When the film actually has smart characters

#thething #johncarpenter #videoessay John Carpenter's The Thing is one of my all time favorite horror movies, up there with Alien and Jaws. While it might be labeled a "creature feature" it's so much more than that. It's a perfectly crafted film full of tension and paranoia, filled with intelligent characters who act rationally to the situation.
Written and Edited by Luke Custer

[@InCinematic]

Happy Halloween everyone! What movie(s) do you have planned for that night?

[@theq6797]

I'm not into Halloween, but other movie with smart characters that I can recommend is Grave Encounters. Sister movie to The Thing - Horror Express is also good.

[@harlequincat]

Happy Helloween, Mandy with Nicolas Cage is great

[@David-iv6je]

It's worth noting the film is almost verbatim from the novella it is based on, "Who goes there?" by John W. Campbell. Carpenter did a phenomenal job put faces and personalities on the original characters from the book.

[@brucewillis542]

the blob

[@Wolfman1491]

This is exactly how I recommend The Thing to people, imagine a Horror Movie were the characters are intelligent and make great decisions but the Creature is always a step ahead.

[@tommyzDad]

The same with *Alien* . (I'm still undecided on *Aliens* , but definitely in every film after it, the characters get more and more stupid.)

[@Goose_the_almighty]

two steps ahead

[@Phaeton-gu2so]

@@tommyzDadAliens was more of an action movie. Some characters made horrible decisions but Ripley certainly did not.

[@paireon3419]

EXACTLY. This is why it's my favorite movie ever.

[@ReddwarfIV]

​@tommyzDad Yep. Ripley explicitly tries to prevent the infected person from being brought on board. It's the secret villain, Ash, who lets them in. The only person in the movie who seemed too dumb to live was Lambert. She gets herself and Parker killed because she went deer in the headlights at the worst possible time.

[@DinsRune]

Love that one tumblr post that goes "I'm gonna watch The Thing for the first time, and I'm gonna come up with a better name for this creature." And then they immediately reply afterwards "damn, nope, that shit was a Thing."

[@Spar10Leonidas]

I don't think I've ever seen that post, but I'm glad that they ultimately came to the right conclusion.

[@MouthBreatherGaming]

Referencing Tumblr posts? How low can we go?

[@greenherb3229]

​@@MouthBreatherGamingHey, Tumblr's not bad compared to the stuff Twitter and Reddit pulls! And, there's still funny people there.

[@patoastral2118]

​@@MouthBreatherGamingtumblr can be weird and has a strange culture but seriously? You know the sh*t that the people on twitter and redit can do?

[@richardchargingcloud6590]

hee

[@MrMacavity]

In the Thing the guy running after the "dog" at the start of the movie is yelling "not a dog!" in Norwegian, but the American scientists did not understand what he was yelling about so they thought he was a threat and shot him.

[@LordVader1094]

Tbh they'd probably have still shot him even if they did understand him, since he seemed crazy and started shooting them. Your first reaction when someone with a gun tries shooting a dog (through you) is not going to be positive as they scream it's not a dog, you're just going to think they've gone insane out on the ice.

[@Zodroo_Tint]

Americans are trigger happy and the movie did fine showing this. :) I heard there was a british saying in WW2. If the germans shot we duck. If we shoot the germans duck, If the americans shoot we all duck. Check how many friendly fire incident were in WW2 on the american side!

[@patwaters3486]

They don't speak Swedish. There is no way they could have known, Duh.

[@Klaaism]

@@patwaters3486 I dare you to tell a Norwegian they speak Swedish and vise versa.

[@PerMortensen]

@@Klaaism It was a reference to MacReady repeatedly referring to them as Swedish by mistake.

[@andreykuzmin4317]

Same approach was used in 1978s "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Heroes quickly understood the danger, they didn't split until it was a tactically sound decision, they managed to slip under Pods radar couple times and even harm Pod People destribution network. It's just wasn't enough. It's much scarier, when competent and brave people loose.

[@InCinematic]

That movie terrified me as a kid. When Donald Sutherland points and makes that noise. Phew!

[@johnreynolds7996]

The main problem that the protagonists faced in "Body Snatchers" is that they couldn't risk going to sleep, so their cognitive abilities became more and more impaired as the movie progressed.

[@nothingness217]

I miss competent and intelligent antagonists. Don't you?

[@Calc_Ulator]

@@InCinematic That shit still gets me.

[@MarcoRangos]

“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.”

[@WrathOfGrapesN7]

Dog Soldiers is another good example of this. A group of British soldiers using their training and the information that they have at hand try to defend against a werewolf attack, and the werewolves work as a pack trying to find weaknesses in the defence.

[@InCinematic]

The most underrated Werewolf movie! "Where's Spoon?" "There is no Spoon"

[@basty1man]

Another absolute banger

[@jamesmacarthur6104]

Total classic

[@VojislavMoranic]

Fucking shit that gave me nightmares as a kid, had to sleep with the lights on for a month.

[@Timelost_Techpriest]

@@InCinematic "I hope I give you the shits, you fucking wimp." Spoon owned.

[@otterpoet]

I think _The Thing_ was absolutely doomed to fail due to its release date. Two weeks after _E.T._ everyone was still riding high on its optimistic, feel-good wonder. Then comes along Carpenter's masterwork; a nihilistic, terrifying body horror wrapped in paranoia and mistrust. People - critics included - simply didn't want to acknowledge it for its brilliance.

[@KellyTribble]

That's really interesting (thanks for pointing out the nearness of their release dates). It's kind of weird to think that two movies about an alien coming to earth (with very different outcomes) got such a different reception.

[@bladfadsfblaadsfsadf900]

Who knew a recession would actually influence everybody’s perception of this film.

[@OldWestGunslinger-vs9mx]

Four iconic science fiction films came out in 1982: The Thing, ET, Blade Runner, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The embarrassing thing was that ET, the weakest of the group, became the most acclaimed and successful.

[@negative6442]

​@@OldWestGunslinger-vs9mxis ET actually worth a watch? I'm a 2000s kid so I never grew up with it, and all the trailers made it look dull. Love the other movies mentioned though.

