Just re-read Ebert's old review. He misses the point on a couple of fronts. One, he complains about the lack of characterization, but the fact that these characters remains so vivid to us today is surely because of the way Carpenter drew them; most films today, I leave not knowing half the characters' names. Two, he complains that the dudes would have benefited from the buddy system, but how so? If Ebert was paying attention, it's introduced way, way early that someone may have already been Thing-afied by way of the Norwegian dog wandering around. The buddy system would not have helped.
Anyway, re-watching again tonight, this movie is just tight.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 July 2011 02:35 (twelve years ago) link
With this and Blade Runner, 1982 seems like some kind of high point of special effects. It's essentially all been downhill since then.
― Number None, Saturday, 16 July 2011 14:37 (twelve years ago) link
I think it's spiritually significant that I was born in 1982. It's one of the best years for genre movies ever.
― cave duel (latebloomer), Saturday, 16 July 2011 15:18 (twelve years ago) link
ET, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, Dark Crystal, Conan/Beastmaster, Star Trek II, Tron ...
Plus a host of other touchstones: Porky's, Fast Times and . Diner, Liquid Sky, Fitzcarraldo, Fanny and Alexander, Sophie's Choice, Tootsie, The Verdict, White Dog, 48 Hours, First Blood ...
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 July 2011 15:46 (twelve years ago) link
Ruddy hell, seeing it written down like that...what a year for films.
― that mustardless plate (Bill A), Saturday, 16 July 2011 16:27 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, it was really something in my memory, a lot of things happening all at once.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 16 July 2011 16:35 (twelve years ago) link
Also, Road Warrior came out the very end of December 1981, so I'd count that in there, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 July 2011 16:38 (twelve years ago) link
Right, I was ten years old in '82 so only saw ET in the cinema, the rest on VHS over the next few years. Given that the space shuttle has been retired, couldn't those funds now be reassigned to a u&k time-machine-building project to get us back there? deadly srs.
― that mustardless plate (Bill A), Saturday, 16 July 2011 16:45 (twelve years ago) link
the thing is on telly right now! there is literally nothing wrong with this film
― mark s, Monday, 22 August 2011 22:02 (twelve years ago) link
you've got to be fucking kidding
― Countdown to Alma Cogan (Noodle Vague), Monday, 22 August 2011 22:04 (twelve years ago) link
\o/
― mark s, Monday, 22 August 2011 22:09 (twelve years ago) link
£%$
― mark s, Monday, 22 August 2011 22:10 (twelve years ago) link
there is literally nothing wrong with this film
― mark s, Monday, August 22, 2011 6:02 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark
otm
― http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i_qxQztHRI (Princess TamTam), Monday, 22 August 2011 22:27 (twelve years ago) link
i think the early silhouette is norris's: which means his heart-attack is
1: genuinely faked to take norris-thing out of the firing line2: real in the sense that a thingified norris has norris's bad heart3: "real" in the sense that the thingified norris can give itself a heart-attack as a ruse
haha at the diff between 1 and 3
who gets into the blood cupboard? copper and garry are both proven non-things, judging by subsequent events -- unless copper too is already a thing when his arms get bitten off and he's faking death? (but his body gets tested, doesn't it...)
can the thing in one body recognise other things in other bodies? everyone in the film assumes yes, but maybe no? maybe it's only as aware as the body it's hiding in
― mark s, Monday, 22 August 2011 23:17 (twelve years ago) link
double OTM
― satisfying punishment for that thing he said about lesbians (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 22 August 2011 23:20 (twelve years ago) link
the world needs a book by mark s about this movie, 33 1/3 style.
― hardcore oatmeal (Jordan), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 01:20 (twelve years ago) link
x-post - Triple.
I tried to get my parents to watch it with me last weekend because it was on On Demand but instead they made me watch some Gerard Butler crapfest. I was displeased.
― ladies love draculas like children love stray dogs (ENBB), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 01:23 (twelve years ago) link
The nature of the Thing:
It has a heart-attack when it's hiding in Norris's body. It is stoned when it's hiding in Palmer's body, and in fact says "You've got to be fucking kidding"
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 10:44 (twelve years ago) link
what kind of name is Windows anyway?
― Ask The Answer Man (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 11:13 (twelve years ago) link
I am still a bit perplexed as to why that scientific research station in the antarctic had so many machine guns knocking around. Is this usual?
― The New Dirty Vicar, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 11:18 (twelve years ago) link
war with Norway iirc
― Ask The Answer Man (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 11:19 (twelve years ago) link
who gets into the blood cupboard? copper and garry are both proven non-things, judging by subsequent events
OK, so Bennings and Windows are in the storage room, and Bennings tells Windows to go get the keys from Garry. Windows leaves, comes back in, finds Bennings being assimilated, and you can hear the keys fall to the floor. From that point on, it's chaos, and the keys are unaccounted for. But here's the important thing (lol) -- while all this is going on, Blair is missing, and when they're burning the bodies from the Norwegian camp along with Bennings' remains, they notice he's missing. Blair was probably already a Thing, got the keys when Windows dropped them, destroyed the blood supply knowing that Copper or Fuchs would think of the serum test, then either returned them to where they were dropped or slipped them into Garry's room.
