The Thing (1982 film)

John Carpenter’s The Thing
File:ThingPoster.jpg
Directed by	John Carpenter
Written by	Novella: John W. Campbell, Jr. Screenplay: Bill Lancaster
Produced by	David Foster Lawrence Turman (Producers) Wilbur Stark (Executive Producer) Stuart Cohen (Co-Producer)
Starring	Kurt Russell Wilford Brimley Keith David David Clennon Donald Moffat Thomas G. Waites Joel Polis Peter Maloney Charles Hallahan T. K. Carter Richard Dysart Richard Masur
Cinematography	Dean Cundey
Edited by	Todd C. Ramsay
Music by	Ennio Morricone John Carpenter (Uncredited)
Distributed by	MCA / Universal Pictures
Release dates	June 25, 1982
Running time	109 min.
Languages	English Norwegian
Budget	$10,000,000 (estimated)
Box office	$13,782,838 (only US)

The Thing is a Template:Fy science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter, written by Bill Lancaster, and starring Kurt Russell. Ostensibly a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks-Christian Nyby film The Thing from Another World, Carpenter's film is a more faithful adaptation of the novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr., which inspired the 1951 film.

The story centers around a shape-shifting alien that infiltrates an Antarctic scientific research station and kills the Norwegian research team deployed there. A nearby American research team investigates the incident and is in turn attacked by the alien.

The theatrical performance of the film was poor, opening in 8th place at the box office. Many factors have been attributed to the poor opening, which include the release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial only two weeks before, a more optimistic view of alien visitation. However, the film has gone on to gain a cult following with the release on home video. Carpenter considers the film to be the first part of his Apocalypse Trilogy. The film has been released on DVD in 1998 and 2004. In 2002 a video game of the same name was released which followed on from the film's plot.

Plot

In winter 1982, an American Antarctic research station is alerted by gunfire and explosions. Pursued by a Norwegian helicopter, an Alaskan Malamute makes its way into the camp as the science station's crew looks on in confusion. Through careless use of a thermal charge, the helicopter is destroyed and its pilot killed shortly after landing. The surviving passenger fires at the dog, grazing Bennings (Peter Maloney), one of the American researchers. The passenger is subsequently shot and killed by Garry (Donald Moffat), the station commander.

Unable to contact the outside world via radio, helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Dr. Copper (Richard Dysart) risk a flight to the Norwegian camp. They find it destroyed, and its personnel missing or dead. Finding evidence that the Norwegians had dug something out of the ice, the pair return to the station with the partially-burned remains of a hideous creature which bears some human features. An autopsy of the cadaver by Dr. Blair (Wilford Brimley) is inconclusive.

The station's dog-handler, Clark (Richard Masur), kennels the stray with the rest of the station's sled dogs. Noises from the kennel cause Clark to return, finding almost the entire sled team in the process of being messily assimilated by the stray dog, which has transformed into a monster. Childs (Keith David) incinerates part of the creature with a flamethrower. Blair discovers that the stray dog was an alien capable of absorbing and perfectly imitating other life-forms. Realizing the implications of this, Blair becomes withdrawn and suspicious of the rest of the crew. A second helicopter expedition discovers the Norwegians had unearthed an alien spacecraft that had been buried in the ice for thousands of years.

Bennings and Windows (Thomas G. Waites) quarantine the remains of the dog-creature and the Norwegian cadaver in the storage room, but moments after leaving Windows returns to discover Bennings in the process of being replicated. The crew burns the Bennings replica before its transformation is complete. Realizing the implications if the creature were to reach another continent, Blair suffers a nervous breakdown, destroys the helicopter and radio equipment and kills the remaining dogs in an attempt to prevent further contamination. The team overpowers him and confines him in the tool shed. The crew intend to attempt to develop a test using uncontaminated blood, but paranoia sets in when Copper and Nauls (T.K. Carter) go to the locked refrigerator only to find the blood samples have been destroyed.

