― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 17:25 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 17:28 (twenty years ago) link
-In Mountains of Madness, before discovering the mountains, the Antarctic expedition from Miskatonic U. used special drills and dug up what they thought were petrified remains of an unknown life form. The remains are left on a dissection table in a tent. They turn out not to be petrified at all, the heat allows them to revive, and they eat everybody in the camp. The 2 main characters have been away on a scouting trip in a plane, and they return and find nothing but tracks in the snow. For the rest of the book they are haunted by what might, or might not be the Old Ones hunting them outside in the snow (they can't tell if it's howling or just the wind.)
In the movie the frozen alien was left to thaw on a dissection table, and ate an entire Norwegian outpost leaving nothing but tracks. The two main character Americans figure this out after a helicopter trip. When they return to their base they are haunted for the rest of the movie by what might, or might not be the alien hunting them in the shape of their friends.
-If I remember right, Carpenter's vs. of The Thing has some kinds of hints that the shapeshifter was able to reach populated areas, but the two remaining characters are already going to die and can't warn anybody. A paranoid, doomy ending instead of a victory (like in the original movie) is a pretty Lovecraftian touch.
― sucka (sucka), Thursday, 22 January 2004 05:55 (twenty years ago) link
the ancient things in the Lovecraft story are not like the Thing (although arguably the shoggoths kind of are).
anyway, tekeli-li.
― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 22 January 2004 10:23 (twenty years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 1 March 2004 20:04 (twenty years ago) link
Really cool story, the movie retold from the Thing's perspective: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/
The last line is pretty cringey though
― Dan I., Monday, 11 January 2010 08:53 (fourteen years ago) link
re: Carpenter and Lovecraft: anybody seen In The Mouth of Madness? I watched it with some friends and the general consensus was that it did a great job of capturing the feel of Lovecraft, but we were all v. high and I am having trouble remembering specifics.
― I got gin but I'm not a ginger (bernard snowy), Monday, 11 January 2010 12:42 (fourteen years ago) link
I knew about the reboot or whatever but wait a goddamn minute:
So what makes "The Thing" different? First off, the film isn't so much a remake as a prequel, or what the producers are calling a companion piece to the original. As "Thing" fans may recall, early in the film, trying to understand why a Norwegian helicopter had been chasing a runaway husky before it crashed, Kurt Russell returns to the Norwegian base camp where he finds evidence that its research team -- now all dead -- had dug something out of the ice, apparently awakening an extraterrestrial creature that had been buried for thousands of years."That's the story we tell in this film," says Marc Abraham, who is producing the movie with his Strike Entertainment partner Eric Newman. "We go back to that original Norwegian camp and try to figure out what happened. It's like a crime scene, with an ax in the door, and the audience gets to be the detective, trying to piece together what horrible things have occurred."
"That's the story we tell in this film," says Marc Abraham, who is producing the movie with his Strike Entertainment partner Eric Newman. "We go back to that original Norwegian camp and try to figure out what happened. It's like a crime scene, with an ax in the door, and the audience gets to be the detective, trying to piece together what horrible things have occurred."
In the fine tradition of the prequel to The Exorcist.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 19:23 (fourteen years ago) link
except... that there was a fairly recent video game that covered all this ground already!
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/4/457774_front.jpg
― ✌.✰|ʘ‿ʘ|✰.✌ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 20:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Kinda thinking about playing that at some point, just out of curiosity. I heard that it was kind of a buggy mess, but still interesting? It might already be too dated to go back to, though...
― Nhex, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 20:19 (fourteen years ago) link
really great game imo. i bet it would still play great. has a nice squad system and manages to work in some nice scares. quite tough tho.
― aarrissi-a-roni, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 20:28 (fourteen years ago) link
haha the biologist who goes crazy and builds a spaceship in a cave in the ice = called BLAIR do you SEE?
wait, um no I don't see!
what was Mark on about here...?
― Get the Flaps Out (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 21:16 (fourteen years ago) link
probably a Tony Blair reference...?
― smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense. (HI DERE), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 21:22 (fourteen years ago) link
or the facts of life
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 21:26 (fourteen years ago) link
I thought the game was a sequel rather than a prequel
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 21:56 (fourteen years ago) link
if it wasn't though it should have been
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 21:57 (fourteen years ago) link
game was a sequel
― Sex Sexual (kingfish), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 22:10 (fourteen years ago) link
it's a good sign that the new movie is going to have a cast of complete unknowns. that at least gives one hope. isn't it weird that NONE of the original '82 cast have ever done much since?
― piscesx, Wednesday, 17 March 2010 01:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Well I'm sure Kurt Russell would like us all to forget Cap'n Ron and all but he has done other things.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 17 March 2010 01:50 (fourteen years ago) link
ah yeah i meant aside from the big guy.
― piscesx, Wednesday, 17 March 2010 02:06 (fourteen years ago) link
keith david & wilford brimley kept p busy
― :3 (cankles), Wednesday, 17 March 2010 02:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Love this movie and enjoyed the game a lot too tbh.
― t(o_o)t (ENBB), Wednesday, 17 March 2010 02:19 (fourteen years ago) link
called BLAIR do you SEE?
ref to exorcist yes?
