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The Thing - Collector's Edition

The Thing - Collector's Edition

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Remake by a Master of Modern Horror
Review: Horror master John Carpenter is at the helm of this 1982 remake of the sci-fi classic The Thing from Another World. A group of arctic scientists uncover an alien spacecraft long ago buried in the ice. When they thaw out the occupant, they discover a being that can emulate the form of any human or animal it comes in contact with. Kurt Russell leads the fight to destroy the creature before it can spread and take over the world. They soon discover the Thing is vulnerable to conventional weapons (guns, flamethrowers, etc.) so it hides in its victims. This evokes a paranoid atmosphere that forms the basis of the movie. Unlike the original, this movie uses gory special effects each time the creature reveals itself. While dated by today's standards, they were groundbreaking at the time, are still quite effective, and only for those with a strong stomach.

The collector's edition DVD contains a commentary track by Carpenter and Russell as well as a pretty good making of documentary. The picture is presented in widescreen format with descent, but not perfect quality. The sound track is mixed in Dolby 5.1 and again is descent, but could be better. The Thing was a bust at the box office and criticized by some for lack of characterization. Fans of the genre however recognize it for what it is: a brilliant horror movie from one of the best horror movie directors of our time. If you're building a library of "creature feature" films, this should be high on your priority list.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent early 80's Sci-Fi
Review: Director John Carpenter ("Halloween", "The Fog", "Starman", "Escape From NY", "Vampires", "Christine", etc) pulled out all the stops in this science fiction action thriller. Pilot RJ MacReady (Kurt Russell) is the main character who takes charge of a small research group in the Antarctic. When a frozen unknown "THING" is found, the group decides to bring it inside to examine. Naturally it thaws out and comes back to life and all hell breaks loose. When it's discovered that the alien can imitate any living form, the men begin to distrust and suspect each other. In the end, only 2 survive and they're both trying to figure out if the other guy is human or alien. Great supporting cast with Wilford Brimley (yeah, the old "Quaker Oats" guy) as Blair, TK Carter as Nauls, and Richard Dysart as Dr. Copper. Some great scenery including lots of snow and beautiful mountains... and you know it's cold outside from the breath of the actors (although you know it's not 40 degrees below like MacReady states... somehow, if it was, he would have more than an unzipped leather flight jacket on anytime he goes outside). Good special effects for 1982... I have to remind myself - this movie is "decades" old. From the alien spliting open a dog's face (and popping out of the dog), to a crawling head, to a human's chest cavity opening up and biting the Dr's arms off, to the simple few drops of blood jumping out of a pitre dish - it's enough to keep you entertained through the picture. At the time of it's release, I was surprised that the usually safe & secure Kurt Russell would take such a different role in such a different type of movie (Sci-Fi/Horror). Turn the lights off and enjoy the ride.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: something wrong
Review: I buy this excellent movie.. but some data in the page it's not true:

Available subtitles: Spanish, English (captions)

The DVD don't have Spanish subtitles.. now.. what can i do?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Classic Suspense Horror
Review: This is one of the few genuine edge-of-the-seat horror movies that stands the test of time. To put it in context, it is very similar in flavour to the movies of the Alien(s) series. It is based loosely upon a much earlier black and white movie (also more then worth a look). The atmosphere in the movie is created by the isolation of the cast in an arctic research station. Weird happenings are afoot in a neighbouring Norwegian research base, and despite the signs of very bad karma the crew of our station set out to investigate. However, in the process of their investigations they unwittingly become hosts to a shape-changing alien life-form that masquerades as members of the team. One by one people start dying or going mad and the research station gets lonelier and lonelier as paranoia overtakes the survivors. The horror of the alien life form, when found, is well portrayed by memorable special effects and like those in the Alien(s) series these are seriously scary. Overall, this is one of the all time best horror science fiction movies and well worth owning.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Scary and Strange but not for my appetite
Review: This is an awesome film for every alien horror movie fan. I loved it so so much. It was the best alien movie of the Decade. It was better than alien and all those other great ones.

There is nothing wrong with the film, but i'm not the biggest alien fan but i love this movie and others like it. It is a great one for the collection.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Who's human - HUH?! Are you the ....no, no-WAIT ....AHHHH !
Review: One of the most disturbing and terryfying movies i've seen. (based in Antarctica) It's got such a great element that maybe was borrowed from Alien (another fantastic film) : Isolation. A few members becoming victims of a chameleonic figure that makes it's way into any animal or human it touches.

The scenes that are desolate and creepily quiet, where somebody disapears suddenly, and the great thing is that they skip the music for a bit....giving you a terror filled scene of.....quiet. HUh?? W--w-w-w-what was th-th-that??!!

the Thing itself was kind of goofy...great concept- a form fitting monster...cool idea...the creature wasn't scary looking much..a big insect - like spider...that roars.

