Review XC - The Thing

Review XC
The Thing (1982)

I've mentioned this before, but I love to repeat myself. When I first watched John Carpenter's The Thing, I didn't like it. I was expecting something horrifying, something phenomenal, but instead I got nothing (oooh, what a good one!). But then, you know, I gained some knowledge of the awesome of John Carpenter and Kurt Russell, and I knew I had missed out. Obviously I had been holding a grudge against the game and horror films in general and had forgotten the most important thing about watching horror films - just have fun (though most of 'em still suck). Anyway, I sat down to The Thing, prepared to be disappointed again, but knowing I probably wouldn't be.

Those Norwegians are crazy! The film starts with a helicopter chase of a huskey across a tundra of Antartica. The huskey makes it to an American research outpost before one Norwegian researcher accidentally explodes via a grenade and the other is shot by one of the American researchers. Obviously something is up, so three of the Americans, including R.J. MacReady, the awesome (cough) pilot, head to the Norwegian base to find out what exactly is going on. But what they find ends up being more of a mystery... until their own base gets infected by... the thing.

So, how was my second viewing? Totally loved it. I must have just been in a real pissy mood when I watched the film the first time. Or maybe experience made me realise how many worse horror films there are out there... Either way, I liked it. How did I find the effects? They were cool. I mean, they seemed a bit cheesy at times, but honestly, I won't hate on it. I like cheese, I really do, assuming it's done well. And in The Thing, it is. The film is not only about the effects - it's really about the psychological strain every character is under. Is Clark (Richard Masur) infected? Is Windows (Thomas G. Waites)? Is Blair (Wilford Brimley)? And what about MacReady? Is he really okay? I loved that. It's a cat-and-mouse game throughout the film where even the viewer is trying to figure out who's infected and who isn't. It makes it so much more fun! Plus, remember the idiots of Alien? Well, we have idiots here, but it's not as bad. I'll be spoiling stuff every so often here, but not enough to ruin the film. Nonetheless, you've been warned from here on out. In Alien, everyone just seemed vapid and useless. In The Thing, we do have intelligent characters who know the dangers of what's going on once the thing ends up killing Bennings (Peter Maloney). I mean, sure, it might seem a bit stupid to just go bring back this misformed alien whatever from the Norwegian camp, but at least it seemed dead, unlike in Alien where the crew would gladly go over to a huge egg - clearly alive, I might add - and stick their face in it. And then we have bad-ass MacReady who, as our protagonist, is ready to dispose of someone who is infected and is ready to take control of the situation. Like I said, there are stupid moments, but I forgive them because overall, the film presents an acceptably interesting and smart crew.

I basically summed up the film, didn't I? What else is there to say? Well, I thought I'd discuss the film a bit more in depth because I watched a video about it and it made me want to share the secrets of this film with everyone! I thank my boyfriend who other analyses, too. It's one interpretation, but it makes sense to me. Anyway, the spoilers worsen now, so beware.

The film turns around this solipsistic idea with Kurt Russell's character being the "I". It's true that it's impossible to know if your mother, father, friends, teachers, bosses, workers really exist or if they're just a figment of your imagination. But given that you think, you can at least confirm your existence. This film transforms this idea, this paranoia into something more real. Throughout the film, we don't know who is infected and who isn't, and neither does Kurt Russell. He struggles to keep everyone in check, keep an eye on them, but prior to the knowledge of the infection, anyone could have gotten infected by the dog. So he's stuck with only trusting himself, knowing that he, himself, is not infected ("Now I'm gonna show you what I already know."). Thus he's stuck trying to keep track of everyone else, almost like... chess pieces? Wait, wasn't there a scene with that? Indeed there was. At the beginning of the film - and actually how we meet MacReady - we see MacReady playing against a Chess Wizard machine. He sips his whiskey, sure he has won. "*ding ding* Checkmate." The machine ends up winning, or so we think. In reality, Kurt Russell proceeds to pour his whiskey on the rocks into the machine, destroying it, and claiming it is a "cheating bitch". Let us compare this to the film, shall we? And this can really help us unravel the end. Throughout the film, Kurt Russell is moving these people around, trying to control them. While he does get accused of being an alien by Nauls (T.K. Carter), he comes out alive, stronger than ever to destroy this creature. He manages to find a way to see if someone has the thing by testing their blood (I can be slightly hemophobic, I must say. Cutting with knives and syringes - ugh. Yet here I find surgeries fascinating. Anyway.). This seems like a turning point in the film - the thing can no longer deceive the members, am I right? It can be exposed. And everyone has the flamethrowers ("Mac wants the flamethrowers!" "Mac wants the what?"), so we should be fine, right? Well, people are still idiots, and people still separate, and Blair is probably infected, but he's far away so no one is watching over him. As a result, while MacReady finally thinks he has the thing in his grasp, it soon slithers out, destroying the generators and awaiting its freezing before a search team comes and finds it once again. MacReady tries to stop it by blowing up the bunker, and he does, but then the film ends with Childs (Keith David) meeting up with MacReady. MacReady asks what happened to him, only to get a response of "I thought I saw Blair and went out looking for him." Granted, MacReady was an idiot for leaving Childs alone, but this begs the question - is Childs infected or not? Well, let's look back at that Chess Wizard scene. Remember how the machine wins, but in a way, still loses the war because MacReady just destroys it anyway? What does MacReady give Childs? Why, his whiskey. Childs gladly takes it, not concerned that MacReady may be infected. While MacReady proclaims their fight would be futile since it's about to reach 100 degrees below (is this Celsius or Fahrenheit? I have no idea), there is still a slight possibility they could survive... assuming they both were wary. But Childs gladly takes that whiskey and drinks. MacReady gives a little laugh. We know the two both have flamethrowers, and given the Chess Wizard scene, we can assume that MacReady kills Childs, thus killing the lifeform. It sounds happy, and I like it that way. MacReady the bad ass, hehe.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. I'm serious! I won't go on too much more, but I'll share one other thing that keeps you looking throughout the film. When I watched the final scene, something felt off when Childs came on screen. I didn't know what, but it just seemed... off. Now, if we look at Childs throughout the film, he always sports a navy coat. And I do mean throughout. Whenever he's outside, he wears that jacket. And in fact, attire remains consistent throughout the film. Except - you guessed it - when the thing attacks. MacReady mentions that the thing tears through clothing. There's no doubt he mentions this for a reason. The thing knows this is an issue and, thus, when it attacks the shadowy figure at the beginning, it does this late at night when the person is wearing their undergarments. Hence why Nauls finds long johns in the garbage. But sometimes it could only attack during the day, and therefore, we can kind of note when someone has been infected and someone has not. But I'll let you observe the film for that, though I'll explain the Childs scene to get you all excited. So yes, throughout the movie, and even right before the blackout, we see Childs is wearing a dark blue coat. But at the end, he's wearing a significantly light coat. Coincidence or did the thing attack him and needed a coat? Not to mention, at some point near the end, we get a panover of the hallway, the basement door, and the coat room where the door is open. Could this provide an explanation as to how Blair got to Childs? Well, I leave it up to you. But seriously, this whole thing got me creaming over the film. Alien had some thing about man rape, but I like that this film wanted you to think. Production for The Thing was delayed a year because of budget cuts, so John Carpenter had time to think about this film. And it totally made it that much more awesome.

So yes, this Halloween season, check out John Carpenter's The Thing, either a first-time watcher or a veteran watcher. I never saw the remake, but I have a feeling it's just lame. The original isn't the scariest, but it's damn well cool. Oh, and did I mention it also stars Kurt Russell?

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