If you understand Norwegian, the '82 film's twist is given away (even without the saucer) in the beginning because the shooter is screaming, "get the hell away from that thing. That's not a dog, it's some sort of thing! It's imitating a dog, it isn't real! GET AWAY YOU IDIOTS!!"

replacing all the practical effects with last minute CGi in the prequel was a classic studio move

I'm sure I'm not the only one to point this out but the generally accepted reason why the 1982 version flopped so hard was because it just so happened to release right off the heels E.T. and the whole pop culture phenomenon surrounding that movie, so the general audience really wasn't prepared for a film about an alien that wasn't all cute and child friendly. And from what I understand, this caused many oblivious parents to end up accidentally taking their kids to this movie without realising what they were in for... which understandably led to a lot of outrage at the time.

It wasn't caps in their mouth it was fillings. Back in the 60's, 70's, and 80's fillings were generally done with a metal alloy and since this was the height of people eating sugar and not really taking care of their teeth (not like today) almost everyone had dental fillings.

The thing [Bawoom] that people hated about the 2011 one was the fact that they did practical effects work, but at the last minute it was overwritten with CGI. I suspect this was done by movie big wigs to prevent the resurgence of practical effects movies because practical effects artists are unionized and CGI artists are not.

I have a really fond memory of this film. I got to see it with some friends on the big screen. It was shown at some old theatre house, one with tiny uncomfortable chairs and no air conditioning, during a heatwave. This should sound awful but there was a huge positive: you could go get an ice cold beer for dirt cheap prices and be back in your seat in less than a minute, the bar was that close. It turned into a very fun night, with the room kinda getting the unique contrast that we're watching a film suited for a cold winters evening in a baking hot heatwave. No one in the audience complained, the vibe was good, and we all got pretty drunk by the end.

I believe the way we are dropped into the mix in the 80s version without any backstory on the characters works because their interactions seem realistic. You believe they have been stuck together in isolation for months and are already tired of each other before the Thing shows up.

And the 82 version of The Thing is actually a remake of a Howard Hawks film from 1951 called The Thing From Another World. It was John Carpenter's favorite film as a kid, with The Thing itself being a bulky dude in make up. Carpenter went with the original idea from the book and removed the whole intro of the flying saucer getting discovered, in a weird way, making it a sequel to the 50s film of sorts.

One irony - Morricone ‘won’ a Razzie for the Thing, but won an Academy Award for Hateful Eight, which used unused music from The Thing and The Thing was also an inspiration for Hateful Eight. ‘Test audiences’ and studios often ruin potential in movies. Paid ‘critics’ do as well in their own way. I’m with you, I like the 2011 The Thing and it could’ve been even better had the studio let the director do his….well, thing. Carpenter’s Thing is one of my favorite movies and I do like the prequel as well. Thank you for reviewing this sir. Was looking forward to it and not disappointed.

The whole "you cant see Child's breath at the end" bit has been debunked...you cant see his breath because of the lighting, additionally the absence of his breath means nothing anways because when Bennings gets turned and is caught outside, he lets out a loud scream. You can clearly see his breath when he does so.

The Thing is one of my most favorite horror films. The isolated setting, the growing distrust and paranoia the crew start to suffer from. And the practical effects tied it all together to make a great terrifying experience. A real masterpiece from John Carpenter.

I remember playing The Thing video game on the original Xbox with my friends back in the early 2000s. It wasn't the greatest game ever, but being able to experience this awesome movie in an interactive game was absolutely amazing for us.

14:50 the fact that he can’t get the flame thrower on is the scariest part.. it humanizes the entire film, because that could literally happen to you

I'm proud to say that I went to see the 82 Thing, when it was released..came away knowing I'd seen a classic..strong characters, claustrophobic atmosphere..paranoia around every corner..

