artist fangirls over "THE THING" (1982) REACTION / COMMENTARY / REVIEW - Heart Monitor! 

Almost every reaction I've seen of this movie, I can't help but chuckle when people go gaga over the dog initially. Especially when I'm fully aware of what happens later.

I love that this movie established Macready’s nature in his first scene. When the chess computer beats him, he’d rather destroy it and his own source of entertainment than admit defeat, and he was willing to die to deny the Thing victory.

One of my favorite facts about this movie is that the Norwegian gunman at the beginning of the movie literally gives away the whole plot - but only if you speak Norwegian.

That _inhuman howl_ that the Bennings Thing lets out really is the stuff of nightmares. It's still kinda hard to process that there are people out there who haven't seen this movie before. For those of us who grew up in the '80s, this is what movies are supposed to look like.

This movie is a genuine horror masterpiece.... damn i miss the creativity and practical effects of those days

30:42 Blair made sure The Thing would have no way of getting to civilization since he saw the computer calculation that the world was going to be taken over by it. Killing the dogs and everyone would also make sure The Thing had no way of controlling anyone (it can only imitate living cells). At that point in the movie he's definitely not infected since he's the one making the biggest moves AGAINST The Thing.

Although it was the victim of "The Summer of E.T.", It puts a smile on my face knowing that time has been very good to "The Thing", with practical effects that still freak people out over 40 YEARS LATER!!! ❤❤❤❤

I'm so glad that there's finally a reactor who truly understands and appreciates the quality of the special effects in this movie. I was lucky enough to watch The Thing in high school over 20 years ago. It was the end of the school year, and we'd finished the Chemistry curriculum a few days ahead of schedule. So the teacher brought in the movie for all of us kids to watch. It quickly became one of my all-time favorite movies. I've watched it countless times and could probably quote all of it verbatim. The tension and paranoia are palpable. You're right there with them, desperately looking for clues and watching everyone just in case they reveal something. Repeat viewings are interesting because some scenes come off completely differently when you know who's infected. One of the more subtle ones I noticed was during the standoff between Garry and Windows at 33:32. Pay close attention to who is positioned where during the confrontation. Norris and Palmer - the only two present who are infected - are standing off to the side in the hall with Fuchs. _They were trying to isolate Fuchs while the rest of the group was distracted._ And though he's out of focus in the background, look at where Palmer is staring: _directly at Fuchs._ Some other tidbits: The film was shot in LA, Alaska, and British Columbia. It was actually really hot during production, so they had to refrigerate the set to make it realistic. When Mac and Copper reveal the corpse of the Thing they recovered from the Norwegian camp at 16:23, everyone is coughing and gagging for real, because the production team used smelly AB smoke fluid for the effects during the scene. The TV broadcast also came with brief character introductions. MacReady used to be a test pilot before getting into a confrontation with top management, then resigned and took the pilot job in Antarctica. Childs is an expert mechanic who used to work in the airline industry. Garry has a 30-year career in the army and became an officer. Clark is doing a study on the effects of extreme cold on animal behavior. Palmer intends to open his own business as a mechanic after his work there is done. Norris is a geophysicist and was a professor at Cal Tech. Copper graduated from Harvard, trained at Massachusetts General Hospital, but an unknown personal tragedy caused him to leave and move his work to Antarctica. Bennings has been in the meteorology field long enough to be published many times. Blair is a microbiologist who specialized in cellular growth and laid the groundwork for genetic engineering, and Fuchs worked with him at the Rockefeller Foundation. There are dozens of other interesting details, so you should do some reading. You've seen the first movie in Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy, so you should definitely check out the other two: Prince of Darkness and In The Mouth of Madness. I'd also go with Alien, Poltergeist, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Event Horizon, The Descent, 1408, The Faculty, and The Cabin In The Woods. I put The Cabin In The Woods last because the viewer gets more out of it depending on how much experience they have with the horror genre. There's plenty more sci-fi and/or horror out there to see, but this a good start. Happy viewing!

