The Thing (2011)

[Arthur_Parker]

The ending was the best bit about it.

[Ironwood]

Sand, sometimes the monsters win.

Actually, in MOST cases the monsters win.

I think that's why I liked The Thing so much. 

[Teleku]

The end of the original Thing is one of my most favorite moments in cinematic history.

Two guys staring across from each other, both armed.  Once good friends, as far as they know, either could an alien/monster clone.  As certain death descends upon them in the form of a freezing arctic night, the only thing they can do is stare at each other in tense paranoia, waiting to see who will freeze or attack first, illuminated the light of the burning wreckage of their only means of survival.

Maybe one of them is the Thing, and one will attack the other soon.  Maybe they killed they Thing, and both men are normal, thus dooming themselves to die out of paranoia.

That is just awesome.  Fuck standard Hollywood endings.

[DraconianOne]

Sand, sometimes the monsters win.

Actually, in MOST cases the monsters win.

I'm not sure Sand has actually seen any of the films he's quoted otherwise he'd be aware of how much he was talking out of his arse. I can believe he's seen Cujo though but including it in that list of films says more about him than the film.

[Ironwood]

I'm not really sure I would count Pitch Black in the list of 'Triumphant Hero Wins Despite All Odds' either.

I mean, Riddick was a psychopath and everyone else worth a damn died.

 

[DraconianOne]

Not to mention that they just escaped the planet rather than kill all the monsters.

Also, Alien: Ripley destroyed the Nostromo (failing to kill the alien in the process - something she had to fix a little while later) and escaped in a short range escape shuttle in the middle of deep space with distinct possibilty that she might not get rescued. All the while being aware that there were hundreds of eggs left in the derelict ship on LV-426.

Also, The Shining: the Overlook Hotel seems to be the real monster of the piece, claiming the lives of the last caretaker's family before Jack Torrance goes mad and it's still left standing at the end of the film.

[Ironwood]

Not in the book though.  And King hated the film.

Actually, I hated the film too. Probably because of Nicholson.

[murdoc]

Sand also probably thinks there needs to be a love interest for MacReedy and then he can truly live happily ever after... 


The ending of 'The Thing' is perfect.

[Ironwood]

Let's all bear in mind Different Strokes for Different Folks.

After all, this discussion spawned because people disliked it when it came out, which is STILL baffling me.

[HaemishM]

Same ending they had for Alien or any other scifi/horror movie. Hero/innocent lives and monster dies (or atleast we think it does).
See Alien, Pitch Black, The Shining, Cujo, Predator, etc etc etc.

How exactly would that work and not feel fucking retarded? They were trapped in the middle of the goddamn Antarctic. Their only shelter was gone. There was no radio, no one to rescue them, no reason anyone would have come looking for them in time to make it. It would have made audiences go "Wait, WHAT?" And it would have ended up forgotten as "That movie that started so good but had a shit stupid ending."

[Ironwood]

Except the fact that they did film that.

 

[HaemishM]

Luckily, they didn't release that, because it would have been fuckstupid.

[Ironwood]

Agreed.

[Engels]

Loved the video Ingmar. Also, Sand, do you know you are a cartoon of yourself sometimes?

[Sand]

Like Ironwood said different strokes for different folks. No need to get all uppity with your hip selves because you loved The Thing.
It was received poorly by reviewers and didnt do all that great at the box office, so its not like Im hanging out on some thin limb all alone in my dislike.

I just feel IRL is dark enough and the bad guys often always win, so I like my book or movies to have slightly happier endings.  

Im a Princess Bride kind of guy!

[Ironwood]

That's because Princess Bride is like Stardust :  Utterly awesome.

[Ratman_tf]

Like Ironwood said different strokes for different folks. No need to get all uppity with your hip selves because you loved The Thing.
It was received poorly by reviewers and didnt do all that great at the box office, so its not like Im hanging out on some thin limb all alone in my dislike.

I just feel IRL is dark enough and the bad guys often always win, so I like my book or movies to have slightly happier endings.  

Im a Princess Bride kind of guy!

Well then next time maybe try saying that you don't like downer endings, instead of just shooting from the hip. Or not. Whatever.

[Engels]

The thing (hah) that I liked about the ending was that it left little credible room for some dumb sequel. It was the final suicide solution to prevent the plague. Sure, it was a downer that they all died, but it was an awesome sacrifice on the part of MacReady that made the movie positive to me. The best part is that Kurt Russel could pull it off believably, without excessive macho heroics ala Sigourney Weaver in Aliens.

