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13NoH S2.N6: John Carpenter's The Thing
27 Plays6 months ago
Night 6 of our 13 Nights of Halloween takes us deep into the frozen horror of John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982)! 🧊👽 In this episode, we’ll explore the paranoia, mind-blowing practical effects, and chilling suspense that make this movie a true horror classic. Don’t forget to check out the cocktail pairing for this episode on our Instagram so you can enjoy a themed drink while you watch! 🍸❄️ We also want you to get involved! Score the movie with us by using the link in our bio to submit your ratings, or share your scores in your Instagram stories. Let’s compare and see if we all agree on which film reigns supreme! Bonus: We’re offering an exclusive 30% off Zencastr promo code for anyone wanting to start their own podcast—https://zencastr.com/?via=theaverage Like, subscribe, and join us for all 13 nights of terror leading up to Halloween! 🔪👻 #TheThing #JohnCarpenter #13NightsOfHalloween #HorrorPodcast #CocktailPairing #HorrorCommunity #Zencastr #AudienceParticipation #HalloweenCountdown #PracticalEffects
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Setup
00:01:16
Speaker
are
00:01:29
Speaker
This is Tim. This is Jonathan. This is Bryce. Yeah. in Welcome to night six of our 13 nights of Halloween. This is the cursed episode. We had six guests lined up and it whittled down to the three of us. And we're going to have a great time.
Discussion on John Carpenter's The Thing
00:01:49
Speaker
So tonight we are joined by founding member Bryce. Welcome back, Bryce. It was a dude. Yes, sir.
00:01:58
Speaker
And we are thrilled to dive into one of the most legendary films of all time, John Carpenter's The Thing from 1982. This is a true masterclass intention, practical effects, and body horror, and we can't wait to dissect it. Don't forget to pair this chilling episode with our custom cocktail, designed to match the icy paranoia-filled vibes of The Thing. Find the full recipe over on our Instagram.
00:02:26
Speaker
We also want you to get involved. Head over to the link in our bio or share your scores in your Instagram stories to tell us what you think of the film. Our goal, to see how the thing stacks up against the rest of our 13 nights and crown the ultimate horror film. Let's find out which one will reign supreme. So the thing doesn't really need an introduction, but gonna get into it. It is a masterful blend of sci-fi and horror directed by the legendary John Carpenter, known for his work on Halloween and Escape from New York. The film is based on John W. Campbell Jr.'s novella who goes there. And it serves as a remake, as we will find out in six days, of the 1951 film The Thing from Another World.
Plot and Background of The Thing
00:03:17
Speaker
Set in the icy, desolate landscape of Antarctica, the Thing follows a group of American researchers stationed at an isolated outpost. The crew is thrown into a paranoia into paranoia and terror when they encounter an alien lifeform capable of assimilating and perfectly imitating any living organism. As the alien infiltrates the team, they can no longer trust one another, unsure of who's human and who's the Thing.
00:03:46
Speaker
So let's get into this film. Jonathan, do you want to go first or should I? You go first, but before we get into it though, yeah ah do would a pop out little little shout out to artist Brian Fife from Kansas City. ah He made this piece ah as part of the 35th anniversary art book that they put out. I saw this and it was like, holy cow, that's amazing. And this dude was like, oh yeah, I made that because of the movie, The Thing. And I was like, that fricking amazing piece of artwork, gotta have it on my wall. So shout out to Brian Fife, that dude's pretty rad.
Personal Opinions and Film Comparisons
00:04:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. All right, you said I go first. I forgot about that. but good so i this I think this story...
00:04:32
Speaker
is pretty good. I struggle with this movie because this movie is a classic. It's legendary in the horror community, but I'm gonna be upfront and honest, this isn't one of my favorite horror movies. I greatly enjoyed this one, but it's not one of my favorites. But I really appreciate the paranoia in this story, and I think that is where this movie shines. Some of the mystery setup is fantastic, but once they discovered that it can look like a human,
00:05:03
Speaker
This movie is... Fantastic. So it takes about half an hour. And then the like after that first half an hour, this movie is one of the best examples of paranoia. So we're just coming off of invasion of the body snatchers, which is another fantastic paranoia film. But it's very similar. I started noticing like this one, the creatures are insane versus invasion.
00:05:34
Speaker
But it's that same idea of you don't know if you can trust that person next to you. And I love setting it in that isolated Antarctica. It's these eightish guys. They can't call for help. They are stuck in their own. I love that.
00:05:51
Speaker
I don't think there's a lot more to this story. Kind of love the space alien aspect of it. There's very few good alien horror films, I would say, on Earth, yeah where I'm not going to count alien. Yeah, you won't. I think sci-fi horror is a tough genre to nail, and this is one of the best examples of sci-fi horror. So for me, I give the story a four.
Character Dynamics and Tension
00:06:20
Speaker
I give the story of four heresy. That's okay. ki i' okay I'm kidding. too but it' i can It is too much of, we did just come off of invasion of the body snatchers, which was four years before. And so we're snatching bodies. That's pretty similar. So I had to, I had to dock at that and it's also a remake and I have docked to just about every remake for being a remake.
00:06:48
Speaker
can't You can't be 100% original if you are a remake. So therefore, I can't give you a five. That's just me personally. That's me personally. So, Jonathan, back into it.
00:07:02
Speaker
I really like the fact that it's set, like you're saying in in Antarctica, in such a remote place with so few people to to have involved in the story and seeing how like one team of similar amount of people at this these remote science stations in the middle of nowhere and in the Antarctic.
00:07:21
Speaker
you know it's when they realize like this is an all or nothing situation with dealing with this creature and that everything has to stop here, otherwise everything is totally effed, makes it super, super hard and it helps enhance that whole sense of that paranoia that you're talking about. It makes it so much harder to get around when it's like, if if we don't end this here, what then? There's there's no there's nothing left. you know And if the creature survives through the snow and all the ice and anything, any parts of it, it's like, holy crap. it It's so much,
00:07:53
Speaker
more like ah you know end of apocalypse kind of situation that I thought that made it really cool as far as concept for the story. So I gave it a four as well. The characters, the way they were portrayed, all everybody was rocking in it, dude. like everyone i mean man This is such a cool story. I really liked it a lot. So yeah. All right, Bryce.
00:08:17
Speaker
So I also was bouncing between four and a five and I decided to just stop overthinking it and just go five out of five. I can totally understand the four out of five just because of originality docking it. But every now and then a movie comes along that doesn't have a super original story.
00:08:33
Speaker
but takes whatever its story is and just owns it the whole way through. I agree with you. I love that we're just in the middle of nowhere. like This is just happening ah like away from civilization. I like how we don't really know a lot about anything, up and like Tim said, up until like they find out like it could start like mimicking human beings and stuff like that.
00:08:54
Speaker
It's just hard for me to find true flaws in this story outside of just that it's a it's it's not an original story. Like it's a remake of a movie. And like I totally get docking it for that. But there's just some movies that just like, I think the reason I picked a five instead of a four was because no one thinks about the first movie. They think about John Carpenter's a thing when they think about this movie. No, that's very true. but So I feel like i felt like okay I'm just overthinking this. This is a perfect story. there's no like This movie would not be as big as it was if it wasn't for John Carpenter remaking it and just making a really well done sci-fi horror as someone who's a huge fan of the Alien movies.
00:09:37
Speaker
this is only the This is like one of the only other ones that I truly can think of that comes close to Alien. And I even like Body Snatchers. I think that that remake was pretty good and ah compared to the first one also. But yeah, I don't overthink this one. A four is understandable, but I think honestly a five is well deserved as well.
00:09:56
Speaker
I think you you hit on something that I had previously mentioned, ah not in this episode and other recordings, but when I was putting this out to get people lined up for all the episodes, very few of them knew that the thing was a remake.