Before* " - Don't killing dog! Dog's cute!" After* " - Killing this f*king dog! Killing all dogs!" 😂

Every reactor goes from "They better not hurt that dog;" to "KILL IT WITH FIRE!"🤪😂🔥 The effects remain some of the very best in any movie- even forty years later! Definitely watch all the Blue-Ray's behind the scenes stuff where they explain funny things like running to a drug store to buy all their KY Jelly for the slimy effects and getting looks...

The scream that the Bennings-Thing let out was intended to possess vocals from all of the different species from different worlds that the Thing has catalogued into its own genome.

Rob Bottin did every creature effect except the transformed dog, which was partially done by Stan Winston. Winston had to be called in due to time constraints and the fact Bottin was working at an extremely rigorous schedule. After filming he was hospitalized with exhaustion and pneumonia. Rob Bottin was only 23 at the time, but had worked on films before the Thing. One film he worked on previously with a lot of makeup effects and transformation scenes is the film The Howling. The entire art department and visual effects team really make this film what it is.

One of my all time favorites. Saw this when I was 12 at a sleepover, and it changed my life. The polar opposite of this is Carpenter's "Big Trouble in Little China" Same director, same star, same make-up artist, absolutely hilarious.

If you're the type to read, you can find the original extended manuscript of the short story this is based on in the book Frozen Hell. Carpenter did a pretty good job adapting the story, but there are some differences that make reading the original story an adventure of its own. Also, The Void (2016) is another neat horror flick with great practical creature design, if you've not seen it.

Carpenter's a genius director, who has become kind of overlooked in recent years. They Live, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from New York, In the Mouth of Madness, all BRILLIANT!

The spider walk that Norris' head is doing is the Nonchalant Spider Walk. It's something you'll see a relatively large web-spinning spider like a house spider doing under specific conditions: *They're crossing a room or moving down a corridor with no contact with any vertical surface. *They can't perceive any vibrations they see as either prey or danger. Under these circumstance, the spider, being a web-spinner with crap eyesight, effectively thinks the world is an infinite, empty flat plane until it bumps into something. So evolution has set it up to basically just pick whatever direction it's facing in and vaguely trundle in it until it finds something it can do something with: fast enough that it'll actually get somewhere, but slow enough it can still notice vibrations from anything large enough to hurt it and isn't going to draw attention to itself. You'll notice if you step anywhere near a spider that's walking like this it immediately switches to running as fast as it possibly can because its brain switches from that to the "shit, shit, shit, big thing" mode.

That dog deserved an Oscar!

The Thing is the grandfather of modern horror. The Flood from Halo and the Necromorphs from Dead Space were heavily inspired. a game that also took inspiration is Among Us. if you compare both, you'll see the creators are big fans of this movie.

Good to see someone appreciate these kinds of practical effects that still work to this day. That dog you saw at the beginning was named Jeb who is a cross breed of half wolf and half husky and was quite a animal to be reasoned with because it doesn't respond like a dog does like wag it's tail or bark because that's the wolf part of him that forces you to be wary of him. Stan Winston did a large portion of the special effects for this movie too and the music score was none other than Einno Morricone, the famous spaghetti western score creator. Other SiFi movies I'd like to suggest are on the older side but again still look quite good production wise, such as, 1951 "The Day the Earth Stood Still", the 1953 "War of the Worlds", the 1956 "Forbidden Planet", and the original 1968 "Planet of the Apes".

Just a bit of FX trivia: when the pseudo-dog is transformed and hanging from the ceiling of the kennel and a flower-like protrusion emerges and blossoms open- the "petals" are actually supposed to be an array of mutant dog tongues.

I'm so glad this is how I found your channel !! Such a fantastic film to still be stunning audiences to this day.

It's by far the greatest horror film ever made. The concept of an organism that functions at the micro and macro level that devours and then replicates it's victims is genius. The true form of the 'creature' is what you see under the microscope. That along with the isolation and confinement of Antarctica breeding mistrust was truly remarkable. Even the ending was PERFECTION. Your love for the gore and practical effects has a Wednesday Adams quality to your reactions. 🤣👍🏿

I always love that one moment when the head is ripping away, as the tendons stretch and break, when that one blob of green 'blood' breaks through the surface. I don't know why, but it hits my sweet spot every time.

The Guy from the helicopter shooting at the dog yells at the cast when the dog starts licking one of them "It's not a dog it's a thing" in Norwegian.

