Next up in #Johnuary is John Carpenter’s The Thing! This is definitely a film that is up there in the cult zeitgeist, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before.
Some quick thoughts before I get a bit deeper…
- I love the cinematography of the opening sequences in the snow. I’d love to watch that on the big screen
- Another thing that hit me right away was the cool score. That shouldn’t surprise me any more in Carpenter films
- I couldn’t help thinking that Kurt Russell looked like Kris Kristofferson
- We find McReady playing chess and drinking J&B Whisky. Good man. Great intro
- Nice seeing Wilford Brimley without the big moustache
- Also loved seeing a younger Keith David
- They’ve got an arcade machine on the base. Very cool. Asteroids Deluxe
- I like films that don’t need to cram in loads of dialogue. That’s one thing I love about Carpenter’s films
- One of his signature shots is used to great effect several times in this film, when the camera faces people running down a corridor and then switches to their point of view
- The creature effects are great. Mostly done by Rob Bottin, but the dog creature was done by the legend that is Stan Winston. Watching it now, these effects do lessen the horror effect a bit, and are even funny in places, but I’m sure it was pretty scary back in the day. They’re certainly very impressive visual effects for the time
- John Carpenter uses his bizarre noises for when a shape appears on screen, just like in Halloween
Images from Blu-Ray.com
The plot is pretty great in terms of how it’s a cat and mouse game of who’s who. Paranoia and distrust abound as no-one knows who is the Thing. One thing I did think, however, was that everyone seemed to understand very quickly that when the Thing mimics someone it also mimics their memories and thoughts. So much so that you could be the Thing and not realise it. That’s huge and I just felt it was slightly skipped over. Initially I thought the Thing would just mimic how someone looked, and that upon closer inspection it would be easy to work out it’s the Thing, but to have it perfectly mimic every aspect of someone’s personality is a terrifying thought.
I’ve read things about how the film is one big chess game. We find McReady playing chess at the start of the film and then he continues to play chess mind games with the Thing throughout the film. There has been a lot written about this film and I’m only in the early stages of digesting it.
I do, however, have to say I was every so slightly disappointed in some ways with the film. It just didn’t grab me quite as much as I thought it would. I totally respect it, and really like so many things about it and will watch it again very soon (in HD and also with the commentary), because I want to love it. Perhaps I had just had it too hyped for me. That never helps.
And in terms of the ending? I love mystery endings like that. I like films that keep you thinking. That’s part of the reason I can’t wait to watch it again. I may notice more things this time round that make me feel different things about the ending.