[@cattysplat]

@@negative6442 It's Spielberg childhood nostalgia feelgood cheese that is very 80s. It's more enjoyable to watch as a kid since the main character is a child and you don't question the dodgy ET puppet. But you can still enjoy that great soundtrack by John Williams.

[@johnreynolds7996]

The novella makes good use of this, and MacReady mentions it in the movie: The Thing is alien and therefore has different instincts to humans. So it instinctively WON'T drop its disguise unless (a) it's discovered or (b) it catches a victim alone. Which means that when MacReady starts the blood test he knows two facts: He isn't a Thing, and at least one other person there isn't a Thing. Doesn't matter if they are the only two "uninfected" people left in a room full of Things: they can't be "ganged up on" no matter how badly they are outnumbered. Things just can't cooperate in that way, so MacReady can safely test them one at a time and the Things in the room won't break cover even if they can see that they can't beat that test. That's why the test is so suspenseful: It isn't just a question of "who is the Thing?" it's also a question of "how many of you are Things?"

[@R3stor]

or maybe a thing cannot sense other things unless this specific thing infested the second one. So if thing A infected thing B and thing B infected thing C, then A doesnt know that C is a thing. But B knows that C is a thing because it created it in the first place.

[@cattysplat]

The use of vacant silent stares throughout the film is also great. It's established early on that this is "thing behaviour" yet we see almost every character do this, often directly near the camera's gaze, making everyone sometimes feel eerie and suspect. Despite the fact it's just a normal human thing to stare and think whilst keeping your thoughts to yourself and keeping your true self hidden when you don't trust people or the situation.

[@jasperzanovich2504]

@@cattysplat That shot when the dog is stalking through the corridor and likely infects the first person seems incredibly uncanny even though that is just normal dog behaviour. We just don't see dogs act like that because they only act like that when they have to think for themselves.

[@johnreynolds7996]

@@jasperzanovich2504 If there was an Oscar category for animal-acting that dog was a sure-fire winner.

[@ballisticwaffles]

@@johnreynolds7996 His name was Jed and on all accounts he was an incredible actor.

[@grfrjiglstan]

It detracts from the terror of a monster or a villain tremendously when the audience thinks to themself, “I coulda survived this scenario.” Jason Voorhees is, conceptually, pretty terrifying, but the fact that the first half of his series sees him getting fought off by one terrified teenage girl near the end detracts from that a lot.

[@thecocktailian2091]

In our example scenario of "the Thing". Aint no way Im surviving.

[@SuperRedraptor]

​@@thecocktailian2091 omae wa mou shindeiru as the kids say.

[@Prophet_of_Colour]

@@thecocktailian2091 What's it matter either way? The moment such predatory parasitism is shown to exist in your galaxy, that's it. You could survive, sure. But ultimately your species is doomed to be wiped out the moment you go probing the stars. In reality, aliens of such advanced technology, regardless of form, would only be immediately hostile for three reasons. One is ideological zealotry/egotism. Two is random violent crime in an interstellar society. Three and most troubling is being fully aware of what they're doing and not bothering with any fallacious justifications; just because they can. The Thing would have to be a complete megalomaniac in order to prioritize consuming an entire civilization when it understands them and is fully capable of non violent growth.

[@DillsyYourDaddy67]

@@thecocktailian2091 Honestly there isn't really any surviving the thing. It's more a question of stopping it.

[@Puschit1]

I disagree. It's the invincible 100% accurate monsters that bore me. If there's no chance whatsoever for anybody to escape (unless you are the main character in some instances) why even bother watching it? But if everyone has a 10% chance to survive you can actually start to care and hope for them. The average Slasher movie where one victim after another gets killed off is so predictable and therefore boring. But in a movie series like the SAW franchise, where it is established early on that you CAN survive the traps if you are smart/brave, well, it turns them into nail-biters.

[@capt.squiggly6354]

So I ran a D&D campaign a couple years ago that was basically this movie, only it was set in a mountain in a snowstorm, it was supposed to be a filler couple games before we started our next campaign since we had just finished an adventure, I didnt tell the group what was up and just let them figure it out while just saying they were trying to either get off the mountain or last till spring, turned out to be one of the best games ever as the group of 8 turned on each other and there was only 3 left by the end.

[@leonqubick7716]

i remember having a quickshot module that was a takeoff of original alien movie. Pc's get stuck in a snowed in town that happen to have another group of adventurers get stuck in. well one of the other adventurers had a slaad tadpole in them. which was waaaay stronger than the "level" for the pc's. so they shouldnt know what a slaad is. but it is not apparent from beginning what killed the other adventurer that was infected. the newborn slaad now becomes the "alien" from the movie. slowly hunting other townsfolk and getting stronger while PC's try to track it down stuck in the snowed in town. was direct ripoff of alien movie but was well written for Dnd.

[@tomtommerson6320]

Mind sharing some moments from your campaign

[@therabbidt]

The greatest game of among us

[@therabbidt]

how did the campaign go? im actually curious as to the story from start to finish

[@capt.squiggly6354]

For those asking yeah had everyone trapped on a mountain pass that was snowed in and they were trying to find a way down, players found an artifact that that took control of the first person to touch it and then spread based on touch and time in contact alone with someone else, after they found the artifact I started sending messages to each player, most of which were just me telling them what their characters were seeing and feeling except for the ones I told were now effectively trying to stop or take over the others, they only really pieced what was going on after the ranger was going to try and solo their way down the mountain to get help and one of the opposing pc's was caught trying to sabotage the supplies, the funniest part was I also never told the people that were now playing against the others who was with them so it boiled over into a standoff with a barbarian threatening our warlock and rogue at the end, none of whom were evil at that point but believing that everyone was out to get them.

[@HiddelS143]

The key to good horror is that the characters are intelligent and rational but aren't omniscient. The characters in the thing now what it's capable of but they don't know who to trust.