Truly it's the Sauron rank of prostetic work in this movie! Never ever can be done such a good work in another movie! The mixing these effects with sharpe psychological thriller vibe and simple but breathtaking music makes this movie an evergreen one.

It's ALWAYS satisfying to see people's pissed off reactions at a seemingly innocent pupper getting sniped by some apparently manic crazy red necks, but up on rewatch you realize that these wankers just sat through the bone chilling experience our fellas are bout to. One detail I never noticed was when Windows stumbles upon and interrupts Thing's Benny replication, you can hear the key jingle as he dropped em in sheer startle, so Thing must've used that as an opportunity to get to the blood they had in safe, to attempt and frame Gary for it, sparking the mistrust within themselves. Thing is a lot more clever than majority of these slasher movie alien monsters which is an aspect I've always quite appreciated

The dog in The Thing is played by Jed, the dog. There is a video somewhere on RU-vid where they talked about how good of an actor the dog was and needed to be.

That dog is without a doubt anyone incredible actor. Most can't resist wagging their tails

I recommend Event Horizon as a syfy horror you might enjoy. Really appreciate your thoughtful response to this film as it’s one of my personal favorites. At the Mountains of Madness is probably my favorite Lovecraft story which has a lot in common with this film.

the leader of an artic research group always has a gun, they are usually military trained, as a precaution A lot of countries have research teams out there, and the leader of team it is his job to control all guns and issue them as needed and collect them after a mission.

It was cool seeing you react to this as an artist. There were moments where you looked inspired by the practical effects. Thanks for watching this movie.

The original story for this, a short story/novella entitled "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell Jr., was first published way back in 1938. The movie basically follows the book. It's close enough that they can thrown in some swerves to get those who read the story. For instance, in the original story, during the blood test scene, Commander Gerry is a Thing. This movie bombed, and got terrible reviews, back when it came out, but it is now generally considered to be one of the three best horror movies ever made.

There's an excellent, making of, documentary on The Thing. It has Stan Winston and Rob Bottin on it, and goes into considerable detail about the creature effects. I think you'd appreciate it.......fun fact, when the fim wrapped, Rob Bottin had to be taken to hospital! He had basically lived on set for the duration of the shoot, working 16-20 hour days, forgetting to eat or sleep in his somewhat insane enthusiasm for his craft. Another little fun fact nobody ever notices, is the pinball machine in the rec room, it's called Heatwave, the idea to win, is to raise the thermometer on the display to the top, at which points it explodes, great bit of subtle foreshadowing.

Some theories say people don't always know they're infected at first. There is also a prequel a video game and comics even talk of a sequel finally coming welcome to the rabbit hole.

The dog was The Thing from the beginning. Hints why the Norwegians were shooting at the dog. The prequel made in the early 2000's ends with the Norwegians going after the dog.

I don't know how true this is. It's not in the trivia on IMDB, but I've heard repeatedly that the dog-thing from the beginning of the movie (real name is Jed) was really good at being creepy. Carpenter loved that he could do the scenes with so few takes, but the rest of the crew was creeped out by Jed. The dog was well trained to ignore any of the film crew and equipment that it added to the creepiness. He would always move with such easy grace, rather than a normal dog who would quickly react to sounds and movement. RIP Jed.

I just realized the jumpscare noise of Blair getting gary was the same as the jump noise with fuchs when the power went out. Maybe Blair got fuchs? And quickly ran to the shed I mean he had a jacket on.

@Skeletalk.Hi Skeletalk.This is an absolute classic.If you can try to catch the Thing prequel from 2011, as this is the story from the Norwegian base and leads to this film.Apparently the Alien shapeshifter had been captured by another set of aliens and had attacked the alien pilots on their spaceship, causing it to crash on earth.As you saw, the shapeshifter was capable of detaching itself and becoming separate parts(Norrises head detaching itself from its body).You saw that with Palmers blood during the blood test,with the blood escaping across the floor.This explains why there was no blood when Bennings escapes outside to be burnt by Macready.His blood had escaped.If you can get a hold of SCREAM MAGAZINE ISSUE 57, as this has a brilliant 8 page write up on Th Thing with great photos.A fascinating scene that was story boarded but not filmed, but is in The Thing novel, has Macready,Childs and Bennings chasing Husky dogs which have become THINGS on snowmobiles.I presume these were the dogs that escaped the pound when Clark went to check on the noise.Also the endings are fascinating.One was of Macready and Childs half frozen rescued, but the question remained whether one or both of them were the the Thing and another was of daybreak approaching and Macreadys frozen body comes into shot but Childs is missing.Instead we got the ending of the two of them wondering who to trust.