00:10:12
Speaker
Yeah, but exactly. Most people think of the thing as John Carpenter. Yeah. See, so that is a fair point. That is a fair point, Bryson. I'm just being honest. I know. I know. I know. I have a movie with myself. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So this is the one this is the one that is toughest for me, the character arc on this one, the journey that they go through.
00:10:37
Speaker
the hu oh Someone else want to go first? Because maybe you can persuade me to change my score. Because right now my score is low. because I could fall in the sword and look if you want me to. Macquarie is the same character at the beginning that he is at the end.
Sound Design and Special Effects
00:10:52
Speaker
That doesn't mean it's a bad character. I'll just fall in the sword now, because mine's probably the highest of both of yours. And honestly, it's it's a little bit with some rose-colored glasses. So again, I know that me and Tim have kind of like uh judge character in the rubric a little differently i mean yours is way more yours tends to lean more on the character arc mine tends to lean a little bit more on just the writing of the characters and who they are so i you know give or take your their yeah no and that's totally fair um and and i'll be honest maybe my five out of five was a little
00:11:27
Speaker
Little, little, you know, too nice. You gave it a five? I did. I just love these characters, man. I just really enjoy the time you spend with these characters. They're all, again, I'm gonna, something I'm gonna point back to and a lot of my scores on why I love this movie is just simplicity. I like simple things and I like simple characters who may not have this huge storied arc throughout the whole thing, but Even though you don't see maybe, maybe you can put this more in the story than you can of characters, but I like watching these characters grow as in, in the sense of just like they're trying, they're solving the mystery. They're learning more about each other and more about this monsters that go along. Maybe that's, you know, a bit of a far reach, but
00:12:10
Speaker
The time I just spend with these characters through this movie, five is probably too kind of too confident. Maybe a four would have been a little better. It's a a little easier to swallow overall. But like there's just something about simple characters who have very good who have strong and good, well-written personalities, and we'll talk about later, actors who can portray those characters yeah and execute it in such a way that just like, how can you not root for any of these? Even the, what was it? um Was it Dr. Copper, the guy who got locked up? Even that guy, like the one who's going against everyone else and like the biggest threat to them in their in their eyes, even the ones that are like pushing back against them when they start infighting, like you still can't help but like just be like, oh guys, can we just get along? It's like a mom and dad fighting. it's like ah like For me, that's like a personal attachment I build to the character. and it's just like I don't know why.
00:12:58
Speaker
Again, five out of five is probably too much. i'll stick with I'll say maybe four out of five was probably the better route to go there. Are you talking about the doctor that they lock away in the cabin? yeah Is it Copper or? It's Blair. Blair, bla okay. It's Wilford Brimley. Great, great, great character, honestly. He really is, he really is. All right, so you helped me a little bit. ah I'm gonna come up to a four. I was a three because I do like at the beginning,
00:13:28
Speaker
You mentioned how they all like get to know each other a little bit. I'm going to flip that right for me. I like how at the beginning we kind of feel like this close-knit scientist community out here in the Antarctic, and then as soon as As soon as the shit hits the fan, they turn on each other. Yes. And it is like, i you know what? I don't think I know you. I don't think I've ever known you. And they turn on each other so fast. And yeah, McCreary maybe is always kind of the leader. Even if he's not technically the leader, he's got that
00:14:05
Speaker
for lack of a better term, alpha male presence in the ah movie, he's he is the one who's taking charge. So he's kind of that way from the beginning to the end, but they turn on him real fast. And then he is not just turning on them, he's trying to narrow it down to who is still real. I love his line about I'm human,
00:14:33
Speaker
And some of you are too, because if you were all the thing, you would attack me right now. And I was like, oh, that that was a good moment. So good line. who Yes, I'm going to I'm going to love it all reasoning areas like this. OK, thank you. Writing and smart characters. yes Oh, my goodness. so I'm going to jump in. I'll tell I'll bring it up to a four. I was going to leave it a three because I was doing a three because I didn't think there was a ton of growth. But like you said, they are well written characters. They each have their unique roles.
00:15:05
Speaker
My heart went out to the character I cared about was the one who was responsible for the Huskies. That guy, that guy. Oh, that that's a rough storyline for me, man. This must have been a hard movie for you to watch. It was when those dogs turn and then you you find out that Blair killed all the dogs and that guy just drops what he is doing and runs back to his dogs. I was like, oh, I feel that. it feels bad but yeahp So um I'll come up to a four because that you don't grow in a positive way in this movie, but it is a
00:15:44
Speaker
It's that lack of trust and paranoia that we talked about. I mean, literally the episode that came out yesterday, we talked about invasion of the body snatchers and how it goes from a big circle of people that you can trust to narrowing down to one. And this movie, it's a very similar format of dwindling dwindling characters to the end. Right. Exactly. I'll give it a four. I'll give it a four. Well, and I was even going to say, like, we spoke about it earlier, a good comparison to make is alien. And it's kind of the same, same idea of like, you know, the alien characters, I also would give probably a five out of five because it's the same exact thing. Like, you know, it's a ragtag group of people who have their own personalities and are all well written. The only difference is in this one, you get to see who these people actually are
00:16:31
Speaker
when things go sideways. And it's ah it's a little different from what Alien does, obviously. they're They're still sticking together, but I think that's what makes this rag-type group of characters a lot more fun to watch in this movie. It's just watching how they actually interact with each other when no one can trust each other. I agree. Jonathan? Right on, right on, right on. So, like, yeah, you're like, he's already said to him, like, there's not really much in the ways of growth for anybody in particular, really, here. Like, you know, because, you know,
00:17:00
Speaker
It all just kind of falls out in the end, really. um With everything kind of blown to shit and everything else, you know, not really knowing what's really done at the end for sure. It kind of makes it kind of sad in that way. Cause it's like, you kind of wish that you, there's more to know at the end of the film. that I don't like knowing for sure. The thing is dead. It kind of kills that part for me. So I mean, I was at a three.
00:17:27
Speaker
um but the characters themselves do, we're pretty good for the most part. um Man, there's there's some crazy other shit though that I can't wait to talk about. So, I'll just leave you with that for this part. I was at three, two, and then I, so I get it, I get it. So, we're moving right along because now we're at the biggest category in the film. Is this the biggest one? Oh, absolutely, editing in special effects. I don't know, the next one, I don't know, probably takes six.
00:17:58
Speaker
Oh, I skipped. Sorry. Yep, I'm bad. I was going to say. The music and sound design. The next one. This one is not the biggest one in the film. I'm jumping ahead. I'm getting excited. You are. That's okay. Because I want to talk about the special effects. ah So this, i I love. All right. So unused music composed for this film by Ennio Marricone. I'm messing that up.
00:18:24
Speaker
so unused music that was made for this movie he later used in Quentin Tarantino's Hateful Eight from 2015. That's kinda cool. Okay. So the best part about this is Morricone's Thing score was nominated for a Razzie for the worst score while his score for Hateful Eight won him an Oscar. That's so funny. What? So that's just a little bit, that's a little, I get it because if I'm honest. There are times when people write exactly. Well, and if I'm honest, the music to this movie is not.
00:19:09
Speaker
It's not something you think about as in like, oh, I need to get that soundtrack because there's not a lot to it. It is very minimalistic and I really like that approach to it because it makes me feel like I'm trapped in Antarctica.
00:19:26
Speaker
The music sets the mood. I love the opening scene when they're hunting the husky, which at first you're like, why are they trying to kill a dog, you assholes? And then you get it. You're like, you guys are awful. But it opens with just these low, ominous tones. Very, all of the shining, if I do say so, but it. Good comparison. Yeah. And I like that because it's a contrast to some big bombastic score.