― bracken free ditch (Ste), Wednesday, 17 March 2010 09:16 (fourteen years ago) link
and try to figure out what happened. It's like a crime scene, with an ax in the door, and the audience gets to be the detective, trying to piece together what horrible things have occurred."
erm but we kinda know already
― bracken free ditch (Ste), Wednesday, 17 March 2010 09:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, David Clennon, Richard Masur, Richard Dysart and Charles Hallahan did, too. Solid, well-known TV work if nothing else. (I mean, leading roles on "thirtysomething" and "LA Law" for several seasons are hardly "nothing.")
This prequel strikes me as a perfect example of audience-insulting misguidedness. Does anyone really need a road map as to what happened at the Norwegian camp? Not really hard to piece together.
― Like a sausage or snake, smooth and soft (Pancakes Hackman), Wednesday, 17 March 2010 10:24 (fourteen years ago) link
http://io9.com/5659890/first-thing-prequel-footage-cracks-open-the-alien-ice-block
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/46868
http://io9.com/5659148/the-thing-prequel-same-name-new-tagline
god, this is gonna be terrible
― soon to be major motion picture starring john wayne (latebloomer), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:14 (thirteen years ago) link
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/10/the_thing.jpg
― soon to be major motion picture starring john wayne (latebloomer), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:16 (thirteen years ago) link
i can just smell it: another joyless, poorly edited shitfest that adds nothing to the previous movie apart from needless backstory that could have been guessed by anyone who saw the original.
and it probably won't even make that much money! there is literally NO REASON to make this movie!
― soon to be major motion picture starring john wayne (latebloomer), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:26 (thirteen years ago) link
wtffi hate this to the core of whatever disgusting mass of faux-humanity concocted it over a fusion-food speed-lunch meeting
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:30 (thirteen years ago) link
xp!nothing is sacred :(
yeah but carpenter was remaking! and that was good! cmon people be hopeful!
― drawl the whine (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:32 (thirteen years ago) link
I gotta vote with rrrobyn and latebloomer here just because that photo looks so wrong.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:33 (thirteen years ago) link
oh come on like you guys would have been all "oh for sure that's gonna be awse" if it was 1982 and you were seeing this
http://www.moviecritic.com.au/images/kurt-russell-john-carpenter-the-thing12.jpg
― drawl the whine (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Yes! Because that does look awesome!
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Hell I remember when the Escape from New York ads and posters were running and I couldn't understand why my mom wouldn't let me see it.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:37 (thirteen years ago) link
right now is not a good era for remakes, as far as i've witnessed, that's the thing :/xpit looks so awesome
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:38 (thirteen years ago) link
x-post
this isn't a remake, though! it's a prequel to a remake.
we live in an age of movies-as-fan-fiction. it's really depressing.
― soon to be major motion picture starring john wayne (latebloomer), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:40 (thirteen years ago) link
right now is not a good era for remakes, as far as i've witnessed, that's the thing :/
exactly
― soon to be major motion picture starring john wayne (latebloomer), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:43 (thirteen years ago) link
― soon to be major motion picture starring john wayne (latebloomer), Sunday, October 10, 2010 12:40 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark
otm
― dayo, Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:45 (thirteen years ago) link
prequel is worse, it's true! can nothing remain mystery? fan-fiction with big budget! gahhhhi do wish it could be good, as i wish all sci-fi movies could be good. but then, i wished so hard about Alien 4. never forget.
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:45 (thirteen years ago) link
gotta say, wtf is with that brutalist ice tunnel they are running through. did antarctic researchers really have time to hire architects to stylize their bases.
― dayo, Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:47 (thirteen years ago) link
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9c/The_Thing_From_Another_World_01.jpg
this is pretty awesome
― dayo, Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:48 (thirteen years ago) link
I mean, the picture. haven't read the comic
― dayo, Sunday, October 10, 2010 4:47 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark
I think it's supposed to be the Thing's spaceship they're running through
― soon to be major motion picture starring john wayne (latebloomer), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:52 (thirteen years ago) link
why can't they just make their own damn movie
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Sunday, 10 October 2010 04:53 (thirteen years ago) link
that is my basic question
Is that one of the Daft Punk guys on dayo's poster?
Also, did anyone else think about warning the people in the screenshot about facehuggers?
― StanM, Sunday, 10 October 2010 05:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Just re-reading this whole thread, and saw this: i suspect childs's thing-dom is kept exactly as ambiguous (and remember someone finds a bit of mac's torn clothing: so he's not out of the picture, just cz he's the hero => yes he's behaving mac-like, but then the thing-that-became-mac WOULD, to fool the others or fool us!!)
Mac and Childs both passed the blood test, yo. Childs gets separated during the whole final battle thing, so the audience can assume some ambiguity there, but I don't think Mac is ever off-screen after he passes the blood test.
― not Morbius old, but still (Phil D.), Sunday, 10 October 2010 10:25 (thirteen years ago) link
I would totally see this if they'd called it "..And Another Thing"
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 10 October 2010 13:21 (thirteen years ago) link
Or "You've got another thing coming"