Releasing it literally the same day as E.T didn't help...

@Richard James Kemp Really? lol E.T. took nearly $800 million dollars and The Thing took $16. The hate for The Thing was Universal, a box office FAILURE but everyone loves ET. You sound bitter mate.

​@@unicornnightmares2711 I'm sure there were people that liked "The Thing" and people who didn't like "E.T."...it was just the majority were leaning towards either side. People who have LOUD OPINIONS will be heard the most. I am a horror fan so I'd state "The Thing" as my favorite out of the two. I enjoy "E.T.", we actually just re-watched that recently, it's a great film. However, "The Thing" is more in line with my personal taste. I LIKE both films, they're just totally different takes on an alien presence which is fabulous.

@@unicornnightmares2711 ET was massively hyped/promoted as a family film. The Thing got zero promotion in comparison and was a proper horror movie.

Joseph Campbell's "Who Goes There?" was ahead of it's time. Astoundingly so. Written in like, 1932(?) Carpenter follows the book quite closely, actually. That someone in the early 1930s came up with this concept/story is mind blowing to me.

@Ironclaw XII lol

Great filmmakers have amazing dialogue. Debra hill played as much of a part in John’s success and may she RIP.

@Ironclaw XII he might be talking about the fact that some of his works were heavily criticized in the past i. e. "the thing" etc. (as Carpenter, himself, stated) and that it wasn't years after his movies came out that people took notice...his carrer HAS been sort fo a slow burn...???

​@@stvnsvids a slow burn from a stupid millennial's point of view sure. but alot of the world isnt a bunch of stupid kids watching old movies to look trendy. some of us saw them when they came out. not all of us notice whats great after the fact.

Dude...I'm 48 years old....I saw in the theater when it came out...I'm just not being pretentious about it! LOL

Mine too...Seen it 5 times and it is getting more and more disgusting and terrifying with every new watching

It's so weird hearing how people hated The Thing on its release...I've never met anyone who didn't love that film. Some haven't seen it, but I've never heard a bad word about it from anyone who has. It's a virtually perfect movie.

Mine too. Along with They Live.

@@Corn_Pone_Flicks for true

yeah there are very few films that actually made my jaw drop

I dunno about that. He's retired from filmmaking and he's not sounding too good. All those decades of smoking are catching up to him.

Assad scary? Not as scary as the ISIS headchoppers whole he fights.

@@dougmaclennan8654 lies!state funded torture?a bit more!everywhere u are in that country is a bit hairy if you are out of the norm and not tolerated!

The Master

So true.. all classics. arguably the best director of the 80s

I was just talking to my wife about this the other day, after watching Prince of Darkness: From his feature debut in 1974, right up until They Live in 1988, John was mostly putting out A MOVIE A YEAR, with only a few exceptions where it was a two year gap. That's crazy enough, but then when you then look at the quality of work in that period, it's just mind-boggling. Dude worked hard as hell, had a clear and recognisable vision in everything he did, and created an amazing and unique legacy.

Then the 90s came and he went to shit...

@@erikyome8669 Woody Allen? Scorsese? Speilberg? say hi

@@samosler4009 Hi! I'd rank all of them BELOW Carpenter.

There are people who don't remember the thing now. He was great, and two of his films are definite and unarguable classics. But Carpenter does have a style That isn't for everyone and that hurt his gross ability which is all Hollywood cares about

Dude I completely agree with you. You must have a pretty big dick to say that on the internet. I mean girthy too. But yea, I feel the same way. People will look at these Marvel movies the same way we look at Marvel movies from the 70s. Remember Captain America Staring Reb Brown? No? Not surprised.

In The Mouth Of Madness, and Prince Of Darkness, are two movies that are getting more appreciation now, like The Thing did in the 90s. Sucks that his biggest budget was for Escape From L.A., and it was a mess.

@@guileniam , luckily, Carpenter stuck to his guns and didn't sell out. He may not have hit it big with his movies, but his lower budget offerings were so much better than his big studio films because he got complete control. This is the biggest reason so many of his films are classics now, regardless of what Hollywood and critics of the time thought.

