Following up on Classic #1, The Shawshank Redemption. Here is Filmhead's review of one of the greatest movies ever made. POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW
Normally, the idea of a remake is met with a degree of scepticism and cynicism and I'm sure that this was no different at the time. The original Thing From Another World was released in 1951, at the height of Communist paranoia. Everyone was suspected of being something else, and this would continue with other notable features like Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.
So in 1982, John Carpenter released
his interpretation of the classic who-is-it and delivered in gloopy, gloppy style. Firstly; the setting remains unchanged - a group of scientists encounter a creture which has been frozen in ice for a long time and when it awakens, it unleashes devastation on the group in the most subtle way imaginable.
Kurt Russell, in a role which I consider to be perhaps his finest, leads the group and the first thing about him is that he's not your typical hero, he pours whisky over a computer which beats him at chess! His R J MacReady is just one of an assembled group of character types, that we all want to identify with. He is kind of the leader, but also looks like he's been there too long and looks positvely bored at times. But when he's faced with an unknown situation, his true leadership comes into play.
The fact that the creature in the movie presents itself in a very calculating way, instead of in your face. That makes it much more scary and malevolent. I for one hated it when the dogs are attacked. When the humans become the next target, we, the audience are in their shoes. We don't know what's coming and when it happens, we're as shocked as they are. And that's how you're supposed to react and where Carpenter has succeeded in developing characters you care about.
The slow wind up of the plot leads to a literally explosive climax and makes us wonder, albeit briefly, do we truly know each other? The real significant moment for me, is the closing shot which features two characters sitting in the snow, suspecting wach other of being the creature. I myself have my own theory about this particular scene and the simplicity still surprises me to this day.
The effects in the film are amzaing, Rob Bottin's gloopy body horror effects have dated somewhat but the effect is as powerful as when they were first seen and still would make jump in a dark room. Very similar to a David Cronenberg movie at times, the effects combined with the emotional humour, still remain utter class. The character of Palmer in the movie still has the best line ever "You gotta be fucking kidding!" Never gets old.
This is a seminal piece of work, one of the first movies I can remember seeing. It blew me away then and still does. It came out the same year as E.T., and showed that not all alien life had to be friendly and gentle, some had teeth. Ridley Scott's Alien had come out a few years previously and Aliens was yet come. The Thing grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. And that is what you want a movie to do. First-rate stuff.
Filmhead's Rating *****/5
Thursday, 18 December 2008