00:19:57
Speaker
i I also like that when things start to get tense, the musical beat echoes a heartbeat. We get a... bu bu um but of I love that. The sound effects are fantastic. We talked about... ah So on Invasion of the Body Snatchers, we just noticed that for the original one, which comes out in a couple of days,
00:20:23
Speaker
You would see the wind blowing behind the characters, but you wouldn't hear it. And that is the opposite for this movie. They're running through the snow and you just hear the whoosh. So I love that attention to detail and the sound when I believe the character's name is Benix.
00:20:41
Speaker
when he first turns and his hand doesn't fully form all the way. No, bendings, yeah. Bendings, yeah. When he runs out into the snow and is on his knees and he just turns his head and that shriek sound comes out of him. Yeah. Fantastic. So there's so much ah from the squelching and squishing of the body parts that happens throughout this movie, the sounds of the thing,
00:21:07
Speaker
The music itself is a good accompaniment to the rest of the movie. So for the music, I'd give it a three. You know, the music itself is a three. However, the rest of this film, the way they just the sounds of this film from making you feel isolated and alone to just the creepy creature sounds, I bump it up to a four. The creatures, so I'm averaging, the sound effects would be a five, the music would be a three, I'm coming together on a four for the music and sound design because I do love it. But if you put the thing, actually I might recognize the things just, no, I'm confused with the Shinings.
00:21:54
Speaker
So I'm gonna stick with a four but that is that saying it is great the music and sound design to this film is Awesome. Okay. Um, I agree with a lot of that for sure. Um, that one part though, man, when Mac and the other doctor, dude, and man they're out investigating where the Norwegians came from, from their site, I love that scene through a lot of that, dude, I swear it sounds like there's this like air escaping kind of groaning sound in the background of everything. Did you guys notice that?
00:22:31
Speaker
I knew it's like the sound of the wind blowing through the burned out structures, but it sounded like this low groaning sound of a man who's dying still. Go back and check that. I just thought it was setting the creepy atmosphere of that. Yeah, it just sounded like there's a lot of different low tones in two different low tones through a couple of different scenes where it just sounds like this is
00:22:57
Speaker
I have to go back and watch that. It was tripping me out because when they find that one body that's there, we'll talk about in special effects or whatever. Fantastic. Oh my God. I was thinking it was that guy still alive, still dying slowly, but no, the guy started dead. That mess with me a little bit. I was like, oh man, holy cow. That's one of the best things that I liked about the sound design and that.
00:23:23
Speaker
um the sound of the creature when he splits up, when it splits open in the dog kennel and the tendrils start, you hear the whipping of the tendrils of everything. Just all the different sounds of like, like when the head's escaping and that tongue, like the the tendril shoots out of the tongue and you hear like, you know, and like grab and like pulling and sliding It's so specific. The specific sound effects for those moments really just enhance it. oh They did a great job with all the different kind of squelching sounds, like even doing the Deontopsy of the the bodies and all that stuff, man, like just all of the gross visceral sounds that you could get from that. Like I did a pretty good job on that. Other than that, like aside from the low tone 80s, like synth sounds that I dug, I sat mid-ground. I went with three with it as well.
00:24:07
Speaker
Okay. Oh, I want to mention, I forgot to mention it online. This was the first carpenter movie that he did not compose the music himself. Oh, really okay. yeah So this was the first time like, everybody knows the Halloween theme, one of the most iconic themes ever. But this was the first one that he did not come back to do the music for.
00:24:27
Speaker
Interesting. So I gave mine a four out of five here. um I think The Shining is actually a good comparison to this movie in the sense of why I brought it down to a four. I agree. The sound effects really just take the cake for it. I think, Tim, you you're pretty fair in your point. It's just like saying the music is pretty much a three-ish for the most part. The sound effects take it to a whole other level, I think.
00:24:51
Speaker
The one thing, the only one reason I didn't give it a five, um which I think is totally fair is just that it's not really a memorable like soundtrack nor like it's not known for its sound effects. The sound effects definitely enhance what we're going to talk about next here. But I think You know, four, three is probably fair, give or take. I do think it that it sets a tone specifically, like we were talking about earlier, the setting. The music for me just really sets a tone for like where we're at. Like it it almost complements the setting of the entire movie really, really well. Just being in the middle of Antarctica, just in these laboratories. I don't know, something about it just like felt right to me. So the music I'll maybe give like a little bit more credit than Tim did, but I think it's fair to say that the practical, no, sorry, the spell
00:25:37
Speaker
the sound effects, push it over to a four, but three is totally understandable as well. All right. Now you guys make me want to change my score. You know, you can't, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to change this is all based on the motion. Jonathan, no logic.
00:25:55
Speaker
No, we know you guys. I like the point you guys make, though. So I'm willing to change my score. i Yeah, you are. And, you know, we just compared it to The Shining and I'm thinking that both scores are meant to make you feel isolated. The Shining and the thing. And so i only see that the only difference is The Shining is a little more memorable. I remember The Shining's opening thing every time. And it was first. Yeah. And it shows because it's one of my favorite horror movies ever, ever made. It's one of the best horror movies ever. So good. So good.
00:26:25
Speaker
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00:26:56
Speaker
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00:27:00
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:28:03
Speaker
I want you to have the same easy experiences I do for all of my podcasting and content needs. It's time to share your story. So let's dive in to the next category. Editing and special effects. Here we go. Let's just, which scene is your favorite? oh You have to pick one. Which one is your favorite? Or or which specific effect is your favorite?
00:28:33
Speaker
Okay, I know which one a specific effect is my favorite. I know for sure. What is it? Okay, so it's when ah the one guy, the curly haired big guy, ah after like Mac breaks in and has the dynamite, he's like, I'm going to blow us all to hell if you come near me. The doctor that falls down hits the wall, they they put him on the table and they bring the other doc over and he's trying to like do the CPR and he gets the paddles.
00:28:56
Speaker
He's checking him, doesn't have it, and he does that press down, and the chest cavity caves in, and teeth pop out from the ribs, and boom, and rip his arms off, and he's freezing, and you see the arm stump sticking out of the mouth, and then the chest opens, peels open, and then the tendrils start popping out whipping, and I was like, yes, sir.
00:29:19
Speaker
Yes, sir. It's an insane. That was like one of my favorite effects. Like one of my moment of special but favorite moments of effects in the film. Yeah. I wasn't any others, but that one was like, ah was I love that one so much. Bryce, if you could pick. it's I mean, I was really trying not to pick the easy answer because I was trying to think of anything that's more memorable than that moment. It it is it is that moment. like there is and There's no more icon.
00:29:46
Speaker
Of all the iconic scenes in horror in general, that one is probably the scene that even like flood brought people to the movie in the first place. It it really is that great of a scene. It's it's phenomenal. i There's so much more to it to beyond just that one. Yeah, exactly. Right. Because every transformation scene is nuts.
00:30:07
Speaker
Yeah, you could even argue the dog scene, honestly. Yeah, I almost went with that when I was like, I was first there was like, but I was like, no, I almost got you. So I will say the things I love.
00:30:21
Speaker
It's surprising. I do love that scene. I love every transformation scene in this movie. I love the frozen body at the Norwegian with the blood icicles off of them. I think that is like, it's not one of the puppetry pieces. It's not one of the moving complex scenes, but that is so uncomfortable.
00:30:45
Speaker
It's almost, I, It's disturbing to think about, like this guy just bled out into blood popsicles and it looks really good. It looks so good. Did you get the throat slash too? Why gaping? Gaping slash. In case it wasn't clear, it's obviously five out of five for all of us probably, right? Oh yeah. Okay, it's cool. And if it's anything less, you're wrong. Yes, exactly. There's only one answer for this. And the other scene that's also really subtle that I think is just really disturbing and sets the mood is when they bring in the body for the autopsy and you see the head is kind of like splitting and it's just the subtle scenes of doing that autopsy on it and pulling it out and he's like, well, these are all normal human body parts and it all looks real uncomfortable, real disturbing.
