Rating: 
Summary: Classic horror from John Carpenter
Review: The Thing is one of the great horror movies of the 1980's. Set in Antarctica in 1982, it circles around a group of researchers who uncover an alien buried under the ice that then proceeds to wreak havoc on the crew. Awsome effects by Rob Bottin (The Howling) and a terrific story make "The Thing" a rare horror treat. If you are still interested in learning more about it, read the book "Who Goes There?", which is the novella which they based the movie. THE THING
Rated R: Strong violence and gore, and brief language.
Rating:
Summary: horror masterpiece
Review: This is definitely one of my favorite films. A masterpiece! You have to see this film! There is nothing else like it! The monster is one of the most imaginative creations ever. Not your run of the mill alien by any means! Great scenes of paranoia among the characters in the film brought to life through excellent direction and acting! Memorable dialogue! It uses both over the top disturbing special effects to great effect and it also enables you to use your imagination at times to fill in the blanks. This is one you'll never forget. I've watched it many times over the years. Turn out the lights and watch this one at night, you will have a great time! One of the best horror films ever! The Citizen Kane of Antartic calamity!
Rating:
Summary: the thing /collectors ed./ john capenter
Review: The touch up and color are great!A great classic of a remake.The movie stands the test of time.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly awsome masterpeice by John Carpenter.
Review:
John Carpenters masterpeice horror is in almost as a way just as scary and frightning to watch as Ridely Scott's Alien and just
as terrifyingly shocking and visually disturbing.Kurt Rusell,
Wilford Brimly,Keith David,Charels Hallihan,Donald Moffat,Richard
Masur star in this remake based on John Cambells Who Goes There?.
That is much more authentic to the authors story.
In a cold prestine winter 1982, Antartica R.J. Macready(Kurt
Russell) and a team of men in an isolated camp find that a day
that started with rescuing a wolf from a crazed Norwiegen with
a shotgun will be the least of there worries when Macready and
his men find this Norwiegan out post only to find bodies of
cut and burned corpses that leave more questions then answers.
When the bodies are brought back Blair(Wilford Brimley) does
an autopsy and find that while the bodies are deformed they seem
normal, It is not soon after this that we find the wolf they they
have shelterd with awsome special effects by Rob Bottin and Stan
Winston reveal its true nature and turns into a horrifying alien
able to assume anything it comes in contact with for it's own survival in one of the best scenes in horror film history it grows legs and begins to look like some fleshy nightmare that
these poor men have had to unfortunately confront.
Just when things couldn't seem any worse Macready and the men
find out that this thing was buried in the ice for 100,000 years
there hell does not stop when one of the men Bennings is taken by
this alien and imitated to almost perfection wich leads Mcready
to beleive that any one of the men could be one of these things
and that it will hide for it's own survival the men go through
doubt , disbelief , distrust amongst all of them questioning
themselves and each other weither they are the host for this
creature , but it is Norris(Charels Hallihan) who is the unfortunate casualty for this creatures survival in a scene that
is so graphic that it rivals the chestburster scene in Alien
that is again done by master Rob Bottin that is scary as hell.
The creature yet again inteligently shows itself twice when
were least expecting it even capturing blair as a last ditch
effort to save itself from exctintion and showing itself yet
again one last time before Mcready destroys it along with the
outpost in a finally that will leave you breathless.
An incredible score by musical master Ennio Morricone gives
this film even more of an unsetteling feeling that something unsound is around the corner , the cinimatography is just grade
A and the special effects well they don't make effects like this
anymore the alien has substance mass weight and reality to it
that computer graphics just cannot do or even attempt this dvd
has film essays , documents of original script treatment , stop
motion clips , trailer , and an 80 minute documentary of the making of this awsome film the 5.1. dolby brings out this movies
true colors and makes the sounds and the score more lifelike for
any horror fan or anyone who has ever loved scary films this one
is a must have pure and simple one of Carpenters best if not his best.
Rating:
Summary: A great movie
Review: I recently saw this movie on cable and was *surprised* at how good of a movie it was. Excellent pacing, still very scary, and the acting was all excellent and quite believable. After watching a good portion of the movie, I remember thinking to myself "I really wish they could make movies like this today".