[@johnreynolds7996]

Agreed. One of the greatest strengths of this movie is that the characters never undertake leaps of faith: they don't look at a block of ice and shout "My God, that must have contained an alien monster!" or conclude that "Why would the Norwegian be shooting at a dog... omg that must mean this isn't a dog!!" They are smart guys. They are rational guys. But they aren't privy to the script and can't skip to the last page to see how it ends. The only exposition dumps come from Blair, who harbors suspicions about Clarke that he shouldn't, and reaches conclusions (all life gone in three years!!!!!) that he has no logical right to conclude. But, on the other hand, Blair is insane. Coo-Coo-Crazy. So I suppose allowances have to be made.... And in terms of not knowing who to trust, I found it refreshing that they smart but not infallible: Blair was convinced that Clarke had been taken by the dog, and he was mistaken MacReady (the hero, fer' crying out loud!) was convinced that Garry was a Thing, and he was wrong. The characters knew no more than the audience, and the audience weren't privy to information that put them one step ahead of the characters. So both got their jump-scares at the same time, which was a very effective way to make a horror movie.

[@Billy-bc8pk]

That was what put me off of Predators. Adrian Brody's character knew way too much for a situation he knew nothing about. The scriptwriter thought they were slick by making him the catalyst to inform the audience (who were not familiar with the franchise), but it just made no sense. Characters have to be smart but -- as you pointed out -- not omniscient. They should only know what they (as a character) should know, and not know what the writer of the movie knows.

[@a.chto.tut.pisat.]

If every horror film had to have at least one smart or a bit more logical person in it, they would've been much better or much worse

[@InCinematic]

Agreed. Almost all my favorite horror movies have one or more characters that consistently make smart decisions

[@Klick404]

It would either make the film better, or reveal the film was bad all along

[@UteChewb]

The original "Night of the Living Dead" is like that. It's a low budget movie but is really impressive, and the characters may at times be immature but there are smart people who do smart things.

[@pilar808]

One of the smartest desicion in horror movie was when captain miller said "we're leaving" after seeing the footage of what happen to the crew of event horizon.

[@JohanKylander]

Fishburne was the best character in the movie.

[@GregChvany-je3gp]

I think I need to give it a rewatch. I saw it once a few years ago and thought it was one of the worst movies of all time, but a lot of people seem to love it, so I reckon there's something about it that just didn't click with me.

[@JohanKylander]

@@GregChvany-je3gp It coasts on being a 40k inspired film.

[@Calc_Ulator]

@@GregChvany-je3gp I've never understood the appeal to that movie. The "torture orgy" recording looks sooo campy, not scary.

[@TheBoBabsin]

@@GregChvany-je3gpIt was definitely kinda cheesy/campy but I felt it had great set design, mostly decent acting, and some pretty creepy moments. No real scares, at least for me, but enjoyable if you dig horror movies.

[@Sealice_the_Silver]

It's wild to think that this film was inspired by another film that's based on a much older book. And yet it feels unique and extremely well done.

[@jneilson7568]

Not many remakes can manage that, the prequel showed how hard it is to make it work...especially if you basically copy instead of innovate.

[@Davidscomix]

It was actually just trying to be a more faithful adaptation to the book since the old one didn’t have the resources

[@Sealice_the_Silver]

@@Davidscomix Yeah I saw the older film, and while it's decent, it's very unimpressive compared to this film and nothing like the book.

[@Sealice_the_Silver]

@@jneilson7568 I think another big issue with the prequel was that it was limited by scale and then ruined by bad CGI, which crippled an already less impressive film. Still I enjoy it slightly more than the first film (The Thing from Another world) as that one barely connects to the book

[@emmarosestevenson3434]

There is also a book based on the screenplays for the movie titled "The Thing" by Alan Dean Foster - it is an excellent read and expands greatly on the characters and their dynamics!

[@judsongaiden9878]

'Tremors' also does a good job with that "smart survivors versus smart monster(s)" thing. 1:52 (Antarctic)

[@alexstrom3099]

Agreed

[@Zodroo_Tint]

Smart survivors and smart plot I agree but I would say they were just as smart as the average people. This makes that movie great, it feels real even if the movie is some sci-fi monster movie.

[@judsongaiden9878]

@@Zodroo_Tint I wish average people had that kind of tactical savvy.

[@Klaaism]

Tremors was okay until they started ass-blasting. Think it was the third one anyways.

[@judsongaiden9878]

@@Klaaism Yeah, that was a bit too Saturday morning cartoonish. Speaking of which, the characters in the first movie are basically Rescue Rangers. Earl is Chip. Val is Dale. Rhonda is Gadget. Burt is Monty. Not sure who'd be the Zipper of the bunch.

[@PooBrownTHENERD]

bruh, the characters never ONCE had "SILLY GRINS ON THEIR FACES." Seen this flick 100 times.

[@johnreynolds7996]

Palmer looked pretty gormless once he failed the test.

[@hendrsb33]

I was wondering about that comment too.

[@fuckoff5893]

It’s like he didn’t even watch the film

[@jasperzanovich2504]

What movie did that "critic" watch?

[@vsguy]

It's a symbolism for the thing. If you look at someone once ypu won't notice anything strange about him/her. But when you look back twice at the person, you start to see irregular patterns. Since we don't see them with silly grins on their faces in the flick, it means they aren't the thing. While those with grins on their faces, are the thing because the thing doesn't know its host's personality and experiences.

[@HonestWatchReviewsHWR]

This is exactly why it's one of, if not my favourite film. Critics never give horror films the credit they deserve... They just lump them all in together as being needlessly gory and having no artistic merit.

[@InCinematic]

I'm glad horror films seem to get more praise these days. Or maybe I just talk with more people who watch them.

[@HonestWatchReviewsHWR]

@@InCinematic No, I think they are now too. The likes of A24 have helped to legitimise horror as a genre, I think.

[@MrShikaga]

@@HonestWatchReviewsHWR Yeah, I was going to say, I feel like horror is a very respected genre by critics. But I guess it all depends which critics you read/watch/listen to. Here in the UK, the most famous critic is a guy named Mark Kermode, and he has a very deep knowledge of and respect for the horror genre. But yeah, no idea if that was the case in the 80s.

[@jeanmichel5723]

​@@HonestWatchReviewsHWRA24 fucking sucks lmao

[@emsleywyatt3400]

Horror is the only genre that gets criticism for doing its job too well.

