Why John Carpenter’s The Thing Still Terrifies

Trust is the first thing to freeze in Antarctica. We sit down with Martin and Luke to break down John Carpenter’s The Thing, the horror classic that turns a simple premise into pure psychological warfare: if a creature can perfectly imitate any person, how do you prove you’re human without tearing your team apart?

We talk through the film’s most unforgettable set pieces, from the blood test sequence that weaponises silence and eye contact, to the jaw-dropping creature transformations that still look disturbingly real. Practical effects vs CGI becomes a big theme, because The Thing is a showcase of tactile, in-camera filmmaking: real breath in the air, real textures under harsh lighting, and that rare “how did they do that?” feeling modern horror often trades for faster cuts and digital shortcuts.

From there we dig into why the paranoia works so well, how the creature manipulates the group with planted evidence and broken resources, and why the environment is more than a backdrop. The cold is an antagonist, the base is a trap, and the ending is a masterstroke of ambiguity that refuses to give easy answers. We also explore the movie’s pop culture legacy, from contained thrillers like The Hateful Eight to the whole “impostor among us” blueprint that keeps showing up in film and TV.

If you love horror movies, body horror, practical creature effects, or smart suspense filmmaking, hit play. Subscribe to Movies Worth Seeing, share the episode with a friend who thinks CGI is always better, and leave us a review with your take: who do you trust in that final scene?

Transcript

Welcome And The Title Joke

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Hey everyone and welcome to another episode of Movies Worth Seeing. On today's episode, I'm joined by Martin and Luke on a special episode where we are gonna break down the thing. What thing? The thing. Oh, the thing. The thing John Carpenter's thing. John Carpenter's apostrophe S. If you take the out, then it's John Carpenter's thing. So it's probably a good thing that they're the.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Is that not the what modern remakes do? Like by removing the first word, and then it's a new thing. So it's just like furious or maybe it's fast. So it's just thing.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

If they make another remake of this, would it just be called thing? Thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Just thing, yeah, that's it. Or maybe and then they'll start like having just the letter T. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

That's what that's what they do. Thing with like a number in the text or something. Yeah, H1NG, or and then thing.

Why The Franchise Stayed Untouched

SPEAKER_01 1:13

And then like alien aliens is like thing, things. Ooh. And then things with a Z. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Funny thing about this that I find it interesting that something like Aliens, we've got 10 billion sequels, a show that's currently going on. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Raced sequel, reboots, prequels, all that crap. But like the thing that actually has this really unique and cool premise, we've only got a prequel that was dog from 10 years ago, and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

We should be thankful. We should be thankful to having tainted the legacies of you know of the limited amount of value in less than that. Dude, uh yeah. So it's like leave it at that, like no more, you know, TV series. Oh, I'm offshooting this.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

I just feel like you could easily do more with this premise, whereas aliens, it's like they're aliens. Like you see the xenomorphs, and it's like, unless they're going on earth, what else unique stuff are we gonna do with it?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yeah, well, I'm saying, like, I'm thankful that they haven't then continued like developing more media out of it because as we've seen with aliens, they're starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Yeah, like how much more can they do?

SPEAKER_02 2:31

They sucked that franchise. Yeah, they milked it.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Yeah, they milked it. So I'm thankful they didn't milk this franchise.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Yeah, they haven't done the whole thing of like, you know what, let's bring back Kurt Russell, but this time he's different, or like, you know, what if the thing is on earth and Kurt Russell is the only one that can stab the thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

You know what? If they did make another The Thing movie, like the sequel, Kurt Russell would be the bad one, and it'd be like revealed halfway through at the end. Turns out that Kurt Russell is the thing.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Isn't the Terminator did that with just Genesis or something?

SPEAKER_02 3:08

I don't know, I haven't seen it. Ah, Terminator Genesis did the whole John Carnack is the Terminator. Yeah, yeah, yes, yes. And it went horribly, bro.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Thankfully, with Kurt Russell here, like where he came back, oh I survived Antarctica somehow, and then they do the reveal, and you know. But Kurt Russell would say no to that because that's a stupid fing idea.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Yeah, he's too cool for that.

Tarantino Parallels And Cabin Paranoia

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Whereas like Schwarzenegger and is like, I don't care and makes me money off. So yes. You're only cool if Terminate. We want to make Terminated Dark Fate, and you want to just ignore all the other sequels and pretend that they didn't happen. Yeah, whatever. Sign the check, I'll do it. So the thing, interestingly, two movies that are very similar in that they deal with the paranoia aspect of like who is the mole, essentially. Uh Reservoir Dogs and The Hateful Eight, which are both Tarantino movies. I find that cool because there's a lot of similarities when you think about it.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Oh, definitely, like, especially more so with The Hateful Eight. You've got a bunch of people that are in a space and they can't go anywhere, and at least one of them isn't who they say they are.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