A lot of great up and coming faces other than Kurt Russel....who is excellent here,as is the rest of the cast. And again, like alien...this wasn't ACTED....,more of matter of fact....makes it more realistic. Acting and trying too hard isn't any good.

One of the most tense movies ever....HU-who's there?! Who...oh, it's only a worker...hey...what's on the agenda, and hey-where is everybody? What are you doing? Ah-MPHH!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: exelent
Review: one of carpenters best and one of the best horror movies ever made.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Story lost in excess gore
Review: Yep we are confronted by a dog-splitting being from the great beyond. Being isolated we must evaluate track and kill this most obviously menacing "Thing". But what, who, and where is it?
In an attempt at graphic surprises we have sacrificed character and mood of the book ("Who Goes There" by John W. Campbell Jr.), and the original movie ("The Thing From Another World.}". Ah you say what if you do not compare? Still it is a sticky blob story that has no personality of its own.
This movie is fun to watch and say "don't look there" but it is far from extraordinary.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Five Star++++ Science Fiction/horror/thriller!
Review: One of the best sci-fi/horror movies ever, and probably the BEST. Massively underrated gem. Great acting by excellent ensemble cast. Director Carpenter lived up to his potential in this movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What goes there?!
Review: A team of scientists and other adventurers gathered together at the bottom of the world confront an otherworldly thing, and must now battle to survive. Until that point, John Carpenter stays faithful to Howard Hawks's "The Thing" of the 1950's. It takes Carpenter a shockingly short time to go his own way, and the overgrown Frankenstein's monster of that film is replaced by something more terrifying here. In an opening scene that telegraphs what we're in for, the Americans - comprising among others, Wilford Brimley, Kurt Russel and that guy who played Ken Olin's evil boss from "30something" (David Clennon) - are happy enough sitting out the Antarctic's chills when their camp is invaded by an armed and crazed refugee from a nearby Norwegian research camp and his dog. Though firing away as if possessed, it's soon clear that the dog is the nordic gunman's target. After dispatching the norwegian, the team takes in the poor dog, then decides to look into the Norwegian camp nearby. Though expecting a scene of horror, nothing quite prepares them for what they'll find - a smoking ruin where the Norwegian camp had been, signs of some horrible evil that erased all life from the camp, whispers of a nameless fear - a video taken by the Norwegian shows how they found something huge under the ice, and how they brought something back. Following the video, the Americans locate the site of the excavation, and find the remains of a huge alien spacecraft dug out of the ice after being buried for hundreds of thousands if not millions of years. Something in the ship survived, apparently frozen to death untold centuries ago. Unfortunately, the spacecraft's occupant is only dormant and, once removed from the ice, comes back to a frightening existence. Sure they'll be okay if they keep the alien remains on ice, the Americans return to the camp with it, not knowing that the horror dug out of the ice is already in the camp with them. Rather than a single creature, the Thing is more of a rapacious biological force of nature, an intelligent agglomeration of cells that can mimic whatever it touches, and destroys what's left. All it needs is a way to infect the remaining members of the team before they can destroy it. Then it can escape the Antarctic and infect the world.

Once we've seen the Thing reveal itself, the film steers away from the 1950's movie, and never turns back. Instead, though dispatching one of the monsters, the teammates soon realize that one of them may already be infected, and is already working against them. Between Wilford Brimley, as the man who identifies what the Thing is (but can never be sure what it has become) and Kurt Russell as the team's muscle, the American camp becomes an armed camp - a maze of darkened corridors where something lurks, a monster that has the power of familiarity and an impulse to copy and destroy.

This was an overlooked classic from the summer of '82 (we'd already been exhausted by "ET", "Poltergeist" and "Wrath of Khan"; that was also the summer of "Blade Runner" - I guess there was just so much excitement that people could stand in the space of 3 months) but we're a lot smarter now. Between Rob Bottin's unsurpassed creature effects, Carpenter's crisp direction and Kurt Russel's moody acting, the story is gripped in a relentless tension in which you're never sure what surprises it has in store, even when the Thing explodes to life in front of you. The film immediately distances itself from "Alien" (which had been made only a couple of years earlier) in that its alien hides in plain sight, rather than hiding in the stygian depths of some oversized spaceship or space station. Though a gore-fest, the story isn't gratuitous - especially in a now infamous scene involving a couch, some yards of rope and flamethrower. The film excels in its contradictions - though set in the widest wilderness on earth, the settings seems endlessly claustrophobic; though the Thing lacks any shape of its own, Bottin uses the transformation scenes to convey its power and character; though the characters are perpetually grim (the end of life on Earth can do that to you), there's actually a humorous undercurrent - like "An American Werewolf in London", it's scary and darkly funny at the same time.


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