00:31:42
Speaker
It's, which is why the film is considered one of the greatest special effects, makeup effects ever. They were done by Rob Botin, who is only 22 when he made this movie. Wow. hes only He was only when he was doing this. The other like smaller things that are super cool is the title card where it burns money away. I was gonna bring that up. I like yeah that effect a lot.
00:32:11
Speaker
it So it's attempting to replicate, we'll see in the original film, it's attempting to replicate the original. So to create that, they have an animation cell with a thing written on it placed behind a smoke filled fish tank, which was covered in a plastic garbage bag. They lit the bag.
00:32:31
Speaker
creating the effect with that burning away and revealing the title. Wow. That's pretty sweet. I think that's super cool. I love that that's a practical effect. there's It's easily a five for everybody on this one. it's Absolutely. But the thing is, you know, I was thinking I was watching
Acting and Direction
00:32:50
Speaker
it. Ah! Nope, here it is. The thing is, you come for the special effects, but you stay for that paranoia.
00:33:00
Speaker
Yep. you you stay You stay to see what happens. Yeah. One thing that I do got to point out though, about the special effects that kind of bugs me back in relation to the sound design. It's it's such a stupid minimal thing, but it's still for some reason caught my attention at the beginning when the Norwegians are flying and they're shooting after the dog. When you hear the shots, you don't see any fire from the muzzle brake.
00:33:27
Speaker
So you don't see you don't see the pop from the gun, the fire that pops from that when the yeah when the round comes out. like You see no blast, no no kind of action there when you're hearing the sound. That bothered me for some reason. I was like, what a so film snob. and You brought that up. I actually put it in my notes. But our i was like I put gunshot but no muzzle flash during the opening Husky hunt. And then I was like, you know what? i've never fired a gun like that. So I don't know if I would see the muzzle flash in A Bright Day. I don't. Is is a muzzle flash something we're accustomed to s seeing in movies as like an effect? I don't know. But I wrote that down too because it bothered me as well, Jonathan. and I was like, this guy's just going like this. And then we get the sound of the shot. So that's something that I need somebody who has fired rifles to tell me about.
00:34:21
Speaker
Yeah. but like But everything else though, man, was just rocking though. like yeahp even when like Even when the dog creature ah but for the thing was like splitting apart, like when the arm, that more humanoid claw arm came out, and that thing like but like kind of jumped up and started grabbing onto the ceiling and shit.
00:34:38
Speaker
That was crazy. And then i'm like it shot all of that goo all over the one dog that started to like eat it away. I hate it. felt so bad for that dog, dude. I'm literally watching it on Tim's screen right now. just like ah it's so sad records du it's just so sad Perfect timing. That's amazing. So yes, viewers, if you look in the background, you can see it playing in the corner of Tim's. It's so sad, but What that scene does is it does set the tone for the movie and it shows that there's no mercy with this thing. So not even the dogs are safe. Oh, man. Well, and then you'll find out. Wait. No, never mind. I'm not going there. Not going there. OK. All right. So we covered the editing and special effects easily five. So Bryce, you seem to really love the script.
00:35:28
Speaker
Okay, again, we're gonna I'm gonna point back to what I said about the story and plots and the characters. Simplicity is king. That's something we got a lot with these older movies and a lot in common, I should say. Same same reason I love Alien so much as a horror movie and as a sci-fi film in general. I just like, we don't know what this thing is. We don't really know anything about its origins.
00:35:54
Speaker
We got a bunch of people who are coming together. they find this They find this thing. And it just becomes a guess who, basically, for the whole movie. And the fact that they were able to go through this entire movie with this script and make very logical, conclusive like decisions with these characters and not make me feel at any point like, oh, that was really stupid for the sake of like a stupid horror movie moment where we can progress the story so that we can stretch this out for two hours.
00:36:22
Speaker
and I don't know how much I'll try to now, but even getting getting into the ending, which, you know, third act for me is kind of where if anything, I it like kind of falters a little bit where I get a little bored, but then we get the the finale and you're they're just sitting there. and It's just like.
00:36:39
Speaker
ah And they're just like, well, guess we'll find out. It's like, I just, there's very few horror movies. Guess who's like this. That just everything has a flow to it. None of the characters make any stupid or rash. Like I said, even um was ah it was Blair, right? Even Blair who was going against the entire girl. His logic makes sense from beginning to end. like You can't help but root for everyone because, like ah, this thing is like causing so much infight, but everyone's making sense. like You have to be careful. like I love the scene where he's like testing, well it it was everyone's blood, right? um yeah With the fire. like That was one of, like when I think of horror movie moments where they're trying to like solve like the mystery and like figure out like the weakness of the monster, that that moment always sticks out to me because
00:37:26
Speaker
it It's just one of those moments where the characters are being smart about it. They're taking some logical steps to figuring out what they can do to figure out who the thing is. And I like how the thing doesn't just like lash out. Like it's waiting. It's patient about it. Like it's almost like it's waiting for like the moment to strike because it knows if it goes too soon. Like it's kind of screwed. I will say the flamethrower, what happened to it again, it was like, um it was like wasn't lighting or whatever. yeah It's kind of a fiddle with it. i click clicked Yeah, that's that was the only part of the script I was like It's kind of convenient for the monster to get away But that was the only moment in this script where I was like that felt like a convenience for the sake of the monster to get away Everything else though. I feel like has a very
00:38:11
Speaker
a very good foundation and doesn't compromise the characters nor the story for the sake of progressing it any further. It all goes together nicely. That's the only time where I was like, convenience for the sake of the monster escaping. I, again, I can understand being lower than a four, totally. um But as for the sake of just the whole script being written,
00:38:34
Speaker
yeah i just I thought it was a really well-written and smart script with smart characters who made very logical decisions and didn't feel like stupid horror movie characters for the sake of being stupid horror movie characters. Yeah. Jonathan, you want to go ahead? Yeah, so script was pretty cool. like Blair overall man was just super awesome the way they had him written yeah know and like how he followed that whole scientific path of things you know from his his research for the blood testing to test for a chance of infection and him making his own conclusions.
00:39:10
Speaker
already knowing that they haven't been able to get a hold of anybody for like two weeks via radio anyway, you know, so they're very isolated. He realizes the potential that this, like the the danger levels could present for the entire world, you know, and so like they say, all right, well, got to make a decision, got to do some shit. And he goes for it. Everyone thinks he's losing his shit, but he's doing what he thinks is the most rational, best course to try and save the rest of the world before this thing takes over. you know And then he goes from like being see like super crazy to being super chill. like Just being very placid and like, okay, guys, I just want to come back in. This really sucks. you know I'm sorry, whatever. Just let me come back in. Just get me the fuck out of here because I'm hearing weird shit. you know So you don't really know when he got to go, but eventually they find out he he was taken over. Even though you don't really know exactly when, considering they find that that little hidden ship he's been building underneath the ice. Yeah. Like how long did it take for that little space to be built and to gather all those materials? Like what the hell? So you don't really know. So that was pretty amazing. Like they'd set this character up like that. Even though, and like the but even though you got Mack who's always been very
00:40:22
Speaker
just very, they're always been the same from beginning to end. It's just, he seems to get kind of darker in his conclusions towards the end of the film with what's going to happen, you know, while trying to maintain control of the situation. So like they were really a lot of good writing on the characters. ah But some, the rest of it was just kind of like whatever for some of the other guys, like that whole part where they're testing the blood and I was at Palmer, the stoner white guy, you know, he's like,
00:40:48
Speaker
He exposes himself as being one of the creature, one of the things. And then the other guy who passed the test first, standing there, just standing there, instead of picking up his flamethrower and just burning the fuck out of the thing while it's jumping up and around, I was so pissed off about that. I was like, bro, you totally had so much of a clean shot to fire the fuck out of that thing. And you did nothing but stood there and look at it while it split its head open, did this whole transformation, and then bit you in the face, throwing you around the room.