I love watching Thing reactions. The beginning is almost always the same. "Oh, pretty puppy!"..... "Hey, don't shoot the doggie, leave him alone!"..... "JESUS, BURN THE DOG BURN THE DOG!"

Also, ignore anyone making claims about who is or is not a Thing at the end, all of the theories are dumb (breath, jacket, bottle, etc are all proven incorrect by just...watching the film), the entire point is not knowing. And a fun little thing people miss a lot is the whole "keys to the safe" thing. We're told the only two people with access are Copper and Garry, Garry having the keys which he gives to Copper when he needs them. What people often miss is when Bennings and Windows are in the store room and to lock it they need the keys, Windows leaves to get them and when he comes back and finds Bennings under attack we see him holding them and then hear him drop them on the floor, where anyone could get them. It's easy to miss but a good way of showing that it could have been anyone and the team are just losing all trust. :P

Your reaction was a pleasure to watch. Looking forward to listen to your pod cast as well as I've been somewhat a student of a paranormal student (before I became a psychology student, lol).

A great British made horror film (especially the slang and swearing) made on a very tight budget with zero CGI is Dog Soldiers. What the director acheives regards location, set design, creature effects and special effects is amazing and very polished. Also any film with Sean Pertwee saying " Shut it!!" is worth it...

And that was all done in 1982, without a single pixel of CGI. Let us all worship at the divine feet of Rob Bottin who did the creature effects.

As usual "don't hurt the puppy" (20 minutes later) "KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!" 🤣

Heart Monitor was a nice touch! 😘 Loved the reaction Katie!

You're the first I've seen who watches horror movies the way I do!! I'm excited to see more of your reactions :D

Hello ! The Norwegian at the beginning who chases the dog shouts that he is not one but the Thing... but who understands Norwegian generally? 🤔^^ Nice reaction for someone who appreciates the incredible creative work in this cult film ^^ 🤩

This is my favorite horror film! Loved your review and your commentary, keep up the great work! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend The Descent. I have a theory that the Norwegian in the camp that committed suicide is actually an Alien because the straight razor is in the right hand. Obviously the cuts to the right wrist were made with the left hand (notice there are multiple hesitation marks, amazing detail!), and are so deep that the tendons would have been severed, making it impossible to flex the fingers of that hand. Yet the razor was transferred back to the right hand which was able to hold onto it. Also, think about the timing/order of the cuts. The neck is cut nearly back to the spine. Not only is the neck wound deep enough to have severed all the veins and arteries, but the thyroid cartilage had to be sawn through, which (from what I understand) is very tough, so this is no instantaneous or easy body modification. Once the arteries were severed death would have occur within 5-15 seconds. But there were hesitation marks on the wrist, so the wrist couldn't be second. But the razor in the right hand implies that the person was right-handed. So cut throat, switch hands, cut wrist, switch back over. Or cut wrist, switch hands, cut throat with a hand physically incapable of holding the blade. None of this makes sense unless this victim is actually an alien. The alien's modus operandi is to hide in plain sight, and as the end of the movie shows, it's fall-back plan is to freeze and wait to be rescued. So regardless of whether or not you think Childs is a Thing at the end, I think The Thing wins. :)

Thank You John Carpenter to create a masterpiece like The Thing for the younger Generation to realize CGI is not Film Making ❤

I love your commentary and your expressive interest in these types of movies. You've got yourself 1 new subscriber 😊

this is a perfect movie in my opinion...like, rarely has a movie ever been this good, this many times i've seen it. i love halloween, in the mouth of madness, big trouble in little china, he's got an amazing catalogue of films...but THIS is his masterpiece.

Great reaction. A movie without CGI, all practical effects. Greetings from Spain.

