I love John Carpenter, he's up there as one of my all time favorite directors, and definitely my favorite Horror director. I also love The Thing, and when I found out they were remaking it... I was PISSED!!!! Not really, they remake all his shit, so I wasn't surprised. I finally got to watch the remake/prequel last night for the first time and in doing so, went right into watching the original again for a verses battle!
The Thing
I figured I'd start with the remake, since technically I watched it first, and It's actually a prequel to the original 1982 film. I'm actually really glad I watched them back to back and I would recommend you do the same.
This film takes place days before the original and centers around the Norwegian team that originally dug up the alien. They discover an alien ship and a frozen critter which prompts them to call upon the help of a couple of American scientists. They soon realize the alien isn't friendly and the death toll starts to rise.
I was really pleased with this movie. I thought I was going to tear it apart, but honestly, it's very solid. Especially a lot of the set pieces and call backs to the original. They did a great job recreating everything based off the little amount of time they spent at the Norwegian base in the first film. The effects were good, but there was some CGI that wasn't amazing. I would say the Achilles heel of this movie would be the characters. I found the original crew to be really interesting and varied, this new crew wasn't. I mean you have Kurt Russell with the sweetest beard in film history vs Mary Elisabeth Winstead... you're always gonna go with the Russell. Overall it's pretty successful and flows right into the original with ease, which I was really happy about.
The Thing
So if you haven't seen this film, I feel bad for you, go get on it and stop reading this. The Thing is a loose remake on Howard Hawks' film The Thing from Another World, which is a really cool B movie from the 50's. Carpenter basically took Howard's original idea and remade a masterpiece in modern horror.
An alien ship crash lands in Antarctica, the alien freezes, then is thawed out by some Norwegians... which it kills. A sole husky escapes carrying the alien life form to a new snow base filled with Kurt Russel, Wilford Brimley, and a bunch of other awesomely grizzled dudes. The alien has the uncanny ability to eat you, then turn into you. The crew realize they're in deep shit and start to fight for their lives.
Every time I watch this movie I love it more and more. The direction is superb and flawless in my opinion. I love the way Carpenter builds the suspense of this story, it's like a pressure cooker building up a fine roast. His use of blue and red lights against the all white canvas of the Antarctic is really unique and the score (which Carpenter wrote) is chilling and suits the overall tone perfectly. Kurt Russell is badass, and all the other players are great. The practical effects are alittle dated, but look awesome, I miss stuff like that in horror. I'd recommend you pick up the blu-ray and check this out, it's probably one of the best transfers I've seen.
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