John Carpenter’s The Thing is a film about a thing, who can transform into other things. It’s my favorite Carpenter film, and that’s largely due to the creature designs and effects, courtesy of Rob Bottin and Stan Winston. So, here’s my 5 Favorite Things from The Thing (Spoiler warning!):
5. This thing: Actually, not off to a great start as this isn’t my fifth favorite. I don’t actually really like this giant monster that arrives at the climax of the film, but I couldn’t get a decent screenshot of the first tentacle dog-creature, so this will have to do, sorry. What’s pictured seems more like an exercise in danger escalation than a progression in invention, resorting for the old bigger-is-better adage that, alas, in this case is a little disappointing. The dog-heads appearing on the torso is a nice touch, but would have been more interesting had there been some of the human heads it had killed up to that point too. That not-pictured dog-thing is horrific though, like a canine version of a Predator, but with jellyfish tentacles whipping all over the place.
4. This thing: The result of perhaps the greatest scene from any Carpenter film, the blood test sequence, this rapidly melting monstrosity used to be Palmer (David Clennon, who also played Amy’s father in Gone Girl), who was discovered to be the alien creature after his blood sample reacted dramatically to heat. He/it becomes a giant killing machine, before being flame-throwered out of existence. The way Palmer remains so casual throughout the scene, knowing full well that when it comes time for his blood to be tested he”ll morph and try to kill everyone is great, as is the reaction from the others tied to the couch with him. Seriously, this film is worth watching just for this scene alone, and it’s no wonder Robert Rodriguez used it as his inspiration for a scene in The Faculty.
3. This thing: The first time we see the monster transform from a human it doesn’t get very far, as Bennings (Peter Maloney) is caught in the act and only gets a chance to transform his hands into Groot-like tree limbs, but that Munch-like scream face and screech is more than a little disconcerting.
2. This thing: The second greatest scene in The Thing is this one. The group mostly suspects Mac (Kurt Russell) of being an imposter, so some of them attempt to round on him to incapacitate him in some way. The stress gets too much for Norris (Charles Hallahan), who has a heart attack. Fortunately Dr. Cooper (Richard Dysart) is on hand to provide medical attention but, just as he attempts a second round of de-fibrillation, Norris’ chest opens up to be a giant mouth that quickly chomps Cooper’s arms clean off. If anyone watching this for the first time had any inclination that was going to happen then they have some form of clairvoyance, because holy shit is that some unexpected business going on.
1. This thing: The immediate result of the above scene saw not-Norris’ head extending and detaching from his body, using a tongue-lasso to pull away and then, in perhaps my favorite three seconds in any film, spider-like legs and antennae emerging from not-Norris’ decapitated head. Palmer’s reaction of “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!” is exactly the same as what anyone in the audience must have been thinking too. If it’s capable of that, there’s no hope for anyone. Also, lets not forget that these effects are all practical, so that head was rigged for limbs and eyes to seamlessly protrude from it, and I still sometimes can’t work out just how they did it.
What do you love about The Thing? Let us know in the comments.
