Dear Sasha, Love your work, I am a paid subscriber, but I was, perhaps, surprised is the best word. You are so young - did you know that there is another movie called The Thing From Another World, that your 'Thing' is sort of a remake of. The first movie was made in 1951 and has all the characteristics you would love - mood, uncertainty, fear, suspense, great visual scenes - check it out. I think you will love it. Honestly, I did not even know your 'Thing' existed. And, I fear, my response to it was a bit negtive. Too many bodies exploding, heads walking, stuff like that - ruin the mood for me. (Aliens, takes that stuff just about right.) But I will try to watch it and give it a chance. Me? I'm 83, now a farm wife on my 16 acres in rural Missouri, gratefully leaving behind academia, industry and chemistry. Love ya, Sasha - keep all that good stuff coming!
If you're a true purist, the 1951 version doesn't hold a candle to Carpenter's version because the latter hews much closer to the true source material, John W. Campbell's novella "Who Goes There?" originally published in 1938. Did you know that the 1951 movie was a pale attempt at capturing the terror of that story? They were of course limited because the technology of 1951 couldn't come close to properly depicting the events in the story, but after reading the original story (as a junior high schooler in the early 80's!) and knowing that the 1951 movie was intended to be a depiction of it, I can't help but find it woefully inadequate. I highly recommend reading it so you can feel the true terror and paranoia the author intended. You may see that the 1982 version comes much closer to the mood he wanted to capture.
Thoroughly agree with Sasha on Carpenter’s remake of the original 1951 classic The Thing From Another World”, which in itself is pretty good. Like James Cameron’s Aliens it’s a rare case where the sequel is better and expands on the original.
Horror movies aren’t my thing but my daughter and I watched The Thing couple months ago. Hadn’t seen it since it came out. You know it’s a great movie when it stands up after all those years. And it stands up admiringly.
It’s my own fault for clicking on this. But I got all these spoilers. But I guess you can’t expect to give spoiler warnings to a movie that’s almost half a century old lol. But I need to sit down and watch it. I’ve also never seen any of the alien franchise. I need to watch the original at least. Because I do enjoy a classic horror.
What scared me the most was in the seventies Trilogy of Terror. That damn voodoo doll. It would have been better on the big screen. I think. Karen Black.
Great piece Sasha! Although I'm your age, I never before heard or made the connection between Janet Leigh and Jamie Leigh Curtiss in similar roles, so thanks for that. Also, when I saw The Thing in 1982, I went into the theater with no idea it was going to be a horror movie, and it scared the hell out of me, so much so that I have not watched a second time all these years later, lol!
Also, don't stress about not getting more Halloween-themed pieces done. Maybe set a goal of three a year to this theme, and build up a reference library over time. Or prepare some in advance during the year and release them weekly during October.
I love your work both here and on the Fourth Turning site, and am a very happy paid subsriber to both.
Halloween and The Thing are both classics. I will always probably hold Halloween a tad higher but it's so close. I love the ambiguity of bot films' endings. Ambiguity works so well with horror movies and Carpenter pulls it off quite well. I think the Keith David character is the thing at the end but even if so, Kurt has to be next. It's one where you know it's the end of everything and that's horrific and that's good...for Halloween. Hehe. Great post, Sasha.
I grew up watching horror movies. My grandmother would take me to new horror movies that were coming out. She took me to all of George Romero's films, which, if I remember correctly, were all rated R or maybe NR.
It was always funny to see the looks on faces when this 4'8" grandma and her little grandson would walk up to buy two tickets to what some would consider a highly inappropriate horror movie.
I find myself continuing to find good movies from the 80s and 90s to watch. Peak Hollywood. I can barely finish new movies now. I get bored and ready for something else, so I rarely finish them. One example is Beetlejuice. I tried watching the new one, couldn't get into and turned it off and watched the old one instead.
Carpenter is a true master and easily one of the greatest film makers of all time. His films never feel dated. In fact, they get better over time. Film isn't what it used to be, obviously; Hollywood has lost its way, perhaps forever, which makes films like the ones in your tribute more important than ever. Thank you for putting Carpenter's name back up in lights, where it belongs.
If Hollywood wants to make a profit at the box office filmmakers should take a lesson from you, Sasha. Prerequisite is they have to grow a spine. Maybe people like me might go see a movie once in a while.
