John Carpenter's
The Thing on DVD

By Jerry A. Sierra
December 1, 1999 | 1,256 words

The DVD

Its no surprise that this film still plays well almost twenty years after its release. That it has grown in stature among science fiction fans is. That the DVD is worth the bucks, however, is the real surprise here. Let me be clear; this is a nice addition to any sci-fi collection, and one of the best DVDs around.

The commentary by director John Carpenter and actor Kurt Russell is both spontaneous and unassuming. They share their stories and insights and provide an entertaining experience for fans of the film. The additional featurette is better than most of the “making-of” additions to DVDs, and includes interviews with cast members and technical staff, adding a good historical perspective.

Of particular importance to me (and, I would guess, to many of you) is the quality of the video and audio. The film looks absolutely great in wide screen, every scene sparkles with mystery and clarity, and the music by Ennio Moriconne can finally be heard in all its glory. (This is one of the most underrated scores by Moriconne, and of the most beautiful and invisible. The music seems to disappear behind the pictures, yet it remains, manipulating us back and forth from fear to paranoia and then expertly combining both in equal and unequal parts.)

When it opened in 1982, “The Thing” was considered extremely gruesome and frightening. Many of the scenes in which the alien is “absorbing” and “imitating” a human or animal were difficult for audiences to watch, as were the scenes of the scientists examining the burnt remains of an incomplete transformation.

What follows is a chronological history of the story. It’s genesis and its evolution.

WHO GOES THERE?

In the August, 1938 issue of the prestigious science fiction journal ASTOUNDING STORIES, a short novel was published titled “Who Goes There?” by author John W. Campbell, who is also credited with writing other science fiction classics such as “Twilight” (1934) and “The Machine” (1935).

“Who Goes There?” tells the story of an alien thing from outer space that enters the camp of an arctic research team and blends, at will, into the forms of the various men and dogs in the camp. The problem is to find the alien and kill it, before it can escape back to civilization.

THE THING (FROM ANOTHER WORLD)

Thirteen years after the story’s successful publication, filmmaker Howard Hawks brought a deranged version of the story to the silver screen under the title “THE THING (From Another World).” According to Halliwell’s Filmgoers Companion, Hawks did more than produce, although Christian Nyby got the director credit.

“The Thing” had, in fact little to do with the story on which the premise was based. The characters were all changed, given new names, and the thing itself became a large, blood-drinking vegetable that looked like a carrot (whereas in the story it was a shape-shifter, capable of duplicating any living being right down to it’s thoughts while consuming the flesh of the original). Another change from the story-to-film translation was the addition of a female character who does little more than scream throughout the story until, near the end, she suggests the idea for the weapon that defeats the alien.

Hawks’ and Nyby’s “Thing” has all the ingredients that are characteristic to most science fiction films of the fifties; A monster on the loose, a snappy, humorous dialogue, a love interest sub-plot in which marriage is hinted at as the ultimate American goal and value, a stuffy scientist who says “…but we must study it,” an irresponsible headline-seeking journalist who warns us to “watch the skies, everywhere. Keep looking, keep watching the skies,” and the obligatory military leader (male, of course) whose strength of character and insight saves the world.

“The Thing (From Another World)” drew excellent reviews from nearly every critic of the time (most of whom had probably never read the original story). The New York Times said it was “generous with thrills… with just enough light, bantering dialogue… so the film does not appear to take itself too seriously.” It set the stage for the “monster on the loose/invasion” movies that later dominated the sci-fi cinema of the fifties.

Sadly, the film has not been able to withstand the test of time nearly as well as other films of the same time, such as “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” Today, “The Thing (From Another World)” seems silly and superficial, slow and bothersome, with the best parts of the film all in the first half.

“I don’t know why they considered it necessary to make the menace a vegetable creature,” said Campbell in FOCUS ON THE SCIENCE FICTION FILM (edited by William Johnson, Prentice-Hall, Inc.) after seeing the film, “instead of the entity capable of duplicating anyone it attacked. Maybe some day they’ll try making my original story into a movie.”

JOHN W. CAMPBELL

“Who Goes There?” marked the end of Campbell’s writing career. Shortly after it’s publication he became editor of ASTOUNDING STORIES and went on to become one of the most successful and influential editors of science fiction. In 1938 he retitled the magazine ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION (ASF) in order to squash some of the pulp stigma the suffix “Stories” implied. He also introduced a regular scientific article per issue, adding respectability to the publication.

By 1939 JWC had discovered now noted science fiction writers such as Isaac Asimov, Lester Del Rey, Robert Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon, among many others. He instructed his writers to remember that people were as important in science fiction as the science and to think more about the social implications of science fiction. ASF was soon the field leader and a prestige publication to those who cared about the art form, since most other magazines pandered to a less discerning, often more juvenile audience.

ASF’s dominance ended, quite abruptly, with the appearance of the MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, in 1949, and GALAXY, in 1950.

Under Campbell’s editorship, the magazine won seven Hugo awards. His death in 1971 was marked by waves of commemorative activity; two awards were founded in his name, a memorial anthology was published and an Australian symposium about him appeared.

CARPENTER’S “THING”

In June of 1982 Universal Pictures released John Carpenter’s version, also titled “The Thing,” and starring Kurt Russell. Advancements in filmmaking technology allowed Carpenter to be more faithful to the original story than the earlier version, and the two films share little else in common.

Carpenter, whose earlier films include “Escape From New York,” “Halloween,” and “The Fog,” and has since directed others such as “Escape From LA,” “They Live,” “In The Mouth of Madness,” “Adventures of An Invisible Man,” and “Big Showdown in Little Tokyo,” is much more at home with this material than was realistically possible in 1951.

The eerie helplessness of the situation is hinted at from the early scene of a dog wondering down the hallway and walking into an occupied room.

Wilford Brimley gives a great performance as the first to figure out what they’re up against, but soon, everyone is a potential imitator, and paranoia begins to take over. Carpenter handles this part of the film very well, focusing on the fear and paranoia of the characters. That is what makes the special effects seem even more gruesome.

Almost half-way through the film, MaCready speaks the lines that I would remember almost twenty years later: “I know I’m human, and if you were all these things you’d just attack me right now. So I know some of you are still human…”