The Thing [Blu-ray]

BOTTOM LINE: It's an easy 5 STAR rating for the intense motion picture horror experience that is John Carpenter's THE THING. The abysmally disappointing Universal barebones Blu-ray is a 2 STAR turd. Don't bother. Pick up the Shout!Factory Blu instead. Their release is what fans deserve and have been wanting. 5 STARS for Shout!'s Blu-ray!Terrific thrills, chills and flat out shocks fill this frosty fright flick to the icy rafters. John Carpenter gives us what many consider to be his very best film. (I'd modify that statement and say it's his best science fiction film. His best horror work is still the original HALLOWEEN, while his best action film is ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13. As always, IMHO/YMMV.) I am among those that love THE THING. I've been an enthusiastic fan of this film and John Carpenter since I first caught it during its debut on cable way back in the day. The barren, brutal and bloody frights of THE THING were unleashed into theaters a mere two weeks after the snuggly hug-fest of Steven Spielberg's E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, and I think a lot of film goers back then were simply not prepared for the senses-shocking visceral horrors that Carpenter and his crew were set to spring on them. In fact, even without ET's cuddly competition, I'm not sure THE THING would have been a box office hit. THE THING was just too far ahead of its time. 25+ years later and it has lost none of its power to shock, make you jump and squirm in your seat. SPFX artist extraordinaire Rob Bottin's incredibly twisted creature designs and disgustingly awesome motion-controlled props & make-ups still physically and psychologically repulse and fascinate the viewer all these decades later. This film is stuffed to the gills with some of THE best examples of beautifully grotesque movie effects ever seen. Give me wonderfully-realized practical effects like the ones on display here ANY day over the ocean of computer-generated stuff.Every cast member gives us a top flight performance; no half-hearted acting to be found here. Kurt Russell makes you instantly forget there ever was a Dexter Riley, with his subtle yet most definitely in-charge role as laconic chopper pilot R.J. MacCready. Charles Hallahan, Keith David, Richard Dysart and especially Wilford Brimley all turn in A-list work in their various supporting roles. Establishing himself as an acting force to be reckoned with, Brimley gives us an unforgettable, multi-layered performance as the slowly disintegrating Blair. And a special call-out to long-time character actor Donald Moffat as the bewildered, beleaguered and undoubtedly in over his head Antarctic outpost commander, Garry. Moffat gives us what is arguably the greatest line reading in the history of talking motion pictures with his "couch" speech. His vocal firepower is the equivalent of a howitzer in this scene and once you've heard it you'll never forget it. LOL.This 1982 remake, based on John Campbell's fantastic 1938 short story "Who Goes There?" hews much closer to the source material than the previous movie incarnation, the classic Howard Hawks 1951 version of THE THING (FROM ANOTHER WORLD). Carpenter's film is every bit as impressive and iconic as Hawks' version is, though for drastically different reasons. Hawks' THING combines a fantastic cast of characters who, despite initially being at-odds with one another on how best to deal with their alien visitor, eventually band together to battle the terrifying extraterrestrial, (a super-intelligent plant-based lifeform that could conceivably pollinate the entire planet with its deadly spores, instantly knocking mankind to the bottom of the food chain). Hawk's THING = US against THEM. The fear in Carpenter's version, (much like INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS), comes from being unable to know for certain just exactly WHO or WHAT the enemy is; no person, (in fact no living thing), can be trusted. Carpenter's THING = ME against EVERYTHING. Carpenter's remake remains one of THE best on-screen examples of paranoia-fueled terror ever lensed, pure & simple. The 1982 version of THE THING is one of those rare occurrences when the remake of a classic movie is every bit as good as the original. Both versions are absolute "must-owns," fully deserving a spot on every movie (and especially sci-fi/horror) fan's video library shelf.BLU-RAYS...The Universal Blu-ray of THE THING is a major let-down. None of the excellent bonus features from the previous Collector's Edition DVD have been ported over to this Blu-ray version, save the audio commentary by John Carpenter & Kurt Russell. Nothing new was produced for this Blu-ray either. That's a damn shame no matter how you look at it. Instead of an ultimate, reference-quality release, you just get a new format version that in all honesty isn't any better than the previous format. Neither the picture nor the sound are much improved from DVD. Universal really dropped the ball with this release. A travesty for Carpenter fans and basically the home video equivalent of a kick in the nuts to those, like myself, who were hoping for at least a worthwhile picture & sound upgrade even if no goodies were included. As I say, the audio & video are somewhat better but not THAT much. If you already own Universal's "Collector's Edition" DVD then I cannot recommend double-dipping for this Blu-ray.UPDATE>>> Forget the craptastic Universal Blu-ray. Pick up a copy of Shout!Factory's new Blu-ray and see how this SHOULD have been handled by those knuckleheads at Universal. The Shout! Blu is a terrific 2-disc offering that is worlds better than Universal's. The transfer, first & foremost, is amazing. Super sharp focus, bringing out a ton of details not seen in any previous format release. The picture looks clear, clean and is free of artifacting, pixelation, edge enhancement, and only the slightest amount of crush (video noise). The crew at Shout! affected a 2k scan of the film's interpositive, overseen by the Director of Photography, Dean Cundey. It looks amazing. The blacks are solid & inky and the mid-tones are firm and strong. Audio is clear, clean and the soundmix is level. There is a wealth of superb bonus content for fans of this great film. Shout! knows how to please. In addition to the best original stuff ported over from previous versions, there are lots of new goodies; some on Disc #1 (Feature Film) and the rest spread out over Disc #2 (Special Features). Bravo! This is the release THING fans have been clamoring for. Wait no longer. Order yours today!