@@TheFaustianMan I doubt that. A lot of the cookie cutter marvel movies sure, but the new Avengers being the highest grossing film ever with so many superheroes and merchandising will be a watershed moment for a whole generation of kids, and that generation will recall it fondly in the same manner 80s-early 90s kids look at Spielberg and Star wars.

She's probably the best interviewer I've ever seen.

Agree 100% - so respectful and informed. I wish they were all this good.

I've seen her interview before - especially a terrific career interview with Gary Oldman. She's one of the best out there. And shock horror, actually knows her stuff. And doesn't insult the person she's interviewing with silly unprepared questions.

I think he may somewhat be referring to how it might be perceived by a wider audience, and that even today it is much less known and beloved by comparison to say, the movie that really overshadowed it in the Summer of 1982, Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Nobody wanted to go see another movie about a killer alien (think 1978's Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake and 1979's Alien) during an era polluted by sci-fi outerspace flicks, and certainly not one with complexity and themes of mass hysteria and anxiety reminiscent of real-life "red scare"-esque sentiment during the height of the Cold War. Most people I have spoken to regardless of age who are your average film-goer either don't know the movie exists or have heard of it but have never actually seen it, and those that have seen it are your film-buff types or hard-core horror fans like myself who appreciate a good creature feature. Of course, I think John Carpenter's The Thing holds up as a classic that it had every right to be alongside Ridley Scott's Alien, but a matter of circumstance and bad timing would see it remain merely a "cult" film that I still feel to some extent is still the reputation it maintains, if only because it is a film that is difficult to explain in terms of its merits to someone without a good foundation of film-making and story-telling.

@@DarkCyberElf agree, think he meant back when it came out.

Everybody hated THE THING because E.T. was so popular and THE THING was the polar opposite. However, I never hear anyone now even talk about E. T. However, I do see multiple collector’s editions of THE THING BluRay, from different labels selling out because fans can’t get enough of THE THING now.

Film fans would make it seem like everyone loves it, far from the truth, most average people either dont care about this film or just hate it, the film would be dismissed again if it was re-released, just like Blade Runner and many others (Blade Runner sequel is a good example, it seems like everyone loves it, yet it flopped and most people would not watch it. Carpenter's film doesn't have a wide appeal like Alien or Psycho mainly for its less intellectual quality.

Okay, everyone, but horror movies are never going to be loved as widely as something like E.T. because a smaller swath of the movie-going population is interested in horror. Even The Exorcist, which is one of the most recognizable horror classics, divides today's audiences and probably bores a lot of viewers with its patient storytelling. Critics are kind to The Thing now, that's all I'm trying to say. Rotten Tomatoes, as an inadequate example, gives it almost a 90%, and that's supposed to represent an aggregate of critics' opinions. As far as people who are actually serious horror viewers--and there are a LOT of us out here--The Thing is a bona fide classic. Check any list of the best horror movies of all time on the internet and you will invariably find The Thing.

Friggin dances with wolves won a academy and no one talks about it anymore. But John's films Light up a room with talk!

@@avidnongetit8710 no one talks about ET today, but they sure do with The Thing!!

@@jimwalker1064 No one talks about E.T.? Hahahahaha whatever dude. E.T. is Universally loved and spoken about by everyone I speak to. The Thing is generally hated for it's dated special effects. They hurt it the most.

@Jax Teller Back to your Guns and Roses, plebeian.

Both great films. Just got Big Trouble on BluRay. Had it as DVD for years but couldn't resist to buy BluRay too \m/

jbcomics But Jordan Peele came down to USC and taught a class and plenty of other young directors do that often. Spielberg might not but then Howard Hawkes and John Hughes also weren’t coming down to USC in those days either.

I don’t get why people act like Spielberg or these major directors owe them something like they should keep coming back to the school every year to teach people. They have their own lives like normal people, no one wants to keep coming back to their school constantly. Life is too big and busy. Lol this response probably sounds more angry than intended it’s just a bit irritating when kids beg for greats to come back constantly to their old schools for them. I’m sure the greats probs did come back a few times even just probably not in your year lol.

