| The Thing | |
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| The Thing character | |
 The Thing in a publicity photo of the 1982 film | |
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| Created by | John W. Campbell |
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| Stunt performers | Anthony Cecere (1982) |
The Thing is a fictional shapeshifting and telepathic alien and the titular antagonist of the science fiction horror franchise of the same name. It first appeared in the novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, which has been adapted into various media, including films, literature, and video games.
In Who Goes There?, the Thing is discovered by a team of Antarctic scientists frozen in its spaceship, which had crashed on Earth 20,000,000 years before. After it thaws, it kills and takes the form of the team's physicist, Connant, unbeknownst to the others. It uses its leftover body mass to transform into a sled dog. The team discovers the dog-Thing and kill it as it is transforming. The pathologist of the crew, Blair, goes insane with guilt as he was the one who had lobbied to thaw the Thing. He vows to kill everyone at the research station in order to save mankind from the Thing, and is locked in a cabin. The crew destroy their vehicles in order to isolate the base, but pretend that everything is fine in radio transmissions in order to prevent rescue attempts.
The crew attempts to discover who among them may have been assimilated and replaced by the Thing in order to kill the imitations before they escape. In a blood test, they discover that either Doctor Copper or commander Gary is an imitation, but the result is inconclusive. Assistant commander McReady (known as R.J. MacReady in the 1982 film) takes over the crew and determines that all the animals at the station, except for the dog used for the blood test, have become imitations. As such, the crew kills all of them and burns their bodies.
By this point, the entire crew suspects one another, and the men begin to go mad wondering if they are the last human left, or if they would be able to tell if they weren't human. After the cook, Kinner, is murdered and revealed to be the Thing, McReady discovers that every part of the Thing functions as an individual organism. He then uses this fact to test each surviving crew member by dipping a hot wire into samples of their blood. When a blood sample recoils from the heat, the owner is instantly killed. Fourteen crew members are revealed to be the Thing and are killed. The remaining men go to test Blair, who is still isolated in the cabin, and discover that he had already been converted. After McReady destroys the Thing with a blowtorch, it is revealed that it had almost completed building a nuclear-powered anti-gravity device that would have allowed it to escape to the outside world.
Who Goes There? was first published in the August 1938 issue of Astounding Science Fiction . An extended version with two extra chapters was later published in The Best of John W. Campbell . In 2018, it was discovered that the story was originally part of a longer, unpublished novel titled Frozen Hell, which was discovered in Campbell's papers. [1] The novel was published in 2019.
In 1951, The Thing from Another World was released as an adaptation of the story. James Arness portrays the Thing, which in this version is a humanoid plant-based organism that feeds on animal blood. The Thing was portrayed in a costume.
In 1982's The Thing by John Carpenter, $200,000 of the budget were originally dedicated to creature effects, which at the time was more than Universal Pictures had ever allocated to a monster film. After designs for the creature were completed, the film's crew estimated that they would need around $750,000 for the effects, which Universal agreed to. [2] The effects were designed by Rob Bottin, except for the Thing's dog form, which was designed by Stan Winston. [3]
In 2011, a prequel to the 1982 film was released, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., which was created using computer-generated effects for the Thing in addition to practical effects. However, in the film's production, most of the practical effects were replaced with computer effects. [4]
In the 1951 film, the Thing has been considered symbolic of communism during the Cold War, with the battle against the alien impostor being symbolic of McCarthyism. [5] Similarly, in the 1982 film, the Thing sows distrust among the crew members, representing anti-communist paranoia and the Red Scares. [6] [7] While the original film portrays the battle against communism as a noble battle against evil, the 1982 version comments on the paranoia, distrust, and social upheaval that the Red Scares caused.
In 1973, Who Goes There? was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the stories representing the "most influential, important, and memorable science fiction that has ever been written." As a result, it was published in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two . [8]
Although The Thing from Another World was originally received unfavorably by critics, [9] it would later be considered one of the greatest science fiction films of the 1950s. [10] [11] In 2001, the film was selected by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry. [12]
Like its predecessor, John Carpenter's The Thing was originally met with negative reception, being called "foolish, depressing", and "instant junk" by critics. [13] Cinefantastique described the titular alien as "the most unloved monster in movie history". [14] Despite this, the Thing's portrayal with practical effects was praised as technically brilliant. [14] [15] In spite of its original negative criticism, the film has made significant contributions to popular culture, [16] and has become a cult classic. [17] The film has been described as "ahead of its time", [18] and the "best remake of all time". [6] As such, the titular character has become one the most popular fictional aliens in cinema.
The 2011 film also received a negative response, with IGN comparing the film to the Thing itself, calling it "an insidious, defective mimic of the real, er, thing". [19] In particular, the Thing's computer-generated depiction was compared negatively to the 1982 film's practical effects.
The Thing is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster. Based on the 1938 John W. Campbell Jr. novella Who Goes There?, it tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the eponymous "Thing", an extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates, then imitates, other organisms. The group is overcome by paranoia and conflict as they learn that they can no longer trust each other and that any of them could be the Thing. The film stars Kurt Russell as the team's helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady, with A. Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, and Thomas G. Waites in supporting roles.
John Howard Carpenter is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is generally recognized as a master of the horror genre. At the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the French Directors' Guild gave him the Golden Coach Award and lauded him as "a creative genius of raw, fantastic, and spectacular emotions".
The Thing from Another World, sometimes referred to as just The Thing, is a 1951 American black-and-white science fiction-horror film directed by Christian Nyby, produced by Edward Lasker for Howard Hawks' Winchester Pictures Corporation, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film stars Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, and Douglas Spencer. James Arness plays The Thing. The Thing from Another World is based on the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell.
Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by John McTiernan and written by brothers Jim and John Thomas. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Dutch Schaefer, the leader of an elite paramilitary rescue team on a mission to save hostages in guerrilla-held territory in a Central American rainforest, who encounter the deadly Predator, a skilled, technologically advanced extraterrestrial who stalks and hunts them down. Carl Weathers, Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Richard Chaves, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, and Shane Black are supporting co-stars.
Who Goes There? is a 1938 science fiction horror novella by American author John W. Campbell, written under the pen name Don A. Stuart. Its story follows a group of people trapped in a scientific outpost in Antarctica infested by shapeshifting monsters able to absorb and perfectly imitate any living being, including humans. Who Goes There? was first published in the August 1938 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine and was also printed as The Thing from Another World, as well as included in the collection by the same title. Its extended, novel version, found in an early manuscript titled Frozen Hell, was finally published in 2019.
They Live is a 1988 American science fiction action horror film written and directed by John Carpenter, based on the 1963 short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson. Starring Roddy Piper, Keith David, and Meg Foster, the film follows a drifter who discovers through special sunglasses that the ruling class are aliens concealing their appearance and manipulating people to consume, breed, and conform to the status quo via subliminal messages in mass media.
Species is a 1995 American science fiction horror film directed by Roger Donaldson and written by Dennis Feldman. It stars Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, and Natasha Henstridge in her film debut role. The film's plot concerns a motley crew of scientists and government agents who try to track down Sil (Henstridge), a seductive extraterrestrial-human hybrid, before she successfully mates with a human male.
Stanley Winston was an American television and film special make-up effects artist, best known for his work in the Terminator series, the first three Jurassic Park films, Aliens, The Thing, the first two Predator films, Inspector Gadget, Iron Man, and Edward Scissorhands. He won four Academy Awards for his work.
Dark Star is a 1974 American independent science fiction comedy film produced, scored and directed by John Carpenter and co-written with Dan O'Bannon. It follows the crew of the deteriorating starship Dark Star, twenty years into their mission to destroy unstable planets that might threaten future colonization of other planets.
Xtro is a 1983 British science fiction horror film written and directed by Harry Bromley Davenport. The film stars Bernice Stegers, Philip Sayer, Simon Nash, and Maryam d'Abo. The film focuses on a man who was abducted by aliens and returns back to his wife and son three years later.
Forbidden World, originally titled Mutant, is a 1982 American science fiction erotic horror film. The screenplay was written by Tim Curnen, from a screenstory by R.J. Robertson and Jim Wynorski. It was co-edited and directed by Allan Holzman, who had edited Battle Beyond the Stars two years earlier. The cast includes Jesse Vint, Dawn Dunlap, June Chadwick, Linden Chiles, Fox Harris and Michael Bowen. Forbidden World has also been released under the titles Mutant and Subject 20.
Leviathan is a 1989 science fiction horror film directed by George P. Cosmatos and written by David Webb Peoples and Jeb Stuart. An international co-production of the United States and Italy, it stars Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Ernie Hudson, Amanda Pays and Daniel Stern as the crew of an underwater geological facility stalked and killed by a hideous mutant creature. Its creature effects were designed by Academy Award-winning special effects artist Stan Winston.
Strange Invaders is a 1983 American science fiction film directed and co-written by Michael Laughlin, and stars Paul Le Mat, Nancy Allen and Diana Scarwid.
The Alien Factor is a 1978 science fiction horror film written, edited, produced, and directed by Don Dohler. The film centers on a small town that is besieged by three aliens that have crash-landed in the nearby forest. A mysterious stranger named "Ben Zachary" shows up claiming to be able to save the day. Can he do what he claims?
Xtro II: The Second Encounter is a 1991 British–Canadian science fiction horror film directed by Harry Bromley Davenport and starring Jan-Michael Vincent, Paul Koslo, Tara Buckman and Nicholas Lea. It is the second installment of the Xtro franchise, although is narratively distinct from the original. In it, a scientist is sent to another dimension by a secret government experiment, but brings back a murderous extraterrestrial creature which hunts down the research base's personnel.
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O'Bannon, based on a story by O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett. It follows a spaceship crew who investigate a derelict spaceship and are hunted by a deadly extraterrestrial creature. The film stars Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto. It was produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill through their company Brandywine Productions and was distributed by 20th Century-Fox. Giler and Hill revised and made additions to the script; Shusett was the executive producer. The alien creatures and environments were designed by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger, while the concept artists Ron Cobb and Chris Foss designed the other sets.
The Thing is a 2011 science fiction horror film directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., written by Eric Heisserer, and starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Eric Christian Olsen. It is a direct prequel to the 1982 film of the same name by John Carpenter, which was an adaptation of the 1938 novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell. It tells the story of a team of scientists on a Norwegian Antarctic research station who discover a parasitic alien buried deep in the ice, realizing too late that it is still alive.
Harbinger Down is a 2015 American independent science-fiction monster horror film written and directed by Alec Gillis and produced by Tom Woodruff Jr., the founders of the special effects company StudioADI, and starring Lance Henriksen.
R.J. MacReady, more shortly known as Mac, is the main protagonist of the 1982 science fiction horror film, The Thing. He is portrayed by Kurt Russell.
The Skyline film series consists of American science fiction-disaster alien action films. Created by Joshua Cordes and Liam O'Donnell, the series centers around a global alien invasion and the uprise of mankind to fight back and save humanity. The series implements various genres within each installment.
Similarly, once critics identified Invasion of the Body Snatchers as a film expressing an underlying tension about the threat of communism, others found similar patterns in The Thing [from Another World] (1951).
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