#87-B: THE THING (1982)

 

THRILL SCALE 1-10

10

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, several times, although my first time was relatively recently, in the mid-2010s

BEST SEQUENCE

Tie between the dog scene and the defibrillator scene, and the blood test scene is a close runner-up

BEST LINE

"Nobody trusts anybody now. And we're all very tired."

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

86%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Grimmer and more terrifying than the 1950s take, John Carpenter's The Thing is a tense sci-fi thriller rife with compelling tension and some remarkable make-up effects."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims."

THOUGHTS

• I love this movie. In my list of favourite movies ever, it's in the top 10, and maybe even top 5. I went into this rewatch trying to be as unbiased as possible, but I was pretty sure it would get a perfect score on the Thrill Scale, and it deserves it. Even though this is maybe my 5th time watching it or so, it's still incredibly effective and terrifying. First movie to get 10/10, baby!
• The Thing has some of my favourite practical special effects ever put on film. During my Marvel reviews I came down hard on the ineffectiveness of CGI, and a movie like this backs up my assertion. We know we're watching a movie, we know it isn't real, but the techniques used, the directorial expertise, the actors' genuine reactions, they all work in tandem to make us completely forget that a creature like this does not really exist.
• And the creature effects are so unique to this movie. I really can't think of any other movie with special effects as bonkers as this one, but if you can think of any movies that can match something like the crab head (you know what I'm talking about if you've seen it), by all means, let me know
• Like I mentioned in my previous review, Carpenter's Thing is a shapeshifter that can look like any creature and, crucially for this movie, it can perfectly emulate any person. The narrative drive of the movie, therefore, is figuring out who's real and who isn't; who's safe and who's been infected. You can definitely have some fun trying to follow the timeline to figure out who's been turned and when. Watching it this time, I kept being reminded of the campfire game Werewolf (or Mafia, if you prefer)
• I personally cannot justify the 1951 version of this story (which we'll call From Another World) appearing on the AFI's list instead of the 1982 version (which we'll call Carpenter's). I had some pleasant surprises with From Another World, it was better than I expected, but in terms of thrills, special effects, storytelling, Carpenter's absolutely blows it out of the water. The most effective version of this story includes the paranoia about who's real and who isn't. From Another World pretty much just boiled down to a standard alien/monster movie. Carpenter's is in a whole other league
• Having said that, John Carpenter is a big fan of the original, and there are some fun connections I noticed, now that I've seen both. In his 1978 film Halloween (#68 on our list), Carpenter showed two characters watching From Another World on TV. The title card filming technique used by Carpenter is exactly emulating the original. Plot points from From Another World are shown as happening immediately before the events of Carpenter's - the way The Thing is transported in a block of ice and the way that The Thing's spaceship is discovered are both depicted in Carpenter's. And finally, my favourite scene of From Another World, in which The Thing is doused with kerosene and set on fire, probably inspired the all-important flamethrower seen in Carpenter's
• Carpenter's The Thing has rightly come to be seen as an essential sci-fi/horror movie. Inexplicably, when it came out, it was not a success and the critics hated it. My only reasoning for this is that critics in 1982 were a bunch of dorks. It has been pointed out, also, that The Thing was competing against E.T., which was a massive hit, came out two weeks earlier, and had a nice alien. It's kind of hilarious to think of the 1982 viewing public seeing E.T. and deciding friendly aliens were the way to go from now on; no more of this mean alien nonsense! And by the way, E.T. will also be appearing later on the list, at #44
• Watching it for this review, I had the pleasure of seeing it with some friends for whom it was their first time. Watching their reactions to the movie was almost as fun as just watching the movie itself. Especially early, when they had no idea what was going to happen and how messed up things would get. Credit to them, though, they knew something was up with that dog! Direct quote: "This dog knows something, man!"
• And finally, we're in the middle of a frigging heatwave here in Toronto. The Thing is the sort of movie that will lower your temperature by a few degrees just through its depiction of the Antarctic. Watch it!

Up next: I wasn't entirely planning on it, but screw it, let's watch, by all accounts, the vastly inferior prequel from 2011. Just a mini review, though, because I want to do a trio of mini reviews next: The Thing from 2011, the short story Who Goes There? from 1938 (which I still haven't read, but which inspired all of these movies) and the X-Files episode "Ice", heavily influenced by Who Goes There? and both versions of The Thing

#87: THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951)

 

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

The scene in which they douse The Thing with kerosene and set it on fire was super impressive, and believed to be the first full body burn stunt ever filmed for a movie

The Thing from Another World Fire Scene

BEST LINE

"Watch the skies. Everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies." - Final line of the movie, pretty iconic

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

86%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"As flying saucer movies go, The Thing From Another World is better than most, thanks to well-drawn characters and concise, tense plotting."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"Scientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost."

