John Carpenter's The Thing HD DVD Review

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Title: John Carpenter’s The Thing

Media: HD DVD

Genre: Sci-Fi Horror

Stars: Kurt Russell, A. Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dystart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, Thomas Waites, and Larry Franco

Writer: Bill Lancaster

Based On The Story “Who Goes There?” By John W. Campbell, Jr.

Director: John Carpenter

Feature length: 1 hour and 49 minutes

Extras: John Carpenter’s The Thing: Terror Takes Shape Documentary, Feature Length Audio Commentary With Director John Carpenter and Star Kurt Russell, Outtakes, Storyboards, Conceptual Art, Behind-The-Scenes Photos, Theatrical Trailer

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Sound and French Dolby Digital 2.0 Plus Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Elite Red HD Case

Chapter Stops: 37

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 2.0 Plus Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 1982/HD DVD Release: 2006

Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

I remember the summer of 1982 very well. It was the season E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and John Carpenter’s The Thing opened and luckily I had an older brother who could take me to see both. Months before my brother took me to see An American Werewolf In London and the effects as well as the mix of humor and horror really struck me by then. I’ve always loved monster movies. I think it is something many kids get into. Very much like one’s fascination for cars or dinosaurs when one is just barely above being a toddler. To a kid cars come in different colors and shapes sort of like candy and the fact that they seem to move around on their own since what five year old kid is going to really think about how the car works beyond the wheel and maybe the horn. Dinosaurs are the animals that we can’t see live though had their been a Jurassic Park when I was a boy I probably would have believed they were really there on the set live and in the flesh. Is it any surprise that many boys have toy dinosaurs and matchbox cars? Monsters are the same way. They don’t exist or at least we hope they don’t and they carry a kind of mystique to them as a result.

Perhaps the three most dangerous and frightening alien monsters to ever hit the big screen is the amoeba like Blob, which absorbs it’s victims and grows larger and redder with each person or thing it eats and is all but indestructible save for a weakness to cold and even then cold doesn’t kill it, it just freezes it. The second most frightening is the Alien with it’s jaws within jaws maw, acid for blood, extreme life cycle, ability to blend in and contort itself to match with industrial environments, and relentless will to breed and survive with no conscience or morality. The third most frightening is The Thing since like The Blob it can absorb a victim or victims of any size, is virtually indestructible, and like the Alien it is a relentless survivor.

All three creatures seem to find a way to perpetuate themselves in some form too so like roaches, you are never truly certain whether or not they are all dead. As far as humans are concerned, both The Thing and The Blob might as well as be immortal since even extreme cold will just freeze it, but not kill it. Both only need a microscopic amount to begin to consume a victim. If you really want to go sci-fi geek, one could argue that The Thing’s ability to perfectly replicate anything it eats could give it an advantage over an encounter with The Blob, which does not imitate it’s victims. It merely consumes them. As for the Alien, perhaps acid for blood might make it a challenge, but since The Thing can replicate anything, it would only take a cell to adapt and replicate the necessary biological makeup to absorb and imitate such a victim. As human beings we have corrosive acids in our digestive track that would burn through us if exposed to our epidermal skin layers and yet within our bodies, nature grants us the materials to safely digest what we consume without burning a hole on our stomachs, ulcers aside of course…

So The Thing is arguably to most dangerous and frightening extra-terrestrial monster that has ever come to life on the big screen. In the early pre-CGI 1980s, creatures like The Thing and the werewolves seen in both The Howling and An American Werewolf In London seemed as real as the incredible creations seen in the Star Wars prequels, Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, and Jurassic Park films. To witness The Thing in action on the big screen back in 1982 was simply jaw dropping. In fact even as a pre-pubescent boy I knew that John Carpenter’s The Thing was one of the best mixes of sci-fi and horror since Alien and even from an adult’s perspective, there is nothing quite like vintage John Carpenter films when he was in his creative prime with Halloween, The Fog, Escape From New York, The Thing, Christine, and They Live. I love most of his movies, but Carpenter is better at creating suspense, genuine horror, and drawing social commentary than he is at lighter films whether it is his friendly E.T. Christ metaphor in Starman or the mix of martial arts action and adventure with humor in Big Trouble In Little China. Even in his 90s films, I think In The Mouth Of Madness, Escape From LA, and Vampires are more entertaining than watching Chevy Chase in Memoirs Of An Invisible Man. Though E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial was the big box office hit the summer of 1982 and still holds a place in Hollywood record books as well as being a film that influenced a decade’s worth of friendly alien flicks globally, I can watch E.T. maybe once every ten years, but I can watch John Carpenter’s The Thing straight through any time and I never get bored.

