The first one (1951) didn't do much for me, but it's worth it to see James Arness as the monster.
John Carpenter's The Thing, on the other hand, is excellent. It bombed when it came out, mostly because it was competing with ET that summer. It also opened the same weekend as Blade Runner, which couldn't have helped, but it's something of a cult classic now.
Here's what I found on the sometimes-reliable Wikipedia:
Despite mixed contemporary reviews, the film has been reappraised substantially in the years following its release, and now maintains an 80% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating "Grimmer and more terrifying than the 1950s take, John Carpenter's The Thing is a tense sci-fi thriller rife with compelling tension and some remarkable make-up effects." It's been listed as one of the best of 1982 by Filmsite.org and Film.com. The film ranked #97 on Rotten Tomatoes’ Journey Through Sci-Fi (100 Best-Reviewed Sci-Fi Movies), and a scene from The Thing was listed as #48 on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments. Similarly, the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 17th scariest film ever made. The Thing was named "the scariest movie ... ever!" by the staff of the Boston Globe. In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.
4 comments:
Why do they keep remaking this movie? I never saw the first two? Were they any good?
The first one (1951) didn't do much for me, but it's worth it to see James Arness as the monster.
John Carpenter's The Thing, on the other hand, is excellent. It bombed when it came out, mostly because it was competing with ET that summer. It also opened the same weekend as Blade Runner, which couldn't have helped, but it's something of a cult classic now.
Here's what I found on the sometimes-reliable Wikipedia:
Despite mixed contemporary reviews, the film has been reappraised substantially in the years following its release, and now maintains an 80% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating "Grimmer and more terrifying than the 1950s take, John Carpenter's The Thing is a tense sci-fi thriller rife with compelling tension and some remarkable make-up effects." It's been listed as one of the best of 1982 by Filmsite.org and Film.com. The film ranked #97 on Rotten Tomatoes’ Journey Through Sci-Fi (100 Best-Reviewed Sci-Fi Movies), and a scene from The Thing was listed as #48 on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments. Similarly, the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 17th scariest film ever made. The Thing was named "the scariest movie ... ever!" by the staff of the Boston Globe. In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.
Waiting for the inevitable, unwatchable Wayans Bros spoof: That Thing You Do.
Ha ha. I'm reading Who Goes There? on Kindle at the moment. Surprisingly, Carpenter's movie is truer to Campbell's 1938 novella than the original.
The book is in the public domain now (I think), so you can find a free copy online if ya want.
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