And you, as the audience, you constantly have to like analyze every little subtle cue, and the actors probably have a lot of fun being like, oh, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna put a little wink here, a little, you know, something suspicious there. So and Kurt Russell's in the A48.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah, he is actually. I forgot that.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

True. He broke that guitar. Yeah, it turned out to be like a really uh expensive rare guitar.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

As the person that owns the guitar, he'd be so upset though. Like no ma, no amount of money could actually replace what that guitar was.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Is this the story of him smashing what he what he thought was a fake? And then it turns out, oh crap, I smashed the real the real one.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Yeah, and I think the rest of the cast knew it was the real deal, so the actual looks of shock are legitimate.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Okay, yeah, damn. Imagine if like the owner was right there in front of the scene. He's like, Alright, be really careful with this guitar now. Like, yeah, and Tarantina's like, yeah, we're gonna do we're gonna be really careful. All right, super cautious, you got nothing to worry about. We're gonna CGI the scene when he smashes it and put a different guitar. You won't even notice the difference. And then my guitar!

SPEAKER_00 5:35

And they're like, Shh, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm Jack, what's his name?

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Jack Burton.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

I'm Jack Burton.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Your guitar. And just to round it back to the thing, not to be confused with you know it this being a fantastic four prequel, but just to round it back to the thing, it's like imagine that okay, this is the scene where you shoot the dog, okay. We've got the blanks, we've got the blanks swapped out and stuff. Here's the fake dog, and it's like, wait, wait, wait, that's the real dog.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Oh did that actually happen?

The Norwegian Grenade Screw-Up

SPEAKER_02 6:03

No, the dog went on to act in other movies. We were just talking about a wooden guitar in you. Um funny thing, watching this back, I find it hilarious. The Norwegian at the start of the movie, how they're trying to kill this dog, and this Norwegian guy grabs a grenade and he just goes to throw it, and he has the s throw. Like he's never thrown something in his life. He's like.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Yeah, what happened there? I blinked and I missed. How did it get loose? You know, what happened there? It was just really sort of like a little bit. Was he doing a wind up like that? And then it was, you know, it didn't look that way.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

It just kind of looked like you went, Yeah, but they landed the helicopter, he got out, he's holding on to the thing, he's about to throw it, and then it just slips out of his hand. And then his dumb ass friend is just like, oh, I'm gonna go bury it. Surely that's gonna be fun. Nah, whereas it just loads up.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

I think there they were like, we have to get them to somehow die, but it can't be from the thing because then it reveals the dog is the thing. So how so they were like, they're Norwegian, let's just have them be fing dumb asses and get themselves killed somehow. But yeah, it just every time I see that shot, I'm always like, come on, man, really? Like, it looks so it looks like three stooges, yeah, slapstick style.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Like, what like it'd be different if he tripped out of the helicopter and dropped it or something like that. That would have worked better. Something, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Anything other than how they did it with a pot of fingers.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

But uh, that's me being really nitpicky. That's very nitpicky. Because um that dog, man, the snow dog that they do they call him snow dogs? What are they called these dogs? Huskies? Huskies. Huskies, yeah, I don't know. That husky deserves an academy award for his performance in this.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

And what was the name of the Os like the the animal version of Oscar awards? Like you you he had a name for it, but it's an action.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

I think it's called the Golden Bugle or the Bol Golden Trump Trump.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Sorry, awards for the actual one.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

You've seen the artist, the dog Uggy won like that award for the artist because he was just so well behaved. That's sick.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Yeah, why don't anyone tell talk about those? I'd watch that. Oh yeah. Yeah, I'd watch that over the Oscars any day.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Could you imagine their acceptance speech? Like, oh roof.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

Or like they have a dog translator there to be like, okay, rough, rough, rough. Thank you so much for for giving me this award. I like to thank you. I would just like to thank the Academy. My puppies. Yeah. They inspire me every day.

Practical Effects Versus Modern CGI

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Squirrel! You like dog from a uh the translator being the uh the dog handler from the movie, who equally talented, is like how do you you know get the how do you get the dog to like stand still and you know give the eyeline here and then like go to your mark there? You know, that so that's stuff, you know, we'll never know. That was brilliant. That's very good.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Nowadays they would just CGI a dog and it would look like share and it would ruin the immersion. But here, this reminds me of a film called The Edge, where it's about a bear just stalking and trying to kill these three guys. But the bear is such an integral part of the movie and elevates it because he's he's performing the way they've handled it of using a real-life bear just gives so much more gravitose and believability. And nowadays it's like you just don't see that. Like, I think one of the latest predator movies, for example, Prey, there was a scene where the predator is fighting a bear, and you can tell the bear's CGI, so straight away you're like I alright, yeah, I don't care. And it's the same with like all the practical effects in this the whole time. Like, even though I've seen this so many times, I'm still just like, how did they do that shot of like what's his face's head detaching from the body and then sliding down the table and then turning into a tarantula or whatever where its spider legs are coming out? How the f do you come up with that? And then how do you film that and create that?