[@SirEpifire]

This is the reason The Thing and Alien are my absolute favorite horror films! The characters feel like real people, with everyone responding according to their own specialties and experiences. It's really engaging to see smartly written characters, trying to sort out very big problems. The regular tropes aren't there, so I actually don't know what's gonna happen. That's why I love them so much!

[@steveg1961]

And Alien had the bonus of... SPOILER ALERT! ...one of the people being an android who was purposely working to bring the alien specimen to The Company for further study analysis and considered the crew to be expendable.😢

[@TheCrowned23]

When Tarantino remade this film with the Hateful Eight, another film about paranoia, it was great that he used the same composer who scored The Thing, as well as Kurt Russell.

[@InCinematic]

I love that detail

[@TheCrowned23]

@InCinematic Thank you, I love helping people become aware that it was an homage of sorts. Many people don't watch film critically, so they may not be conscious of it. Also, Avatar was Pocahontas, almost scene for scene, I did not understand what the fans were praising beyond the CGI, I thought it was Jim's laziest work. When the Hateful Eight came out, I saw it in theatres and immediately noticed the thematic similarities and homages, especially when you know Quentin loves "stealing" from his favorites. Beautiful films, both of them. As a critic myself, I enjoy your critiques and hope to see more in the future.

[@Illersvansen]

Hell, they even used one of the tracks from The Thing itself in the Hateful Eight

[@wxwaxone]

Hateful Eight was a very clear homage to The Thing. It’s not just that both are about paranoia and lock all characters in a snowbound location. Hateful Eight has a scene where John Ruth tells a group, ‘Someone here is not who he says he is.’ The scene is a direct homage to the scene in The Thing ( 4:57 in the video) where MacReady tells a group, ‘Somebody in this camp ain’t who he appears to be.’ And both characters, in both films, are played by the same actor - Kurt Russell.

[@decayedparadigm]

​@@wxwaxoneawesome insight, love both films

[@Axehilt]

Characters behaving rationally improves _every_ genre. It's really the beginning of good storytelling. (There's a lot more to it, but deciding you want your characters to be internally consistent with the world they inhabit is the start.)

[@jasperzanovich2504]

It in general makes the story more believable. That is very important and a lot of writers seem to forget that.

[@sallyspits]

That's why Anton Chigurh is my favorite movie psychopath/villain. He is simply wildly competent and intelligent, always making smart and sensible moves, which is why he wins in the end.

[@Axehilt]

@@sallyspits Yeah that's exactly why I loved that movie too. I seem to remember the main character also being very rational (though very reckless too, obviously).

[@XMysticHerox]

Perhaps not always necessarily rationally but broadly in a realistic manner that the audience can understand. Characters can act out of emotion as well. Even do highly irrational things but it still works if the audience gets their reasons. You are only really taken out of the story when you go "why tf would they even do that?".

[@miguelpereira9859]

@@XMysticHerox Yes people don't necessarily act rational irl a lot of the times so why would it be the case for fictional characters

[@Conan_the_Based]

To be fair to most horror movies, the characters don't know they're in a horror movie. If you heard a weird noise in your dark house, would you assume it's an axe murderer or would you assume an appliance was left on?

[@InCinematic]

They aren't all "dumb" per say. Like I mention, they are just vehicles to get us to a scare

[@ptonpc]

Before I was a shipkeeper many years ago, I would complain about characters going to investigate strange noises with only a torch for light (Long before the days of hand held LEDs of course). Then I found myself doing it.

[@milton7763]

@@ptonpchow many times did you get stabbed?

[@065Tim]

The problem is, in a lot of horror movies they investigate the strange noise on their own, after they found their friend's dead body.

[@therandomguy4988]

@@ptonpc The buddy system can be improved with radios, when going off alone anywhere if you cant make sure one other person is physically with you then alert person of your location on phone and to call emergency services if you dont check in within a reasonable time frame. (Quite a few empty nightshift jobs I know use an automatic alarm whereby if you stand still for too long it will beep, and you have to push a button or it calls someone, everyone hates it because you cant sit in a chair all shift without repeatedly pushing button)

[@cdubsb3831]

Movie holds a special place in my heart as my favorite film. Shares the release date with my dad's favorite Blade Runner and we'll frequently marathon both. I remember showing it to my friend who knew nothing about the film going in blind only for the entire mystery to be spoiled because he spoke Norwegian. That pilot really doesn't mince words. And I've written college essays about films with the deliberate choice to leave questions unanswered and the consistency of detail needed to pull it off.

[@InCinematic]

I love the fact that everyone who spoke Norwegian had the first 25 minutes totally spoiled

[@hendrsb33]

That's hilarious! Not being a Norwegian speaker, I never considered that. I'll have to check around and see if there's a translation of the Norwegian dialogue.

[@cdubsb3831]

@@hendrsb33 loosely translates to "Get the hell away! It's not a mutt, it's some sort of thing imitating a dog, it isn't real! Get away you idiots!"

[@TomtensKanal]

@@InCinematic It sure spelled everything out for me, still liked the movie though!

[@Jyiber]

I always liked the idea that the creature had never come into contact with something with so much individual will and in the end; because it can split itself up, they all might have been infected and gained individual personalities through their individual absorbed hosts. The kicker being the weakest willed characters might have known or suspected and been in more direct control, but the more reserved and logical characters might not have even known.

[@InCinematic]

It's an interesting concept, because if something took you over like that, at what point do you stop being you, or do you ever?

[@ExecutorQ3]

@@InCinematic nice idea, but the film itself gives hint who from the last two is idd infected - they are both chilled to the correct extent (so the next actually matters... i know if you're not enought cold or way too much already this would not matter since it's not 100% same for every person), but only one of them is breathing out a vapor (human), while the other one is not... not throwing names here to force ppl watch the movie, so try not to as well ;-)

[@knotengajin7359]

@@InCinematicAt the moment when the Thing needs to assert itself in order to assimilate another person or flee. This is one thing I liked about the prequel as when the female Norwegian begins morphing into order to go after the American, her facial expression and gurgle suggests “her” psyche reacting in horror to her transformation.