Rating:
Summary: Terrific horror
Review: My mind is like one of those wierd little toy cars that, after pushing it forward and letting go, keeps going for an absurdly long time, whirring the whole way. I am also an avid horror fan, so this does not add up well. For example- after watching "The Ring", I stuck my television on the back porch and hid under the covers. My mind just keeps going over and over, bringing up vivid images of frightening things like the girl in the closet. John Carpenter's The Thing was no help to my overactive imagination. After watching it for the fourth time I grew wary of my cat sitting on the rug. It looked at me, and I dashed to the bedroom. And I'm 24.
A remake of the 1950's movie "The Thing From Outer Space", JC's The Thing is set in the Arctic...or the Antarctic. I can't remember. But anyways, the opening shot with the terrifying music (after the somewhat cheesy titles) shows a vast white wasteland, trolley with snow and sky. As it pans across, we see a little black figure- a dog, running for its life. And a helicopter chasing it, with someone hanging out a window with a shotgun, just trying to blast this dog to bits for no apparent reason. JC has dropped us smack into the middle of the action that appears to have nothing to do with anything. After a while, we get to meet the people of the base camp. This is where we realise that this isn't your normal horror movie, with a woman who's better than anyone else or at least plays a proper role. This is what would probably be reality- several men in an arctic station about to be attacked by the Thing.
The Thing arrives as (guess what!) the dog. When I first saw this (replayed in the local cinema) the dog-splitting scene made everyone in the theatre JUMP out of their skins (heh). Everyone knew something was going to happen, but what does happen was totally out of the blue.
I have a feeling that The Thing could have only been made then. Nowadays, it would be smashed into a relatively cute film with a black lesbian woman [sorry, not being racist but the recent movie "Alien Vs. Predator" was simply awful] as the lone survivor [totally changing the point and the fearsome quality of the film itself]. Another thing would be that today they [ie: Hollywood] would force the producer to use computer animation, therefore removing the great transformations and the terrific feel of the movie. The spinning, walking head would be replaced by a rather cheesy pixelly thing that just wouldn't work for the one reason that it would just look too fake.
Overall, John Carpenter's The Thing is a terrific movie that is pure, unadaultered horror movie in its best light.
Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC HORROR FILM
Review: Just watched this again for the nth time on SCREAM television. I can't comment on this DVD release, as I have not seen it. As for the film itself, it never fails to enthrall. This is absolutely one of the best horror films ever made, and John Carpenter's finest effort. For atmosphere, suspense, acting, grotesque effects, music, this film is tops. For whatever the reason, after this it was abruptly downhill for John Carpenter. His subsquent films range from barely watchable to absolutely, unbarely awful.
HOWEVER, this film is a masterpiece of its type.
One final note: BEWARE a butchered version of this film that was slapped together for television in the early eighties. It features additional footage whilst removing much of the horrific effects and ruined the movie.
Not to be missed!
Rating:
Summary: It's a John Carpenter Thing
Review: In the silent cold of an Antarctic wasteland, the United States National Science Institute's Station 4 team is about to encounter a horror from beyond our galaxy. Frozen for hundreds of thousands of years, dug up and released by a nearby Norwegian research team, and now, set loose in the confines of Station 4's isolated outpost, the life-form absorbing, perfectly imitating alien creature could be disguised as anyone, man or animal. Kurt Russell is R. J. MacReady, the helicopter pilot forced into the role of leader by circumstances out of his control. As the mysterious, faceless creature assimilates member after member, it's up to MacReady and the other survivors to discover who is really who they say they are. Paranoia is the order of the day, fear and tempers boil, and each friend and coworker begins to trust each other less and less. Finger pointing and blame throwing are added into the mix, as the ever growing death toll begins to include victims of suspicion as well. It's anyone's guess how the confrontation will end, but this much is certain: It's a hell of a thing!
