HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2020: The Thing (1982)

Our sponsor today is an old friend who, among other things, is a talented hip-hop performer and the godfather of Hyphen Universe, which provides great podcasts, music and other stuff, Kelen Conley!  If you want to download some of Kelen’s music, which he records as B Hyphen, check out his Bandcamp Page!  Kelen is representing The American Foundation For Suicide Prevention!

Kelen chose for me a true classic, John Carpenter’s The Thing!

It’s hard writing about a film like this, which is just so good you don’t know what you can say other than the same old things.  Yes, you all know the acting is uniformly strong.  Yes, Bottin’s special effects are truly uniquely astounding--and remember, folks, all those effects were practical, and I am positive they’re more effective because of this (More below).  Yes, the paranoia just ramps up at an accelerated pace.  Yes, that Morricone soundtrack is great, and manages to sound Carpenter-esque while also sounding uniquely itself.  Hell, this is one of these films that has soaked so deeply into the pop culture consciousness that I don’t even have to give you a plot synopsis.

I suppose I should mention now that there will be spoilers for a film that’s almost four decades old are below...but then, if you haven’t seen this film by now you should, so maybe you should stop reading this essay and watch it now.  I’ll still be here after you’re done.

Watching the film this time around, I was struck by how Carpenter almost gleefully indulges in the Romero Principle--namely, the cast of The Thing fucks it up for themselves.  There are many moments where the thing acts which are prompted only because someone makes a decision to do something--there’s a strong chance the alien would have remained dormant in Norris (Charles Hallahan) if Dr. Copper (Richard Dysart) hadn’t tried to give him CPR, and if Macready (Kurt Russell) hadn’t come up with that wire-in-the-blood test, it wouldn’t have come out at that time.  One of the many, many strengths of Bill Lancaster’s script is that we never get a clear moment that explains what the thing is, what it’s doing...so for all we know it’s behaving like an animal, purely on instinct.  I wonder how much its motivations as we understand it comes from the panicking fear of the crew members, and what would have happened if they just decided to all stay in the same room instead of rushing about looking to put out both literal and metaphorical fires.

I was also struck by how great Wilfred Brimley’s performance as Blair is.  If we assume that Blair was taken over fairly early in the film and was focusing primarily on building a vehicle to carry him away, he is masterful at keeping his secret from the others.  Hell, we honestly understand his vehicle-destroying meltdown at first until we realize Blair is telling everyone what they want us to hear.

And about that special effects--I think this is Bottin’s masterpiece, and the proof is how this stuff holds up almost forty years later...to the point where it makes the CGI-based effects from that 2011 ‘It’s-not-a-remake-it’s-a-prequel’ look dated.  Because Bottin’s creations are both physical props and have very little touchstone to reality, they’re shocking even today...whereas the 2011 effects are dated because they overthink what to show us.  It also helps that Bottin’s work is carefully placed throughout the film--when it’s there, it is In Your Face, but it’s couched by long stretches of us watching men as their last nerves shred.  That’s where the tension and anxiety of the film comes from, not ‘look what we can do’ special effects.

One more thing--I appreciate how this film, like the granddaddy of the Romero Effect, Night of The Living Dead, doesn’t Explain Everything.  We are always aware of the entropic element, but we’re not sat down and told everything about it.  The closest we get in that brief computer simulation Blair runs, and that could be seen as covering his tracks for the theft of parts disguised as a rampage with an axe.  If this was made today, we’d get a scene where Macready and Childs (Keith David) confront the creature, who proceeds to have a lengthy discussion explaining where it came from, what its purpose is and what it plans to do, which would have annoyed me and taken up time that Carpenter respects us enough not to.

The Thing is essential viewing.  There’s not much else I can say other than, obviously, I recommend it.

Tomorrow there’s no sponsor tomorrow, so the Randomizer went back--way back!--to a classic silent film that had a major, major impact on pop culture.  Join me as I dive into the F.W. Murnau classic The Man Who Laughs!

There is One Sponsorship Slot Left in the Halloween Horrorfest this year.  To claim it, do one of four things:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Black Lives Matter.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.

As with last year, if I end up with more sponsors than there are days in October, I will go into Horrorfest Overtime, which means Halloween goes into November for me--and you!