The Thing is quite possibly my favorite horror movie. I’m 26 but when I was a kid, I went to my grandmas house every weekend and she’d take me to rent movies. But she like horror movies. And so I watched what she watched. Which was Halloween. Child’s Play. The Thing. And so on. And so I really did grow up and age into a real appreciation for older movies like this. And on a side note she also showed me Starship Troopers and Robocop and most of the other action movies I love now

The thing basically inspired among us

Carpenter's movie was part of my childhood and going to the video store on Friday knowing we had three days to watch it over and over again. Of course, as a kid all I knew was i was scared out of my mind, didn't analyze anything, was just along for the ride. Now as an adult and a cinephile, I can appreciate it on another level (but secretly just prefer slipping back into my kid mentality and watch it thru those eyes). Thanks for covering.

Got it never take test audiences word to heart because god damn did this movie have its wings clipped

This is the greatest movie of all time, I’m so very glad you’re covering it

The Thing and The Fly = made my skin crawl in the 90s. Both were bizarre and disgusting. I couldn't get enough of them.

The dog is part wolf. Thus the uncanniness but also well behaved. Carpenter remarked how the cast and crew were a little perturbed by its uncanny behavior on set.

Imagine being told that your prequel to a movie made in 1982 is "too 80s."

The early version wins by an 82-11 score.

The Thing (82) is my favorite horror movie of all time. It's perfect in everyway

My mom actually worked on the practical effects for the 2011 movie. Yes me my mom and my dad were very upset about the lack of her work making it to the finished film.

For me, the interactions were better in the '82 film since it felt realistic. How they all naturally interact with each other. In the prequel, it felt so obvious they were reading off a script. There was hardly a mystery since it seemed so obvious who was assimilated since they acted way too nervous and suspicious. While in the '82 film, they all continued to act the way they were even before being a Thing. Also, I liked how the '82 film rarely used eye contact between any characters and how most of them had odd names such as Windows.

I could be totally wrong but given the context that the Thing can’t replicate inorganic matter, one could argue that because it escaped the Norwegian camp it may have learned from prior mistakes and wore the earring. It’d be a pretty cool theory given that it would further support the Thing’s ability to adapt and learn.

The Thing 1982 is the best. I love jumping right into the action & figuring things out along the way. It's like the writers are giving the audience some credit.

The Test Audiences really flubbed up what would've been a comparable prequel to a masterpiece

Funny you posted this, I watched “The Thing From Another World” a couple weeks ago. I feel that it had too many characters, and that ending just was so abrupt. But I guess that was the times back then, you could tell who MaCready was based off of though.

Fun fact, the prequel's sets were designed to match the base as it was in the 1982 film but they didn't have the exact measurements of the origianl set. So they designed them based on the height of Kurt Russell. It's given me a new metric for measuring things. One "Kurt Russell" makes something 5'9" tall. That means I am 1 Kurt Russell tall.

I think that part of the reason for the strong dislike of the prequel was the state of films at the time. A lot of unnecessary remakes and such. I only saw the prequel the once, but I remember feeling that (CGI aside) it was just "how do we do the film but another way?" Which wasn't appealing to me. The mystery of what happened at the norwegian base did not need to be solved, either.

The Thing gave me nightmares as a kid. Now that I'm older it's a bit more cheesy than I remember but there's still this strange uneasiness when I watch it.

The dog they used in the 80's movie was called Jed! He has his own IMDb page, too. :)

This is still my favorite thriller horror movie ever. The KZfaq videos breaking down on this movie just makes you appreciate this movie. Glad you did a video on this!

I’d love to hear from others but the OG Thing not “holding your hand” in character introduction is one of the things I like most about the movie. Everything you need to know about each character is inferred, implied, or straight out stated as the movie goes along. I don’t always need a movie to set up a character with a bunch of back story to figure out the actual character.

Really good analysis of these movies. I never realized that Childs had an ear ring at the end. Enjoyed your video.

As a huge fan of the original the only thing i found myelf actively disliking was the CGI everytime i saw it, it would break my immersion with the film which sucks because otherwise i didn't think it was terrible. I just wisdh they showed us the work the practical effects crew had done more.

Quite a coincidence timing I just watched both the 1982 version of The Thing first and then the 2011 one and your review pops out roughly the same week! Guess we have similar tastes (and you seem to be predicting the 'future')! Back To The Future? 👀 Great review as always! 👍

I actually like the prequel. They made the movie with practical effects, but cg was big at the time so they cg’d on top of it and made everything look worse. If it had the original practical effects it would get a lot more praise.