All the creatures that we saw, it means the thing absorbed them at some point. So all those creatures are out there...but also there are most likely planets where all life has been transformed into things. The thing got to Earth on that spaceship. But that raises the question, did the thing get on there by accident maybe by infecting a passenger, or was the thing flying the spaceship in an attempt to spread to another planet?

I think if you haven't watched 'The Void', you should, I think you would probably greatly enjoy their creature design, practical effects, and Lovecraftian Lore! And the behind-the-scenes is super cool too, how they managed all that on such a tight budget.

Nobody ever seems to understand Blair's actions prior to his being taken by the Thing. He saw the stats on the computer of the Thing taking over the world and he sought to prevent it from getting out by destroying the radio, helicopter and other ways away from the base.

Even before The Thing enters the sense of isolation is so good. I also like that this movie is an unofficial trilogy with In the Mouth of Madness and Prince of Darkness.

Garry really doesn’t get enough respect for his excellent marksmanship.

Oooo The Thing today, this is going to be a good one, love this film. :)

I like how the creature ended up winning. Macready, Childs, and whichever was "The Thing" winded up freezing, but only The Thing would have thawed out after being rescued later when a crew came to get them, like what happened thousands of years later when that Norwegian crew first unearthed it. It would have been taken to a medical facility and then begun it's horror campaign again elsewhere after 'checking out' as human. Macready or Childs would have been dead. Everybody that knew about the creature would also have been dead at that point.

Unbelievable practical effects still to this day John Carpenter is the 🐐 Goat watch all his 80s fil.s and 70s

Probably my favorite horror film of all time. I could watch this over and over again. This and Jaws.

Just came across your channel tonight. Nice to "meet" other artists that appreciate film this much, particularly interesting that you love found footage as much as me. I'm an animator working on a found footage horror animated series right now! This movie though. This is in my top 5 favourite movies. How good are carpenters soundtracks?! Really love your appreciation of the art of film making and practical effects. it makes your reactions better than most. New subscriber just showing you my appreciation, going to check out more and your art, too. Youre awesome!

Great review! I agree with most all your comments. I wish I could just set around and see a similar flick with you and exchange ideas. This is John Carpenter's magnus opus. It kinda ruined his career at the time in 80s, but it is now his crown jewel. Love this flix!

I just watched a recent interview done with Kurt Russell. This part cracked me up. When he first encountered the enormous sombrero in the wardrobe, he exclaimed, “I’m not f-ing wearing that hat! It’s insane!” However, the wardrobe team informed him that the hat had already been used in some establishing shots. Despite absolutely hating the hat at first, Russell now acknowledges that the sombrero was a “perfect” choice by Carpenter. Kurt joked, “Yeah, MacReady’s a drunk so he probably doesn't give a s--t and would wear a hat like that"😂

Hi sweetie 😊 You are Absolutely gorgeous!!! I love your accent... I heard you mention that you draw, meaning you're an artist! Just an absolute Dreamboat you are! I would marry you in a heartbeat! ❤ I wish you the best of luck here on RU-vid. ❤

I was so impressed with the practical effects I wanted to learn how. Took some online lessons from Stan Winston school and made my own latex monster masks. If you want to know the behind the scenes stuff, check Stan Winston and you can make your own THING!

I remember when you could buy the Mcfarlane toys of the...head on trunk creature from THE THING , some years ago now, there was also the SLEEPY HOLLOW characters,- headless horseman with severed heads.

First time here, instantly subbed once you mentioned the non-existence of certain movies and proceeded on an adhd rant about it

