The Thing (2011)

About a year ago, two things (no pun intended) happened that connect me to this month’s The Thing. First, I was at a panel at New York Comic Con where the cast and director of The Thing talked about the movie. They explained how and why the movie wasn’t a remake and how much they respected what John Carpenter had done with his version of the story. Secondly, I reviewed John Carpenter’s The Thing (http://damrb.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/director-spotlight-john-carpenters-the-thing) for our John Carpenter Director’s Spotlight. I’m a big fan of Carpenter’s movie and the story it was originally based on. Carpenter’s The Thing is a remake of 1951′s The Thing From Another World, which itself is based on a classic science fiction novella called Who Goes There?. They all basically tell the same story, an alien creature crash lands in the Antarctic and is discovered by scientists. Each version of the story adds it’s own unique vision and The Thing stands in good company.

Director Spotlight: John Carpenter’s The Thing

”I don’t know what the hell’s in there. It’s weird and pissed off, whatever it is.”

John Carpenter’s The Thing is a classic horror movie from 1982 and one of my all time favorite horror movies. It’s definitely on my top ten best movies of all time list and I am pretty sure it’s on quite a lot of people’s “best of” lists. It’s one of the movies that helped a generation of movie fans discover horror films and John Carpenter. The movie was ahead of it’s time in terms of special effects and storytelling. It’s Carpenter doing what he does best, horror. This time, it’s horror with a bit of science fiction in the mix. I think it’s his best movie. It’s better than Halloween and Escape From New York.