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Yeah, you're talking about the scene where he had he had the heart attack and then they've done that.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

The head detaches and like stretches itself up.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

Yeah, detaching fibulators opening the giant stomach mouth.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

And as it's detaching, all those, like all those like you know, air bubbles like pop in the veins, you know, and all that. And the tent the weird like really thin thin strands of like tentacles that's just wriggling about. That's that like movie magic. Uh, that's sort of I feel lost nowadays. The the moment of the audience being like, oh wow, how did they do that? Um, just the not knowing how something was executed. That's a magic that's like lost nowadays when you can just chalk it up to computer effects. Computer effect, green screen. Now, this movie, it's a real location, real props, real dog, you know, real dog handler, real pyrotechniques. You know, when things are in front of the camera is really happening practically, that hits something in our inner core like more viscerally than any computer effects can do. Because we can, we like we with modern CJ, we can flip that switch in our brain. Practical effects, it just does something different in your head, you know? Yeah. You feel it, you feel the cold, the the angst.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

In this, like that scene, for example, when they first reveal the thing, the the frozen body of it, right? They the camera lingers on it, and you're like, what the f look at this piece and that piece. How does that but like in a modern film they would linger on that shot and it would cause you to go, oh well that's CGI. I know that's CGI because I'm looking at it for so long, I can take apart all the little flaws in it.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

See, I I agree with you to a point. One thing I disagree with you on is the fact that they linger on it. There's not that sort of uneasiness, that unsteadiness, it's about as much coverage as possible. They would have shown a million different angles within five seconds or whatever, and then that's that's that. Like not even five seconds, like two seconds.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

Wait, wait, what do you mean exactly?

SPEAKER_00 12:35

So rather than like those lingering sort of shots on the monster when they discovered him, it would have been like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, and they would have like, well, what is this? And then immediately would have been onto a different scene.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

If this was a modern, if this was a modern island, I love how it's just one shot, but it's like moving around the guys, especially that ass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got that ass shot of that dude. The dude with the pistol who's the old guy that's I think wearing a wig, I don't know, but we get some good ass. Yeah. Yeah, it's a dolly shot. Yeah, he's got a tactic. Martin really liked it.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

I was just like, that ass. But yeah, bring yeah, we bring up good points of like as good as all the practical effects are, it's like it also is helped by the the editing style of the time.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

It's also helped by that age.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

No, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Yeah, editing.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

That ass. Yeah. But yeah, just all those lingering shots where it lingers for that like beat or two longer. I'm trying to make a serious point here.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

Imagine if the actor was like, no, keep it on my I need I need I need the light on the buttocks. Like the director moves the camera and is like, what the f are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Keep it on my ass. Well, and there would have they would have only been able to review the rushes like months later in a lap or something. Yeah, but that's the only take we got, so we kind of we have to keep it.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Like in The Simpsons, like we took a hundred takes, and that was the best one. Right. Um anyway, Martin, you were saying something serious and informative, and I just you just like brought it back to that ass. That ass. Yeah.

How Editing And Music Create Dread

SPEAKER_01 14:21

But yeah, um, it's only it's only like as good as like the editing and also it's just the um the what's unspoken. I made this point when they were at the Norwegian base, how how this movie did, you know, exposition versus how a modern movie would have done it, where you have the you know, slow lingering shots, you have that fantastic score to really build up and the and the sound design with the howling of the wind, you know, playing in the background. Just everything, all these this synesthesia buildup of this unease and just these lingering shots where a camera will stay on a subject for like two or three beats longer than any conventional movie would to really drive home the point. Something's not right with this guy, or is or is this guy human? Something's not right with this dog, or with the amount of times you cut back to the dog that they supposedly rescued. Um, they they linger on the shot of like, or maybe they have certain things out of focus in the foreground that wait, did that thing just like twitch and move, or was that a figment of my imagination? Followed, coupled by the the look out of everyone's faces, like you really just like integrate those reaction shots to the to the uh uncertainty of everyone dealing with something alien that's like I don't know what to do. It's like, oh I I'm stumped. It's like and then you really just like slow panning shots, everyone's just like staring. And it's like it's like no one, no one has no one knows what to do. And that every everything just drives that paranoia, that unease, those like long-linger. It's like, and I don't know how you would write that in a in a screenplay. How do you write a screenplay without the dialogues? And just how does that how do the words translate into what we get here? It's like I think it's only possible like when you have John Carpenter who's in charge of the the score and his the director. And would he be involved with the editing? I suppose a director must be involved in editing to really get nailed those timing, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Well, I think I I think the best thing is with John Carpenter, he knows when to like let the music breathe and the simplicity of the music as well, having something so simple like dum dun, dum dun. It's kind of like Jaws, where it's like it's just like two notes, but it's used so effectively to be like, What is this? What is it building towards? But then he can also have these long drawn-out shots where there's no music at all. It's like the dude is just a master at knowing when to let the music tell the story and when to let the silence tell the story.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