I think what makes this a great movie is the high level of suspense, tension, paranoia, and mystery. More than 40 years later there are still a number of heated debates. Who got taken over when and what signs were there, the sound of keys dropping, what coats were on the coat racks, when were they no longer there, and who took and used them. Also, how much time passes between events; storm is going to hit in ? hours; I cut him loose from the guide line in the storm; how long did it take to resolve the locking out of Mac, performing the tests, dealing with Palmer-Thing, and then going to give Blair the test. Blair was taken over after being locked-up in the shed, by whom? Norris-Thing and Palmer-Thing were The Thing then. Did one or both of them help with the workshop tunnel and craft construction? Was there another entrance into that workshop under the snow so that the parts could be brought there (and not fitting between the floorboards of the tool shed). Was the welding set used to faster tunnel in the snow? Did The Thing morph into something better at digging and constructing, or did they just stay in human form? How did the Blair-Thing carry the generator out of the basement generator room? How does The Thing assimulation work? Must overwelm the absorbed to be successful otherwise just a little bit can be destroyed by an immune system? The mass/number of cells taken over can be cummulative to create a larger creature, or stay separated to just imitate exactly the taken-over being. The Thing copies those taken over accumulating their knowledge allowing them to speak and act just like the initated - i.e. specific language, accent, mannerisms, skills. The Thing is smart enough to have complicated strategies, plant incriminating false evidence, destroy the capability of a differentiating test, stirring paranoia amongst the humans (e.g. Palmer-Thing "I'm not going with him"). The trickiest act of The Thing was Palmer-Thing outing a Thing spider-Norris-head crawling away that probably would be noticed anyway to increase its odds of remaining hidden and not suspected. The ending leaves the audience in the same paranoid state as the characters earlier in the film. All along you're thinking about what they should do or putting yourself in with them and thinking of what you'd do. Did Mac, after a rest and acting like he was not going to do anything, destroy the Childs-Thing; or did Childs-Thing get Mac or just freeze and take over the rescue team and The Thing is currently making its way through the world's population and could get you any day now - is the guy next to you in the theater The Thing???

An awesome simple horror movie is the movie that this is based on, The Thing From Another World from the 50's, I love it..... and I'm saaaacribing, thank you fantastic reactions😊😊😊

Great reaction Girl. This movie is one of my favorites . This one is much better than the one from 2011.

That was an awesome reaction and review. Since you like practical effects, I would suggest, Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Day of the Dead (1985) and Zombie (1979). I have a feeling that you would like those.

Have you heard of a series from the 2010s called "Face Off"? It was a US competition show (13 seasons from 2011-2018) for prosthetic makeup artists that can still be found on some streaming services. (Not sure if it's available in your area, though.) Might be something you would find interesting since it is all about practical effects and you get to see the contestants actually creating and applying their designs and prosthetics.

Little bits of detail.... The tentacle that comes out just before they flame thrower the alien dog in the kennel is rows of dog tongues with dogs teeth made to look like a flower, Rob Bottin who did most of the practical effects & sculpted & cast all of the work himself & had a mental breakdown & ended up in rehab as he was doing lots of coke to stay up & finish the work, this is my favourite movie & Rob to this day is one of if not my favourite special effects artist a close second is Jack Pierce creator of the original Frankenstein make up for Boris Karloff. Great vid...👍

Her: huskies are my favorite Me: oh no!

Everybody falls for the dog. Then things get interesting............... This is practical effects heaven. Rob Bottin was 21 when he made this film.

I've seen my share of reactions to this movie. And all except 1, said " why the wolf/dog?!?!". Until they see ......"it"

John Carpenter's "Prince of Darkness" is quite fun. also, for a sci-fi horror, "Event Horizon" is also worth a watch. enjoy.

One of the greatest found footage films on my opinion. As Above So Below. Horror story in the catacombs. You won't be disappointed

Hello, Skele! 👋🤟🫶 How are you? I hope your heart is doing well!! You are so beautiful, dear girl!!! Lots of love from the U.S.!!! 🤟🫶🥰🌹

Because you're so impressed with practical effects, there's a movie called The Dark Crystal(1982) that I think you would really enjoy and appreciate. It's made by Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets. Imagine a Muppets movie, but dark and evil. The set designs and practical effects are astonishing.

the Norwegian was actually saying in his words that can’t be understood by others was “”Get the hell outta there. That's not a dog, it's some sort of thing! It's imitating a dog, it isn't real! Get away you idiots!”

I'd like to suggest another John Carpenter film, "Prince Of Darkness". It didn't have a big budget probably due to the non-success of "The Thing", but it has a lot of cool concepts along with the usual suspense, mystery, diminishing cast of characters, and big stakes for the human race. For a FUN film, checkout the "horror" movie "April Fools' Day"(1986). Isolated cast of characters that diminish in number with a nod to Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians", and a last girl remaining who "figures out" the mystery. Plenty of comedy too with the pranks.