00:41:18
Speaker
You had all this time you could have burnt the hell out of it and you just did that, stood there like a dumbass and took it. I was so mad about that. So you just brought up, that's my favorite transformation in the movie. I love that because we have that super tense blood testing scene and then it leads to a super satisfying body transformation. So I love that scene.
00:41:39
Speaker
But yeah, that killed it on the script for me. It's like, dude, like that just was a dumb way to write that part. um But otherwise, the rest of it was so on spot on with being all logical and scientific about what's going on and how to figure out how to get a grip on the situation. I thought that was great. um Aside from the small defects, it's whatever, three. yeah I think that works for me. Yeah. Okay.
00:42:03
Speaker
I'm going to come right in the middle of you. well Bryce, what were you? Five-four. Four? Okay. I'm a four-two. Instead of you both hit the same reasons that I did, a couple lines that I really liked and things that I really liked. I like that we took this story that could be very cold.
00:42:25
Speaker
is very cold, but I loved how early on it shows us how they pass the time. And I took that as a script element from him playing chess on a computer that must not be important because he destroys it immediately. That's one thats a lot of money for that year. So funny. I love that scene, but from him doing that to the cook who's constantly roller skating everywhere,
00:42:52
Speaker
They're playing pool. They're watching reruns on VHS. I love that just... Like they're not just there to be scientists, they're also human beings who have downtime and need that fun, that relief. I love that attention to detail because I think one thing a lot of sci-fi horror can tend to do is be too cold and sterile and forget that our characters are human. So I really, I put that in the script because I think that's an attention to detail element.
00:43:23
Speaker
I loved, I think it was ah Blair who was looking up on the computer and it said 27,000 hours to infect the world. Yep. So, and I did some math on that. It's 1,125 days or 3.08 years. oh So it wouldn't be a it wouldn't be a fast takeover, which in this case, I think makes it utterly terrifying.
00:43:52
Speaker
h because it's going to be three years of fighting and body transformations and just insanity. yeah he's on a it like I thought that was chilling. A couple of lines I liked, um early on they asked McCreary, how can this thing do this? And McCreary says one of my favorite answers to this question of how is this happening? And he goes, I don't know. It's different than me. What do you want from me? And I'm like,
00:44:21
Speaker
yeah and then He's like, yeah, ask as the doc over there. Ask him. you know He's a scientist and shit. I love that because I hate when people have all the answers for things they just discovered. so I love that line. I love the line, trust is a tough thing to come by these days. There's nothing special about it. I just like that one. ah I really like the this thing doesn't want to show itself. It wants to hide in an imitation.
00:44:49
Speaker
That's a great line. And then one of the lines that I thought was very subtle, very bleak, and I wrote that it was chilling, is when McCreary is recording and he says, nobody trusts anybody now. And that's fine. that's That sets the scene. But he finishes that with, and we're all very tired. Yeah, that's a great line. That is like, it takes like it's a stick of dynamite, like is what that is. It's just a matter of time before things explode. With that, we're all very tired because he says early on that he hasn't slept in two days. And this happens, it seems to happen in one night, one day-ish. But that's just, when people get tired, they don't think rationally. So that's just a very small line that I think is utterly chilling. So I gave it ah i gave it a four.
00:45:46
Speaker
we talked I don't care for the ending all that much. I think this movie after the blood test is kind of rushed to a conclusion. Like I think the blood test is the climax of the film. And then we're like, well, we got to get to, we got to wrap this up somehow. I do like the kind of like, well, we're going to see what happens to the ending, but I just think it's kind of clunky after the blood test. So I gave it a four.
00:46:12
Speaker
OK, yeah, we'll see. Like I said, when you bring that up, the ending, though, how it seemed rushed, I agree with that. And it just it it kind of left me unfulfilled at that end, like I was talking about earlier, because everything's blown to shit. You know, they're not going to survive because they're going to freeze to death eventually unless the other thing attacks them and freezes it after, you know, they've been assimilated. You don't really know if the creature is actually become been completely destroyed. If the thing is really dead, it just leaves so many things up in the air. and It's just like, oh,
00:46:43
Speaker
But even though this kind of relates towards the acting next, Wilford Brimley though, fucking Blair, when he's freaking out, destroying the radio room. Just go right into it. he's Okay, well my one of my favorite lines was him saying, you don't understand, it wanted to be us. While he's freaking out and chopping things up, like that was really powerful line.
00:47:04
Speaker
While everyone thinks he's just losing his mind, you know, and so like he, like I said, he still was one of the best characters of the film. And it was one of the best written parts of it, because just everything seems so logical, even though it seems so crazy and maddening in the way he went about it.
00:47:21
Speaker
And just how fierce that whole scene was of everyone trying to take him down. Max coming at him with the table. He's chopping into it with the axe and everyone's bum rushed him, just beating the shit out of him. Like everyone is freaked out. Massive adrenaline dump. Everyone's just like so high strung from the whole situation. And he got the one radio guy, he's just laying there bleeding from his head just like, I give up. I'm about to fall out. I'm exhausted, you know.
00:47:46
Speaker
There were some amazing performances that really came around in this, even though, you know, they they all had their moments for the most part. You know, it seemed like every one of these characters always had like their big kind of drama moment between seeing how they got attacked, transformed, killed or put down. You know, it was a crazy band like Mac. That one scene where Clark's coming after him with the scalpel, and he's got his gun on child's. And he's got a point on him, he's like, I'll shoot you dead, get with it. Clark comes at him, he just, boom, pop. Dead, right center. And you see, you can't really tell mostly for expression, he's just, everybody's so tense. But you see it in his eyes more than anything that he hates, that he had to just do that. yeah That he felt like to do, that Clark gave him no choice, you know? and And then you find out in the blood test,
00:48:37
Speaker
Yeah, then they find out he gets vindicated in the blood test that he had not been assimilated, you know, and and it makes it crazy, kind of figured out what's going on because you see that early in the movie when the dog goes into that one person's room, you don't know who's in there, but you see that shadow and the head turning and then the scene fades out. Like I said, kind of goes towards direction, but whatever. oh Just how crazy it is it not knowing who's who. Everyone seemed to be realistic in their portrayal of how a person would be in that situation, super freaked out, super stressed. And eventually, after so many adrenaline dumps and being so tired and still not knowing what, having had so much destruction happen already throughout the entire situation, man, everyone like really delivered, I feel like. I, i man, I think a lot of the characters, like these actors nailed their characters really hardcore. ah So I gave the acting a five, dude. Yeah. Absolutely. All right. I like it.
00:49:33
Speaker
I, what what did I give the acting? I'm sleeping here. I ah lost my notes. How dare you? Wow. How dare you? I give action five as well. i I can't find any fault in any person in this. I can't ask for more. I think ah one of the things that really stands out for me is i Kurt Russell. He's got Wayne.
00:50:04
Speaker
He's got range and I know this is like a lot of people love this for Kurt Russell. I remember my mom showing me like Disney movies of him in the 70s. You know, he was on TV and it's just it seems so innocent and he was fun and he was kind of a heartthrob back then. And then you see.
00:50:24
Speaker
<unk>han and shit You see this Kurt Russell and I'm like, that's that's a man. That's a dude. I like his portrayal in this film and I like his level headedness and the way he comes across as even when things go crazy and he is in an intense moment.
00:50:46
Speaker
He is level-headed. There's not a moment that I'm like, this guy's lost his mind. I'm like, yeah. Decisive? Yes, he's decisive. He does it well. And I do like all those guys, the way they start to not trust each other. It's portrayed very well. I don't have a whole lot more to say on the acting. I just think everybody delivers in their scenes. They do a great job. Even some of the scenes, there's a couple of scenes where there are guys are like cowering on the floor because of something that happened.