Side note on the CG overlay for the prequel. Thought it is true that test audiences didn’t like the practical, the me of the big nails was an executive seeing the filming and thinking the effects looked awful. He tried to explain it was because it looks bad because it hasn’t been edited yet but the exec was set on it looking bad.

Loved how they answered the weird dog story in the new one

Honestly, I really don't understand the complaint about the Thing 2011 being faster-paced and "less mysterious". Dude, this is the movie about the team who DUG UP the thing. Okay, it's not *impossible* to do a more paranoid movie, I guess, but the simple fact that these are the people who know there's an alien monster on the loose from the get go undermines how much the Thing can really do the slow infiltration thing it does in the 1982 film. It's just the natural flow of events.

What the 2011 version does wrong from the 1982 film is the fact that the Thing is trying to hide. It doesn’t want to be found. The film is missing what made the 1982 film work so well, that sense of dread and paranoia, and it becomes just another monster movie for me.

Don't forget the comics and video game (which WAS considered the canon ending until Carpenter's latest statement).

1982 original, one of the best films EVER. I watch it every year on one of the coldest, snowliest days of the year. Great writing. I don't think you need to know a lot of the characters, just enough to know what motivates them. I compare their story to that of the original Alien movie. I forgot who mention this theory....about McCready and the alcohol. The 1st time you see him, he is playing chess against the computer. He loses and says something about "cheater" and then uses the alcohol to fry it. He couldn't find a way to win, but he knew HOW TO TAKE IT OUT. The person then references how he uses all his empty bottles to blow us the "last" Thing and it's base. Then Childs comes out of nowhere and both men are trying to figure out who is who. I have hear the theory about the light in the eyes and the whole breathing thing. If you can see their breathe they are human and if there is no breathe then they are the thing. However, there are 2 problems. As much as Childs may have been trying not to show his breathe, you can. But, there is one other time of seeing the things breathe, the blad guy with the redish beard. Right before he gets lit on fire, as he is holding his deformed hands out, he let's out a scream and you can see his breathe. Now, bringing this tugboat back in, I still believe McCready is human and Childs is not. I don't think McCready had any alcohol left. I truly believe all his bottles have gas in them. I subscribe to the theory that the thing has no idea what gas tastes like and drank the liquid, and that is why McCready is smiling at the end of the movie.

I watched the og for the first time alone, second time was with my father. I have very fond memories of giving him some random trivia i knew about the movie. He didn't quite like it because he is not a "true fear brought by fiction" fan but kept watching to hear what i had to say about the production. The prequel was on cable once and i changed the channel.

Try imagining being 15 with your learners permit and winning a ticket to the midnight premiere of this movie. You've never seen anything vaguely this intense or insane before. Can't go back,but I was there and this movie scared the ever loving shit out of me that night.

I'm a long-time fan of Carpenter's The Thing, and was active on the Outpost 31 forums prior to, during, and after the Prequel was made and shown in theaters, and up to a bit after it hit DVD. We actually had some communication with people working on the movie, and it really did feel like they were trying their best. But they got taken to the cleaners by the studio. True Thing fans look past the prequel's flaws and see it as "well, at least the guy was able to not make it a remake", and are fully aware that the director, actors, and practical effects people really worked their asses off trying to make a good movie, only for the studio to try to destroy it. Plus, the cells scene from 2011 is better than Blair's computer graphics. Small win, but it's still a win there. And the director basically confirming what about half the old fan base has been championing since 1982: The Thing's single cell form is the "true/original form". The characters in the prequel is mostly people who haven't worked together before, or small groups of 2 or 3 people who have, all brought together. The guys from Carpenter's version have been at that outpost for maybe close to a year, or longer. They're well-familiar with eachother, and the types of "getting to know everyone" chatter would be narratively out of place. It wouldn't make any sense, unless you expect them all to spew exposition to the Dog-Thing while its roaming the camp. Which, we'd all love to see the actors just sitting opposite Jed the wolf-dog telling him their characters' life stories as outtakes. The main reason cited for the 1982 The Thing's poor reception is that it was released while ET was in theaters, and it's generally felt that people wanted (and/or perhaps needed) the sappy friendly alien movie to sort of "recover from" all of the "mean and nasty" alien movies. Given how a lot of box office bombs that became huge cult classics tend to have this in common (being up against one or more "hype train" movies that few people actually want to rewatch nowadays), it makes sense. They become victims of bad timing. Plus, movie critics from the 80s and 90 were horribly out of touch, and got their rocks off lambasting anything horror, action, or otherwise not "high art". Those of us who grew up in that time period knew that if a movie got ripped to shreds by the critics, that was a must-see once it hit VHS.