Dear Sasha, Love your work, I am a paid subscriber, but I was, perhaps, surprised is the best word. You are so young - did you know that there is another movie called The Thing From Another World, that your 'Thing' is sort of a remake of. The first movie was made in 1951 and has all the characteristics you would love - mood, uncertainty, fear, suspense, great visual scenes - check it out. I think you will love it. Honestly, I did not even know your 'Thing' existed. And, I fear, my response to it was a bit negtive. Too many bodies exploding, heads walking, stuff like that - ruin the mood for me. (Aliens, takes that stuff just about right.) But I will try to watch it and give it a chance. Me? I'm 83, now a farm wife on my 16 acres in rural Missouri, gratefully leaving behind academia, industry and chemistry. Love ya, Sasha - keep all that good stuff coming!
If you're a true purist, the 1951 version doesn't hold a candle to Carpenter's version because the latter hews much closer to the true source material, John W. Campbell's novella "Who Goes There?" originally published in 1938. Did you know that the 1951 movie was a pale attempt at capturing the terror of that story? They were of course limited because the technology of 1951 couldn't come close to properly depicting the events in the story, but after reading the original story (as a junior high schooler in the early 80's!) and knowing that the 1951 movie was intended to be a depiction of it, I can't help but find it woefully inadequate. I highly recommend reading it so you can feel the true terror and paranoia the author intended. You may see that the 1982 version comes much closer to the mood he wanted to capture.
Thank you for that cogent advice, Sonny. You are, of course, absolutely right - go to the source material and compare. I will do so.
Thoroughly enjoyable! Both of those films are two of my favorites. Spot on about Hollywood as well.
Sasha, thanks for writing and posting this. I thoroughly enjoyed it. They don’t make movies like this any more
Thoroughly agree with Sasha on Carpenter’s remake of the original 1951 classic The Thing From Another World”, which in itself is pretty good. Like James Cameron’s Aliens it’s a rare case where the sequel is better and expands on the original.
Horror movies aren’t my thing but my daughter and I watched The Thing couple months ago. Hadn’t seen it since it came out. You know it’s a great movie when it stands up after all those years. And it stands up admiringly.
It’s my own fault for clicking on this. But I got all these spoilers. But I guess you can’t expect to give spoiler warnings to a movie that’s almost half a century old lol. But I need to sit down and watch it. I’ve also never seen any of the alien franchise. I need to watch the original at least. Because I do enjoy a classic horror.
You're spot on - Carpenter's "The Thing" is a horror masterpiece.
There’s a spiritual core to horror movies. You play with sex or other holy things, you expose yourself to the devil, or his minions.
What scared me the most was in the seventies Trilogy of Terror. That damn voodoo doll. It would have been better on the big screen. I think. Karen Black.
Great piece Sasha! Although I'm your age, I never before heard or made the connection between Janet Leigh and Jamie Leigh Curtiss in similar roles, so thanks for that. Also, when I saw The Thing in 1982, I went into the theater with no idea it was going to be a horror movie, and it scared the hell out of me, so much so that I have not watched a second time all these years later, lol!
Also, don't stress about not getting more Halloween-themed pieces done. Maybe set a goal of three a year to this theme, and build up a reference library over time. Or prepare some in advance during the year and release them weekly during October.
I love your work both here and on the Fourth Turning site, and am a very happy paid subsriber to both.
Halloween and The Thing are both classics. I will always probably hold Halloween a tad higher but it's so close. I love the ambiguity of bot films' endings. Ambiguity works so well with horror movies and Carpenter pulls it off quite well. I think the Keith David character is the thing at the end but even if so, Kurt has to be next. It's one where you know it's the end of everything and that's horrific and that's good...for Halloween. Hehe. Great post, Sasha.
I grew up watching horror movies. My grandmother would take me to new horror movies that were coming out. She took me to all of George Romero's films, which, if I remember correctly, were all rated R or maybe NR.
It was always funny to see the looks on faces when this 4'8" grandma and her little grandson would walk up to buy two tickets to what some would consider a highly inappropriate horror movie.
Great memories. Thank you for posting.
I find myself continuing to find good movies from the 80s and 90s to watch. Peak Hollywood. I can barely finish new movies now. I get bored and ready for something else, so I rarely finish them. One example is Beetlejuice. I tried watching the new one, couldn't get into and turned it off and watched the old one instead.
Carpenter is a true master and easily one of the greatest film makers of all time. His films never feel dated. In fact, they get better over time. Film isn't what it used to be, obviously; Hollywood has lost its way, perhaps forever, which makes films like the ones in your tribute more important than ever. Thank you for putting Carpenter's name back up in lights, where it belongs.
If Hollywood wants to make a profit at the box office filmmakers should take a lesson from you, Sasha. Prerequisite is they have to grow a spine. Maybe people like me might go see a movie once in a while.
Brilliant.