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The Thing
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Genre | Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction |
Format | Color, NTSC, Multiple Formats, AC-3, Anamorphic, Subtitled, Dolby, Dubbed, Closed-captioned, Widescreen See more |
Contributor | Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilford Brimley, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, Richard Masur, David Clennon, T.K. Carter, Richard Dysart, Peter Maloney, John Carpenter, Charles Hallahan See more |
Initial release date | 2004-10-26 |
Language | English, French |
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Universal Pictures is an American film studio, owned by Comcast through its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal, and is one of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. Its production studios are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California. Distribution and other corporate offices are in New York City. Universal Studios is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Universal was founded in 1912 by the German Carl Laemmle (pronounced "LEM-lee"), Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour.
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Product Description
Director John Carpenter (Halloween) teams Kurt Russell's outstanding performance with incredible visual effects to create a chilling version of the classic The Thing. Set in the winter of 1982 at a research station in Antarctica, a twelve-man research team finds an alien being that has fallen from the sky and has remained buried in the snow for over 100,000 years. Soon it is unfrozen and unleashed, creating havoc and terror as it changes forms and becomes one of them.
Bonus Content:
- Feature Commentary with Director John Carpenter and Kurt Russell
- John Carpenter's The Thing: Terror Takes Shape
- Production Background Archives
- Cast Production Photographs
- Production Art and Storyboards
- Location Design
- Production Archives
- The Saucer
- The Blairmonster
- Outtakes
- Post Production
- Theatrical Trailer
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 2.35:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : R (Restricted)
- Product Dimensions : 5.43 x 7.52 x 0.63 inches; 1.98 ounces
- Item model number : 2220203
- Director : John Carpenter
- Media Format : Color, NTSC, Multiple Formats, AC-3, Anamorphic, Subtitled, Dolby, Dubbed, Closed-captioned, Widescreen
- Run time : 1 hour and 49 minutes
- Release date : October 26, 2004
- Actors : Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Donald Moffat
- Dubbed: : French
- Subtitles: : Spanish, French
- Language : Unqualified (DTS ES 6.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Studio : Studio Distribution Services
- ASIN : B0002CHK1S
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #735 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #10 in Fantasy DVDs
- #11 in Science Fiction DVDs
- #15 in Horror (Movies & TV)
- Customer Reviews:
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If you are a fan of this movie, this magnificent looking disc is absolutely the version to own!
The Thing is typically thought of as a horror film (and it is one, and a classic in the genre, no argument), but it is also so much more than mere mindless scares. It is also top flight science fiction with a greater purpose, just as the novella it is based upon from legendary science fiction great John W. Campbell was.
John Carpenter's version of "The Thing" is often compared to the original black and white classic, typically by critics who have never read the original source material, "Who Goes There?", which is actually an in-depth examination of the chilling effects of distrust and paranoia on the members of a small community. If they've never read the source they have no idea of how poor an adaptation the original was, or how good an adaptation Carpenter's version is.
The original, although a fine film, threw away the book's entire theme and purpose and turned it into a straight monster movie (and admittedly, a superior one at that), but the entire point and purpose of the story was still utterly lost. It was a terrible adaptation of the source novella, even though it was a much better than average monster movie.
This John Carpenter version, on the other hand, is a phenomenally good adaptation of the original literary piece. Just unbelievably true to the source material. And, it is a very good movie as well.
The novella was inspired by the effects of paranoia Campbell saw among certain groupings and societies of people at variously troubling times.
Campbell, a man who'd always been very interested in human psychology, became, in fact, so fascinated with the effects of societal paranoia that he decided to write a novella exploring the subject in great depth.
In it, he created a minimum microcosm representing a small society out of the inhabitants of an isolated Arctic research station cut off from the outside world. He then created an organism that could take on any form, so that every person at this base knew anyone else could actually be the enemy, a reason nobody could be trusted by anyone else. He did this in order to illustrate very clearly the chilling effects of paranoia that would arise and grow from it--and to study in depth how warped human interactions could become as a result.
At the beginning of the story the Arctic researchers may have their personal likes and dislikes of one another, but they all get along, all trust one another and all work together as a team. Once the paranoia begins, all of this begins to break down. Soon nobody trusts anyone else and they all fear the others around them. We see how their small society no longer functions without trust. Before long any small degree of suspicion puts them at one another's throats. Even in the final scene we see that distrust of one another still at play.
This entire point and purpose of the novella was unfortunately left completely out of the original film and only the scares and frights remained. In the original there is no paranoia, no breakdown in trust, and they instead work together as a strongly unified team against the monster. The point of Campbell's tale has been completely excised from the story.
In Carpenter's version, it is back in full form. And, boy did they get the screen adaptation right!
The filmmakers were, by the way, so proud of how true to the source novella their final film was, that at the advanced screening held for the critics, they actually handed out copies of "Who Goes There?" so that the critics could read it and see just how faithful they'd been to the original novella.