Well that is because Spielberg is still making movies while Carpenter really isn't.

and you have to sleep with all of them 🤣

@@Initia333 Since when?

Agreed David. I only differ on the point of it being a remake as for me the original was completely dropped for the source material. Had it been more of a remake I don't think it would've hit the marks as brilliantly as it did.

I am a conservative, and I LOVE They Live!!!

What are some of his more hard line politics?

@@te9591 I dunno, man. His views are vague and shallow. That doesn't matter anyway, because he is a great guy and a tremendous filmmaker!

@@TheCinemaTologist yeah, everyone and there cousin likes to talk politics over making themself vulnerable with art.

I am shocked that "The Thing" did not do well at the box office. I thought it was a great movie.

@@IVant2BAlone i also like the new one even though a lot of elitists like to criticize it.

@@te9591 Yes,I like it too!!! Nice talking to you!!!

@@unitedamericans8587 cheers, good to agree on the internet for once.

The critics got it wrong, critics love it, its known as one of the greatest horror films of all time

@@ahankadam7447 When it was released the critics absolutely hated it, it wasn't until the 90's when it got its praise from critics.

They never shat on Day of the Dead in 1985. The film had mixed reviews and it was mostly criticized for the poor acting which is actually poor. It was also the first one to have a "Hollywood-like" budget and many people didn't like that.

ET took all the attention.

In retrospect yeah. At the time some of them post Halloween didn’t do very well. If your films aren’t making money, you don’t get hired to make more. A lot of Carpenters films were just released at the wrong time. The Thing being one. It released along side ET which was obviously a more positive film experience on the subject of extraterrestrial life. Regardless over the years it’s now considered one of the best sci fi horror films ever made. And with good reason. A great film will always find its audience. This is the case for most of his work.

hollywood is well known hater of radical left

@@indopemburu4141 tell me you're joking? The radical left RUNS Hollywood

Because he was deemed a low budget horror director, Hollywood is very list oriented, A list , B list etc

The Thing was a huge flop back then, and critics hated it. The Fog did well, but didn't come close to the profit made with Halloween. Also, it was Carpenter's idea to kill Michael Myers and produce Halloween III Season of the Witch, which failed spectacularly and was hated by critics and audiences of the time. This is what made it hard for him to get work.

In the mouth of madness is underrated🤘

I've always felt that that's the result of the hammering 'The Thing' received. He's often said how personally he took it and was close to giving up filmmaking.

And what a fantastic gig Manchester was dude!!!! John Carpenter, one of thee greatest film makers of our time.

If he could stop himself from filling it with Barbie girls, it might be good. I gave up on ‘The Ward’ after fifteen minutes because it seemed to be more about fawning over pretty girls than anything remotely scary.

James Carter well besides that one that looked like big bird lol

"Shinning". LOL

I’ve heard him talk about that before too. It’s such a solid movie, it’s a bit surprising that he felt it was ‘just a job’ and not his personal project. But it’s another reason he’s so great.

Joe Shalanaya Now it’s all sociopolitical bs

You were soooo Freakin' Lucky!

E.T ruined it. Everyone wanted the cuddly tearjerker Spielberg movie. Then along comes a violent, nihilistic sci-fi downer, and they ripped it to pieces through moral disgust. Little realizing that it was a masterpiece. Blame your parents.

@@lonestar6709 I'd agree with you if Friday the 13th Part III didn't beat ET at the box office.

That is pretty much everyone then. $16 million at the box office is terrible. The Thing is still a cult film though, much like Blade Runner.

@@adamwallace7353 What are you talkign about? Friday the 13th III took $34 million, while E.T. took over $700 million on it's original release. How exactly did it ''beat'' E.T.?

@@unicornnightmares2711 Well, ET earned more overall but Friday the 13th Part III earned more on opening weekend. That's what I heard, anyway.