Fire up your flame-thrower, because John Carpenter’s The Thing is the Greatest Movie EVER!
Click on the movie poster or the link above to download our review of the film.
Review in a Nutshell: Brimming over with gore and paranoia, John Carpenter’s The Thing is a pessimistic vision and a luminary example of the science fiction / horror subgenre.
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“You fool! My kung fu is best!”
The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast 
never thought I’d ever hear a Secret Invasion reference in one of your podcasts. Glad to see you’re reminding your viewers that He Loves You.
Yes, finally, a movie that I watch that I can comment about. Even those I see the first Crank and wanna to respond what Daryl comments. I get back when I done listening to it.
For future reference, please listen to the show before commenting. It’s good net etiquette. 🙂
OK! But first I have to say two thing before I get on The Thing. 1. Fuck Quesada. 2. I think Sam Raimi did Spider-Man 3 so he can made Drag Me To Hell. Now I get on point. You help me realize that John Carpenter is a underrated director. His make so many classic and change the way that action, sci-fi, and horror are made. But people only talk about him when a remake come out. The Thing is great movie by far, I can’t say it my favorite thing his made because I haven’t see most of it, but it proof that he a great director. Fact: Carpenter and other have say it was Box office failure because when E.T. came out and every alien movies afterward have to be PG. As for critical, there just don’t like horrors that not The Exorcist
Cool, I wonder if you’ll do the other two in the apocalypse trilogy? Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness. Carpenter is solid.
Great ‘cast of a great film.
If you’re going to do a Carpenter theme, I’d love to know your opinion of Dark Star. It astounds me that people hate that film, but maybe they just don’t get the joke.
I need to see this movie
I’m surprised yall didn’t go into the soundtrack. I do love me some John Carpeter music.
The Thing and Big Trouble are definitely movies I try to catch every couple of years. Carpenter is a very practical filmmaker, but he always has so much in there that re-watches always leads to new discoveries.
I gotta agree with you about the in-camera vs CGI SFX. I was watching The Mummy today and, man, it didn’t age well. The great thing is that Rob Bottin is still producing SFX, like Fight Club and Se7en, which uses a mix of CGI and in-camera.
Ah, The Thing. I really do like this movie, but the same thing constantly happens to me every time it’s on TV – I completely miss the opening, only joining the movie at certain moments (most often, the “You’ve got to be f***ing kidding me” moment). Funnily enough, this happens whenever I try to watch Enter the Dragon on TV – even though my Dad actually has it on DVD.
Merry Christmas, Goob.
I always wondered why Fuchs never turned up again in the film as the alien. Maybe Carpenter didn’t want to have another Rob Botin body riot to film.
In reference to why the hell this film failed to find its audience (imagine that, a Carpenter film that failed at the box office and later became a cult hit!) was that this came out in June of ’82 and the previous year E.T. had come out at about the same time. As far as I remember, and I could be wrong, Carpenter mentions this in the commentary track with Kurt Russell and how audiences were not willing to accept another alien horror movie so soon after Spielberg’s film. Odd that, given Ridley Scott’s Alien had only been released in ’79 so audiences shouldn’t have been that hostile to this. On the same commentary, Russell mentions that they shot an alternative ending to the film, in which Macready is rescued and Childs (Keith David) turned out to be the Thing, but the test audiences rejected it. Personally I like the ending they ran with. The Thing game for the PS2 definitively gives an answer about what happened after that but I never read the DH comic series.
The Apocalypse trilogy is something I’ve never finished, as ITMOM is one I haven’t seen. Prince Of Darkness is great but there is a period near the end of the movie when the crew get possessed or something and Dennis Dun starts freaking out with the girl in the room with him and I worried at the time that it might turn into The Thing and bodies dropping like flies. Interesting as Carpenter reverse engineers the whole body betrayal in Prince of Darkness from mass body betrayal in The Thing.
For my money, I think Wilford Brimley becomes the Thing after he asks Mac to come back into the base. Don’t ask me why, I just feel that way.
I have the Big Trouble In Little China podcast finally recorded and done. I’ve just one or two things to finish with it. Sometime in January, when I get a new computer, I’ll post it up and we can compare opinions on the film.
Excuse me Mr. Eeeper, but I say the same thing about why audiences didn’t see it.
If you want to review more John Carpenter movies, then let me suggest:
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Holloween (1978)
The Fog (1980)
Escape from New York (1981)
Christine (1983)
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
These movies, along with Big Trouble in Little China, are the “Carpenter films that don’t suck” movies.
Finally had some time to listen to the podcast after Christmas.
I always get funny looks whenever I mention that I prefer the original 50’s movie to Carpenter’s remake. Yeah, Carpenter’s effects are incredible, and the giant carrot thing is a bit silly, but I just don’t like any of the characters in the remake, and the dialog in the original is great.
For example, I can quote a dozen lines from the original off the top of my head (and really, you needed a tag line for a The Thing review and couldn’t remember “Watch the Skies!”?), but the only memorable line in the remake is the absurd “Something’s got the dogs! Get your flamethrower!”
That’s not to knock Carpenter though, who is a great filmmaker. Both The Fog and Prince of Darkness are two of my favorite horror movies, and of the other movies mentioned I only have a problem with Mouth of Madness, which is frustrating, because it’s such a great movie that’s ruined by one scene.
SPOILER:
It’s the scene where Sam Neil is confronting the author. The author stands in front of a giant door and starts ripping his stomach open, and instead of blood, reality rips open and you see that on the other side, reality is just a page of one of the author’s books.
END SPOILER.
At least that's what it's supposed to look like, but the effect is just so cheesy that the entire movie jumps the shark.
Up until this point, you haven't been sure if what is happening is real or if Sam Neil is dreaming it, but this scene looks so ridiculous that doubt is removed entirely, ruining the film.
Eh, rant over. Great podcast Goob, hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Apologies, wayintothe7thart. Didn’t see your post until after I’d put up mine.
Paul this was probably the best podcast you’ve ever done.