My favourite horror film and probably one of my favourite films of all time (JC original). It's a perfect recipe for a multiplayer survival horror game... and it would not be copying any current game... they are already copying and influenced by the film. The prequal is not bad and is faithful... except the CGI... the original was all about practical and the prequal actually filmed in all practical... but the studio literately forced them to use CGI over the practical... and the test audience was just Universal execs.

All I learned from 2011 film is that studio usually fucks everything up. Everyone knows practical effects just look better even if they're less convincing.

My head canon is that both of them are the thing and they transform to eat each other only to stop and start laughing. They transform back into humans,kiss deeply, and travel to Minnesota to open up a bed-and-breakfast.

"Something is feeling suss around here.... I think it's among us!"

Its interesting you think the blood test scene aged poorly, i think its the single most tense and well constructed scene in horror personally! I love it and even knowing what happens im stil on the edge of my seat

I think the thing could have very quickly learned that it was given away by not having those artificial features. We know it is a very intelligent creature. It isn't a stretch to think that it simply took Child's earring and put it into it's ears after taking his place.

Among us at the Antarctic station SOS, SOS

Glad to see you covering my favourite horror movie of all time

Friendly reminder that there is a videogame directly following the events of the movie, in which Childs freezes to death and McReady survives. Atlhough the plot takes a lot of creative decisions, Carpenter considers it a sequel, he even has a cameo. I feel bad for him, the guy really wanted more content of his creation (hell, he wanted a Dead Space movie!), but being mistreated by Hollywood for long, he doesn't care too much now. He is happy smoking pot, playing Left 4 Dead and getting checks from people using his creations 😊

I liked the prequel at first, but the more I watched it, I noticed gaping plot holes. The UFO in the prequel uncovers itself, but in the OG the Norwegians blow it up (we see them do it in the footage the Americans watch). Also if the prequel is to be believed there should be a snow crawler at the UFO, but there isn’t. There’s other things too.

What I really enjoyed about The Thing was the monster itself. How each cell is a Thng

great video bro. You should do a vid for mad max, it was really cool seeing all the practical effects in that one.

If you enjoy any of these movies (including the '51 version) and have already, I highly recommend the novella that inspired them all Who Goes There? (1938 John W. Campbell) it's way ahead of it's time, and is very creepy.

LOVE the original. It's up there with Alien, Aliens, Terminator and Predator for me. As a kid I remember watching watching this one regular TV and after it was over I went out side to finish helping my dad get the boat ready for a fishing trip. It was dark out, how he could see anything with the boat itself was wild and creepy. Add to it my Dad had that 80's style cut and mustache like Magnum PI and only seeing him in mostly a silhouette was half creeping me out. I just started rambling about the movie and he followed suit. I was excited for the 2011 prequel. Enjoyed it. Still do. Still think its a solid movie. No where near as good as the original but it was fun. I've seen more than a few bits of Studio ADI talking about the practical fx they did and I'd love to see that version. I will always recommend the 82 version for first viewing then the 2011. I think it is worth watching both. For all the faults of the studio I love how the 2011 setup so much of what we see in 82. The credit's ending of 2011 is great. My biggest grips are they change how they found the ship, and ignore them detonating ice to get to it, where as in 2011 it was the ship firing up. The ship interior just seemed to generic. That being said I always wanted to see if Mac and Norris (was it Norris?) went in like in Alien.