Child's Play, Harry and the Hendersons, Robocop all have some really great makeup, effects, and amazing animatronics. And Brazil from 1985...ya gotta see Brazil one day. It's incredible. Your heart got up 126 or so..WOAH.

The artist appreciation of the special and practical effects as well as the props and set dressing was awesome, but as a Gen Xer watching a younger person enjoying, and bring impressed by,, this movie made ne very happy. 💙

Loved your enthusiasm for the practical effects! Nice touch with the heart meter too. My only complaint was the loud music during your review. I could barely hear you.

0:11 Instant like.

The looks you gave on each of the reveals was fucking beautiful LOL ESPECIALLY the chest mouth LOL Watching this as a kid (I was 8 when this movie came out and 9 when I saw it on cable for the first time. LOL) And is by far the reason I wanted to do special effects in movies.

On certain days of the week, some of the theaters around here show "classic" movies for 7 bucks. As The Thing is probably my favorite all time movie, I took advantage of seeing it on the big screen decades after seeing it as a child with my father in theaters. There was a young woman with her family there to see the movie and I recall at the end of the movie, people clapped and she said, "that was amazing!" It is really nice to see youth enjoy really good film making.

The Thing is the top of the food chain for horror in my opinion, Quite possibly the greatest all around horror movie ever made!

Absolute classic! The John Carpenter & Kurt Russell combo always gives us something unique. Paranoia and horror, we have The Thing. Dystopian action, Escape From New York. My personal favourite (alongside The Thing)... Big Trouble in Little China. EDIT - 4:36 I've said it many times but movie magic is a lost art largely due to CGI. "Necessity is the mother of invention." Film makers don't need to be creative with the limitations of the practical world when they can draw anything they want on a computer. CGI has it's place when supporting practical effects, real world locations and spectacular sets but I think it's a crutch that kills creativity when it replaces these things.

The visual effects of the prequel(that everyone uses as a toilet) are also very good, a mix of both practical & cgi as was the case in JURASSIC PARK, there must have been a reason why they didnt go ALL cgi there

I want an 'Upside Down Spider Head' on a T-Shirt. :)

Freshly subscribed skelly, i must recommend my 2 fav movies, Turbo Kid and The Last Samurai

I saw this in the theater, opening week, at the age of 12. 😲 It changed how i viewed horror films forever.

For another 'terror in the arctic', i'd recommend The Terror (tv series): "...a cunning, vicious Gothic horror that stalks the ships in a desperate game of survival."