[@itsdantaylor]

I think another important, yeah kind of glossed over aspect of The Thing was McCready killing Clark. If Clark was the THING then we would just see McCready as being the typical perfect protag who is just magically right all the time, but it shows just what the Thing impersonating people causes. The level of suspicion and distrust building and culminating in Clark attacking McCready and forcing McCready to kill Clark, possibly even influenced by Wilford Brimley's character earlier in the movie who we don't know at the time was the Thing. The Thing is probably my favorite horror movie of all time and it's for so many tiny reasons.

[@johnreynolds7996]

MacReady is the Big Damn Hero of the movie, but he shown to be far less than perfect: he's an alcoholic, and a loner, and at least two of the characters (Clarke and Childs) dislike him intensely. He is also not infallible (one example: he is convinced that Garry is a Thing, when he is not). W.R.T. Blair (Brimley's character) hasn't been turned into a Thing at the time that he voices suspicions regarding Clarke. He only gets, err, Thinged(tm) later in the movie when he is left locked up in the tool shed. It is a subtle tell in the movie: when MacReady first talks to Blair in the shed (Blair: "I don't know who to trust!") he takes a swig from Blair's bottle of vodka. Blair doesn't react at all while MacReady is in there with him, but as soon a MacReady leaves then Blair takes a good, hard look at that bottle. Revisit the scene and you'll see what I mean: Blair is clearly thinking to himself "should I drink from that now?" Which would make no sense if Blair was a Thing, but makes perfect sense if Blair was a paranoid human being who didn't know who he could trust.

[@bebop_557]

I strongly recommend Bone Tomahawk for a Kurt Russell film with smart characters. Whenever anything unusual happens, none of the characters ignore it. When they realize there is in fact a situation, they all start telling each other where they're going and when they plan to be back.

[@spsawyer22]

I would NOT recommend this movie if you have a weak stomach. My god I had to stop the movie and walk around the block after that one scene.

[@Billy-bc8pk]

@@spsawyer22 Yeah all the director's movies are like that -- Brawl in Cell Block 99 is awesome, but also has a few unwieldy and gruesome scenes. But still Bone Tomahawk is such a masculine, kick-butt film. That one scene and the scene with the amputed pregnant women will really leave you feeling pretty disturbed.

[@spsawyer22]

@@Billy-bc8pk Look, I'm a sucker for Kurt Russell. I love the movie. It's really well written and acted. But yeah.

[@joshknight2463]

The Crazies 2010 did it so well too, The Sheriff notices something is going on with the town straight away, shuts down the water supply and tells his wife to leave town only after witnessing two cases of the virus

[@NeedlessPedantics]

1:55 "when combined with the hazardous environment of the Arctic" It's the Antarctic.

[@SupremeGreatGrandmaster]

Close enough.

[@paladinsix9285]

To be fair, the Antarctic has arctic conditions. Personnel being sent to scientific stations on Antarctica are given arctic training. The locations are a world apart. The conditions are effectively identical, at least in terms of dangers, and the clothing and other gear used for survival.

[@ihmejakki2731]

What's Antarctic, the Arctic for ants?

[@redblue5140]

If it's the Antarctic why are the characters barely dressed?

[@Revolutionary_Fish]

50/50 Antarctica is just Southern Arctic so it's kinda true.

[@resistancepublishing]

Ebert was narrow minded in his criticism. Instead of thinking for himself, he wanted a movie that explained itself

[@Illersvansen]

It's baffling how many critics at the time didn't understand The Thing and just thought it was a gory slasher movie.

[@ORLY911]

@@Illersvansen schrodigners critic, critic wants a deep, thoughtful movie with a complex plot that is very artsy. When they get it, they get mad they dont get it and want it spoon fed to them.

[@BlownMacTruck]

@@ORLY911 Thats absolutely a silly generalization and arguably dumber than Ebert’s take.

[@terrified057t4]

Ebert, like most other critics, are terrible sources on whether something is good or not. We oughta just dump the whole idea of a professional film critic out back 😅

[@BlownMacTruck]

@@terrified057t4 Why should we dump it? Is someone forcing you to pay attention to their thoughts? Are they aggressively pushed into your daily routine and you're unable to ignore it?

[@Cre8tvMG]

So many people write stupid characters because… well, they don’t understand smart characters or actions. It’s so much scarier when smart characters are smarter than you would be and still are getting beat.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

Yeah.Writers who aren't smart can't write smart characters, and they instead have to rely on contrivance. It's like a magician performing a trick hoping that the audience closes their eyes on command... It's just not a good act.

[@acrophobe]

The Thing has 1000 things going for it as to why it's such a timeless classic and masterpiece of horror, but the credibility of the characters and the realism of their actions and reactions is an underappreciated element of the film. Nice argument! I'm always looking for another reason to watch it on Halloween and I found it again this year! 😅

[@nephicus339]

4:54 - I never listened to Ebberts critiques since he gave Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events (live action) a 1 star, citing, "It wasn't realistic." But then gave Revenge of the Sith 5 stars; because that was more real? wtf dude..

[@landochabod7]

For what it's worth, he gave RotS 3.5 out of 4 stars.

[@jakeg3733]

This film is hands down the most realistic presentation of group dynamics under duress ever made. Alien is a close second. But they nailed it; these guys were allies of necessity, not a tight knit team

[@anakin14412772]

I saw this movie when I was 15 years old in the theater. It was a 9:00 PM show so it was mostly adults. By halfway through the movie, about 30% of the audience had left shaking their heads. By the end of the movie about half the audience had left. I could never figure out why they left and I thought it was the best movie I ever saw! I'm so glad the view and interpretation of this movie has come around to match what my 15-year-old self saw.

[@rikk319]

They probably weren't intelligent enough to be engaged by the plot.

[@ballisticwaffles]

@@rikk319 It puts it into perspective to know ET had come out the same time. It just didn't fit the zeitgeist at the time, most timeless works of art don't.