And the and the lighting as well, actually. Where to have a light and where to like have an image bathed in darkness. Like just little stuff like the, you know, the the two guys like McCready and um whoever the other it was walking down a dark corridor only with their flashlights, and then as they walk in through it, they're just silhouetted, and then the torch comes up to reveal a bloodied axe, and just having like the lighting hide what's in front of it until a light is shone onto it, just little stuff like that. I think everything is so good. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

You guys have like really hit the nail on the head, and like in regards to just especially like how it was shot, how it was composed in a way, because there are those moments like in the beginning where the dog's running from the Norwegians and there's no soundtrack whatsoever. And the camera is using these wides and this and that, and you actually see the style of the movie, how it's shot change over the time. So, right at the beginning, you're an observer, and you're in like as a you're an observer in a space, everything's diegetic. Like, you see those like long shots of the halls pushing through the halls, and you hear superstition by um Stevie Wonder playing and such, and it's echoing through, but that's the soundtrack that's diegetic. That's not you're hearing what everyone else is hearing, but then the lighting changes, the you know, the the vibe changes, the cinematography changes. Now the music sort of starts to feed in, and then you're less of an observer, and now you're in the friggin' movie. And I find that just so fing cool.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

And like how the camera is moving through the space, but there's no one there makes it so much more creepier because it's it's making you feel like you're in the perspective of whoever the thing is at that time.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

100%.

Red Herrings And The Thing’s Strategy

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Only made even better by the the the devolving um morale that's going on and the and the camaraderie is breaking down. And it gets and also it just gives me the sense that this must therefore be an intelligent creature that knows how to divide and conquer.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Well, there's that there's that moment when Clark. Which one's Clark? Clark is the one that really loves the dogs.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Oh, that dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Like really loves him.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

I felt sorry for Clark.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

And all the guys are just like, you know, he something's up with that. There's something wrong with Clark. He he really likes the dogs a little bit too much, you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Threw me off as well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:35

But um, there is that spot where he goes to attack McCready, and McCready has no choice but to shoot him in the head in self-defense, and then it's real revealed that he was not the thing. As a red herring, you know, sort of so then you get this realization that the thing can easily make them kill each other without even really doing anything, just its sheet presence and the way it manipulates evidence makes people look guilty, like seeds of doubt.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Yes, taking the plant. The shirt with the name McCready, yes, yes. Destroying the blood bank. Yeah, yeah, that's right. So it's intelligent, it's adapting.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

We don't know until later that the thing is one of the specific people, and then um he basically fools all of them when he's offered like to be in charge, and he says, No, I don't want to be in charge. I think it should go over to you know, someone else. So he actually has the opportunity to take the leadership and probably through all of them, but he's a bit more strategic with how he does that.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

Because by being a warflower. What's his name was the thing at that point, and they actually said to him you take the lead, and he was like, Nah, I can't. Oh man, that's a great pickup. It is like Among Us before Among Us was a game. God damn. Oh, a few things. If they ever remake this, they should call it the thang. The thang. Boom, that thang.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

Yeah, just bring bring the guy back.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

There's there's lots of uh other pieces of media that have been influenced by this. For example, I was watching the X-Files season one. There's an episode of the X-Files that is a direct homage to the thing, like set in the same place, Alaskan or you know, snowy environment, they're trapped and they don't know who is this creature that's been in. The imposter. Yeah, super cool.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Uh we talk about influences, so there's the X-Files episode. Did we talk about we talk about the Hateful Eight and stuff, didn't we? Yeah, the Hateful Eight. Reservoir Dogs, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Yeah, so the cultural knock-on effect uh this has had is still ongoing.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

The paranoia aspect is just that's why I was saying before, I'm so shocked they haven't done more with it. I can only think of uh one other movie that reminds me of the thing called The Faculty.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

I like that one, which is awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Only problem with the faculty is it does rely on CGI that looks kind of sh sometimes. Like they have a very similar scene where a head is like walking, but it looks like crap because it's late 90s CGI versus this, where it's like that's a living thing that is somehow crawling like a spider across the floor. Um, but yeah, the faculty had a very similar premise where it was pretty much the thing, but in a school and all these different um teachers get taken over and infected, and no one knows who's real and who's not. Uh awesome movie.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Oh, such a cool movie. And they even have a scene that's similar to like the blood scene where they're all kind of like snorting that sort of thing. Exactly well done.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

And I'm pretty sure Robert Rodriguez directed it right. Yeah. And he is 100% a carpenter fan.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

He crushed it in that one. Like, and that's the thing as well. That was sort of early in his career where he was kind of making, you know, I mean, he kind of did it a few years later and stuff for more adult sort of centric content. But the faculty was supposed to be like another big genre, like well not a genre, a big series, I should say, like the scream movies at the time. But the only issue was that that audience kind of got audience fatigue, where the faculty wasn't so different from I know uh you know, um, I know what you did last summer and Scream and all those other teenage movies that came out.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

Kind of got lost in the shuffle.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Yeah, so it didn't do super well on the box office, but it got pretty good reviews.

