John Carpenter's The Thing

[Skywalker82]

John Carpenter's masterpiece of terror and sci-fi is one of the best sci-fi horror movies ever.

I saw this on video when i was 5 and thought it was scary then i re-rented it when i was 14 and loved it more as it became one of my favorite movies

[Neil]

You saw this when you were 5? That doesn't sound right!

[Legion2213]

I think I may have soiled my trousers watching it at such a tender age...but funnily enough, I did see the original B&W version when I wasn't much older.

[Neil]

I think I may have soiled my trousers watching it at such a tender age...but funnily enough, I did see the original B&W version when I wasn't much older.

Not got around to seeing the original B&W version yet.

[wayzim]

Not got around to seeing the original B&W version yet.

Neil, get with it! For an older film, it's brilliant! Sharp action, crisp smart dialog, insanely quotable. Very Howard Hawks without it technically being directed by Hawks ( he produced it, Christian Nyby directed ) and my first introduction to something called Thermite ( as a kid I thought it was neat, but made up. Now I know better. Thank you Brainiac. )

Ned 'Scotty' Scott
So few people can boast that they lost a man from Mars and a flying saucer all in the same day! What if Columbus had discovered America, then mislaid it!

[blind2d]

What Way' said! It's a great film, but the Carpenter one is a masterpiece, to be sure. First saw it when I was.... 17? I had a sheltered childhood.

[krisvds]

The original is very good indeed. Back in the day Belgian national television used to program classic films on saturday afternoon. I remember when they showed the original at four in the afternoon and the Carpenter remake the same evening. My dad let me watch it. I must have been around twelve or thirteen. My teenage mind was blown!

As good as the original is though, for me the best fifties scifi horror remains 'the incredible shrinking man'. That's one film that never gets old.

[Legion2213]

The original is very good indeed. Back in the day Belgian national television used to program classic films on saturday afternoon. I remember when they showed the original at four in the afternoon and the Carpenter remake the same evening. My dad let me watch it. I must have been around twelve or thirteen. My teenage mind was blown!

As good as the original is though, for me the best fifties scifi horror remains 'the incredible shrinking man'. That's one film that never gets old.

Watched TISM last year for the first time in decades...his on-going war with the spider was great!

[Day of the Dawn]

The chest defib scene made me literally jump the first time. Top performance from the master Kurt, did anyone else see JC's explanation of the ending? Made it even scarier.

[Skywalker82]

I think I may have soiled my trousers watching it at such a tender age...but funnily enough, I did see the original B&W version when I wasn't much older.


Neil, get with it! For an older film, it's brilliant! Sharp action, crisp smart dialog, insanely quotable. Very Howard Hawks without it technically being directed by Hawks ( he produced it, Christian Nyby directed ) and my first introduction to something called Thermite ( as a kid I thought it was neat, but made up. Now I know better. Thank you Brainiac. )

Ned 'Scotty' Scott
So few people can boast that they lost a man from Mars and a flying saucer all in the same day! What if Columbus had discovered America, then mislaid it!


The original is very good indeed. Back in the day Belgian national television used to program classic films on saturday afternoon. I remember when they showed the original at four in the afternoon and the Carpenter remake the same evening. My dad let me watch it. I must have been around twelve or thirteen. My teenage mind was blown!

As good as the original is though, for me the best fifties scifi horror remains 'the incredible shrinking man'. That's one film that never gets old.

UGH, i dunno even know why Carpenter's film is referred to as a "remake" of the earlier film? it's not, it's a completely different film than the "original' film.
Not really, they share a similar name but they are 2 completely different films, there is no such film in 1951 called "The Thing", just The Thing from Another World and people only call it a "remake" because of the earlier film but fans of Carpenter's film and the book know it's not a remake but rather a new adaptation. The name The Thing comes from the villain in the book yet Carpenter's film has only 2 homages to the earlier film like the title card and circle of men and those are it. Everything like the location (one in the north pole and the other the south), the nature/methods of the alien (the monster in Hawk's film has only one form being a vampiric bloodsucking vegetable humanoid Frankenstein who can reproduce itself but it wasn't the imitator from the original source material) where the other monster is a shapeshifting being that can imitate any living creature it touches, the characters and their background, the origin and discovery of the spaceship and all that are very worlds apart from each other. I consider them to be 2 separate adaptations, TTFAW is a very good movie but in reality its one of the worst book to film adaptations of all time just like The Running Man or The Lawmower Man or World War Z etc. where The Thing is a standalone film that is an excellent adaptation of the source material and by far THE cinematic adaptation.