[@TeddyOG]

Definitely agreed, been saying this for a while. Actual characters that react and try and get ahead of their issues, trying to study and break it down in real time, while still being outsmarted. Thats why, hate to bring up a sore point for many, but thats why a lot of us hated the Long Night in GoT. It wasn't just the plot armor, horrible lighting, nonsensical conclusion, but we all hate how stupid the defense strategy was. It's like the polar opposite of Helm's Deep, they tried everything but still almost lost without Gandalf. Hell, thats why the Watchers on the Wall battle scene is so damn great, they have many tools and tactics to bolster their small number, and barely hold on. We want smart v smart

[@dpall38]

If you have to put one psychological thriller in a time capsule, this is it. Just a perfect thriller.

[@konradzukowski213]

One thing that i heard some time ago explaining irrational behaviour of horror characters is that they are not aware of tropes of the genre they're in and simply act according to the situation as if there was no danger or highly underestimate the danger ahead due to the lack of knowledge. The guy created a TTRPG game where the whole setting was placed in the Alien universe with titular Alien as the main enemy, something of which his players were not aware of as they were expecting a game like any other. During the game players made all the horror movie mistakes there were, all because they were unaware of the setting they were in till it was too late as over the half of players were killed off, unable to fend off more enemies that were created.

[@fuckoff5893]

Except in shitty horror movies filled with tropes, everyone continues to act like a moron after realizing some evil creature is killing their friends

[@hendrsb33]

I was never a horror (esp, slasher) movie fan but THE THING (along with ALIEN) is one of my favorite movies because the characters acted rationally and the ending still left me uncertain. Also, the idea of being consumed is deeply horrifying to me. This was a horror movie that made me think and ask further questions, wondering about the creature's true form and the intent that got it stranded on Earth. Ennio Morricone's ice-cold score also brilliantly reinforced the feeling of utter isolation.

[@InCinematic]

This and Alien are two films that are consistently on my "top 5 horror movies" list

[@miguelpereira9859]

You like these two because they are actual well crafted movies

[@hendrsb33]

@@miguelpereira9859 I can't argue with that!👍

[@PUBHEAD1]

Always a favorite. I own the Thing on several formats and its always on my rewatch rotation.

[@InCinematic]

It's my traditional winter horror film

[@lilmonkeboi]

It's definitely more scary when the characters are acting normal/smart and shit still happens to them. Takes away the audience defense of "I would never do that, ofc they died!"

[@angrypoppy]

Every time I watch a video essay on the thing, the "chest mouth" scene is always the most replayed part

[@seanbrangan2969]

The Thing is the greatest Sci-Fi film ever made, by far.

[@markpaterson2053]

I agree and disagree due to 2001: A Space Odyssey. I think The Thing is the greatest Lovecraftian sci-fi ever made, and definitely on a par with Alien. Also it's much, much better than the original, possibly the best remake ever, way more so than The Fly, which I love regardless

[@SadSackGaming]

Don’t know about greatest, but that is all based in opinion and perspective.

[@jasperzanovich2504]

Is that even Sci-Fi? By the definition of the word it isn't, I think.

[@markpaterson2053]

@@jasperzanovich2504 is what sci-fi?

[@tibedog5629]

Many years ago i saw a found footage movie where a group of friends go to a cabin in the woods It was NOT a parody movie it was filmed as a legit movie as one can be in found footage market I never got the title when I watched it and i of course have no ability to find it because found footage movies are everywhere. But the one thing i loved about the movie was that at the start when they all showed up, a raccoon runs out of the cabin and scares everybody and the only two black characters, a couple, go "Oh hell no, this is some white people stuff. We'll be back in town" and they get into the car and drive back to town telling everybody to call them if needed. the movie ends with the couple being interviewed by the police because everybody died but them and they basically said "We didn't die because we knew not to stay at the creepy murder cabin" The rest of the movie is no different from any other found footage movie but boy I loved that start and finish lol.

[@knowtheplan472]

i NEED to see this

[@tamoregi]

@@knowtheplan472 Not only you, but knowing the title would be nice. :)

[@cattysplat]

That's some social commentary in there.

[@tamoregi]

@@cattysplat What do you mean?

[@LokiDWolf-69]

I appreciated it when it debuted. I didn't care it was a remake but I do know that this is part of my movie culture coming up in the 80's. And, I'm glad that decades later this movie is still fresh and has no need to be remade!!!

[@frien_d]

I always thought they were smart because you don't send dummies to antarctica.

[@esteemedyams]

To me this *is* the greatest horror film of all time and the most terrifying creature ever created. The scene where the doctor runs the simulation on the computer and finds out that if the thing gets out it could infect the entire world (essentially killing everyone on the planet) within 3 years is more terrifying to me than any axe murderer or magical zombie clown or whatever.

[@jacobb-c7946]

The thing is my favourite film of all time, it’s honestly nearly perfect, from brilliant practical fx to amazing writing and characters. God it’s so good. And I must add, horror isn’t even my thing, mostly because the characters are stupid and I can’t stand it but the thing does it so well.

[@RedPlanetPictures1]

I was fascinated by the box for this movie in video stores as a kid and spent years anticipating it. When I finally watched it fresh out of high school it blew me away. One of those first-time viewing experiences you never forget. Right from the opening frames with that awesomely simple yet unsettling score I knew I was in for something unforgettable. Love this movie, easily the greatest horror ever made in my books.

[@CX0909]

I thought the prequal to this did a fantastic job of not trying to out do the original but to simply tell the story leading up to John Carpenters movie. I really liked it. Both are excellent films.

[@brandonhorwath6351]

I still remember the commercials where Wilford Brimley says, "Check your blood sugar, and check it often." It sounds just like, "Watch Clark, and watch him close."...

[@amerlin388]

Intro made me think of that hilarious commercial... "Let's go hide in the cemetery..."