Box Office Trouble And Marketing Horror

SPEAKER_02 23:53

You know what's funny? Same thing with the thing. This movie got great reviews that struggled at the box office.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

Why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_02 24:01

Oh well, uh at the time of release, there was another little movie called E.T. Oh, about an alien that doesn't rip people apart.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

They're basically the same movie, you think about it.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Oh man. Yeah, so which sucks because I actually I I I don't I don't resonate with E.T. Whereas this, I'm like, I think I really don't know how this would have been marketed. Very similar to when we talked about Big Trouble in Little China, I don't know how they would have marketed it back then. Because nowadays you can go on the internet, you can watch movie reviews, and you can get a really good idea of whether a movie's good or not. But back in those days, not having the internet, you're relying purely on the trailers, and if the trailers don't explain what it is, your your movies.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Is that inherent, is that an inherent flaw of horrors that it's you it is already boxed into how how uh how widely you can market it, you know, within certain time frames, you can't have swear words, you can't have graphic violence, you know, during certain like air times and stuff. Maybe uh maybe horror is just like you inherently are boxed into how much you can show off to like a daytime audience. Um I theorize. That's my theory. I'm not too sure. But like the cynical side thinking like maybe like modern writers aren't just like just maybe the magic is just gone from like the old writers versus like the writers of nowadays where they just can't figure out how to replicate like the way that every every aspect of the thing ties everything together to culminate into you know the un paranoia and unease without it being compared to John Carpenter's the thing, which is such a high bar. I mean, unless you're Tarantino. Uh you reckon would be.

Favorite Scenes And Character Readings

SPEAKER_02 25:59

Well, I mean like the influence is there, but has it been you go like like hateful eight, you look at it and you go, yeah, I could see it's influenced by stuff like the thing, but not a copy, but not in a copycat way. Yeah, not in a copycat way, in a way of like, ooh, it's got its own thing, but it's definitely taken inspiration from John Carpenter. I think that's really cool. What was your favorite moment for you guys?

SPEAKER_01 26:26

I think probably just like from the narrative, I think my favorite thing is just from a narrative uh standpoint where um the first guy to really just crash out and try and cut off everyone's escape route by like smashing up the radio and like uh disabling the helicopter, making sure it's like, oh, um, after after the daunting realization that if this thing was to spread to a civilized world, then like that'll be you know Enzo's for the rest of humanity. And so that he takes it upon himself to you know make sure you know it can't get out, we also can't get out, and then he's the first one to come to that what seems to be like an insane realization, but then and from like a narrative standpoint, I really appreciate it when like the other characters then come round to like the same conclusion. In an insane world, the most crazy thing to do is actually the most sane thing to do. When we've accepted we're not gonna get out of this alive. So we labeled that guy as the crazy one before, we locked him up and boarded him up and everything, but narratively now they're doing the same as what he first set out to. So now we're the ones to finish off you know what he started, right? I I like when movies do that. When they come to the realization they're totally screwed, just a like a well, like the narrative, sort of like a full circle moment. That's that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

There is a tragedy.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

The tragedy, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

Them coming to that conclusion of like we're not gonna make it, there's no way to make it. The best we can do is at least kill this thing or stop it from its plan, but we're gonna have to die in order for that to happen.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Yeah, I think tragedy is the best way to summarize it. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

What about you, Luke? What was your favorite moment?

SPEAKER_00 28:09

I'm a bit of a basic bitch. So, my favorite scene probably happens to be that one where they're testing the blood with like a cup of wire and such. Yeah, because the tension there is just so unbelievable. Imagine being palpable. Imagine being in an audience and you've never actually seen anything quite like the thing before. It did kind of change, uh, I guess you could say film effects, whatever. Uh, but you're sitting in the movie theatre, you're on the edge of your seat, and you're watching these people on screen, and everyone, any one of these characters could be the monster, and you just don't know. There's no easy way of telling it. You yourself as a viewer don't know who to trust. Um, and even when the movie ends, you don't know who to trust. But then slowly, slowly, slowly, he burns like the wire and he dips it in the blood, and then you know. I just think the tension there was just so great. Like, you know, they're all fighting with each other, all nervous, you know. You but you know, one of them there is the bad guy. He just anyways. I just thought the tension of it was great, this the reveal is amazing, the little subtlety, like you actually introduce it to me. The fact that you can spoiler alert, tell who it is because everyone that is human has a light in their eyes, little dots, yeah. Like little, yeah, little reflections. Whereas in that scene is if you're paying close attention, the one that is the thing doesn't, but you're gonna be paying attention for those details.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