Fuchs (Joel Polis) goes missing, and while searching for him, MacReady comes under suspicion and is locked outside in a severe blizzard by Childs. MacReady manages to break into a storage room and threatens the rest of the crew with dynamite. During the standoff, Norris (Charles Hallahan) appears to suffer a heart attack. When Dr. Copper attempts defibrillation, Norris' body transforms and kills Copper. Norris' head detaches from his body, sprouts legs and attempts to escape as the others burn the body, leading MacReady to theorize that every piece of the alien is an individual organism with its own survival instinct and to propose a test in which each person's blood is tested for a reaction to a hot wire. In an altercation, MacReady shoots and kills Clark after he attempts to stab MacReady with a scalpel. The rest of the crew complies with the test; Palmer (David Clennon), the backup pilot, is soon unmasked as an imitation, and manages to kill Windows before being destroyed. MacReady then torches Windows' body as it begins to transform.

MacReady, Garry, and Nauls set out to administer the test to Blair, only to find the hut empty and a small craft of alien design underneath the tool shed. They then witness Childs abandoning his post at the main gate and the facility loses power. Realizing that the creature wants to freeze again, the remaining crew acknowledge that they will not survive and set about destroying the facility in the hope of killing the creature. While setting explosives in the underground generator room, Garry is attacked by an alien-imitation Blair. Nauls investigates a noise is never seen again. While MacReady is preparing to detonate the charges the creature, now an enormous monster, emerges from beneath the floor. MacReady blows it up with a stick of dynamite, which sets off the rest of the charges, leveling and burning the entire facility.

Wandering among the flaming rubble, MacReady encounters Childs, who claims to have seen Blair and to have become lost while chasing him in the snow. With the temperature dropping, they acknowledge the futility of their distrust, sharing a drink as the camp burns.

Production

The screenplay was written in 1981 by Bill Lancaster, son of Burt Lancaster. The film’s musical score was composed by Ennio Morricone, a rare instance of Carpenter not scoring one of his own films. The film was shot near the small town of Stewart in northern British Columbia. The research station in the film was built by the film crew during summer, and the film shot in sub-freezing winter conditions. The only female presence in the film is the voice of a chess computer, voiced by Carpenter regular (and then-wife) Adrienne Barbeau, as well as the female contestants viewed on a videotaped episode of Let's Make a Deal.

The film took three months to shoot on six sound stages, with many of the crew and actors working in cold conditions. The final weeks of shooting took place in British Columbia, where snow was guaranteed to fall. John Carpenter filmed the Norwegian camp scenes at the end of production. The Norwegian camp was simply the remains of the American outpost after it was destroyed by explosion.

The film is cited as the first installment in Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy, followed by 1987’s Prince of Darkness and 1995’s In the Mouth of Madness. While the plots and characters of the films are not related, they all feature a potentially apocalyptic scenario. The film is also notable in Carpenter’s career for two reasons—it was his first foray into studio film-making and it was Carpenter’s first film to be made without Debra Hill as co-producer. The Thing was the fourth film shot by cinematographer Dean Cundey (following Halloween, The Fog and Escape from New York) and the third to feature Kurt Russell as the lead actor (Russell would appear in two additional Carpenter films following The Thing: Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from L.A.). The horrifying special effects were designed and created by Rob Bottin and his crew.

In the documentary Terror Takes Shape offered on the DVD, film editor Todd C. Ramsay states that he made the suggestion to Carpenter to film a "happy" ending for the movie, purely for protective reasons, while they had Russell available. Carpenter agreed and shot a scene in which MacReady has been rescued and administered a blood test, proving that he is still human. Ramsay follows this by saying that The Thing had two test screenings, but Carpenter didn't use the sequence in either of them, as the director felt that the film worked better with its nihilistic conclusion. The alternate ending with MacReady saved has yet to be released.

According to the 1998 DVD release, the "Blair Monster" was to have had a much larger role in the final battle. However, due to the limitations of stop-motion animation, the "Blair Monster" appears for only a few seconds in the film.

Cast

• Kurt Russell as R. J. MacReady, Helicopter pilot
• A. Wilford Brimley as Dr. Blair, a station biologist
• Keith David as Childs, the station's mechanic
• T.K. Carter as Nauls, the station's cook
• David Clennon as Palmer, the station's backup helicopter pilot and mechanic
• Richard Dysart as Dr. Copper, the station's physician
• Charles Hallahan as Vance Norris, the station's geophysicist
• Peter Maloney as George Bennings, the station's meteorologist
• Richard Masur as Clark, the station's wrangler who takes the "thing" dog in when it arrives
• Donald Moffat as Garry, the station commander
• Joel Polis as Fuchs, the station's other biologist
• Thomas G. Waites as Windows, the station's radio operator

Reaction

The Thing fared poorly at the box office. It was released in the United States on June 25, 1982 in 840 theaters and was issued a "R" rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (limiting attendees to 17 and older without a guardian). The film grossed $3.1 million on its opening weekend. It went on to make $13.7 million in North America. Carpenter and other writers have speculated that this was due to the release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial two weeks later, with its more optimistic scenario of alien visitation (which received a "PG" rating from the MPAA).