But, apparently, none of them ever bothered to read it, because they pretty much all initially blasted the film as worthless gross-out garbage with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. They couldn't see past the gory, yet revolutionary transformation special effects (which may have been repulsive to them in an unheard of manner back then, but such things have become quite commonplace in horror films today) and they clearly didn't get it. Only weeks after the release of the warm and fuzzy E.T. they simply couldn't get their minds past the barrage of disturbing and grotesque monster effects to see that the film was also actually saying something--and saying it very well.
Over the years, though, horror films changed, opinions changed and The Thing has eventually been recognized as the classic that it is, both a terrifying horror masterpiece and a phenomenal screen adaptation of the original literary work illustrating the degeneration of a small society which takes place when everyone looks at everyone else through the eye of suspicion. Even in the final scene of the film we see that fear and distrust have not been vanquished.
This is a film the original author would have thought was true to his intended vision. And, it is a phenomenally well done movie.
This 4K disc is the penultimate edition of Carpenter's masterpiece of paranoia, suspense and horror and is a truly superior looking disc in every conceivable way. The sharpness, the color, the depth and richness of the image on this disc are all astoundingly impressive. The image quality is so good it looks like it was literally shot yesterday. I had read in advance that this mastering of the movie was going to be something very special to see, but I was totally unprepared for just how amazingly good this disc looks! It is absolutely incredible!
I can't possibly conceive of a better looking edition of this fantastic film EVER coming into existence--this version is as close to utterly perfect looking as I've ever seen. It went way, way, way beyond merely meeting my very high expectations, it exceeded them!
If you love this movie, you MUST own this disc! I don't think it is possible that there could EVER exist a better looking edition than this truly extraordinary version of this science fiction horror classic!
My recommendation is the highest one possible!
In September of 2009, I went to the nearby Family Video to look for a good movie to watch. I found a copy of The Thing at the store, and looked at the description of it, and thought to myself "Hey, I remember watching a bit of this a while back." For a mere dollar, I rented The Thing and I don't regret it at all.
STORY
The Thing is set in Antarctica 1982 (when this movie was released), and an American research team is shocked when a Norwegian scientist lands his helicopter nearby and starts shooting at a runaway dog. Due to a language barrier and overall panicked state the Norwegian is in, he can't properly communicate to the Americans, accidentally blows up his helicopter, and shoots one of the Americans in the leg. The Norwegian ends up getting shot and the American research team takes in the dog that was fleeing from the helicopter. Things start to turn awry when MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Doc Copper (Richard Dysart) investigate the charred remains of the Norwegian research facility and bring back a mutated, humanoid corpse to their facility.
CHARACTERS
What I think helps make The Thing such a great movie is that the characters feel like real people. The cast is a group of men stuck in a research outpost in the Antarctic, and they certainly act like people who've been stuck in a frozen, confined place for a long time. They're not really bad guys, but they're certainly not people that are totally likeable. A lot of them are cranky, probably from being stuck in the same place out in a frozen continent. Palmer (David Clennon) sticks out as the most awkward of the bunch, since you see him smoking marijuana and rambling about some government conspiracies. While MacReady steals the show, Childs (Keith David) is probably my favorite since David is such a great actor and does a great job a playing a man with a sense of reason and is a tad against MacReady when he claims authority in the group.
My only real grip with them is that they seem pretty unprofessional for a group of government researchers in the Antarctic, but this could also be that they're in a bout of downtime allotted by the government.
It's also worth noting that Wilford Brimley plays Blair, a medical scientist who loses his mind in the wake of these Things taking over the crew of the research outpost.
HORROR/SPECIAL EFFECTS
Because The Thing is a sci-fi/horror hybrid, the horror element is extremely important. Thankfully, with director John Carpenter and special effects artist Rob Bottin working on this movie, The Thing has some of the best horror you can get in this genre.
Thanks to excellent story and character development, a great location to set up the movie, and amazingly creepy monsters, this movie is replete with natural feelings of isolation, tension, and dread. Being stuck in a research center in the middle of Antarctica, not knowing that someone else in your research team might actually be a nefarious, invasive alien lifeform, this will certainly creep anyone out.
Given the premise of alien lifeforms taking over other lifeforms with grizzly results, I can easily see how this movie was extremely influential to Visceral Games when they created the Dead Space series.
Rob Bottin has to be one of the best special effects artists that ever worked in cinema. His animatronic monsters in this movie are some of the creepiest you'll ever see because aside from the fact that they look so disgusting, they look very realistic, too. It's crazy that this movie came out in 1982, yet the various Thing monsters in this movie look better than some of the best CGI effects available today.
I don't want to give away too much of the scary parts in this movie, but one of the creepy scenes that sticks in my head the most has to be near the beginning, when that dog that escaped from the Norwegian scientists mutates in the dog pen and turns into a sheer abomination that doesn't look like any living creature of this Earth.