I've also been thinking a bit about why this movie is a successful scary movie, and I think its because in a sense, the creature is not presented as anything other than an organism. There's no deviance, there's no 'malicious intent', its just a force of nature. Its impersonal and implacable. The music, with its drone beat, also lends to the theme of an inexorable approach of something inevitable that doesn't try to scare you, or beat around the bush, it just is. That in my mind is far far more scary than similar types of boogie men, such as They Live or Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In those, there's a sinister quality, an evil intent, a power grab for domination that just isn't there in The Thing. In The Thing, its just a danged virus of sorts that has all the qualities of a thoughtless force of nature that you can't control, or second guess, or get your mind around. It just IS.

[Ironwood]

Um, not really.

See, if Childs was alien then the world was fucked.  It was kinda that simple.

I like it because it was actually a downplayed End of The World film.

 

[Engels]

Um, not really.

See, if Childs was alien then the world was fucked.  It was kinda that simple.

I like it because it was actually a downplayed End of The World film.

 

Woops, you're right. Its been a while. I presume the assumption is that if one of them is the thing, it'll survive to infect the rescue party.

[Ironwood]

Even if there's not a rescue party, it froze for millenia.

When we destroy the glaciers, it's coming for us.

lol.

[Teleku]

Even if there's not a rescue party, it froze for millenia.

When we destroy the glaciers, it's coming for us.

lol.

*At a science conference somewhere*

“And so you see, ladies and gentleman, this is why it is vital that we stop global warming!”

*crickets*

[Margalis]

The only thing in They Live that is supposed to be scary is how close to home it hits.

[Sir T]

I have to admit I found the Thing pretty confusing when I saw it, because they swaped gears in the middle. Was it a creature that ate other creatures and assumed their form like they said at the start? Or was it a disease that turned people into goo? Which was it? And how come that guy was human one second, had a heart attack and next second his intestines were trying to bite someones face off? How come that guy had no idea he was the monster and the next second his head was tapdancing out the room? And if it was just a disease how come it ate Bennings and they caught it turning into him afterwards? And how did all these people get infected anyway other than by plot?

I mean the short story did a good job trying to tie all this together but it make no sense at the time to me. Different strokes and all that.

[stu]

One theory says that you may not know you're the Thing because the transition into the other is so complete. Or maybe the Thing is just that good at mimicry. I believe it can be both. Say you get infected through a tiny cut in your arm, and the whole day you're doing lab experiments. Meanwhile, the Thing has taken over every fiber of your body. Someone walks in to see what you're so busy with and before you can look up, the world goes black, because the Thing has activated itself and you cease to exist. You're not even a vessel anymore. And the person who just popped in to check on you is being swallowed whole by a creature that looks like the cross between a bear trap and a squid. The ambiguity is the beauty of the movie.

To add to that, Carpenter based his version on people's reactions to the AIDS epidemic during the early 80s.

[Simond]

The end of the original Thing is one of my most favorite moments in cinematic history.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044121/ ?
 

[Engels]

To add to that, Carpenter based his version on people's reactions to the AIDS epidemic during the early 80s.

This is cool. Can you tell me where you found this out?

[stu]

About a month ago, I watched the Blu-Ray version which has a commentary by Carpenter & Russell. Carpenter plays with his cards held tight, but that was one of the big nuggets he had.

[Teleku]

The end of the original Thing is one of my most favorite moments in cinematic history.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044121/ ?
 

I said the original Thing.  Not the original "Thing from another world."   

[Sir T]

Actually the quoptes section from that IMDB link is hilarious

Ned "Scotty" Scott: Please doctor, I've got to ask this. It sounds like, well, just as though you're describing some form of super carrot.

[DraconianOne]

About a month ago, I watched the Blu-Ray version which has a commentary by Carpenter & Russell. Carpenter plays with his cards held tight, but that was one of the big nuggets he had.

Is that the same commentary as the DVD where it's quite clear they're drinking and smoking all the way through it?

[Margalis]

The Thing from Another World is pretty cheesy IMO. Yeah, the bad guy is a super vegetable and he doesn't take over people IIRC.

[stu]

About a month ago, I watched the Blu-Ray version which has a commentary by Carpenter & Russell. Carpenter plays with his cards held tight, but that was one of the big nuggets he had.

Is that the same commentary as the DVD where it's quite clear they're drinking and smoking all the way through it?

Ha, It might have been because Russell keeps trying to imagine what the Thing was like on other worlds but Carpenter doesn't bite. And then Russell makes a crack about Wilford Brimley being "a long way from those oatmeal commercials" before laughing hysterically.

[UnSub]

I think Empire did a long interview with Russell and Carpenter for "The Thing"'s anniversary release. Doesn't look to be online though.

[Furiously]

Watched it last night. Was pretty predictable.

I've realized I'm not a fan of the,"fake scare, haha fooled you here's the real scare!" scene/writing.

The best part was the music/ending by far.