My thing is that this is gonna this is one of those scenes where ignorance really is bliss. You have to you have to be unaware of the m the filmmaking trickeries and all you know, not have to spoil us for that tension to really play off. And then that's one of the most like famous scenes as well. I myself have you know watched that scene, the white the Y scene a thousand times before we watched it tonight. I have to. And so I just wish, man. I wish I was totally, I was totally unaware of like who the red herring was and who the real one was, you know, before coming into it. I really spoiled myself for that effect to really pay off.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

It's like it's like spoiling Star Wars for someone who's never seen it. You you purposely spoiled it for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Yeah, I suppose those, but you because it is such a like a legacy sort of movie that like it's so ubiquitous. And everyone knows, you know, Darth Vader is you know Luke Skywalker's father. It's that kind of thing. It's like, well, I yeah, this this scene is was that for me. It's like, yeah, I know like when when like the jump scare will happen and stuff, because it just shows up.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

I'd love to see comments being like, I didn't fing know Martin. What what Darth Vader was the what's the father, on it?

SPEAKER_00 30:43

What was your favorite scene? And don't say dead ass.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

Dead ass. Because when it came out, I was like, ah. Um, what is my favorite scene? You know what? I love the scene when I forget the guy's name. Rollerblade, this guy. Yeah, the chef. The chef. The chef. Because it's so hard to remember names because there's so many guys. There's a lot of people that get killed. For sure. Um, he was with Mac, he ditched Mac because he thought Mac was the thing, and so they're all like, oh sh okay, Mac's the thing. Then they realise Mac has broken one of the windows and is coming in, and they're cutting to the storerooms. Yeah, they're cutting down the door for him, and as soon as the doors open, you just see McCready with this flare, and he's holding some dynamite, and he's like, Yeah, fing do it, and I'll blow everything up. And that moment of him trying to convince everyone that he isn't the thing, even though there was evidence clearly planted against him. I love that scene. I love the shot of the pink and the blue and Kurt Russell's eyes are so great in this. Like the the terror, the there's something about his blue eyes that just fing works so well with this movie.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

Well, and also the stakes that were involved at that point in the movie, you know, when his leadership was really being tested, everyone's, you know, the lack of sleep, you know, was like they were just at the brink of consciousness, basically. They're making, you know, they're making questionable decisions due to defeat. And also just him being stuck out in the snow for so long. That I I I commented, like, that was a very horrifying look. You know, he's disheveled, you know, he's got ice all over the the like really baggy eyes, like everyone's at the edge of of sanity, really. Everyone's just been pushed, man. And it's like to the point where I will blow if you if you push me, I will blow us up. I will. Yeah, don't don't try me. Don't try me.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Like he's got the seeds as well for later down the track when they decide to just blow everything up. And um, the funny thing is the next scene when he's got the flamethrower, so he's earned everyone's trust, but he's still shaking from the cold. Like Kurt Russell does such a good job of selling the effects of the cold, how he he could have died from them ditching him. And uh Keith David is really great as well.

The Cold As A Villain

SPEAKER_01 33:19

I think it's also helped by the fact that you know, filming on location in Alaska, British Columbia, you know, the cold is real. The you know, the breath is really like cat is captured on camera. You know, you can't you can't fake the shivers and just the oh man, I I've really got to layer up, you know, because it is freezing in this mother f the the cold is another obstacle along with the thing. Is this yet another case of where the environment is the is a character, would you say?

SPEAKER_02 33:45

And does it apply here? Because when you think of a thing, you think of the snow immediately. It's like when you think of Predator, you think of the junk. Yeah, true, true, true. Like very similar.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Yeah, factors in as well. Like he has to be thawed out, and you know, he he was in in hibernation this whole ten or hundred thousand years or whatever from that weird UFO thingy, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

And that's just the thing, like there's two kind of uh antagonists thing.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

That's our word of the day thing.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

Take a drink, people.

SPEAKER_02 34:15

Um take a drink every time we um say the thing. Not to be confused with Fantastic Four.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

But um, yeah, like that's the thing. There's two anti antagonists drink up.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Two antagonists.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

There's two antagonists in it where it's the the monster, but then there's also like if the monster doesn't kill them, there's a good chance that the cold will.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

And you know, and they can't run from either of them.

The Power Of An Ambiguous Ending

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Oh, I thought you would have I thought you were gonna say the second antagonist, antagonistic force was the people themselves.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

Oh, well, yeah, there's that too.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

The paranoia.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

But that's that's probably number three.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

It it works so well for the ending because then you and I used to hate the ending as a kid because I was like, oh, I just want to know that Kurt Russell made it and that he isn't the thing. But when you watch it now, it's so brilliant because you just constantly linger with the thoughts of but how will this end? Yeah, yeah, the brutality of leaving the answer unanswered deliberately. Yeah, it leaves you in such an uneasy place, whereas I feel movies wouldn't take that risk with the ending.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Are they afraid of ambiguous cliffhangers?

SPEAKER_02 35:25

Yeah, but it's so brilliant because there's there's logic that could suggest that Mac is the thing and Charles. And and just breaking down that scene. It doesn't matter because they're they're both probably gonna die from the And I think they acknowledge that too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They did acknowledge that.

