The Thing and its critics

[Edie St Pierre]

The Thing and its critics

Yeah, the scientist with the beard in the original 'The Thing From Another World' is great isn't he?

I suppose the main difference between the two films is the degree of relationship with the um 'other'. In the Howard Hawks some of the people at least try to reason with it. In the Carpenter one it's pure paranioa and horrorshow from the word go.

They're both great though. The 50's one is the better film I think, but the 80's one is a better movie.

No love for 'The Fog', by the way? I always thought that film was cracking old-school story-telling done really, really well.

[Ginger Yellow]

The Thing and its critics

I love The Fog. I wouldn't put it up with his very best, but it's still great.

[ian.64]

The Thing and its critics

I'm sometimes puzzled by the criticism The Fog gets as I find it a perfectly good example of mood, tone and pure cinematic creepiness, a style of movie-making that isn't being rediscovered because, probably, directors haven't the imagination to so something like it - or that they think it's old hat. It's all atmosphere and mood, even the deaths in the movie are largely suggested instead of being graphically shown. There's hardly a drop of blood.

And a simple score - a piano and the distinctive Carpenter synths - provides a dense feeling of morbid effectiveness. I love it.

The remake was shit. No, it was that bad that it deserves italics.

The remake was shit.

[Crusoe]

The Thing and its critics

Yeah, The Fog's a really enjoyable film. I see it as more like The Keep in style than a slasher or anything else. Not sure if there are any other films that would help constitute a "weather-disguised supernatural revenge" genre...

[ian.64]

The Thing and its critics

The Keep's a weird thing isn't it? Full of strange stuff that doesn't cohere very much but is well-made and has lots of interesting moments. It also has an Ian McKellan performance that's sometimes hard to watch because he doesn't so much provide a large slice of ham but a whole chain of butcher's shops.