In 1982, one heck of a year for Sci-Fi, John Carpenter graced us with yet another of his sci-fi/horror masterpieces, this one a remake of 1951's "The Thing From Another World," and simply titled: "The Thing." I use the term "remake" loosely, because in fact this new film was more strongly based on the original John Campbell short story, "Who Goes There?," than the first film had ever been. In "The Thing," John Carpenter achieves his objective of creating an alien creature that is never just a "guy in a suit." When not in disguise, this completely unknown creature is a hodgepodge of every life-form it's ever imitated, and the visuals are more than a little disturbing. Naturally, "The Thing" is chock full of special effects, mainly from FX master Rob Bottin, though Stan Winston kicked in some help too. For its time, the film pushed the boundaries of gore and horror. This movie isn't all about slimy alien invasions though. More than anything, it's about isolation, desperation, and paranoia. It's a fantastic, character driven story with an all male ensemble cast, featuring Carpenter favorites like Kurt Russell and Keith David, and other notables, such as Wilford Brimley and Richard Masur. John Carpenter's presence is evident throughout, but the haunting music is the dead giveaway. The collector's edition DVD is well laden with informative extras, despite being a single disc. The effectively eerie slip cover is also a nice touch. Featured on the disc is an 80 minute behind the scenes documentary loaded with interviews and great footage. There are plenty of other treats too, including outtakes, deleted footage, galleries and slide-shows, and the expected theatrical trailer. There's also a great commentary with director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell! Without a doubt, "The Thing" is a sci-fi classic and should be considered a necessary and welcome addition to any sci-fi/horror fan's library.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the faint-hearted
Review: I was feeling seriously, physically sick watching this movie, and that's not a good thing! I'm sure my groans could be heard for miles, and I'm pretty sure I missed a couple of scenes, due to hiding my face in the chair. I could have done without seeing a dog's head splitting open. There's blood and body parts flying all over - arms are bitten off, heads detach and one man is devoured face first by the Thing. The stuff of nightmares if I'd been a few years younger.
I'd previously never heard of this film, nor did I know that Kurt Russell played a character called MacReady. I thought that was pretty cool. Not so keen on the beard though. Ugh!
The only quibble I have with this movie, is there appears to be a strictly no females policy on board somewhere! There are no female characters in the film. The only female presence in the movie is in the voice of MacReady's chess computer and the contestants seen on the game show that Palmer watches. A scene containing a blow-up doll was filmed and then left on the cutting room floor. Additionally, one of the crew was a woman but she fell ill during the outdoor shoot and was replaced with a man. Why no women? It totally reminded me of Ghosts of Mars - just better. And there were women in that.
For a scene where a character's arms are severed, a real-life double amputee stand-in was used wearing a mask in the likeness of the character. The audience focuses on the bloody stumps while the mask goes unnoticed. In the scene where Norris' (Charles Hallahan) head separates from his body, special-FX designer Rob Bottin used highly inflammable materials for the construction of interior of the head and neck models. During the shoot John Carpenter decided that, for continuity reasons, they needed some flames around the scene. Without thinking they lit a fire bar and the whole room, which by now was filled with inflammable gasses, caught fire. Nobody got hurt, but the entire special effects model, on which Bottin had worked several months, was destroyed.
You can literally FEEL how cold it is watching this movie, and I swear, I was feeling the cold!
Hollywood are getting bad for doing this - releasing a DVD, and then releasing a bigger, better & badder version a few months later. It's not so bad if it's years after the original release, but this is getting unbelievable. Sometimes if you compare the DVDs, there's hardly any difference, and sometimes, you'll have to keep both DVDs, cos they both have different extras. The extras on this include: commentary by director John Carpenter and Kurt Russell; documentary "John Carpenter's The Thing: Terror Takes Shape" featuring interviews with John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, make-up designer Rob Bottin, matte artist Albert Whitlock, and other cast and crew members, plus outtakes, work-in-progress special effects footage and behind-the-scenes footage; behind-the-scenes photographs; storyboards and conceptual art; and annotated production archive.
If you're a huge fan of gore, that isn't really showing its age, then go ahead and get this. Once seen, it won't be forgotton.
Rating:
Summary: Too Gross and Little Left to the Imagination
Review: True, this remake of the 1950s classic is closer to the orginal story line (from a short story of the legendary sci-fi editor and innovator John Campbel. True, there are exceptional special effects. True, I enjoyed watching it 2-3 times. True, the monster in the original is pretty pathetic. But, the graphic portrayal of the monster and its ridiculous permutations of horribly realistic grossness really destroys the movie for me. Obviously, I'm not a slasher fan, nor do I enjoy too much graphic blood and guts. I much prefer many of the older classics, especially black and white films, that build the suspense and allow your imagination to imagine things much worse, and more interesting, than what modern special effects can put on the screen.
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