Unintentionally Funny Horror Moments

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Yeah, it's true. It's brilliant. Another full circle moment, yeah. It's just like we see the Norwegian base is just all, you know, everything's exploded and inflammate, and it's the aftermath. It's a foreshadowing what will be the aftermath. Like what has happened to the Norwegians is what's gonna happen to the Americans here. I love that. Full circle moment once and from like a narrative standpoint, once again. Uh okay, I want to talk about the like unintentionally funny aspects of this movie. You know, the we talked about the ass thing, and um uh well what was the scene that we cackled so much about, I I feel like it's it was intended to be that horrifying moment where the audience is just reeling from the shock, but it's the bit where um thing starts dancing with that 70s show guy. Yeah, the the the ragdoll. And then they still have this the sound effect of him screaming while it's inside its mouth, like when it's because he's the only other guy with the flame fro with the flamethrower. This is the bit where you know they're testing each other's blood, and then we get that red herring moment in the jump scare, and then you know, when it's like, what's this what's this guy? Windows! Windows! Yo, get those get the flamethrower, okay, huh? And the the thing like lands in front of it, and we always get so much of the huh? Huh? And they don't do anything, they're just like deer in the headlights, and then you know, his entire upper half of his body gets chomped by the thing, and then he becomes an obvious ragdo that just goes all like G modded like that as the sound effect of him screaming is still.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

I love what Luke said that he became the wacky wavy inflatable ski again.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

And it's just another yet another cliche moment of oh my oh no, the the killer's coming for me, the engine won't start, and in this instance, it's the well, okay. My flamethrower was working this whole time, but now it's like poof, poof, poof, poof. It's like, what the something's wrong with it? Poof, poof, poof, poof. It's such it's another one of those like horror cliches. It had to be tiny horror to draw out the horror of it.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

Yeah, I know, but I mean there's I just can't there's the blind. All right, guys, if we just stick together, we'll be sweet. Now, everyone, let's split up in pairs and we'll we'll find out who's the thing. And straight away, like, all right, uh, okay, I'll just stop to tie my shoelaces and I'll turn around and oh wait, now's around. Where is everybody? Hello? Where everybody hello? Hello? And then ah and then I'm struck. It's like, huh? I I swear, like, Windows looks exactly like the guy from that 70s show. He's got this big afro curly hair, he keeps wearing sunglasses, uh, it's implied he's he could be a bit of a stoner or a you know, and yeah, like you said, I love that moment where the thing drops down and he's right in front of it with a flamethrower who's like, Whoa that was really cool. What is this thing? And then and then they there's this great shot where they get the thing's feet, and I think that's why I always think of it like the thing is dancing with him because it shows the feet, it's so brilliant. Um, yeah, that was some funny man.

SPEAKER_01 39:12

That was really funny, and I think it's and again, I I posit that it was unintentionally so. Yeah, yeah.

The Chess Computer And What It Says

SPEAKER_00 39:18

Another thing that's I mean, I it probably is intentionally funny. Take a shot, guys. Take a shot. Um, it was like that early scene where um Mac is playing with the chess computer and then he loses and he just gets to sh and just pours his booze or whatever on the scene.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

What do you think the uh was the point of that?

SPEAKER_00 39:40

I think it was to set the set the thing uh set the What's that saying about his character? Yeah, that he is he doesn't like to play by the rules.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Or he he refuses to lose. True. Oh, you know what? This actually, oh, I just had that light bulb moment. He would rather win and beat the thing at its game and let himself die, whatever, destroy the whole um base rather than let the thing win.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

There you go, I never noticed that. That's a that's a yeah, no, no shots.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

That was really cool. No, no, no shots are just put in there for the sake of you. No, every shot tells us.

SPEAKER_02 40:24

So we get the idea about his character that likes alcohol, he's is there's a few references to alcohol, him drinking a lot, wanting to get drunk, but a few of the guys also drink to cope through the whole god uh there must have been there must have been sponsored by Smirnoff or something. There was one point where I was like, Brett Smirnoff. If you want to get rid of the thing in your body, drink Smirnoff. Yeah, so our intro to McCready is refuses to lose, you know, never say die kind of attitude. And rather than destroy skills, destroy the system, yeah, destroy the system rather than letting it win.

unknown 41:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Hates technology. Yeah. So every time they they put it in like a close-up of any technology, I half expected a hand to just come in with like a bourbon and just like slash it and go. Yeah. I read this uh tip uh from a from a storytelling standpoint. If a movie is a book, then a shot is a sentence. That's that's the way they described it. I was like, oh yeah, that's a bit of a light bulb moment. So it's like when they show, you know, the the rewinding of the tape or you know the splashing of the alcohol that has to mean something to the character or to the plot progression.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

Before we before we get off track, final ratings out of five? Yeah, out of five.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

Give it a 4.5.

