The Thing (1982) ✦ YouTube Edit
Added 2025-06-11 18:08:15 +0000 UTCHi everyone! I'm excited to share the edit of my reaction to The Thing, which will go live on YouTube on Thurs June 12. Please enjoy! 🥰
✦ KL
Comments
Hey Bob, thanks for all this info! It's funny that you hated it the first time you saw it haha. And as for "You may know Morricone best as the composer of the iconic soundtrack from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”" - I just watched that for the first time a few weeks ago (reaction is posted here) and def one of the cooler moments for me was realizing that Metallica always opens their live concerts with The Ectasy of Gold, which I knew wasn't *their* song, but I had never dug into where it was originally from. So when that song showed up, that was a good time.
kaiielle
2025-06-12 19:34:17 +0000 UTCkaiielle, the story the movie is based on, “Who Goes There?” is widely regarded as one of the great sci-fi stories of all time. A few years ago they discovered a previously unpublished manuscript of the story that included material edited out for the original publication. They called it “Frozen Hell” and sold it thru one of the online forums where you contribute towards the production of a film or publication of previously unpublished manuscripts. For what it’s worth, I thought the originally published version, “Who Goes There?” was better. Campbell’s short story was originally adapted as “The Thing From Another World” in the 1950s. James Arness, who later played Marshal Matt Dillon in the classic tv western “Gunsmoke”, played The Thing in the original film. Carpenter was a huge fan of the original film. In fact, if you rewatch “Halloween”, “The Thing From Another World” is what the kids are watching when Jamie Lee’s character is babysitting them. This was the first of what’s come to be known as Carpenter’s “Apocalypse Trilogy”, three separate films with no connection to one another except that they deal with the possible end of the world. The others are “Prince of Darkness” and “In the Mouth of Madness.” All three are superb, IMO. Regarding the theories swirling around about the ending, make nothing of the issue of visible breath. Earlier in the film, one of the Things is seen outside with its breath clearly visible. Carpenter has also debunked that popular theory in recent years, while stopping short of saying whether Childs or MacReady were the Thing at the end. You mentioned the effectiveness of the practical effects and I could not agree more. There’s something about the actual physical presence, in three dimensional space, of such effects that the human mind picks up on that just can’t be duplicated with computer generated pixels. Regarding the music in the film, Carpenter scores almost all his own films. He has a background in music and his parents were musicians. In recent years he’s even gone on tour playing his original compositions. This movie was a rare exception, with Ennio Morricone providing most of the soundtrack. You may know Morricone best as the composer of the iconic soundtrack from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” Well, if you’ve read this, I think I’ve probably monopolized enough of your time for the day. I’m just a huge John Carpenter fan and a huge Ennio Morricone fan and, once I get going, it’s hard for me to stop. PS: Ironically, I absolutely hated this movie the first time I saw it. But then I found myself thinking about it repeatedly in the ensuing years and gave it another try. With each viewing, I grew to like it more. Today, it would easily be in my top five favorite films of all time.
Just Plain Bob
2025-06-12 19:28:11 +0000 UTCI've started digging into theories too. Editing this, I noticed the breath in the last scene a LOT more. Nothing coming out of Childs, but so much coming out of MacCready!
kaiielle
2025-06-11 21:22:06 +0000 UTCThe Thing is so great. Funny thing is that I never watched it for the longest time. I actually saw the 2011 version before this one. Blasphemy, I know 😁 Most people did not like the 2011 version but I did. So, I made a conscious effort to watch the original and I loved it. I also really love reading fan theories about whether Childs or MacCready or both of them are the thing. The one I remember the most is that when MacCready hands Childs the bottle and he drinks from it. He kinda laughs because there's actually gasoline in the bottle and he knows that Childs is the Thing. The other is that MacCready is the Thing and laughs because when Childs drinks from the bottle he just infected him. Crazy stuff! As always I loved your reaction and I can't wait for you to watch more John Carpenter movies in the future.
Future_Boy85
2025-06-11 20:59:57 +0000 UTC
