THe tHing
Polar disorder
released OUT NOW! (Out 20 November on Standard Edition) 1982 | 18 | Blu-ray (limited edition/ steelbook/standard edition) Director John Carpenter Cast Kurt russell, a Wilford Brimley, TK Carter, david Clennon
That glowy-fingered git ET’s probably to blame. Unleashed two weeks after Spielberg’s familyfriendly fuzzies, it’s perhaps no wonder The Thing – with its shapeshifting entities, gaginducing autopsies and doomladen atmosphere – tanked at the box office.
Returning to the story that inspired 1951 classic The Thing From Another World (a fave of John Carpenter) but making use of technical advances to produce a more faithful adaptation, its tale of Body Snatchers-style paranoia at an Antarctic outpost grips like a vice. All 12 main characters feel authentic and distinct, with Kurt Russell cooler than the ambient temperature as sardonic chopper pilot MacReady.
But the real stars of the show are Rob Bottin’s practical effects. A macabre meld of Hieronymous Bosch, the Chapman Brothers and what happens when you take the brown acid, their perverse blossomings of flesh still take your breath away.
Extras This pristine restoration – made in collaboration with John Carpenter – comes with significant new bonuses; they feel a little redundant, though, given that previous releases weren’t ill-served, and have their extras ported over. New doc Who Goes There (78 minutes) provides a solid overview, but the absence of Carpenter, Russell and Bottin makes it inferior to 1998’s Terror Takes Shape (84 minutes) – though, it does score over its predecessor by dedicating 25 minutes to the short story and original film. Similarly, while a new commentary is welcome, why would you listen to podcast bros explaining why The Thing is cool when you could listen to the old Carpenter/Russell track, crammed with anecdotes? Also new: a pointless featurette on the other movies of summer 1982 (27 minutes); a 2017 convention panel (55 minutes); interviews with two super-fans (21 minutes); a short homage from 2011 (six minutes). A “production archive” with scores of deleted scenes and blue-screen footage is also carried over from DVD. The Limited Edition comes with eight lobby cards, a longer booklet and a poster.
The scene where Dr Copper has his arms cut off features a double amputee wearing a prosthetic mask of the actor’s face.