I was lucky enough to have parents that gave no fucks, and at 6 years old, jammed me and almost a dozen other friends and family into our giant station wagon to see this original version of ‘The Thing’ at the drive in. Man there was nothing like a drive in movie experience back then.

The Thing 1982 is my favorite film and it’s hard to point out just one aspect of it as the determining factor. I don’t know if others can relate but, in a strange way, it doesn’t feel like a movie when I watch it. What I mean by that is, the characters feel so realistic and grounded and the casting is so perfect that I’m not constantly reminded that it’s a movie. It’s weird. But honestly, almost everything comes together so perfectly to make it the ultimate in alien terror.

The first "The Thing" was a remake of "The Thing From Outer Space" so it was generally known by most people that it was about aliens. So I don't know that removing the alien ship scene in the beginning would have changed anything

I bought both films and the very original one, The Thing From Another World, in a triple-film set from Walmart a while back. I seriously gotta get around to watching them sometime.

I think they wanted us to know that this creature came from another planet, & was NOT something super natural or evil. The new idea (not used in the 50s film) that the thing is hiding in a Dog worked well, you can't ask an animal where it came from or any questions, people tend to trust dogs as pets more than humans. like you I liked the 2011 version, the cult fans of the original were VERY biased & felt that no sequel/prequel was needed, I also felt that to actually go onto the Space ship worked in the later version, things seemed to look even more freakish (because of the cgi effects in the "prequel)

I actually enjoyed both of these films. Go watch "Harbinger Down" if you want to see what the practical effects for this film would've been like. The team which did the practical effects for the 2011 film were so frustrated by their experience they did a Kickstarter for "Harbinger Down". Not the best film, but entertaining and great practical effects. Plus, it's got Lance Henriksen in it!

Thanks for the vid! The Thing (1982) is my favorite horror film of all time!

The blood scene holds up incredibly well. It's one of the best scenes in the whole movie

I was going on 15 in the summer of ‘82. Wanted to see this movie so badly, but dad would only take me and my younger sisters to see something we could all see, not R rated movies. So, I had to wait a year, saw it on video or cable, can’t remember which. Loved it! Very scary. Dad had a queasy stomach ( couldn’t eat after JAWS) so he was less enthusiastic. Me and dad didn’t like the ending, though. We were both sick of endings with no explanations, a la 2001. But, the more I watched it, the more I liked the ending. I still think it’s a great movie. And, I do not remember any controversy or slams against it at that time. I do remember Siskel & Ebert panning it for all of the gore, but they always did that. Wimps. Carpenter did direct Starman next, another alien flick with major stars Jeff Bridges & Karen Allen and major studio backing. Dad took us all to see that one! I don’t see how The Thing affected his career for the worse.

The intro is insanely hilarious 😂😂😂

My introduction to the franchise was through the 2002 video game. Luckily my mother had the film on VHS. Also watched The Warriors that night. Awesome times.

If you enjoy a good THING rabbit hole, i recommend the comice they put out that follows both MacReady and Childs after the credits roll. It's not officially canon, but as someone who always wondered what happened it's a good bit of fun. I found it for free online wherever you find comics for free online. You're smart you'll figure it out. The PS2 game is also fun but not nearly as entertaining.

Saw them both in a rented cabin in chronological order. The tv was small so the effects weren’t sinful. These are the movies that made ‘monster’ my favorite horror theme.

I loved this film, my theory about the ending is that Childs is the thing and mac knows is. I reckon it's a candid moment to talk between the two enemies realising they're at a stalemate and out of energy. M "If we got any surprises for each other i don't think we're in much shape to do anything about it" C "Well, what do we do?" M "Why don't we just wait here for a little while, see what happens." The thing drinks and mac laughs. Of course the point of it is to be interpreted in many ways which is why people are still talking about it, Love it.

silver fillings in teeth were more common i think. I liked the part where they found the fillings in the shower.

The 82 version just hits different. I watched the 2011 version first, and I went into the 82 expecting it to be a lesser version. But I was totally wrong. I LIKED the 2011 version, but the 82 just does it better. The practical effects does have something to do with that, but it is mainly the ending. The 2011 ending was rough, but the 82 ending was cruel- and it earned my admiration tenfold for it.