― Ad hom . . . in em's cock? (Phil D.), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 12:03 (twelve years ago) link
aha YES! though actually bennTHINGs could also have them and pass them to A.N.OTHERTHING when off-camera -- or just split, unless things only split when under attack?
we have always been at war with norway
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 12:17 (twelve years ago) link
also: conservation of mass is way more of an issue here than machine guns
"is this usual?" <-- it is an unusual situation all round really
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 12:18 (twelve years ago) link
I saw the trailer for the Thing remake/reboot the other day and all I could think of was mark s on this thread -- it remains one of my favorite things from ile.
― ¯\(°_o)/¯ (Nicole), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 12:21 (twelve years ago) link
oh sure, but fantasy-horror only works if the inrusion of the bizarre and grotesque is the only thing marking things out as an otherwise normal situation.
― The New Dirty Vicar, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 12:24 (twelve years ago) link
the antarctic is only a "normal" situation in quite an extreme sense: i'm not startled by the idea that a US base, even a research base, has a small stock of weaponry
a: the antarctic treaty has always a fragile affair and military activity is not beyond the imaginationb: if this is US territory, then the right to bear arms applies!
i don't actually remember any machine-guns, as opposed to rifles, and isn't the flame-thrower souped up from items to hand?
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 12:49 (twelve years ago) link
i believe guns are pretty standard in the antarctic - you might need them for wolves, bears, psychotic penguins, etc
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 12:58 (twelve years ago) link
wolves and bears ?!
― ledge, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:02 (twelve years ago) link
if they got lost
― Number None, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:05 (twelve years ago) link
packs of feral huskies descended from countless polar expeditions
― ledge, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:06 (twelve years ago) link
mutant experimental bears and wolves introduced by the evil norwegians
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:07 (twelve years ago) link
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2007/12/21/goldencompass.article.jpg
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:08 (twelve years ago) link
http://withfriendship.com/images/i/44827/at-the-mountains-of-madness-is.jpg
^^êveryone who goes to the antarctic has read this, why be unprepared?
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:11 (twelve years ago) link
that was at the north pole tho xpost
― Number None, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:13 (twelve years ago) link
the events pullman described were north, but the bears are from svalbard which is in norway, so why wouldn't evil norwegian scientists bring them south also?
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:16 (twelve years ago) link
well OK, killer microscopic invertebrates
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:38 (twelve years ago) link
Guns would kill them for sure
― Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:40 (twelve years ago) link
i: obv you need guns in case someone goes mental ii: everyone who goes to the antarctic MUST already be a mental
QED
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:49 (twelve years ago) link
it's like i'm the only one that understands the meaning of the word normal
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:50 (twelve years ago) link
to anyone who adores this film, i highly recommend this book:http://www.calamaripress.com/images/Snowmen_cover.JPG
― sold my soul to satin (the table is the table), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:56 (twelve years ago) link
xpost Yeah, there are no machine guns in this movie. And most of these dudes seem the type of cats to carry weapons regardless of location.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 13:58 (twelve years ago) link
Did "Alien" start the whole team of characters being called by a single name thing (Ripley, Macready, etc) or is there a war movie precedent I'm not thinking of?
― Ask The Answer Man (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 14:16 (twelve years ago) link
MASH is pretty single-name isn't it?
many of the characters take their names directly from the john w. campbell original: copper, blair, norris, macready, commander garry -- so it's already pretty single-name, and the all-maleness presumably amplifies this; there's a military tinge to it even though the film's camp isn't military
alien is slightly diff -- and at the time more startling -- bcz women get militarised
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 14:28 (twelve years ago) link
good god, i had never known this aspect of campbell's life:
His mother, Dorothy (née Strahern) was warm but changeable of character and had an identical twin who visited them often and who disliked young John. John was unable to tell them apart and was frequently coldly rebuffed by the person he took to be his mother.[3]
!!!!!!!
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 14:34 (twelve years ago) link
omg that is what this film is entirely about!
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 14:35 (twelve years ago) link
this changes everything
― ledge, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 14:36 (twelve years ago) link
i mean, how completely insane is that.
(was searching wiki cause i thought i remembered campbell having been in the military (hence the slightly military tone of Who Goes There) but no)
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 14:36 (twelve years ago) link
except "penetrated with slimy tendrils" instead of "coldly rebuffed"
― mark s, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 14:37 (twelve years ago) link
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 14:37 (twelve years ago) link