THOUGHTS

• No need to be coy. Carpenter's version from 1982 is better. It's been a few years since I last saw Carpenter's The Thing, and I'm looking forward to the rewatch, but just from my memory of it I know it's going to get a higher rating
• However, taking the 1951 version as its own thing (hehe), I was pleasantly surprised by how effective it was
• The above-mentioned fire scene was viscerally exciting and felt dangerous just watching it, but The Thing from Another World also has the most effective jump scare I've seen so far in this blog. It's an earlier scene in which they're trying to find The Thing, they open a door, and it's RIGHT THERE. It's the first time we've seen The Thing up close, and the suddenness of its appearance really got me. I reacted verbally. If you don't care about spoiling the scene for yourself by watching it outside of the context of the movie, here it is: The Thing from Another World Best scene. The scene's not very long, but if you don't want to watch the whole thing, start at about one minute in
• Aside from the surprisingly effective thrills I got from watching this movie, it did feel a little antiquated at times, especially with some of the old-timey lines of dialogue. My personal favourite: one of the characters, a newspaper reporter, is skeptical about some of the statements being made by another character, a scientist. And the reporter says, "Dr. Carrington, you're a man who won the Nobel Prize. You've received every kind of international kudos a scientist can attain. If you were for sale I could get a million bucks for you from any foreign government. I'm not, therefore, gonna stick my neck out and say that you're stuffed absolutely clean full of wild blueberry muffins, but I promise you my readers are gonna think so."
• There's also a fairly unrealistic emphasis on wisecracking. Even late in the movie, when The Thing is out to get them and the situation is getting seriously dangerous, the script still has the characters making little witty remarks to each other
• I haven't read Who Goes There?, the 1938 sci-fi horror novella which inspired this movie and Carpenter's, but I found it online (Who Goes There?) so I'm planning on reading it before posting my next review, of Carpenter's version. One key feature of both the novella and Carpenter's movie, though, is the fact that The Thing is a shapeshifter who can imitate any living being. And this aspect, which I'd consider pretty crucial to the story, at least considering my reaction to Carpenter's film, is completely absent from the 1951 movie. The Thing in this movie is basically just your standard alien/monster, and he's even made to be kind of Frankenstein-esque. One point that is hammered home, though, is the fact that The Thing in this movie is not an animal, it's more like a vegetable. In fact, it's even referred to as "some form of super carrot" and that feels like an absolutely ridiculous thing to type out
• There's a part of me that thinks I'm being overly generous by giving this movie 7.5/10, as it does show its age in quite a few ways, but that jump scare really did get me! And if a black and white movie from 1951 is able to surprise me in such a visceral way, I think it deserves that score!

Up next: John Carpenter's version of this story, the disgustingly gory The Thing from 1982

#88: 12 ANGRY MEN (1957)

 

THRILL SCALE 1-10

6

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, but I can't entirely remember how long ago it was. Maybe in high school (early 2000s)

BEST SEQUENCE

There are lots of big turning points to choose from, lots of moments when Juror #8 manages to persuade another juror to reconsider their assumptions. Any of these moments could qualify as the best sequence. I'm going to choose the scene in which Juror #4, the most logical and least emotional juror, and one of the last holdouts, is convinced that the eyewitness testimony he's been focusing on may not have been as reliable as he thought.

BEST LINE

"He didn't change his vote...I did!" - Juror #9, the first one to realize Juror #8 may be on to something here

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

100%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Sidney Lumet's feature debut is a superbly written, dramatically effective courtroom thriller that rightfully stands as a modern classic."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A jury holdout attempts to prevent a miscarriage of justice by forcing his colleagues to reconsider the evidence."

THOUGHTS

• When I first decided on the criteria to use when reviewing these movies, I wanted to meet the American Film Institute at their level. This is meant to be a list of the most thrilling American movies ever made, so the only real score or grade I'm giving these movies is a 1-10 on the Thrill Scale
• And so far, in approaching these movies assessing their ability to thrill me, I'd say the numbers mostly line up with how much I enjoyed the viewing experience and quality of the movie in general. However, I knew there would be some cases in which a movie's Thrill Score would be low despite a movie being undeniably excellent. This is one of those cases
• 12 Angry Men is a terrific movie. The acting is great, and I really admire the plot structure. A jury of twelve men need to decide whether or not to convict a young man of murder, which would lead to a mandatory death penalty. Eleven of the men start the movie convinced of the defendant's guilt, but only one of them, Juror #8, thinks there's enough reasonable doubt that should be discussed and explored. He methodically and logically convinces his fellow jurors to reassess their conclusions and, in some cases, their prejudices. The whole movie happens in real time, and in one room - a slightly claustrophobic jury room
• Incidentally, in referring to the characters by number, I'm not being deliberately vague - the characters don't actually use their names throughout the movie, and are solely referred to by number. Although it's worth mentioning, Juror #8 is indeed the hero of the movie, played by Henry Fonda
• So if there are any thrills to be found in this movie they're purely intellectual. Voices get raised and tempers flare fairly frequently, but no punches are thrown, and there are no incredibly dramatic reveals accompanied by musical stings. The thrill comes from the process - seeing the evidence get analyzed, making the same conclusions as the characters, and watching the balance of the numbers start to shift. It's thrilling to watch the way the movie concludes just in terms of plot, and it's very satisfying each time the characters hold a vote and we see who has changed their verdict
• And having said all that, I'm still not entirely sure if a 6/10 on the Thrill Scale is correct. Am I goosing the number a little because I think this is such a good movie, despite not being conventionally thrilling, especially compared to some of the other movies on this list? Or do I need to assess this on a different level? Does the tight plotting and structure of the movie deliver more thrills than I'm giving it credit for?
• I'm going to leave it at 6. Just know, if you haven't seen it yet, you should
• Finally, Henry Fonda was an excellent protagonist, but the whole cast is great, including a number of actors I recognized from various movies and TV shows. Probably the most fun one to point out, though, is Juror #2 played by John Fiedler. He's the balding man in glasses in this clip. And you may know him better as the original voice of Piglet from Winnie the Pooh:

Up next: The Thing from Another World, or just The Thing, from 1951, which will then be followed by John Carpenter's version from 1982. I've seen Carpenter's, and it's one of my favourites, but I haven't seen the original so I'm excited to do a direct comparison!