Movies - The Thing

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	Movies - The Thing

John Carpenter's The Thing is a 1982 science fiction film directed by John Carpenter. Ostensibly a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks film The Thing from Another World
, Carpenter's film is actually more faithful to the short story that serves as both films' source material, "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr.. The musical score was by Ennio Morricone, a rare instance of Carpenter not scoring one of his own films.

Plot

The story takes place in Antarctica. An American research station (Outpost #31) receives a surprise visit from a seemingly insane Norwegian, that is attempting to shoot a runaway Husky dog. The Norwegians are killed, and an investigation of the burned-out Norwegian research station reveals that they had uncovered an alien spacecraft from under hundreds of feet of ice.

It is soon revealed that the runaway Husky, now in the Americans' care, is in fact an alien life form that has the ability to duplicate any creature it absorbs. The result is an alien predator with the ultimate camouflage; it is a perfect reproduction of its host. Gradually, paranoia sets in among the Americans, as none can be certain who has been infected.

Many characters' names are taken directly from the original Campbell story, as is a scene in which Russell's character devises a test to see who may be infected, by exposing a sample of each man's blood to extreme heat. The creature itself is never named but is always referred to as The Thing.

Critical reception and themes

Upon its release, the film was lambasted by critics for its special make-up effects, created by Rob Bottin, which were seen as excessively bloody and repulsive. The film fared poorly at the box office, mainly due to the release of E.T.
a few months earlier, with its more optimistic view of alien visitation. Yet its reputation improved in the late nineties through home video releases. It is now regarded by the majority of Carpenter's admirers as one of his finest films. A collector's edition DVD was released in 1999.

This film is the first installment in Carpenter's 'Apocalypse Trilogy', followed by 1987's Prince of Darkness
and 1995's In the Mouth of Madness
. The plots and characters of the films are not connected.

Just as the 1951 film had taken advantage of the national mood to enhance its terror effect, this film did likewise. The early 1980's were a period of low public morale in American history; the nation was experiencing poor economy and high unemployment. Internationally, communism was on the move again, following the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, and American hostages were being held in Tehran, Iran. For many, the United States was appearing more and more isolated and vulnerable to outside attack, much like the crew of the Antarctic outpost in the film. Though strictly unintentional, certain elements of the film (transmission of the alien organism through bodily fluids, the inability to look at a person and determine infection, the use of a blood test to test for infection) paralleled the first reports of a new disease, AIDS.

In 2004 another The Thing collector's edition DVD was released. The only differences between the two is an improved anamorphic transfer and removal of the isolated score from the 1999 release.

Sequel or not?

Due to the unclear fates of the characters portrayed by Kurt Russell and Keith David, many fans of the film have hoped for a sequel. An alternative ending was originally shot showing MacReady rescued and a blood test proving he was human but it was done as a precaution and never used even for test screening and not part of John Carpenter's original vision for the film. Some still speculate about the content of a possible sequel and have even made their own fan scripts and fan fiction of their vision of how things might have turned out.

John Carpenter once stated the Dark Horse Comics envisioning is what he would base a sequel on but this never happened. He later stated he would have done a sequel but no one ever asked him to do so. On another occasion, he stated the sequel would be costly beyond his own means and that it would be about "teenagers fighting the Thing in the Bahamas".

Other fans reject the idea of a sequel, stating that it would ruin the first film and state it should stand alone, as they see it to be a masterpiece. They also state if one was made now, it would be lacking and would not do the first film any justice. Others also feel the video game is enough to do for a sequel.

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Movies - The Thing

Plot

Critical reception and themes

Sequel or not?

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