Critical reception

The film's special effects were simultaneously lauded and lambasted for being technically brilliant but visually repulsive. Film critic Roger Ebert called the special effects "among the most elaborate, nauseating, and horrifying sights yet achieved by Hollywood’s new generation of visual magicians", and called the film itself "a great barf-bag movie". In his review for the New York Times, Vincent Canby called it "a foolish, depressing, overproduced movie that mixes horror with science fiction to make something that is fun as neither one thing or the other. Sometimes it looks as if it aspired to be the quintessential moron movie of the 80's". Time magazine's Richard Schickel wrote, "Designer Rob Bottin's work is novel and unforgettable, but since it exists in a near vacuum emotionally, it becomes too domineering dramatically and something of an exercise in abstract art".

In his review for the Washington Post, Gary Arnold called the film "a wretched excess". Jay Scott, in his review for the Globe and Mail, called the film "a hell of an antidote to E.T.". In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen wrote, "Astonishingly, Carpenter blows it. There's a big difference between shock effects and suspense, and in sacrificing everything at the altar of gore, Carpenter sabotages the drama. The Thing is so single-mindedly determined to keep you awake that it almost puts you to sleep".

In the book Prince of Darkness, Carpenter, when questioned about the box office failure of The Thing, noted that the audience for horror films had shrunk . In spite of its lackluster box office performance, the film’s reputation improved in the late nineties as a result of home video releases. The film ranked #97 on Rotten Tomatoes’ Journey Through Sci-Fi (100 Best-Reviewed Sci-Fi Movies), and a scene from The Thing was listed as #48 on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments. As of April 2009, it is ranked #173 of the top 250 films of all time in the Internet Movie Database.

In 1997 the British Film Institute published a 96-page monograph on The Thing by Anne Billson in its BFI Modern Classics series. Billson was one of the first film critics to offer a rebuttal to the poor critical reception the film received on its initial release, suggesting it had been underrated by mainly elderly reviewers who did not care for films in the science fiction or horror genres, especially those with special effects. She also noted the film had attracted a strong cult following in the interim.

Release

After its cinema run, the film was released on video and laserdisc, and a re-edited version was created for television by TBS and Universal Studios. The edited version was heavily cut to reduce gore, violence and profanity; additionally it featured a narrator during the opening sequence (in the same manner as the original 1951 film), a voiceover during Blair's computer-assisted study, and an alternate ending. In the alternate ending, a "Thing" which has mimicked one of the sled dogs looks back at the burning camp at dawn before continuing on into the Antarctic wilderness.

The Thing has subsequently been released twice on DVD by Universal in 1998 and 2004. The 1998 edition was a Universal Collector’s Edition, featuring The Thing: Terror Takes Shape, an extensive 83-minute documentary. It details all aspects of the film and features interviews from many of the people involved. There are detailed stories from the cast and crew concerning the adapted screenplay, the special effects, the post-production, the critical reception, and more. Other features include deleted scenes, the alternative ending shown in the television version, a theatrical trailer and production notes. Additionally, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell provide commentary throughout the film. An anamorphic widescreen transfer was not included, but this omission was remedied with the second DVD/HD DVD release in October 2004, which featured identical supplements to the 1998 release, with the exception of the isolated score track from the documentary. The film was released on Blu-Ray in Europe on October 6, 2008.

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack, composed by Ennio Morricone, was released by Varese Sarabande in 1991 on compact disc. It was also available as an isolated score track on the 1998 DVD release, but is not present on the 2004 edition. The soundtrack is currently out of print.

Track listing

1. "Humanity" (Part I) - 6:50
2. "Shape" - 3:16
3. "Contamination" - 1:02
4. "Bestiality" - 2:56
5. "Solitude" - 5:58
6. "Eternity" - 5:35
7. "Wait" - 6:22
8. "Humanity" (Part II) - 7:15
9. "Sterilization" - 5:12
10. "Despair" - 4:58

Legacy

Sequels

In 2004, John Carpenter said in an Empire Magazine interview that he has a story idea for The Thing II, which centers around the two surviving characters, MacReady and Childs. However, Carpenter felt that due to the higher price associated with his fee, Universal Studios will not pursue his storyline. Carpenter indicated that he would be able to secure both Kurt Russell and Keith David for the sequel. In his story, Carpenter would explain Kurt Russell's and Keith David's age difference by having frostbite on their face due to the elements until rescued. The assumption of the sequel would rely on a radio signal being successfully transmitted by Windows before Blair destroyed the communications room. Thus, after the explosion of the base camp, the rescue team would arrive and find MacReady and Childs still alive. Carpenter has not disclosed any other details.

In September 2006, it was announced in Fangoria magazine that Strike Entertainment, the production company behind Slither and the Dawn of the Dead remake, is looking for a writer or writers to write a theatrical prequel to The Thing. Production is said to be continuing.

As of early 2007, there have been two announced projects to expand the franchise. The Sci-Fi Channel planned to do a four-hour mini-series sequel to the film in 2003. Carpenter stated that he believed the project should proceed, but the Sci-Fi Channel later removed all mention of the project from their homepage. In February 2009, a positive review of the abandoned screenplay for the Sci-Fi miniseries was published on Corona's Coming Attractions.

Prequel

In early 2009, Variety and Bloody-Disgusting reported the launch of a project to film a prequel—possibly following MacReady's brother during the events leading up to the opening moments of the 1982 film— with Matthijs van Heijningen as director and Ronald D. Moore as writer. In March 2009, Moore described his script as a "companion piece" to Carpenter's film and "not a remake." "We're telling the story of the Norwegian camp that found the Thing before the Kurt Russell group did," he said.

Theme parks

In 2007, the Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, the film property was designed as a haunted attraction called The Thing-Assimilation. Guests walked through Outpost 3113, a military facility where the remains of Outpost 31 were brought for scientific research. Scenes and props from the film were recreated for the attraction, including the bodies of MacReady and Childs.

Books and comics

A novelization of the film based on the second draft of the screenplay was published in 1982 by Alan Dean Foster. Although the novel is generally true to the film, there are minor differences: the Windows character is named Sanders, and an episode in which MacReady, Bennings and Childs chase after several infected dogs which escape into the Antarctic tundra was added (this sequence was featured in Lancaster's second draft of the screenplay).

Dark Horse Comics published four comic miniseries sequels to the film (The Thing From Another World, The Thing From Another World: Climate of Fear, The Thing From Another World: Eternal Vows, The Thing From Another World: Questionable Research), featuring the character of MacReady as the lone human survivor of Outpost #31 and depicting Childs as infected (The Thing From Another World: Climate of Fear Issue 3 of 4). The comic series was titled The Thing from Another World after the original 1951 Howard Hawks film in order to avoid confusion and possible legal conflict with Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four member, the Thing.

Video games

In 2002, The Thing was released as a survival horror third-person shooter for PC, Playstation 2, and Xbox, acting as a sequel to the film. The video game differs from the comics in that Childs is dead of exposure in the video game, and the audiotapes are present (they were removed from Outpost 31 at the start of The Thing from Another World: Questionable Research). At the completion of the game, R.J. MacReady is found alive and helping the main character complete the last mission. The game used elements of paranoia and mistrust intrinsic to the film. Some retailers, such as GameStop, offered a free copy of the 1998 DVD release as an incentive for reserving the game.

Television

In 2007, South Park parodied the famous scene in which the men test samples of their blood by burning it with a wire in order to determine who is an alien. The episode "Lice Capades" depicts Eric Cartman — wearing a fur-lined jacket — sequestering the boys of South Park in the school tool shed and making them give him blood samples so that he can burn them in order to determine which of his classmates is infested with head lice. Kyle Broflovski berates Cartman for having gotten the idea by watching The Thing.

In an episode of The Outer Limits, stock footage of the helicopter landing at U.S. Outpost 31 from the film, is re-used for an isolated compound in the 1995 series.

Further reading

• eBook All About ‘The Thing’; analyses the film in depth

External links

• The Thing at IMDb
• The Thing at AllMovie
• The Thing at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Thing at Box Office Mojo
• The Thing at theofficialjohncarpenter.com
• Outpost #31 - The Thing fansite