(SPOILER WARNING!!)
Horror is certainly an interesting film genre for me to talk about. One the one hand, we get plenty of chilling stories that leave the right kind of impact and scares to engage the audience without overstaying it's welcome. On the other hand, we have "Annabelle".
But I've already gone into detail to the complicated relationship I have with horror films, especially the idea of remakes So, I will instead just jump straight into talking about my favourite horror film of all time.
Number 4:
John Carpenter's "The Thing".
I am not repeating the joke from my review of the awful prequel (shameless plug).
Released in 1982, "The Thing" is technically a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks sci-fi/horror classic, "The Thing From Another World", though both are actually adaptations of the John Campbell Jr sci-fi novella "Who Goes There?" The commonality between all of these stories is an alien creature stalking a research team and picking them off one by one, but Carpenter's version is more faithful to the source material due to including characters from the book, being set in the south pole instead of the north pole, and the depiction of the creature being a word for word translation. The 1951 film is still good for its time, but I feel it took too many liberties with the source material and the head scientist is one of the dumbest fictional scientists ever.
But we aren't here to talk about the films authenticity as an adaptation of an 80 year old book. We're here to talk about what is, to date, my favourite horror movie.
Starting off, one of the aspects of this film that I greatly appreciate is something that most horror movies simply neglect; no-one in this film is a short sighted idiot. This is, sadly, a common troupe I see in a lot of bad horror movies, wherein the characters are so inexcusably stupid that it ruins any appreciation or agency for the story. They would often often the obvious choice and just resort to being incredibly short sighted, which results in them being seen as selfish jackasses who can't do the right thing when the situation calls for it. John Carpenter's "The Thing" is the complete antithesis to this. Due most of the crew being scientists, they know that they can't simply just rush in half-cocked. They analyse the situation and approach it once they have the evidence they need. Sure, they let themselves get emotional and sometimes act irrationally, but the story and setting actually justify these moments due to the films underlying themes of paranoia and mistrust.
Speaking of, said themes are used brilliantly to illustrate the danger of the situation these characters are in, and it's done simply through the visuals and great performances from the entire cast. Even simple things such as the wide exterior shots of Outpost 31 emphasises the feeling of isolation as well as showing how cold this place is. What also helps is that, much like the audience, the characters never know who's infected and who's human. This is true of the actual cast, as Carpenter would refuse to tell anyone who the creature is disguised as in the scene, which in turn makes the mystery all the more fascinating while we, as the spectator, find ourselves in the same position as our protagonists; who do we trust and who do we set on fire? Made even more interesting as we never actually see anyone get infected on-screen, which then leaves it to the viewers imagination as to how and when they became the creature, as well as whether or not they are aware of it.
But of course, it would be pointless to talk about this film without bringing up the visual effects, brought to the silver screen by a young Rob Bottin. Having worked with effects legend Rick Baker on other films, Bottin was only in his early 20's when he was hired by Carpenter to do the extensive effects, spending 57 weeks in the studio, day in/out, just to get these effects done on time with the budget that they had. And despite the backlash from critics, I really think that these effects serve as a reminder to the superiority of practical effects over CGI, especially when CG gets as bad as it does in the prequel. Bottin's work is disgusting, malformed and unbelievably creative. The way that the creature is able to look humanoid while still being a hideous eldritch monstrosity from your nightmares makes the alien one of the most visually horrifying horror movie monsters ever, on par with the Xenomorph and the Predator, especially when it starts to tear itself apart during the reveals. Take this scene when Palmer is revealed to be the creature, as an example:
Again, these effects where done when Bottin were in his early 20's. And yet, the way that Palmer's head just splits apart never comes off as a cheap effect. