere But off the top of my head looks like I think I wrote that it looks creepy. It looks scary It looks disgusting Revolting all these things all at once and it's intense But if you really look at it through the eye of a person who likes practical effects and is used to like scary creepy all That like it's beautifully done You can see so much detail in it and just like I said the the imagination that went into Designing all that stuff is crazy and it's it's not the same all the time and that's the other thing to come up with so many different Versions of what you're trying to do and make it work as well as they did. It's unbelievable. So Rob botten man You're the guy. I'm sorry. I Didn't pick up on that when I did the howling review just amazing And and the practical effects are revered by like everyone in this and a lot of people say because of those practical effects The film really holds up, which I don't think that's the only reason personally I think there's a lot of great stuff here, which I've already talked about some So yeah, so I talked about how it was negatively received Partially because of how intense the creature was when it was made I Was saying how repulsive but also how intense everything was it's too much for people. So this movie gets called sci-fi It's like sci-fi horror mystery or something like that, but technically I guess it's sci-fi But I don't view as a sci-fi film. I think really it's not really. It's a horror film It's really a horror with some thriller aspect to it because of a lot of uncertainty In the film which goes to something that I would was gonna end up saying later But I'll just say it now Every time I watch this film. I just I'm always like man I wish I was rewatching this for the very first time, you know what I mean Like I wish I every time I rewatch it I would just have my memory wiped off the movie and would just totally forget what happens because it's such an awesome journey It's an awesome journey and and I remember how I felt the first time I watch it just being very on edge and just feeling like I have no idea where this is going and I'm so excited and like into it like let's let's go So it just kind of sucks when I'm watching. I'm like, man, I know what happens that sucks But it's so good to rewatch You legitimately feel the isolation in this film Which makes the situation even more horrifying for the viewer They did an amazing job with like I was saying the refrigerated set makes it feel very isolated very secluded And you know me if you've been watching my reviews I always say that if you can make it feel very enclosed Isolated secluded those are my best or my best Those are my favorite types of horror films whenever people it feels like people can't get away From the big bad in the film is when I feel like the Annie is like up to so much And it really helps with the environment in the atmosphere of the film and this this has it in spades to be honest You get a pretty good idea of what the normal group dynamic is for this This group of people I think within the first about 15 minutes of the film So they do a really good job with that kind of establishing everyone's place within this research facility and so it's good to like I guess the best way I can put it it's good to establish everyone's baseline character Before things start getting crazy, which doesn't take all that much time before that happens So then you can see the changes so when people were kind of saying there's not any development There's you know, there's a little bit of character development. It's just nothing crazy The film plays on the fears of what what and who you think you know And when it has a dark side potentially So it's this it's this big thing that that happens in in some of the best films in my opinion where it's the unknown it's the I think I know this or I think I know that or but then something Happens and everything you know gets thrown up in the air into disarray and you're second guessing so much And it goes to a point where you can't even have normal relationships with the people around you And obviously that happens in this film and it's just it's crazy and it's fascinating to watch So the worst type of punishment to endure is what happens in this film Which is having to deal with a mess that someone else is responsible for You know what I mean if you've seen this and you'll know what I mean if you eventually watch this If you're watching this, I hope you plan to watch the movie Please do it So I have a hard time believing this this is what like a side comment That I have not actually really tied in the movie But he is I really have a hard time believing that all the amenities that these guys had when they're hanging out in this research Facility where I would actually be there like a pool table an arcade game a pinball machine um I think a whole I think there was an entire Large jukebox jukebox there like all these leisure items. I don't think would be there. It's a little unrealistic I mean, it looks cool in the film and it's nice for like a leisurely interesting room setting for the film, but Doesn't seem very realistic because you gotta You gotta trek that all that equipment and everything up there somehow and That's a lot of wasted room that you're using up on whatever you're using to get everything there Especially like a pool table. These things are crazy heavy and large So I call BS on that But small thing. So there's a good use of silence in this film. I really love the use of silence I'm I'm really big on that with film, especially horror films Because there's so many films where people feel like they just need to fill all the time with some sort of music um And I just think that that's that's dumb like sometimes you need people to be able to hear nothing and just focus on Silence because sometimes silence is the best tension builder in my opinion And it also allows audiences to kind of figure out how they how they personally should feel about things Because obviously music will tell you how you're supposed to feel And yeah, I just love a good use of silence and I feel like it's really well done in this film Especially when it's not a hundred percent silence. A lot of times a lot of times it's varying uh decibel levels of um Just the uh The howling wind outside the cold howling wind and I think it just adds to a kind of creepy scary feel to the film and I really love that about it Uh, and that actually enhances as I wrote down here that enhances the feeling of being secluded Because when you hear that howling wind, it's obvious that it's not hitting much You know, it's it's not coming up against much resistance, which lets you know that there's not a whole lot out there It's pretty barren and secluded You notice how they light just a portion of a person's face when they're doing a monologue This is something I haven't picked up on before but looking at this film from an analysis standpoint As I was watching a lot of times when there's like a monologue going on which is usually Kurt Russell They they light up like just this portion of his face And you and I just like started taking notice of that and I was just like, huh, which it makes it I don't know what it does for the I don't know what it does for it, but I feel like it looks better Like I can't put into words how that looks better, but to me it looks better. I don't know It's like a good way to emphasize. I think maybe it's just kind of like this Here focus here on what this person's saying. I don't know And okay. Yeah, so that's kind of all I wanted to say about this film I really like this film. Obviously I'm you know, I own it. So obviously I'd like to watch it as much as I can although it's been Probably about a year since I watched it last I shouldn't let that happen I want to introduce a lot of people to it. So if you're watching this and you haven't seen it Go check it out for sure. The last thing I want to say about this is a lot of people might not know this I mean, I'm a nerd. So I like games board games card games tabletop games You know, Dungeons and Dragons type stuff, whatever So there is a the thing board game called Outpost 31 And the premise of it is the premise of the movie as you would probably assume Where it you have multiple people playing the game and you all have objectives basically and there's a situation where there's someone At least one person in the group of people playing who is the thing basically so they have objectives But they're also trying to do side objectives, which is sabotage sabotaging everyone. So Um Good stuff I haven't played the game. I really want to get it because it sounds awesome and fun and potentially like It can be just a great tension builder amongst your friends Uh, yeah, so anyway, thank you everyone for checking this out. I'm going to give it the star rating real quick So I had a hard time out of my five star rating with half stars in play I'm between a four and a half and a five because I don't think it's necessarily a perfect film But it is a really good film and I really really like so much about it Which is why it blows my mind that it didn't do that well when it came out and it's just like such an amazing cult classic now Oh and real quick the budget for the practical effects on this film were set at like I think I read like two hundred thousand dollars or something like that and they ended up like Blowing over a million dollars on the budget, which um, I'm sure did not go over well back then but I'm glad it happened nowadays because it just looks ridiculous So, um, yeah, but anyway, uh, I think I'm going to go ahead and give it the five stars So between the four and four and a half and the five, you know, there are some small shortcomings with a little bit of the dialogue and um, you know, some of the stuff feels a little bit long at times, but Uh, the practical effect affects how amazing they are. I think just tips it that extra point five for me So I'm gonna give a five star rating. This is only the second film I've given a five star rating in my reviews and I will leave it up to other people to tell me in the comments What my other five star rated film was You would have to have watched the review I guarantee it because just looking through the title is you probably wouldn't pick it out Just saying anyway, thanks for checking this out. Do me a solid hit that subscribe. I would really really appreciate it I do have a patreon you can just search carlin cook or horror movie reviews with carlin cook Um, you don't have to the big thing is to subscribe I said that dumb the subscribe The redo, um, put some comments down there. Let's talk about this movie other horror movies I'd love to talk about it, but thank you so much and until next time keep it brutal