SPEAKER_02 41:48

Ooh, what keeps it from a five?

SPEAKER_00 41:51

I'm just not uh big fan of sci-fi. Okay, yeah, yeah. It's a generally it's a great film. I find it's more horror than sci-fi.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

I feel like it's like maybe 80-20 horror to sci-fi, even 90-10.

SPEAKER_02 42:05

And the fact that it's an alien and you see a spaceship at the start is probably the only sci-fi element.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

The other thing is it is a remake. Howard Hawkes, I believe, made the movie The Thing from Outer Space, or The Thing from Antarctica World. That's it. And um, it's a remake, so sorry, sorry, John Carpenter, you lose 0.5 of a star because you've remade something, and you of all people have suffered from that.

SPEAKER_02 42:31

Yeah, but he this is like the fly in that, yeah, it's a remake, but it's got such a unique own identity where you don't you can easily differentiate it from the original, the thing from another world. There's maybe like one or two shots where I'm like, oh, okay, I can see that. But other than that, the story is much more improved and it looks amazing. Like back in the 80s, you could have remakes that were better than the originals, like the blob, the fly, this. Whereas nowadays you just can't get that because they just always try to repeat the same sh. It's more CGI or CGI and just ruin it completely, like with the thing prequel. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

The remake can stand as its own entity, it's not sort of like held back by you know its original.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

I gave it 5.5 stars, bro. Like it's pretty high.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

Don't you dare disrespect John Carpenter. Nah, um, Martin, what about you?

SPEAKER_01 43:41

God, I'm so tempted to give this a 10 out of 10. Um I said five and you know, make a 10. Yeah. I I'm struggling to find five. I'm struggling to think of anything I that's I find like vehemently dislike about or anything that's like a glaring issue. I can't think of any. Let's say five. Wow. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

What about you?

SPEAKER_02 44:03

Oh man. Probably 4.5.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

So what's holding you back?

SPEAKER_02 44:10

The thing that holds uh the thing that holds me back is Far out. Can you imagine if we did this entire review and we all had shots as wasted as those researchers, you know, with all the spurn-offs. You would have to have like so yeah, exactly shots. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

Can't say family when reviewing Fast and Furious. Now that would be tough. Anyway, sorry. The point five score that keeps you from being perfect 100%.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

It's more of a personal thing. It's just the genre of like horror. I gotta be in the mood for it. It's like The Exorcist is like five out of five movie, but it's not something I can just watch whenever. You know what? No, f it. I'll give it a five. Give it a five out of five and just put the caveat that if you're you gotta be in the mood for it, if you're in the mood for this type of genre, suspense, horror, uh, body horror, there's a lot of like gross, grotesque, nightmare feel in something like this, but it is a fing masterpiece as far as to this day. You see the stuff that they did, and you think to yourself, wow, like how well everything's thought out, everything comes together so well, the explosions look awesome, those shots, the moving shots of like Kurt Russell and Keith David like blowing up the facility near the end when they're just throwing Molotovs into the different rooms and shit. Oh, because so many YouTube!

SPEAKER_01 45:58

Damn, that's so badass, man.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

As a 10-year-old kid, I was just like yeah, yeah, it's like you don't have to say anything witty if you're Kurt Russell, you can just say f you and throw a piece of dynamite. Badass, man. Yeah, I'll give a five out of five. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

Because like if you if you evaluate you know a movie based on the mood of the day, then like that you can apply that logic to just any movie.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

Any movie is like you have to be kind of in the in the mood for yeah, so the other thing is I would totally re-watch this with the audio commentary of like the director and Kurt Russell. That would be a fun experience. Does that exist? Is there a Blu-ray? I think it does. Okay. I would definitely check that out. There are, yeah, when when a movie engrosses you so well to the point where you want to re-watch it again, but with the audio commentary, I feel like that's very That's a good sign. That's a special sign that they really hooked you well. And you also invested in the making of and and invested in the characters, like there were so many moments where even though I've seen this a whole bunch of times, I was still like, f man, run! Like, get away. Like, just love that. I love that about like a great horror. What that has replay value, like rewatch value.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

Yeah, where it still hooks you, even though you know what's gonna happen. Yeah, and decades later, you're still we're still discussing it. Oh, I wonder when when do you guys think uh this person uh got turned into the thing, like the fact that we're still discussing those things? Oh, oh, who's not accounted for? It's like you're doing those sort of mental.

Wrap-Up And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_02 47:42

And that's the first thing I want to do now that after this podcast finishes, I want to watch, look up and be like, okay, when was this person the thing? How did this happen? Does this make sense? Like, I want to break all that down. A movie that keeps the conversation going long after the credits have have rolled. That's a really good sign. So five out of five. Five out of five. Awesome. So if you enjoyed uh this review, please like, share, and subscribe for more classic movie reviews like this. Movies worth seeing. Movies worth seeing. Um till next time. Let's see you at the next thing.