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Post by klep on Oct 19, 2015 6:32:00 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: The Thing (1982) In 1982 when John Carpenter's The Thing was released, it underwhelmed both critically and commercially - having had the misfortune to be facing down both E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Blade Runner. But in the intervening years it has received much reappraisal and is now considered something of a horror classic. It's easy to understand why. You have the gruff Kurt Russell in the leading role and the effects work is something that's still remarkable today. Between the model work and the stop-motion animation, Carpenter's titular Thing is a grotesque horror, and he effectively uses it to draw out the paranoia and distrust in the men at the base. Carpenter is certainly not the only person to use a monster movie to suggest that the true monster.... is man!, but where most other films of that kind have their characters learn to follow their better natures, The Thing's ending is decidedly nihilistic: two men dying in the snow as neither can trust the other enough for them to work together.
So what makes The Thing work (or not work!) for you? Are there any lessons that modern horror films failed to learn from this film?
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 10/26: Mulholland Drive Next week we'll be attempting to make sense out of David Lynch's disturbing adventure into Hollywood with Mulholland Drive. It's probably best for you to avoid dumpsters until we're done.
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