It's funny to note that some of the materials used to bring these special effects to life, because according the documentary that came with the collector's edition DVD of this movie, Rob Bottin used a bunch of K-Y jelly to give the mutated creatures a slimy, greasy look.
STORYTELLING
Carpenter was at the top of his game when directing this movie, and like any director worth his salt, relies on the "show, don't tell" principle of storytelling. Only the necessary amounts of dialogue are used to give background to certain things. What really struck out at me was the scene where Blair was researching the Thing cells, and you see a computer screen depicting highly-pixelated images of the Thing cells taking over the dog cells (taken from the mutated dog's corpse) and spreading to the others. Not a single word was used to explain how the Thing cells work in this scene, yet it gave us all the information we needed to understand the Things.
SOUNDTRACK
Ennio Morricone's compositions in this movie are some of the best music compositions for horror motion pictures you'll ever hear. Morricone departs from his background in using a whole orchestra and uses primarily electronic keyboards to create the music here. The minimal nature of most of the tracks in the movie's score is perfect for the chilling atmosphere here, since it enhances the said atmosphere and imagery instead of distracting you away from it. The music here is so great, I actually bought an MP3 copy of Morricone's score for this movie.
MATURE CONTENT
This is not a movie for the kids to see. There's a good deal of profanity, some drug use, and intensely creepy monsters and gore. You see a dog mutate (with plenty of gore coming from the dog as it mutates) and attack other dogs after it mutates. There's also a scene where a man gets his arms bitten off by one of the Things and it mutates into something really ugly that I can't describe in words, you have to see it for yourself.
There's also a scene of a slain dog with an ax embedded into its neck. I know that some people are pretty sensitive to seeing animals getting killed in movies, so if this is a concern for you, you may not like that scene or of the dogs getting attacked by one of the Things.
FINAL WORD
In John Carpenter's filmography, I think The Thing is his crowning jewel. If you love horror movies, this is a mandatory movie to have in your library.
I should close in saying that sometimes, there is justice in the movie world. The Thing was originally not received well when it first came out, but thankfully it became a hit on video and has now gotten the "classic" status it totally deserves.
The UHD looks and sounds fantastic, I have no issue there. However, there is an issue with the UHD: as of the most recent pressing of the film, the release lacks the UHD Movies Anywhere code that is advertised all over the case. I actually sent the movie back to Amazon the first time I ordered it and requested a replacement because I thought it was a one-off issue. But no, my second copy lacked the code slip too, and I found other reviewers on Amazon complaining about this.
After receiving my second copy minus digital code, I moved on to contacting Universal's customer service (there is a web address for them on the back of the case). I sent along a 1 minute video showing the opening of the Amazon package, the unsealing of the new disc, and the lack of code in the case. They asked me to send a couple of photos of the front and back of the packaging for verification, which I did, and then they emailed me a UHD digital code. The whole process took around 3 business days.
So if you purchase the film and it is missing the UHD digital code, contact Universal customer support and they should be able to make you whole.
Top reviews from other countries
やっと購入出来ました。中々Amazonで見つからずに困っていましたが、何とか発見し、即注文。入荷待ちでしたが、割と早く送られてきました。購入価格は¥2,924 ('21.09.27) でした。 日本語字幕はありませんが、LDからBlu-rayと観続けていますので、左程問題ではありません。さて、画質ですが、流石 4K UHD 大変クリアです! ノルウェー基地から持ち帰った「物体」と犬が変異した「物体」の解剖シーンではこの「物体」が非常にクリアに観れます。クリアになっても造り物っぽくなく、逆に生々しく感じます。ロブ・ボーティンの SFX 見事です‼ 購入する事が出来て幸せです。
Myself and friend watched "The Thing"and "The Wall" back to back--to say this double bill was traumatising is an understatement.
I'm going to dispense with a summary of the movie--there is sufficient coverage, by other reviewers on this page anyway.
Carpenter has proven a hit and miss director(his catalogue is genius/dud) in equal amounts. But he excells with the cracking script by the late Bill Lancaster-at the time it was Carpenter's 1st Studio product.
A great cast led by Kurt Russell, Donald Moffet(who has one of the movies funniest lines) Tk Carter,Keith David, Charles Hallahan, Richard Masur David Clennon and others.
Building the paranoia and isolation is done superbly, beautifully lit by Dean Cundey(Jurassic Park), the actors look genuinely "cold/frozen" within the location shooting.
Rob Bottin's Superb prosethetic
Many have stated here (and in other places), that The Thing failed at the Box office, directly because of ET(also a Universal picture), I feel that is partly true--in actual fact though, such a nilistic picture would be hard pressed to find an audience(especially in the Eighties)popcorn flics such as Star Wars, Raiders and Spielberg/Lucas had domain.
That said The Thing is still talked about and had a profound affect on those who viewed it at that vital age (13-19).
I havent seen the sequel/prequel yet & cannot comment on its merits.
Watch "the Thing" and try not to have nightmares...