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Movie Recommendation of the Week
17 years ago
Some wonderful artists well worth your time:
The Thing
The one and only, my favorite horror movie (and, I think, in the running for best horror movie overall), it's John Carpenter's classic from the eighties. No matter how many times I watch this, it continues to both completely amaze and creep the hell out of me.
Twelve American scientists and workers at a research base in Antarctica. A chance encounter with a pair of crazed Norwegians and a strange dog. The discovery of a destroyed base, and an crashed starship encased in the ice. An alien entity that can kill and copy any living organism down to the smallest detail. The group getting picked off one by one as paranoia mounts and the question arises: who's still human, and who's a Thing?
The movie works on so many levels it's rather astounding. The acting from every member of the cast (Kurt Russel in his finest performance and a cast of relative-unknowns) is spot on. Every line feels real, every joke and scare seems alive. The atmosphere of paranoia takes a firm grip on you, and it's only intensified by the eerie, synthesizer-heavy soundtrack and the masterful cinematography (the scene where Fuchs goes outside with the flare gives me a chill every time, just because of the lighting. It's a movie nerd thing to love, I know, but I can't get enough of it; when I first saw it, that's when I knew I was watching a 10/10 movie).
And the effects...
Say what you will about digital technology and CGI, about it's benefits and downsides. It's definitely here to stay, and for the most part that's a good thing. But no monster effect will ever match the realism and power of the practical, hand-made effects in The Thing. The animatronics on display here are nothing short of astounding, and it's simply amazing that they were real things, not pixels on a computer screen. They're dangerous, they're gory, and they're scary. Nothing better than that, I assure you.
I could go on for many more paragraphs and still have more to talk about. It's a fantastic film, one that doesn't get as much attention as it should. It essentially took the Alien formula, shifted some of the variables, and improved upon everything (and it's a remake to boot, thus giving the ever-present glimmer of hope that other horror-movie remakes can be good). If you've already seen it, see it again. If you've never seen it, do yourself a major favor and watch it; you'll be very glad you did.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouZkkIsLiNg
The one and only, my favorite horror movie (and, I think, in the running for best horror movie overall), it's John Carpenter's classic from the eighties. No matter how many times I watch this, it continues to both completely amaze and creep the hell out of me.
Twelve American scientists and workers at a research base in Antarctica. A chance encounter with a pair of crazed Norwegians and a strange dog. The discovery of a destroyed base, and an crashed starship encased in the ice. An alien entity that can kill and copy any living organism down to the smallest detail. The group getting picked off one by one as paranoia mounts and the question arises: who's still human, and who's a Thing?
The movie works on so many levels it's rather astounding. The acting from every member of the cast (Kurt Russel in his finest performance and a cast of relative-unknowns) is spot on. Every line feels real, every joke and scare seems alive. The atmosphere of paranoia takes a firm grip on you, and it's only intensified by the eerie, synthesizer-heavy soundtrack and the masterful cinematography (the scene where Fuchs goes outside with the flare gives me a chill every time, just because of the lighting. It's a movie nerd thing to love, I know, but I can't get enough of it; when I first saw it, that's when I knew I was watching a 10/10 movie).
And the effects...
Say what you will about digital technology and CGI, about it's benefits and downsides. It's definitely here to stay, and for the most part that's a good thing. But no monster effect will ever match the realism and power of the practical, hand-made effects in The Thing. The animatronics on display here are nothing short of astounding, and it's simply amazing that they were real things, not pixels on a computer screen. They're dangerous, they're gory, and they're scary. Nothing better than that, I assure you.
I could go on for many more paragraphs and still have more to talk about. It's a fantastic film, one that doesn't get as much attention as it should. It essentially took the Alien formula, shifted some of the variables, and improved upon everything (and it's a remake to boot, thus giving the ever-present glimmer of hope that other horror-movie remakes can be good). If you've already seen it, see it again. If you've never seen it, do yourself a major favor and watch it; you'll be very glad you did.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouZkkIsLiNg
the mind fuck provided in this film sounds pretty good though.
But even if you hated a book that's somewhat similar in plot to this, watch this. It's too good to hate.
Of course, now I have to laugh a bit as well; I went to a midnight screening of this about a year ago, and the audience (who all loved it, bunch of hardcore Thing-fans) were shouting out jokes every now and again (MST3K style). And some of them I still chuckle at to this day (Awful lot of axes down in Antarctica... ).