Movie of the Day – The Thing
October 5, 2012 17 Comments
I try not to double post articles on my blog. I mean I have done roughly 700 posts in about the 18 months I have been doing this so I try and give you all some new content every day. I will say I have done a repost about times now, one with Predator and then Heima, but that is due to time constraints and busy schedules. But since I am doing a month long horror movie post, I can’t just sit back and not talk about this movie once again or at least post my original article. This is the epitome of a horror movie for me and it’s one of the best movies out there. That’s right, the movie that was bombed by critics and performed poorly at the box office, but it turned out to be John Carpenters best movies and a cult classic.
I realize that there was a “remake” prequel done this past year, which was alright for what it was. I still think that nothing will touch this movie in terms of effects, atmosphere and acting. It was the perfect storm of everything that could go right with a movie like this and I was absolutely terrified when I saw this as a kid. I looked at everyone around suspiciously, even that kid who sat in the back of the class picking his nose and thought, “that is something an alien would do”. I was afraid to pet a dog for a while, hoping that the dog wouldn’t split open and swallow me up to become one with The Thing. It was also the movie that got my dad in trouble when shouted out Kurt Russel’s line of “Yeah FUCK YOU TOO” and my mom thought he was saying that to her. Yeah, I got some memories about this movie and how repulsed but enraptured I was by the creature effects and the whole tone of the movie.
The Thing is the scariest movie out there. If you don’t recoil when you see the special effects of the monstrous abominations that come from the adapting organism, you might be jaded. I just appreciate the complicated animitronics and the creativity in coming up with such horrifying creatures. We don’t get movies like this much anymore. Too much CGI and not enough practical effects. So for today, I will link to my old post about this movie and I hope that you all enjoy your Friday. Take Care!
So while the movie moves along with a tight pace and suspense that rivals any movie our there, the thing that makes this memorable for me is the creature effects. We don’t know what the creature, alien, virus, whatever it is looks like. Only we see manifestations of its presence through this grotesque mutations of its victims. Effects crew led by Rob Bottin and some help from effects guru Stan Winston are to thank and blame for the horrifying nightmares they created in my childhood.
Original review here
