The Thing from another world (1951)

I am so lucky to have a revival movie house within walking distance!  I love the Stanford Theatre but they play, if I am lucky, one horror or sci-fi film per year.  For 2012 they decided to play one of the best, Howard Hawks' The Thing from Another World.  Based on John W. Campbell Jr's Who Goes There? (see my review here), The Thing from Another World inspired countless filmmakers, not the least of which is John Carpenter, who would direct the remake in in 1982. 

Although he didn't "direct" it, The Thing is very much a Howard Hawks film.  Rapid fire dialog, action, humor, strong characters.  It bears very little resemblance to the source material, a rare instance when the remake follows the origin story more closely than the original film.  Researchers in Arctic discover a downed flying saucer.  The Air Force comes to investigate, and accidentally blows up the ship. 

Luckily (or unluckily as it would turn out) one of the passengers escaped the ship in time, and is now encased in the ice.  The Scientists want to thaw him, the Air Force Captain, played by Kenneth Tobey, wants to wait for orders.  A misplaced electric blanket is going to decide the fate of all of them.

Didn't the Norwegians do this?

 

The great James Arness plays the monster (aka "The Thing").  Unlike the shape shifter/human morpher of Carpenter's film, this "Thing" is more of a...........vegetable.  Don't knock it till you see it: carrots can be very scary!

I have seen this film a few times before and I appreciate it more every time.  It's damn funny and holds up well.  Arness is very scary as the monster, sort of a more demonic Frankenstein.  So here is my suggested Thing marathon:  see The Thing from Another World.  Then see The Thing.  Then read Who Goes There?.  Then watch the The Thing again.  Then watch The Thing from Another World again because it is so damn charming.  Please skip the mess of a prequel. 

Rare Book Review: Who Goes There?

October turned out to be all things Thing for me.  I saw the shitty prequel, re-watched the amazing original and the even more amazing Carpenter re-make, survived The Thing haunted attraction at Universal Studios, and finally, read the original short story all of this is based on: Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. 

First appearing in Astounding Stories in 1938, Who Goes There? is a classic tale of fear and paranoia set in Antarctica.  Those familiar with Carpenter's film will be familiar with this story: The Thing follows the novella pretty closely.  A group of 37 men are doing scientific research in Antarctica when they discover a ship frozen in ice (The Thing prequel released this year actually follows this part of the story.)   They also discover the alien pilot, frozen in ice.  They take the specimen back to their base and attempt to thaw if out for further research.  Bad idea.....

It soon becomes clear to the men that this "thing" is still alive, and able to "imitate" both man and beast.  It also is telepathic, an element that is missing from the film.  Second in Command McReady (upgraded from pilot) takes over when it becomes clear Commander Garry may be compromised.  McReady develops a "test" similar to the one in Carpenter's film.  Only during this test, 14 men a proven to be "thing" and they are immediately killed.  There is no messing around in this story...

I loved Who Goes There?  It is fast paced, scary, and funny as hell.  The humor in this story is something I found missing in every filmed version.  I don't want to give anything away, but lets just say the ending is a bit more upbeat here than in Carpenter's film.  My only complaint is that there are too many characters: it gets a bit hard to keep track.  One complaint about Carpenter's film is that there are no women, something the prequel tried to remedy.  Well, there are no women in this story either.  Just a whole lot of dogs, a lot of hairy stinky men, and one nasty "thing." 

So now I would like to introduce my first Thing ranking.  Most loved to least loved..

1.The Thing 1982

2.Who Goes There? 1938

3.The Thing from Another World 1951

4.Any Thing rip off film every made

5.The Thing: The Musical

6.The Thing 2011

I hope this helps you with all of your "Thing" needs...

"Because they came from another sun, a star beyond the stars.  They came from a world with a bluer sun."

 

The Thang 2011

Minor Spoilers.

So everyone is harping on this movie and quite rightly so, but let me take a moment to say something nice before I join the shit parade.  The filmmakers behind The Thing 2011 took great pains to ensure some continuity between Carpenter's seminal 1982 film and this prequel/remake hybrid.  I re-watched The Thing just hours before going to see this monstrosity and I have to say that you can see that the love is there.  The only joy I had while watching this film was seeing all the references to Carpenter's masterpiece.  Also, I rather like Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton as actors.  I am sorry to see that they are in this film, but I just wanted to throw that out there.

Also it was cool that they used real Norwegians to play Norwegians.  Now I am done.  Time to start complaining:  This movie is awful.  Let me use my favorite lazy writing device, the list, to illustrate:

1. It is not scary.  At all.
2. The CGI is awful.  It made me appreciate Rob Bottin's work on Carpenter's film all the more.
3. The first 20 minutes of the film is the "prequel," the remainder of the film is a remake.  This is not a good combination.
4. I really didn't care about any of the characters with the exception of Kate.
5. It's obvious who is "Thing" and who is not "Thing."
6. WTF with the ending?!?  What happened to Kate?  Are they trying to set up for a sequel?  Why didn't we hear about the Russian base before?  Does every Country have a base on Antarctica?
7. Would a bad ass helicopter pilot really wear a tiny gold earring?  I don't think so.

I think the idea of doing a prequel was a good one, but the filmmakers got lazy and basically just remade Carpenter's film.  What a wasted opportunity.  Save yourself the money.  Re-watch The Thing from 1982 and watch, if you haven't already, The Thing from Another World, made in 1951 and 10 times scarier than this new version.