I love seeing how other creatives react to things like movies, shows, songs. I'm not much of a visual artist, but I love to write. I used to be somewhat active on the Outpost 31 forums, back before the site and forums migrated, and lost all of the decades old discussions and examinations and reexaminations, and even the comments by some of the people who worked on The Thing, and the game (and eventually the prequel), and most of the art and fanfiction stuff... And the loss of many older members due to the loss of all that stuff, and them simply giving up on it... Before that happened, we had some fun. Working out all sorts of theories on how the Things could work. And some of our ideas made it into the prequel. Anyhow, hopefully I can shed some light on a few points. Beware of wall of text... 1: The chess computer actually pulled a Mario Kart and cheated MacReady. He did what many of us want to do to that game series... 2: Jed (the dog-thing actor) was a wolf-dog. He also starred in White Fang and some other movies of the era. 3a: The ship wasn't piloted by the Things, most likely. given that the ship didn't have visible damage, but was flying erratically and did crash, it's assumed that the species that the ship belonged to had picked it up somewhere. Most likely not knowing what it was. Either as a frozen specimen, in with a group of live specimens, or perhaps even simply a core sample of ice from a distant planet or moon. Some think that perhaps this (or maybe these) species created the Things. That theory doesn't really work very well under scrutiny. The "cargo that turned out to be more than cargo" is a much more likely scenario. 3b: Government's involvement with UFOs is just their cover story for their "beyond top secret" projects. Case in point, from the 60s to the 90s, the vast majority of UFO sightings can be explained now as the SR-71 Blackbird. And probably many more that can't be confirmed due to national security. It's in the government's interest to let people think there's UFOs, so's to be able to hide the truth from their enemies. Sometimes, the easiest way to hide the truth is to tell a lie that people want to hear... 3c: 3b leads into this. Not everyone in the fandom realizes that some of the "evidence" in the movie are red herrings planted by the Things. Why? They're all about hiding and misdirection. The biggest piece of evidence there is MacReady's torn clothing, followed by Clark being accused by Blair-Thing. And Palmer-Thing outing the Norris' Head Thing. Some of the speculations made by the men are simply speculations, and not fact. 4: The Thing could've actually gotten to the blood without opening the door. Or could have used tendrils to pick the lock without causing damage to it. Or, could've grabbed the keys when Windows dropped them, got to the blood, relocked the door, and set the keys back where they'd dropped. However, the most likely version is that it simply snaked a small tendril through the lock, and ruptured the blood bags from within. Because otherwise, there would've been noticeable blood around the fridge before it was opened. Hypothetically, that small tendril could've been taking the form of blood then to hide amongst what was spilled when the fridge opened (if it hadn't been retracted). Given the timeframe, the tendril theory makes the most sense. 5: There is a visual hint, which stops being full hint at the end. This one is revealed by the commentary from the lighting director. The human characters are always lit in such a way that they have some light glinting off of their eyes, in all but the last scene. Those who don't can then be tracked though the movie as to when they were infected. Again, it's revealed that in the final scene, this rule is not in play, though. Purposefully making it so that no one truly knows if either/both are things or human. 5: Simply having physical contact with a single living Thing cell can be enough to infect someone. IF the Things want that. But, as we see with Clark, Jed-Thing avoided infecting him on purpose. He made for a good scapegoat, showing suspicion off of others who weren't as noticeably suspect, like Norris and Palmer. Blair was most likely infected this way, as he'd been doing the autopsies. The Things' ultimate goal is survival, not simply assimilation. If they think that hiding amongst a group of beings and Turing them on eachother would be a better method of survival than outright attacking or risking slower infection methods, then so be it. If that means that some will not be infected, so be it. It could be possible that they might even seek some uneasy form of peace with intelligent beings. "We won't try to assimilate you or your planet, if you let us live and leave" might be an option for some... 6: Norris had a heart condition, which was known to the others. This is a case of "playing possum" not working out for the Things. They assumed that a "dead body" would just be stored. Not that they'd get shocked. Additionally, Doc isn't infected in the attack because they know that a dead body coming back to life would be immediately outed. This isn't their first rodeo. 7: MacReady is a Vietnam vet. Former chopper pilot, combat proficient. Also, one of the reasons he drinks so much. A lot of armed forces vets turn to drinking, sadly. Childs' accusation of murder is not correct, as Clark was attacking him with a knife. Clark's' death is on Clark. Clear cut self defense. We don't know what exactly Childs' feud with MacReady is, but there's apparently a history of bad blood between them. This is why MacReady laughs at the end. That it took all of that to reach a moment of respect between the 2 of them. The guy is a deeper thinker than he sometimes lets on. 8: I don't think finding the fingers cutting squicky is odd. I can do all sorts of horror gore and body horror. But not medical stuff beyond seeing someone get a shot. Even though John Carpenter explains in the director's commentary that they had tubes covered with prosthetic skin, it's still more disturbing than all the over-the-top effects. 9: The ship is likely not a spaceship, but more likely something like a rocket sled. Something to get away from the camp and freeze, or possibly to the ocean and assimiat the food chain. 10: A good parallel to how the Things operate is to take a look at Slime Molds. Amoebas working together as a larger "colonial organism".

I seen this movie in the theater many years ago,it still brings me to reality this actually can happen. From angles cast down from heaven to an omeba infecting like venereal diseases

You watch the show The Terror. It's based on the historic horror book about two ships getting trapped in the ice of the North pole. The reason Blair went nuts was he realized that if the creature made it to the coast, it would mark the end of all life on earth though it clearly came for him after he got isolated in the shed.

Great reaction! 🥰 If you like SciFi Horror I'd highly recommend "Pandorum" with Dennis Quaid, you'll absolutely love it!! And I'm pretty sure you don't already know this one bc it's massively underrated, but I love SciFi Horror so so much and in my personal opinion it's one of the best movies in this subgenre.