Okay now I could be totally wrong here, but I think most of us here would like you to pump out the rest of the seasons of the walking dead recaps/your thoughts on it videos! Please do them more often than once a month 😪. I recently binge watched all of the ones you have released and am hooked. Now i get it, you likely are using them as a way to avoid having lulls in content or they may take a while to edit/script due to likely having to recently rewatch that particular season. But pleaaaase they are so well done and i need more 😂

How do you make your thumbnails look so polished and high quality?

Thanks. The one big clue that child's is infected is that he takes the bottle from McCready and drinks from it without thinking (despite fuches telling them not to take food from each other), That's why McCready laughs. ❤

_Let me know which one you prefer, and why it's the '82 version, in the comments below._ Funny. And correct. I agree that the 2011 version is fine. Not great, but not bad either. (I'm biased though, as I'm in love with Nikki Swango.)

I think that "The Thing" and "Predator" are both improved if you start the movie by skipping the scene of the alien ship arriving on Earth. In fact, when showing both movies to people for the first time I've done exactly that.

Masterpiece

Almost every john carpenter movie as an ambiguous ending

I loved both of these films

For the 2011 Thing, the studio should have just allowed a directors cut. That way they can both have their movie.

8:37 Am I the only one that thought that the Norwegian did in fact hit the thing a couple of times and it simply didn’t matter to the thing?

I'd be screwed because of the teeth thing! 🤣

The Thing 2011 was fine but would have been much better if they kept the practical effects. The CGI spoiled it for me unfortunately. Wish they could release the practical version as a directors cut. Oh and BTW, I *highly* recommend the novella 'Who Goes There?' that The Thing is based on. I have yet to read the extended version, published as 'Frozen Hell', but I'm sure it's great too.

It was released the same time ET came out, and people just went for the family-friendly movie.

This was the movie I was hoping you'd do.

The one “burning” question I always have about John Carpenter’s “The Thing” is why a bunch of scientists would have a flamethrower handy.

I can only imagine how upset Carpenter and his team must have been when this released in 1982. The shoot was gruelling, filmed almost entirely in a hot studio in LA while everyone wore heavy arctic gear, the outside shots were up a mountain with its own challenges, Rob Botine who did the special effects basically lived at the studio for the entire shoot. It was a passion project through and through and it utterly flopped. Atleast he got some redemption in the following decades but it must have been difficult for him and his team.

I agree with you about the prequel, I like it, but what was talked about before release sounds like it would have been a much better movie than what got released. I would love to have seen the movie with the full practical effects.

My parents were in there 20s/30s in the 80s, pretty much every adult had some sort of metal in there mouth. I remember growing up in the 90s and basically every adult had some visible metal if you looked in there mouth.

I think if I remember there is a comic series for this which does end up confirming that Child’s was a thing and then follows Macready surviving and escaping Antarctica but those might not be cannon.

Where'd you find the art at 12:57? I'd love to get a printout of it!

I get the complaint that there's no introduction to any of the characters in the 82 version, but I kind of find it charming that the movie just starts with a norwegian guy rampaging through the camp and it just pops off. Also I think going through and characterizing everyone and dumping exposition and back story for each character at the beginning would make continuity a complete nightmare - part of why it's effective is because you are a stranger to all of these characters, you don't know if the guy is freaking out and bolting because he's cowardly and this is normal or because he's a thing and he thinks he's getting sussed out so he's retreating. Also the 2011 movie is good and terribly underrated, and is actually a fantastic companion to the 82 version. The problem is that it's just disappointing in its effects and a lot of the monster designs are just a normal bipedal guy but his torso or head is a big mouth, the monster just isn't as scary looking or creepy. The best scares are in the moment before the thing things all over the place and the realization that the person you're talking to is an alien. That doesn't happen as much in 82 except with Childs at the end and Blair, instead the thing is much better at hiding and when it attacks it's way more of a spontaneous ambush when it has an advantage or is completely in a bind - nobody ever catches it out from just talking with it, it's far more stubborn and patient.