The Thing [Blu-ray]


Customer Rating :
Rating: 4.6

List Price : $19.98 Price : $10.88
The Thing  [Blu-ray]

Description

Horror-meister John Carpenter (Halloween, Escape from New York) teams Kurt Russell's outstanding performance with incredible visuals to build this chilling version of the classic The Thing. In the winter of 1982, a twelve-man research team at a remote Antarctic research station discovers an alien buried in the snow for over 100,000 years. Soon unfrozen, the form-changing alien wreaks havoc, creates terror and becomes one of them.

Amazon.com

Howard Hawks's original 1951 production of The Thing from Another World can be glimpsed playing on a TV that fateful October evening in John Carpenter's blockbuster hit, Halloween (1978). A few years later, Carpenter reteamed with his Escape from New York star Kurt Russell to do a remake. But while the first movie version of The Thing was in atmospheric black and white, Carpenter's 1982 version is in widescreen, full color, and features some of the most revoltingly explicit, surreally imaginative special effects (courtesy of FX-meister Rob Bottin) that have ever been seen on the screen. Researchers in the remote Antarctic dig up the remains of a spacecraft that has long been frozen in the ice. But the alien life unthaws and infects the living (not only humans but sled dogs too), living and gestating inside them. (This horrific concept was also explored in the two versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the Alien movies.) This Thing is chilling in every sense of the word, with plenty of terrifying, adrenaline-pumping moments that build it to a powerful and shockingly nihilistic conclusion. It's a harsh and uncompromising movie (hewing more closely to the original 1930s story "Who Goes There?")--so much so that it probably never would have been given a green-light by any studio in the more cautious and doggedly upbeat 1990s. --Jim Emerson




    The Thing [Blu-ray] Reviews


    Amazon.com
    Customer Reviews
    Average Customer Review
    673 Reviews
    5 star:
     (498)
    4 star:
     (118)
    3 star:
     (25)
    2 star:
     (16)
    1 star:
     (16)
     
     
     

    219 of 223 people found the following review helpful:
    5.0 out of 5 stars Carpenter's masterpiece of paranoia, October 28, 2004
    By 
    WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   
    John Carpenter's "The Thing" wasn't so much a remake as a reinterpretation of John Campbell's classic short story. Closer in spirit to Campbell's conception of the Thing, Carpenter's film was both critically lauded because of the suspenseful storytelling and critically attacked for the excessive gore. While the gore is at times quite excessive it fits in with the audience expectations after films like "Dawn of the Dead" (the origianl 1979 movie)and other films of the era.

    What's amazing is how audiences are drawn into the story despite the fact that there are no characters we really, really like. We admire many of these men and their resolve but we don't like them. They're the product of their harsh environment and isolation. Mac (Kurt Rusell)is the helicopter pilot for an Antarctic science station. Their dull routine is interrupted by a team of seemingly crazy Norwegians pursuing a dog. The Norwegians are killed and the Americans are left without any idea as to what... Read more
    Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
    Was this review helpful to you?  Yes No


    100 of 101 people found the following review helpful:
    5.0 out of 5 stars "Gorror"/suspense classic comes to Blu-ray September 30th, 2008 - Updates on features, quality, August 8, 2008
    By 
    This review is from: The Thing [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
    Though The Thing shocked with its new level of gore when it came out in 1982, popular taste has pretty well caught up to the gore factor. Now fans will be able to see it all in Blu-ray high-def.

    The Thing takes its title from the influential 1951 sci-fi classic The Thing from Another World, a film it otherwise resembles only in similarity of location and a few plot points. (If you're interested in a less scary, more campy, funnier black-and-white version, with women in it, check out the older one.) The location is an isolated antarctic research station, cut off from radio contact with the outside world, where Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David and several other men unknowingly take in an alien creature that can adopt the form of members of the crew as it destroys them. They quickly find themselves in a desperate... Read more
    Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
    Was this review helpful to you?  Yes No


    124 of 128 people found the following review helpful:
    5.0 out of 5 stars It was the right time., January 3, 2000
    By 
    Amazon Verified Purchase( What's this?)
    Maybe someone said so in the DVD's documentary: 1982 was the right time for this movie. Nothing like it would be made today, or even a few years after its release. Even if a thematically similar film were made, it's almost a guarantee that it would use digital effects. This movie boasts the most incredible prosthetic effects ever seen, and I know in my gut that if it were made with computer graphics it wouldn't be nearly as good.

    Okay, enough about that. I probably don't need to describe the movie itself, at least not from a plot perspective. Let me briefly cover technique: this movie is built for suspense. From the marvelous low-key Ennio Morricone score to the gold-standard cinematography of Dean Cundey, from the scene construction (I love the scene where the dog enters a crew room, and the scene fades out after we see the man's shadow turning - no sting, no shock, just a fade out) to the realistic paranoia and fear building in the eyes of the men. I admit that paranoia... Read more

    Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
    Was this review helpful to you?  Yes No


    Share your thoughts with other customers:
      See all 673 customer reviews...

    The Thing  [Blu-ray]