The film was released in 1982 and while generally I feel most films should never reveal what year they take place in, especially sci-fi films, here revealing the year as 1982 actually helps the film in hindsight since we automatically look at the film as being a kind of flashback or period piece and thus everything we take for granted today does not apply to what was generally available in 1982. Following what appears to be a case of cabin fever from a marauding Norwegian man with a rifle who has been tracking a husky like dog in the snow from a helicopter, the 12 member team of a U.S. Antarctic scientific research outpost allows the dog to roam feely within their compound while two members go off to find out what happened to cause the Norwegian man to act so violently. Unfortunately he was shot dead before he could be subdued and questioned. When the American helicopter team returns, they bring back with them some notes and video and the remains of a strange creature as well as a report of their grisly discovery at the Norwegian camp, which has been all but burned to the ground. The American team soon discovers that the dog they allowed into their camp is not what it appears after it tries to digest and become a group of other dogs in the kennel. Despite burning the gruesome shape-shifting monstrosity, they soon learn that the danger is far from over when analysis shows that the creature is sort of like an intelligent virus that down to a cellular level replicates the being it digests perfectly. Even worse is the fact that just burning one of these creatures is not enough to kill it since there is still cellular activity on a microscopic level. And now it is too late because the Thing has already taken over one of their colleagues, who they had to burn, and the likelihood of more than another team member being infected is 75%.

With one of their team members having gone mad and destroyed their helicopter and radio equipment, everyone present is trapped and cut off for the long dark Antarctic winter with the horrifying prospect that if they don’t discover who the thing is and kill it before it infects all of them, should the creature ever reach the general human population, it could infect the entire planet in little over three years. Thus the paranoia grows and along with that comes the most terrifying alien horror ever caught on American film.

Kurt Russell came right off John Carpenter’s Escape From New York to work as the reluctant hero figure of the film, which also features an ensemble cast that includes A. Wilfred Brimley (Cocoon), T.K. Carter (Domino), David Clennon (Flags Of Our Father), Keith David (John Carpenter’s They Live/The Chronicles Of Riddick), Richard Dysart (LA Law), Charles Hallahan (Wild Palms), Peter Maloney (Manhunter), Richard Masur (Stephen King’s It), Donald Moffat (Clear And Present Danger) Joel Polis (True Believer), Thomas G. Waites (Oz), and Producer Larry Franco (Batman Begins) as the Norwegian pilot. This was John Carpenter’s first studio film and the rare occurrence where Carpenter did not in fact score the film himself even though the music has a style to it that at times sounds like something he would produce. Composer Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad And The Ugly) scored the film.

Despite what the packaging states, the film on HD DVD is presented in a widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio and has never ever looked better on home video with a detailed 1080p maximum resolution high definition picture and an atmospheric English Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Soundtrack. A French Language Dolby Digital 2.0 Plus Surround Soundtrack along with English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired as well as French and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded as options. The extra value features have been ported over from the DVD release and include a feature length audio commentary by Director John Carpenter and Star Kurt Russell as well as the 1998 retrospective documentary John Carpenter’s The Thing: Terror Takes Shape (83 minutes), which includes what were then new videotaped interview clips with John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Charles Hallahan, Richard Masur, Joel Polis, Special Effects Artists Rob Bottin and Stan Winston, Matte Artist Albert Whitlock, Cinematographer Dean Cundey, and Screenwriter Bill Lancaster. The documentary was produced by David C. Fein, who along with Sharpline Arts had produced DVD extra value materials featuring archival footage and new documentaries for genre classics like Alien: 20^th Anniversary Edition, H.P. Lovecraft’s Bride Of Re-Animator: Pioneer Special Edition, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture: The Director’s Edition.

The commentary and documentary are supported by photo still galleries that include production background archives, production photos, conceptual art and storyboards, various effects shots of the flying saucer from the film’s opening (2:11), extended footage of the Blair monster (: 57), outtakes (4:04), post production onscreen notes and the theatrical trailer (1:58). All of the extra value materials are presented in either a full frame or letterbox for a (1.33:1) aspect ratio. The menu system, which can be activated while the film is in motion, works flawlessly though I found some the still galleries to be a bit slow. They automatically change images or text by themselves, but for whatever reason, the disc when in this mode will not respond to a forward advance speed change, which means you have to watch it at the speed presented or not watch it at all. That caveat aside, this is a must-own HD DVD for any fan of the film and still one of the best special edition home video releases for a sci-fi horror film ever produced. John Carpenter’s The Thing is available now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

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