00:51:17
Speaker
And it's never like, it's like a realistic, like, dude, I'm, I'm stopped for now. I'm freaked out. I'm just going to be here for a second. And it's convincing. So I was a five as well. They're good. I was just looking at how many movies Kurt Russell is in. That man is in a lot of movies. Oh yeah, dude. It's crazy. yeah Yeah. I was just going back to trying to find some of those Disney ones. And I was like. Fox and the Hound?
00:51:44
Speaker
I can't find those. He was on Hawaii Five-O. Yep. He was on that one too. Tombstone. That's another one. The strongest man in the world. that's I remember my mom showing me that one. What was the one with him in Goldie Hawn where like she falls off the boat and loses her memory and he's got like a family of kids and he's like a carpenter and like she covers her from the hospital and like makes her think that she's his wife.
00:52:07
Speaker
They did a new remake of it that was supposed to be pretty messed up. I don't know. That's right. I remember the re pretty messed up. Overboard. Yes. Overboard. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was a crazy good film. What was it? 41st of dates or whatever. Yeah. Do I have a Sandler and a Drew Barrymore. Classic. Literally. Serious range.
00:52:32
Speaker
Well, you usually see him in like a more of a goofy, kind of laughable kind of guy in comedy, lot of course, but then you see the serious side of his work. It's like, dang, dude, for real. He's a good actor. Yeah. And like yeah it's good to see that switch up here in the thing, because he's just stone cold you know in this one, versus what you'd normally see with his other characters he portrays. Right. Yeah, exactly. Well, i I'll keep mine pretty short, because you guys hit on a lot of what I was going to say. I gave it a 4 out of 5. The only reason I did not give it a 5 out of 5 is because I think it's fair to say that for these actors, like none of these were like Oscar-worthy performances. I would even say for Kurt Russell, I really liked his performance. And I'll say the same for all the characters. I liked everyone. They're acting tight in with the script made for super likable characters that are memorable. But in the grand scheme of things, they're Again, I hate I hate going back to about like alien. I remember those characters better than I remember these characters. There wasn't like they all had their moment. It was great. They nailed it. But there was nothing that I'm there was nothing I was going to remember. They weren't the ones I remembered. I remember the thing. I remember the monster in those moments. I don't remember the actual actors who like portrayed those characters in those moments. So while they're all great and do a phenomenal job, the only reason I docked it was just because
00:53:51
Speaker
i I don't think that they themselves were the ones who were standing out in those moments. It was the monster doing what it was doing in that moment. That's what I think of. And that's probably more of just a me thing. I can totally understand where you guys come from on the fives, honestly. Well, you're wrong. Welcome to the average, ladies and gentlemen. yeah All right, so the direction is one that I've wanted to get into. Anybody you want to go before me? Anybody have any particular things? about Is there a reason you wanted to get into it? You go right ahead, dude. John Carpenter. ah You know him about direction, so you go right ahead. I love him. This is Jonathan's favorite category. Great. ah
00:54:37
Speaker
I love in this one, Carpenter uses, he mixes up his static shots, which we get quite a few of them, but he also has great use of movement with his camera through the film. But he also uses my least favorite lens multiple times
00:55:01
Speaker
to the best use that lens could ever be used. He uses the diopter lens, which is where you have two things in focus and a blurry line in the middle. He uses that multiple times in this movie and every time that blurred line is hidden in shadow or darkness. And so it creates a dramatic scene, whereas most of the time,
00:55:27
Speaker
It takes me out of it because I think it looks real funky. i But we have that scene when Fuchs suggests everyone prepare their own meals and eat out of cans. And McCreary is standing in the doorway and Fuchs is in front of the camera. And we can't see the diopter blur because it's in shadow. And I think that's just really smart. I i don't like the diopter lens that much, but he uses it.
00:55:56
Speaker
the best I have seen. I really like the way he does that. He also uses it again when they're hiding the scalpel behind their back, and we have the scalpel in focus, and we also have McCreary in focus. I was wondering about those shots, about how they are still both so well in focus, even with those different ranges. so Yeah. So he uses that diopter lens, and the blur is hidden.
00:56:20
Speaker
between him and it's just super smart of Carpenter. And to get on top of how he shot the special effects scenes, it's insane to just the way he structured this movie, it would not be as memorable as it is without the talented hand behind it. ah He's on record, this is his favorite movie that he's made. wow this is This is his favorite film.
The Thing's Cult Status and Impact
00:56:47
Speaker
So I'll get into more of that when we go to the cultural significance because but this is his favorite. So I actually I gave the direction on this a five because I think he absolutely delivers from the big open beginning lots of exterior shots even though it's a sound stage.
00:57:08
Speaker
which I thought was amazing. I'm pretty sure that helicopter stuff is actual helicopter stuff, but yeah the base is a soundstage that they cranked the AC up or down, depending on how you want to look at it, to 40 degrees to make it realistic.
00:57:27
Speaker
I mean, and traffic is colder than 40, but that wouldn't seem like it's going to be negative 40 outside or something at one point. I think they said. Yeah. So I think that's a really cool way to do it. It looks great. So I gave Carpenter, I gave him a five on this. Okay.
00:57:46
Speaker
umlo to get but you can go to no you go right ahead okay okay i can talk i go you go right ahead I was going to keep this pretty simple, but again, not going to overthink this too much. It's a five out of five.
00:58:00
Speaker
um i think um I have IMDB pulled up here just helps with remembering actors names and who like correlates with who but like I was just kind of looking through the photo set pieces and like there's just so many good uses of the lighting in this movie that ah go hand in hand with everything we've been saying about like setting the tone of the movie some of my favorite like moments that feel that in my, in my view prepares you for the end of the movie are those moments when they're just, it's just them sitting together after something has happened and they're just discussing it and the lighting's dim. You get some like one-off shots of characters and like, there's clearly like a light and like shooting up at them, but it's like dark over them. It's just kind of like this. It's like, it's almost like
00:58:46
Speaker
this ah darkness just closing in like very slowly and it even shows as they get to the end of the movie where they're getting into when they're in the um That one area where it's like just told darkness and turn it's going red and everything It's like it's almost it's almost I viewed that as kind of a symbolic way of showing like the thing is it's everywhere it's gonna get you eventually it's just slowly closing in on you and It's just such a beautiful movie to look at the creep the shots of the creature I liked how, I don't know, there's some movies where like it works to not show everything and then some of them just show too much also. This one's kind of a weird in between where it almost fits perfectly of it shows just enough and knows when not to show some stuff as well. I feel like I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how much more to put into that because maybe I'm just overthinking that.
00:59:36
Speaker
I feel like he knows he knows when to show the creature, when to show the reaction of the people. The cuts are very nicely timed. You spend enough time to real get the horror and the emotions from these characters as the things these things are happening and sit with them. in it And again, this goes right back into the script, the music and sound design. It just helps just further drive the point home of just the um of the, of just the danger, the stakes that are involved here in these moments. I, I just, I met with you. dan Didn't want to get too much into it, but yeah, it was it's just perfect. Honestly, he's a legend ah legend. Okay. Um, I liked like early on in the film, like after the dog arrives in like the Norwegians are dead where he gets those, those quiet
01:00:28
Speaker
transition shots from like this one room's doorway to the hallway, to the rec room, yes to the rest of everything. I like how you kind of played that out, that that quietness, that solitude, everyone doing their own thing and just everyone being unsuspecting and then that dog finally walking into that room and you seeing that shadow and then fade to the next shot. you know I thought that was a great little set right there. It was a good setup. ah The way they transitioned through the the rooms you know when they're researching or where they're investigating the Norwegians base. and Then you're talking about the whole soundstage thing. man like just I keep thinking back to when they find the the spaceship and it looks like a painting.