[@PhantomSavage]

For me, personally, horror is incredibly dull the dumber the protagonists are. The dumber the protagonist the less it becomes a horror movie and the more it just becomes violent fantasy. The very, very best horror movies comes from protagonists who are actually intelligent, but have found themselves in incredibly dangerous situations, usually to no fault of their own. Alien, Terminator 1 & 2, Jaws, The Thing, Silence of The Lambs, Cape Fear, Se7en... those are just a few examples of how the horror gets infinitely more intense when the intelligence of both the victims and the monster, and thus, the audience, are respected. I don't think I'm alone in feeling that I can almost instantly take myself out of the horror of a situation if the protagonist is acting like a belligerent clown. When a character makes every bad decision they possibly can, you can't help but feel their stupidity or lack of self awareness makes them deserve their terrible fate, which also instantly breaks the connection between the audience and the character. Once that connection is broken the horror is gone, and all your left with is the entertainment value of the violence alone. But when a character finds themselves in an incredibly dangerous situation and they make every right, logical decision and its still not enough... or better yet, if they find themselves in a completely impossible situation and quick thinking still allows them to barely survive it (if at all), the helplessness and horror of the situation really sinks in with the audience, and that's where horror has its best impact. If you weren't absolutely terrified when Ripley was slowly walking down dark, mechanical corridors through a smog of smoke and strobe lights, sirens blaring on as a Nuclear Countdown slowly ticks down from 5 minutes, cat in one hand and a flamethrower in the other, the possibility of the Alien being around any corner... you might not be human. That was terror, distilled.

[@InCinematic]

Agreed. I tend to put myself in the shoes of the character. If they make an incredibly dumb decision, it immediately takes me out. What's scary is when I say "I would have done the same thing," only for them to still get outsmarted.

[@hendrsb33]

@@InCinematic That's what PROMETHEUS did to me! I don't consider myself a scientist but I feel smarter than movie scientists, that's the end of the movie for me.

[@cattysplat]

The scarier thing about that ship escape scene is the contrast scene preceding it, you watch her slowly move around between corners, ready to spot and attack the alien, but there is only calm silence, no movement. She is in control and prepared. Whilst during the evacuation she is retracing her steps but nothing is going in her favour, noise and smoke everywhere obscuring vision and hearing that is attacking hers and your senses, can't find the cat, tries to return and stop the countdown and can't, time running out and having to run down the corridors throwing away all the previous subtlety to escape quickly, hands full and possibly running into danger unable to defend herself quickly. Genius.

[@wysoft]

@@hendrsb33 that was one of the things that deflated an otherwise great movie: that Wayland - who is supposedly the richest man in the world - decides to outfit an interstellar expedition that he considers the achievement of his lifetime, and his window to immortality, with what appears to be a bunch of rejects. Even Wayland's own daughter, who is supposed to be ultra serious and squared away, cannot control her own desires and endangers the mission by screwing around with the ships' Captain while he's supposed to be monitoring the situation. Getting back to the rest of the crew, it seemed like none of them were vetted for competency, experience, and compatibility with the other crew members - most just wanted to do the job, get paid, and go back to whatever backwater gig they were doing before to just scrape by and survive.

[@Billy-bc8pk]

@@wysoft Promtheus, Covenant, and Romulus all just made me want to slam my noggin', those movies were so bereft of common sense, it was impossible to get engaged with them.

[@ch4n4o2]

It's honestly amazing how they made a film based on an online multiplayer social deduction game Among Us

[@JohanKylander]

Wow I didn't know they made a game based on the 138th episode of Futurama.

[@raoultittel]

Great movie. Every time I watch it I enjoy it. Love that scene where Donald Moffats character goes from calm to apopleptic screaming to be released from the couch. So funny given the circumstances. Amazing movie.

[@brendenhawley2225]

To be fair, if I hear a strange noise, I tend to check it out and it turns out to be nothing, I would not last long in a horror movie, I cannot even run for a long time.

[@EvilSantaTheTrue]

Are you of age? Cayse its quire concernifn if yiure yiunf and you dant run

[@THEPELADOMASTER]

And the score is fantastic. That slow beat, almost like a beating heart, builds suspense like no other.

[@papasonar4224]

Mind-blowing that this film bombed and sort of reset Carpenter's career trajectory.

[@TheUbberman]

Recently rewatched it and man.... How does a movie this old hold up STILL so well. Beyond just 'well' it's still utterly fantastic. Some of the practical effects used here blow CGI out of the water and then some. It's unique grotesque!

[@David-iv6je]

It's worth noting the film is almost verbatim from the novella it is based on, "Who goes there?" by John W. Campbell. Carpenter did a phenomenal job put faces and personalities on the original characters from the book.

[@Vicious0Sephiroth]

I love John Carpenters The Thing. I watch it every winter. Basically my Christmas movie.

[@CobraDBlade]

The Thing is my favorite horror movie because it's the only horror movie I've seen where I haven't been able to predict everything multiple scenes before it happens.

[@wawa6711]

I like the moment in the film when the men put all of their grievances behind them and focus on the sole mission of survival and eradication of this monster

[@FizzleFX]

1:15 Its '12angry men" (and an alien)

[@InCinematic]

12 angry aliens

[@chuffa1130]

Thank you for the breakdown, I was 12 years old back in 1982, immediately fell in love with it and would have it on VHS almost on a loop constantly, maybe I didn't understand some of the symbolism at the time but I completely understood the paranoia and Insanity of this Thing! Masterpiece for me day one, same year ET came out too

[@56postoffice]

Tell you the truth, I've seen "John Carpenter's The Thing" more times than I've seen *"E.T."*

[@mcdc700]

I just rewatched The Thing the other night and now I keep seeing videos about it (which of course I cannot complain about)

[@milton7763]

“It’s finally getting the acclaim it deserves” Uhm, yes, for about 35 years now

[@PeterM1-qx1tz]

I remember at the time the print media critics hated it.. so I never saw it, but my younger sister loved it. But she was a big horror fan anyway, so I didnt pay her any attention. I saw it around 2005 or so and realized she had been right all along. It was brilliant, .. as was your review ; ]

[@garreswe]

A movie with smart characters, that's very rare nowadays. That's why I rarely watch movies, most of them are stupid or illogical.

[@fealca1622]

How do you know it's rare if you rarely watch movies to begin with?

[@garreswe]

@@fealca1622 I used to watch movies often. I went to the cinema, downloaded and streamed streamed a lot of movies but not anymore.

