Review of Thing, The (2003 re-issue)

Introduction

It`s the winter of 1982, and something strange is happening at US Research Centre no.31 in the Antarctic. A Norwegian helicopter chases a husky into the US compound, trying to both shoot it and blow it up. Landing and attempting to kill it with a hand grenade, the crazed passenger drops the grenade and blows up his chopper and pilot. Undaunted by this act, the madman tries to chase the dog into the camp, shooting all the time and inadvertently wounding one of their number. Military man Garry kills the Norwegian with his pistol, leaving everyone baffled by this event.

Helicopter pilot Mac (Kurt Russell) decides to head to the Norwegian base after discovering that they`ve only been in the area for 8 weeks, far too little time to go stir crazy. Taking one of the scientists with him, the two discover the Norwegian base completely wrecked and a few bodies either frozen in death or burnt remains. They also find a rectangular oblong of ice that has been partially thawed. Gathering all the data they can find, both head for home before it gets dark to try and find out what is going on.

Using the material found, the team discover that the Norwegian team had discovered something further out on the ice but it`s not clear exactly what they`ve found. Mac finds the UFO buried beneath for the ice, estimated to have been there for about 10,000 years, and the section of removed ice that matches that found in the Norwegian base. They are still no clearer as to what is happening until they decide to put the new dog in with their own pack and then all hell breaks loose.

The dog has been absorbed by a shape-shifting alien organism and now it`s in the US compound, it starts to kill and absorb the group one by one.

Video

Non-anamorphic widescreen picture in a 2.35.1 aspect ratio. Much as I like watching films as they`re meant to be seen I don`t appreciate it when nearly half of my screen is black. I stretched the picture using the cinema and then subtitles options on my 32" screen and it still looked ok. The picture itself has some damage, they really didn`t look after those prints in the old days, huh? Nothing major just some artefacts and a bit of grain, nothing to distract you from the film though.

Audio

Pretty good 5.1 surround track on this newer version of the film (it was released in 2003) with stereo soundtracks in French and Italian and mono soundtracks in Spanish and Polish. Well subtitled with alternate subs available 8 other languages.

Ennio Morricone actually scores this film, but you wouldn`t think so. Imitating John Carpenter, the soundtrack is a moody one using heavy analogue synths and brooding bass chords. The music is pretty simple stuff, but it`s effective all the same and actually suits this kind of film more than, say, Assault On Precinct 13. Needless to say, Morricone fans were disappointed with the effort and he was nominated for a Razzie in 1983 for worst soundtrack. Philistines…

Features

The extras look exactly the same as on the previous version of the disc, so that`s no reason to double dip.

Commentary with Kurt Russell and John Carpenter.

The Thing: Terror Takes Shape - a very thorough 80 minute documentary put together in 1998, featuring most of the cast and the main players from the crew. Goes into a lot of detail, particularly over the creature effects of Rob Bottin and the matte paintings of Albert Whitlock.

Production Background Archive

Production Art & Storyboards

Location Design

Production Archives

Post Production

Cast & Filmmakers - only Kurt Russell and John Carpenter though…

Outtakes - both frame by frame and full motion. Cover different outtakes though…

All of the above (except the documentary, obviously) are text based pieces that are well put together as a mix of text and still or behind the scenes photo`s. Some of the information is already covered in the documentary but there is a lot of extra detail here and the pieces are well designed and well made. My only gripe is with the pacing as each one is designed as a slideshow and some of the slides move on before you`ve had a chance to read all the text.

Despite this, this really shows that making decent extras with a lot of interesting and detailed information is a bit of a lost art.

Conclusion

This film comes from when John Carpenter was in his prime. It shows its age a bit now in terms of style and visual effects, but it`s class all the same. The Thing is a classic paranoia-type horror film similar to Alien in that a group of characters are effectively trapped in an isolated location with little hope of escape and an unknown protagonist is bumping them off one by one. In this case we know what The Thing is (kinda…), we just don`t know who it is.

My only problem with this edition is the artwork, which has nothing to do with the film itself. The artwork is from a computer game from a few years ago that is essentially a squad-based FPS set just after the events in the film, which is why you`ve got a few guys running through a blizzard with sub-machine guns. This release was clearly done on the back of this game as it carries the same artwork as the game. The disc hasn`t been updated in any way since the Collector`s Edition was released in 1998, but thankfully that`s a good thing as this disc is superb.

Russell and Carpenter are teamed together again, and it works brilliantly. Russell was clearly on fire at this stage in his career and the same could really be said for Carpenter. It is very much an ensemble piece in both acting and production terms. The cast are great, nice to see Keith David again - a nice match to Russell. The film wouldn`t have worked though without the stunning creature effects provided by Rob Bottin and the matte paintings by Albert Whitlock. It`s always interesting to look back on films prior to the mainstream infiltration of CGI and watching true artists at work. Both are flawless and you never quite think `hmm, that isn`t real` even though you know it can`t be and even after the appearance of the spider/head hybrid and Palmer`s quite superb and disbelieving line.

There are some inconsistencies though. It`s never quite explained just exactly what US Research Station 31 is actually doing. I can sort of understand why you would need guns with wild animals roaming about the Antarctic landscape, but why on earth would this kind of station have flamethrowers? And not just one either…

Clearly with this kind of film, you need to set the right level of tension and Carpenter does this superbly with an opening scene of a helicopter chasing a husky across the Antarctic landscape and trying to shoot it. For the first time viewer you have no idea what is happening other than the hint of the opening sequence/titles as no explanation is given. This puts you in the same shoes as the characters inhabiting the US research station as they struggle to find out what is going on. During the opening first act, where it`s not clear what is happening, Carpenter imbues the dog with a level of intelligence with some short but cleverly edited shots of the dog either staring at various people or exploring the compound. Suspension of disbelief is important in a film of this nature and it works beautifully.

As a study in paranoia, this is superb and easily on a par with the likes of Alien. The downbeat ending is superb and completely in line with the tone of the film and the two characters. It`s sometimes nice to leave a film with an open ending and the story unresolved. It works here.