01:01:11
Speaker
to me the space should look like a painting but i love you it just looked like a painting i'm like okay all right that's painting that's painting I agree it is one of the weaker shots in the film when you see those them like trying to shimmy down I'm like eh but I also There's something so much more visceral about a painting than CGI-ing something in there and green screening it. I really appreciate that more. I'm not going to say it's better. I think they're both, like, take you out of it. But I appreciate the painting. They hired somebody to paint that. And I love that. Yeah, it's cool. It is a very great shot when you go up out and you see the entirety of the ship and how far they've ducked down into it.
01:01:58
Speaker
Then you see what they built for like their little their little ice ledge that they're climbing down from. But then when they're on the ground walking in, it just looks like more painted ship set to me. you know And I'm just like, eh. That's totally fair, honestly. yeah I totally get that. I mean, I can understand how it passes, though, because it's kind of bare bones, because you're in a super white out environment. It doesn't have to be white and detailed. In the gray scheme of the movie. It's hard to see anyway and all that. you know So I mean, it's fine. but I was just yeah that's ah but right so it's cool on man like, ah, see what else. ah
01:02:34
Speaker
ah Yeah, I don't know. I gave three. Wow.
01:02:42
Speaker
You gave John Carpenter a three. but Excuse me? this It's you. this is obviously say I'm not great at this save this topic. No, clearly not. I don't know who lets you on this episode. Oh my gosh. He is on record stating the direction category is his least favorite. OK. I don't know really how to explain it in the correct way that makes it sound good. I've always struggled with this category. so All right. Yes, booby, booby, booby, booby, booby. That's OK. I'll take it.
01:03:11
Speaker
All right, cultural significance. All right. I have a paragraph for this. Oh, so. OK. I said this is John Carpenter's favorite movie. And that being said, this movie had negative reception when it opened.
01:03:29
Speaker
And it was a box office bomb. And he took it very personally. He took it pretty hard. So not only was it bombed, it was panned by the critics for its gory effects, tone and its characters. Vincent Canvey called it too phony looking to be disgusting. It qualifies only as junk.
01:03:52
Speaker
Another critic wrote that it was hard to tell who's being attacked and hard to care. oh rather Roger Ebert was disappointed by the superficial characterizations and the implausible behavior. Bullshit! And dismissed the film as nothing more than an alien knockoff.
01:04:13
Speaker
who oh He must have never grew up in like tense situations where like like a lot of dudes where they think about fight situations and what you would do and how to you get out of age. and very shit He must not have had a lot of those situations in life or watched a lot of movies that would inspire those kind of like daydream weird shits. you know He must have never had the fight or flight instinct kicked up.
01:04:32
Speaker
Dude, what the hell? But what really upset Carpenter was the director of the original thing from another world denounced this version, saying, if you want blood, go to the slaughterhouse. All in all, it's a terrific commercial for J and&B Scotch. What the fuck? OK, that's a good job on that part, though. That is funny. Rude. But man, that that a last part is funny as fuck. That is. Oh, that's harsh. And that Carpenter took that part. And then I would, too, the director of the original film says that. Oh, yeah. boom So in response to the commercial bombing of the film, the studio canceled a multi picture deal they had with Carpenter.
01:05:23
Speaker
who has since noted that his career would have been very different if this film had been successful.
01:05:34
Speaker
didn't only make like five million more than what they like needed for production or something like that. It was, I didn't look at the budget. I just know that it was a bomb at the time. It nearly tanked his career, ah which is surprising. He has now been immensely relieved that it has such a cult success following the home video release of it. It's just grown in popularity to now be considered one of the greatest horror films ever made.
01:06:06
Speaker
Dang, that was, geez. 15 million estimated, gross worldwide, 20 million, 20 million, 600 plus. Yeah, and so I did read that this was also one of the most expensive horror movies made at that time. So this had a budget of 15 million, and they were, most horror movies, for instance, Friday the 13th was only a couple years before this, had a budget of like 700,000.
01:06:35
Speaker
So this was a time period where, port well, this is this is how it should be always. Horror movies have a smaller budget and contain their story and bring in tons of bucks. And so this they gave them a big budget. It shows. I think it looks fantastic, but it didn't get their return. The studio had hoped for. So all of that,
01:07:00
Speaker
It's now immensely popular among the horror community. It's popular among the sci-fi horror community. Like I said, it's considered one of the greatest horror films ever. I have to say it's a four and that's that's probably too high because looking at the cultural Like it, by every measure, it tanked. It nearly destroyed his career, didn't bring in any money, was reviled at the time, which would be a low score. But since then, I bring it up because it has earned its place in the history of cinema. So I got to give it a four for that. I got to give it a four. But I, this is like,
01:07:45
Speaker
the horror movie comeback story that I love. Like it was reviled at its release and now it's adored. So I love to hear that. I love to hear it, but that's why I gave it a four.
01:08:01
Speaker
Okay. Um, you make some awesome points on it, but I don't really see yeah like reference to it all that much. Um, in in much of anything. Maybe it's just out like watch out in a enough bunch of different stuff, I don't know. but i mean I hear from about it from time to time in like stuff I see in online media, but I don't really see much about it otherwise than that. It's an amazing film. It's got its place there. It's you being kind of like an iconic film and being one of like John Coppers' most famous, but in most favorite as well as famous. ah but
01:08:34
Speaker
I don't really think about it much. I don't really have any thoughts about like cultural significance. I mean, you just aside from like how it shows like the crazy shit you can do with the practical effects and what they were doing with some of the more computer-generated stuff that you see in certain scenes with the head transformation and some other stuff. I don't know, I didn't really have too much to really of a feeling on this one for for some odd reason.
01:09:00
Speaker
I don't know, it just didn't really hit me like it does with some other films when it comes to it factor. So I scored it on a three. I think that's fair. You sound like you struggle to say that.
01:09:13
Speaker
No, I didn't. was like, he was i feel disappointed. like i either i i agree that my mouth a little bit like i Like I said, technically, it should be like a two because when it was released, it was not popular at all. But since then, I'm probably being generous with five or with four because of its benchmark as like. Practical effects.
01:09:44
Speaker
I don't want to say King, but it's a top 10 practical effects movie. so that That's where I'm probably being a little generous for it because I'm a sucker for those practical effects.
01:10:01
Speaker
I thought we were gonna get to our new one. Five out of five, all right. No questions. You're wrong. Five out of five. All right, oh so, yeah, sure. Commercial failure when it first came out. Totally ruining his career. But let me ask you guys this, and take us out of the conversation. We're just talking general ah here. We talk about John kaper john Carpenter movies outside of Halloween. What do we talk about? We talk about the thing. The thing comes up. It's in from New York. No, okay.
01:10:31
Speaker
It's so funny. I think it was vampire movie that he did. The vampire movie. Oh, you do? You like that one? Because when I think John Carpenter, I don't think of the thing. I think more reference to the vampire movie he did. I can't remember the name of it offhand, though. OK. In horror circles, though, you can't talk about iconic horror movies without talking about the thing, especially when it's John Carpenter. Like the thing, whether whether we think about it or not, in general, in a horror movie conversation, the thing always comes up, period, point blank. Like it's that significant of a movie for people. And again, I will point back to,
01:11:07
Speaker
Even though this thing was a commercial failure at the end of time, he got destroyed by everyone, including the original director. My man, Mr. Carpenter had the final laugh because there are men in this conversation right now who did not even know that this was a remake of the original movie when first coming across it. that That's true. Five out of five. Case in point, it is one of the most iconic horror movies ever made. It has stood the test of time and at the end of the day, Mr. John Carpenter got the last laugh because we're here talking about this movie and not the original.