[@Billy-bc8pk]

Check out South Korean thrillers -- stuff like I Saw The Devil, The Man From Nowhere, or The Wailing -- they make really excellent thrillers with smart or at least savvy characters. A far cry from most films made in the West.

[@gales229]

And predictable

[@jswp5]

One of my favorite parts is when Macready hears the dogs barking. He doesn't waste time trying to figure out what's going on, he immediately hits the alarm and wakes everyone up and then investigates. That's exactly what anybody would do in that situation if they had seen what he saw earlier that day

[@JudgeConviction]

In order to write intelligent characters, you must yourself be intelligent enough to write them.

[@cassis1018]

They did pretty much everything they could… Insidious, devious and relentless.

[@MajorHorton]

Watched this with my dad probably way too young and it has remained my favorite horror movie of all time because you can really call it ‘perfect’. Not an ounce of fat on it. No side love stories, no interpersonal webs of drama. Just straight up problem solving and detective/lab work.

[@BlackVulcanX]

I watch this movie by the time you released this video for the first time, and I loved it. It gave me goosebumps. Making me paranoid as well. Although I'm still conflicted when the guy slipped the grenade and blew up the helicopter.

[@YearOfTheDog82]

This is exactly why Paranormal Activity was so terrifying; the two main characters acted pretty much exactly how I would have, especially Micah, with his skepticism. And as we found out in the second movie, leaving the house wouldn't have saved them.

[@subanesengulov740]

One more thing to mention, Most of the modern movies don’t have that feeling of immediate and constant danger. Some of the movies shows, weeks or even months of time in-movie time period, and then something happens. In this, they discover the alien form and haunts them without letting them have a break and re-group. Another great example of this is Terminator 2 where the whole movie plot is happening within 2 days.

[@sepalot100]

ANTarctic. It's the frigging SOUTHpole.

[@ForumArcade]

There are no ants in the Arctic, silly.

[@ORLY911]

though its funny, it was actually shot in the Arctic

[@bentleysuper8]

This is a classic. One of the best.

[@davidsr9719]

If most movies had characters making smart decisions, movies would probably last around 10 min. The smartest horror movie I saw was under 10 min. Family moves in to haunted house. Father notices it’s haunted and knots gets possessed to kill the family. We see him standing outside looking at a fire. Dad decided to burn the house down and save the family from the get go.

[@InCinematic]

That's why I like The Thing, because it still manages to kill them off

[@Armakk]

Don Knotts gets possessed and kills the family? Is this a sequel to The Ghost and Mr. Chicken?

[@dwbunloaf8245]

I was lucky enough to see this film during its theatrical release in the UK. It was incredible to watch it on the big screen in a big cinema back in the day.

[@jimenycricket8431]

Even the dog's acting and character is more convincing in The Thing than in most other horror movies (most movies!). I really believed he was THAT dog.

[@DeadShred9]

Watched in in the Theater opening weekend. I was 15 or 16 yrs old and this Movie has so much going on I still get something new when I sometimes re-watch it !!! Top 5 All Time Sci -Horror movie !!

[@AshleyPOliver]

Also an Ennio Morricone score, which would sell it to me regardless

[@InCinematic]

That score is just *chef's kiss

[@Attaxalotl]

If a character does something dumb and the monster gets them, they died from being dumb. If a character is consistently smart and loses anyway, it shows that the monster is even smarter; and that's scarier.

[@siblej1]

You can see Kurt Russell wince before he puts the hot wire in the blood (that reacts). I’m sure that was a mistake.

[@InCinematic]

Never noticed that before

[@erikdiaz142]

Yes and also his hand is not real as well, the one holding the dish

[@theultimatetrashman887]

Making smart people lose in horror is the true way of making something terrifying. You might always think ''oh its obvious i would just do this'' but in these scenarios is that they did the thing you thought was smart, and still lost.

[@leandroschenone7253]

Underwater it's another very underrated film

[@mitakondria6691]

I adore this movie. One of my favorite memories is watching this movie with friends at McMurdo in Antarctica when the wind howled whipped around outside.

[@tarmacsurfer101]

I FUCKIN LOVE this movie! My parents let my brother's and I watch this when we were only 7, 8, and 10. Mind you this was in the 80s when we could go outside until the streets lights came on, but my Dad specifically said we had better not come crying about nightmares if they let us watch it with them. We were thrilled! I remember telling my friends about this movie in elementary school, and they were like "wow, you have such cool parents" LOL, I've been praising this movie now for nearly 4 decades and I too am glad it's finally seeing a resurgence in popularity as audiences now understand how much of a masterpiece this film is.

[@HunterBelkiran]

is this what inspired amongus

[@InCinematic]

Yep!

[@jonniiinferno9098]

always appreciated this movie !!!

[@SeptemberMeadows]

My friends and I saw this movie when it first came out and thought it was amazing! We raved about it and speculated about it, so much fun. I didn’t learn until this year that it had been considered a flop, panned by critics, derided by moralists. Astonishing. Wobbles the mind o.O

[@cinemaunitestheworld]

Such a great movie, holds up to this day. Rob Bottin, all day long.

[@YourPalKindred]

It's impossible to ever name an objective number 1 movie of all time, but if we could, I imagine this film would be one of the nominees. It's a bloody masterclass on horror that IMO has yet to be topped.

[@a_catfish5180]

This is my favorite movie of all time I’m ready to hear anything supporting this

[@Ragingmarmot]

One of my favorite movies. Absolute genius.

[@helios1087]

Not gonna lie, the idea of not telling every actor who's "The thing" is brilliant. You can see how genuine the doctor's reaction at 3:20 is when his co-actor surprises him by transforming his stomach into a maw and biting his hands off. Bravo Carpenter

[@Perplexer1]

I just knew Gary's tied to the couch line can't possibly be left out of a video about The Thing. 😂😂

[@keennickolas8575]

"nobody trusts anyone ... and we are all very tired" - summarizes my city this year o.O

[@archmageofmetal8883]

I love in these kind of movies when a character says "you gotta be fuckin kidding me" Its such an authentic thing to say and so satisfying to hear in a movie.

[@wiawaysb]

i wish more people knew about this movie. it's one of my absolute favourites. great to see this many people still appreciate it.