This 4K Blu-ray release is absolutely amazing! An incredibly superior remastering in every regard. The picture quality is truly astounding! It didn't look this good in the theaters (and I know because I saw it on the big screen myself)!If you are a fan of this movie, this magnificent looking disc is absolutely the version to own!The Thing is typically thought of as a horror film (and it is one, and a classic in the genre, no argument), but it is also so much more than mere mindless scares. It is also top flight science fiction with a greater purpose, just as the novella it is based upon from legendary science fiction great John W. Campbell was.John Carpenter's version of "The Thing" is often compared to the original black and white classic, typically by critics who have never read the original source material, "Who Goes There?", which is actually an in-depth examination of the chilling effects of distrust and paranoia on the members of a small community. If they've never read the source they have no idea of how poor an adaptation the original was, or how good an adaptation Carpenter's version is.The original, although a fine film, threw away the book's entire theme and purpose and turned it into a straight monster movie (and admittedly, a superior one at that), but the entire point and purpose of the story was still utterly lost. It was a terrible adaptation of the source novella, even though it was a much better than average monster movie.This John Carpenter version, on the other hand, is a phenomenally good adaptation of the original literary piece. Just unbelievably true to the source material. And, it is a very good movie as well.The novella was inspired by the effects of paranoia Campbell saw among certain groupings and societies of people at variously troubling times.Campbell, a man who'd always been very interested in human psychology, became, in fact, so fascinated with the effects of societal paranoia that he decided to write a novella exploring the subject in great depth.In it, he created a minimum microcosm representing a small society out of the inhabitants of an isolated Arctic research station cut off from the outside world. He then created an organism that could take on any form, so that every person at this base knew anyone else could actually be the enemy, a reason nobody could be trusted by anyone else. He did this in order to illustrate very clearly the chilling effects of paranoia that would arise and grow from it--and to study in depth how warped human interactions could become as a result.At the beginning of the story the Arctic researchers may have their personal likes and dislikes of one another, but they all get along, all trust one another and all work together as a team. Once the paranoia begins, all of this begins to break down. Soon nobody trusts anyone else and they all fear the others around them. We see how their small society no longer functions without trust. Before long any small degree of suspicion puts them at one another's throats. Even in the final scene we see that distrust of one another still at play.This entire point and purpose of the novella was unfortunately left completely out of the original film and only the scares and frights remained. In the original there is no paranoia, no breakdown in trust, and they instead work together as a strongly unified team against the monster. The point of Campbell's tale has been completely excised from the story.In Carpenter's version, it is back in full form. And, boy did they get the screen adaptation right!The filmmakers were, by the way, so proud of how true to the source novella their final film was, that at the advanced screening held for the critics, they actually handed out copies of "Who Goes There?" so that the critics could read it and see just how faithful they'd been to the original novella.But, apparently, none of them ever bothered to read it, because they pretty much all initially blasted the film as worthless gross-out garbage with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. They couldn't see past the gory, yet revolutionary transformation special effects (which may have been repulsive to them in an unheard of manner back then, but such things have become quite commonplace in horror films today) and they clearly didn't get it. Only weeks after the release of the warm and fuzzy E.T. they simply couldn't get their minds past the barrage of disturbing and grotesque monster effects to see that the film was also actually saying something--and saying it very well.Over the years, though, horror films changed, opinions changed and The Thing has eventually been recognized as the classic that it is, both a terrifying horror masterpiece and a phenomenal screen adaptation of the original literary work illustrating the degeneration of a small society which takes place when everyone looks at everyone else through the eye of suspicion. Even in the final scene of the film we see that fear and distrust have not been vanquished.This is a film the original author would have thought was true to his intended vision. And, it is a phenomenally well done movie.This 4K disc is the penultimate edition of Carpenter's masterpiece of paranoia, suspense and horror and is a truly superior looking disc in every conceivable way. The sharpness, the color, the depth and richness of the image on this disc are all astoundingly impressive. The image quality is so good it looks like it was literally shot yesterday. I had read in advance that this mastering of the movie was going to be something very special to see, but I was totally unprepared for just how amazingly good this disc looks! It is absolutely incredible!I can't possibly conceive of a better looking edition of this fantastic film EVER coming into existence--this version is as close to utterly perfect looking as I've ever seen. It went way, way, way beyond merely meeting my very high expectations, it exceeded them!If you love this movie, you MUST own this disc! I don't think it is possible that there could EVER exist a better looking edition than this truly extraordinary version of this science fiction horror classic!My recommendation is the highest one possible!