01:11:40
Speaker
we'll we'll We'll talk about the original in six days. No, sorry. In the sense of this is the one this is the one that stands out, not the original one. You make a compelling argument, sir. So. are you Are you talking about, not Prince of Darkness, Jonathan, is it Village of the Damned? Is that the vampire one? Maybe. No, Village of the Damned is Alien Children. yeah He has a movie that's just called Vampires. He has a lot of shorts, apparently.
01:12:11
Speaker
A lot of Halloween movies. Yeah. Starring James Woods. Yes. Yeah. Okay. James Woods. That's right. Yeah. He's got, I love, I was just reminded, the movie he did right before this, Escape from New York, and then he did The Fog. I love the fog. Iconic. Yep. I love that movie. I dream about Escape from New York. That was fucking badass too. Yeah. Mm-hmm. No, true. He got a great, like, all of his movies are good. All right, so our final onto enjoyment.
01:12:42
Speaker
How much do we enjoy this? Who wants to anybody to dive in? dying Okay. ah Yeah, dude, for me, it was an eight. I thought I'd like this film a lot. This is definitely a movie I would like to watch again. Well, sure I did. I watched it twice. Like, as since we didn't do anything last night, I went and I watched it again. And I was like, yeah, it's a pretty fucking good movie.
01:13:06
Speaker
yeah yeah Like I said, it kind of sours me at the end when it just fades out with with Mac and and Childs just sitting there fucking drinking on your JB's commercial whiskey and shit. you know but ah yeah do thing All right. um I still enjoyed the film. Like I said, there was enough action and then like quiet spacing between and things, the way they paced it out and like the raise and intensity of the story continued on till you finally hit that major sense of, well, it's all over at the end. Well, we're either screwed or hopefully they succeeded, you know, at least you're wondering and what. and So I thought I kicked ass. Yeah, I feel like it's a pretty bad place to be for me.
01:13:48
Speaker
I'm an eight-two, so I'm right there with you. I greatly enjoyed this movie, like I said at the beginning. I have this weird thing with sci-fi horror. It's not my favorite, but I do enjoy it sometimes. So this is one of those movies. It's the one of the top sci-fi horror films. So when I'm in the mood for it, I'll watch this, or if I'm in the mood for amazing practical effects,
01:14:17
Speaker
Or the ice cold isolation of this movie is the thing that stands out to me. Like the horror setting in Antarctica is unique and fantastic. So those are the things that make me return to this film.
01:14:35
Speaker
I don't go to sci-fi horror. It's not my go-to thing, but it's undeniable that this movie is fantastic. So that's why I'm at an eight. Will I watch it ah two days in a row? Yes. Will I put it on again immediately, which is my definition of 10? No, I probably won't restart it immediately, but I would watch it two days in a row. So that that's where I'm at eight. It's a fantastic film.
01:15:04
Speaker
Yeah. I'm basically right with you guys. Nine out of 10 for me. Um, something something about these old horror movies, man, made in the eighties and nineties. They just, yeah we don't, we don't get horror movies quite like these anymore. Honestly, we haven't at least since I don't know, like since the eighties and nineties. Yeah. I may be the conjuring movies. Honestly, I'm trying to think honestly, like the early leprechaun films.
01:15:31
Speaker
Oh, so what's the one with the male, which guy was it? the Just saw it the other day commercial man, the man. Oh God. Was it a play by tall blonde dude? God dang it. Tall, slo tall, blonde dudes. Witchcrafts was another dammit man. that yeah No, I saw it on 2B the other day and then I saved it and my list and then I can't remember what it was. 2B is the plethora. Fantastic. No, this movie is fantastic. i There was honestly maybe just like one part where like I kind of felt like it drug a little bit and like outside that one, like that one part
01:16:13
Speaker
where they're testing the blood, there's a little bit of a convenience right in for the monster to get away outside of those couple little moments. I think it's like almost close to perfection of a movie and I love the ending. um I think it goes right back to the beginning and just kind of You know, they, they hit their climax. They thought they had a beat and then just brings you right back to square one where it's like, well, guess we'll just find, I love, there's so few movies that do a sad ending well. And I mean, like where it leaves, it leaves you with chills down running through your body. Like.
01:16:48
Speaker
Now they are the Norwegians. egg yeah Exactly. Right. Yeah, I think it's all it's basically almost perfect movie at that point. Like outside of alien when it comes to sci-fi horror, this is up there like top three. Maybe I have to look through my list, but it's really, really good. All right. You guys have your final scores? I do. I can add with my one score change consideration, I am at a thirty eight.
01:17:19
Speaker
38 K. Yes, sir Bryce you have yours. I'm adding give me five seconds. Oh here I can and 14 19 23 check the chat and 32 37 48, is that right? I had 46. Sorry, 40, yeah, yeah, I was gonna write 46, that sounds right. Yep, so 46. So 46, 38, and I am a 43 on this one. So if we divide that between the three of us, that puts us at a 42.3, I'm gonna round that down to a 40. Whoa, whoa, hold on there. That's that's how it works. but Let's round that sucker up. Come on.
01:18:05
Speaker
to
01:18:08
Speaker
That's not how that works. Just listen. Come on. ra Just trust me. This movie is worth it, kids. All right. All right. ah I'll go four and a half. So a 45 or a ah since people I've heard are confused by the 45 out of 50. That means four and a half stars out of five is what that means. It's basically worth your time. All right. Yeah. So breaking that down.
01:18:34
Speaker
Either way, whether we rounded down to 42 or to 45. They're both in the amazing category. This is most likely an amazing category for a social situation or an amazing movie for a social social situation. So there we have it. That is our
Discussion on Julian Sands and Future Plans
01:18:53
Speaker
remake. Yeah, I figured I found it. The actor I'm thinking of Julian Sands, tall British dude, blonde hair. The movies were Warlock.
01:19:03
Speaker
Oh, I've heard of that one. You've seen Warlock movies? I haven't seen those. Where he's like this male witch and like, oh my gosh, dude, super awesome. Those are like late 80s, early 90s. That's what I was trying to think. I'm sorry to be so long to grab that, but yes. I think after the season three lift. Yes, Julian Sands, dude, Warlock. Warlock II, the second one specifically, I like a lot better than the first, but still both awesome movies. I think there was like three or four of them. I don't know why that made me think of Wishmaster. I think it's a W title in the 90s. Yeah. Well, Wishmaster was cool too.
01:19:33
Speaker
I think there's like three or four of those. He's got to work on that season three list. All right. So yeah that's it for the remake of the thing. And then in six days, we will talk about the original thing. The one that very few people know exists. Yeah. Shout out to your
Community Engagement and Social Media
01:19:49
Speaker
artists.
01:19:51
Speaker
Yes, Brian Fife, Kansas City. Check this dude out. He's got some amazing art. You can catch him at the Audities and Curiosities Expo. That travels countrywide. That is awesome. i think I think that was actually just in Illinois, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, they were here in Dallas earlier this year. Okay. They had to come here every year. And they still come to Chicago, I think. That's cool. All right, so if you're following along,
01:20:16
Speaker
If you made the cocktail, we wanna see a picture of it, post that on social media, tag us. I wanna know how it tastes. um So let us know. If you watch the movie with us, submit your score. We have three different ways to do it. You can do it through the Google link. We have that add yours thing now on Instagram. So you can add yours and go through and score it yourself, share it through your story. You can do it that way, but we're comparing them all. So in six days, we will compare this one to the original and see which one's better.
01:20:46
Speaker
I think we know for this movie. We've been surprised by some others, but this is the one that very few people know the original exists. Will it surprise us? Probably. well do better Will be better than this one?
01:21:17
Speaker
are are
01:21:27
Speaker
um
01:21:32
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are
01:21:39
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are