John Carpenter's "The Thing"

Actually, all Carpenter films from before "The Thing" RoXor. At least the ones I've seen.

But "They Live" - well, I don't know. Great premise (if an old SF trope - anyone else read 'The Happy Pills' by er someone), but it is marred by not really knowing what to do with it. Doesn't it all turn into a dull action film by the end? Also, that "Put on the glasses!"/"I ain't puttin' on no stupid glasses" fight is incredibly annoying and goes on for about a third of the film.

Also underrated Carpenter: Prince of Darkness, the ending still creeps me out after all these years.

watched this last night for the first time since original release (!)
wilford brimley w/o mustache was more disturbing than grossout fx
gotta be the best carpenter, so bleak yet often funny

I agree it is totally amazing

The first ever episode of Slug of Time covered the story it's based on, "Who Goes There"

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/slugoftime (that's me reading it at the beginning)

I love this movie so much I bought the video game for three quid from a street vendor, got it home, and the disc inside was G-Police Disc 2 for Playstation 1, published in 1996!! So furious. I went THAT DAY to a game shop and bought in for like five. (They wouldn't take my G-Police Disc 2 for love or money.)

Got it home - terrible

Great movie.

"You gotta be fucking kidding..."

so classic

"You gotta be fucking kidding..."

haha Russells commentary on this part is fantastic, just laughs his head off.

Very good for atmosphere. More movies should be done in Antarctica. The soundtracks (Morriconne's and Carpenter's ) are equally good.

my suspicion is that Antarctica fell off as a locale for scifi around the same time movies started becoming huge business - SPACE had thoroughly replaced it.. for awhile though (i.e. Frankenstein, H.P. Lovecraft) it was the place to be for existential weirdness

Doesn't Frankenstein end up in the Arctic, not the Antarctic? Very different places... one you get eaten by giant penguins and shoggoths, the other you get eaten by polar bears.

i thought i might have already posted on this thread, but apparently not

anyway, years and years ago i bought a ticket to see john carpenter give a guardian lecture at the NFT. at the last minute carpenter had to cancel for some reason, so instead we were treated to a special advance screening of his new movie, which was just about to be released in america - the thing. as you can imagine the audience, unprepared for the effects and only familiar with the hawks original, totally totally FREAKED - i've never seen another film which had the same shock effect on viewers, so it holds a special place in my heart to this day

DV you're right of course! Antarctica would have been a touch more difficult to get to.

That must have been amazing, Ward

i am totally in favor of more weird creepy movies being set at the poles.

http://www.roumazeilles.net/news/en/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/santaclausconquersmartians.jpg

Man this is a great drinking movie. You get to indulge vicariously through Kurt Russel, plus as you get drunker, more characters die (making things easy to follow for yer soused brain). Finally it's just two bros passing the J&B around the campfire (cause their camp is on fire haha). Then you pass out.

"I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time, I'd rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!"

anyway, years and years ago i bought a ticket to see john carpenter give a guardian lecture at the NFT. at the last minute carpenter had to cancel for some reason, so instead we were treated to a special advance screening of his new movie, which was just about to be released in america - the thing. as you can imagine the audience, unprepared for the effects and only familiar with the hawks original, totally totally FREAKED - i've never seen another film which had the same shock effect on viewers, so it holds a special place in my heart to this day

^
this is so awesome and the ideal way to see a movie like this

Every time I hear about Sarah Palin shooting wolves I think of the first scene of this movie.

Haha, me too!

i wonder if she tries to chase after them on foot speaking in gibberish language too

while lobbing hand grenades w/ extremely bad aim

wld pay to watch that

So which one of those dudes was the thing anyway?

i wonder if she tries to chase after them on foot speaking in gibberish language too

It's Norwegian, not gibberish!

I always liked this point (via Big Dead Place):

At the film's commencement, a helicopter zooms by at 150 mph, 50 feet off of the ground, all the while trying to shoot a dog running across the landscape. I suppose to hover and kill outright the creature which threatens all of humanity is unsporting.

"Hey Sweden!"

Saw this for the first time tonight. Thought it was gross (duh) and mostly tedious--last shot was good, and the couch line was funny.

Get high next time.

I was flying on ecstasy and model-airplane glue. Didn't help.

My housemate is going as Kurt Russell's character in this to a weekend halloween party, funny that this got revived.

u mad, clemenza

u mad http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9u6oelnN7oo/TqcDPdVtYiI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/j0eSuaIeenI/s1600/the+thing+dog.jpg

lol

watched it last night, my gf had never seen it, we were not bored (though she almost didn't make it past the dog kennel scene).

where's the thread with mark s basically writing a thesis about this movie?

ah: The Thing

or hear mark s speak about it here w/me and starry sarah:

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/slugoftime-podcast/2008/04/a-bite-of-stars-a-slug-of-time-and-thou-episode-1/

whoa, sweet

http://posterposse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/The-Thing-LD.jpg

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/69573735_2426814574079575_78699361529233408_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_oc=AQkoUCAYarr9xLBo9paCGUCHVfwO98OrRHoVqg1vRCFfgw4IBfisPepIYbDVqmF8Tn0&_nc_ht=scontent-lht6-1.xx&oh=2251713ad90c0bdc5c028abd3cb7d9db&oe=5E08090B

Hollywood Boulevard, 1982

what wet-fish kind of a thread is this?

It is the first ILX thread to be started on John Carpenter's The Thing, seventeen years ago

the flabby prequel in my unbiased opinion :)

That picture has me imagining an alternate world where The Thing was instead titled Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (it's the only way to identify survivors of the Thing's assimilative rampage, you see).

give this thread a blood test, it's an impostor

*copper wiring squeaks on glass*

thread writhes up out of its seat and starts metamorphosing into another thread.

This previously unreleased Buckley/Lucas song, No One Can Find You Here, is spectacular. On Spotify now, from a forthcoming album by Gary Lucas and an Italian JB soundalike. Maybe I need to dig into Gary Lucas' catalogue.

If Fizzles' post goes into cardiac arrest, DNR.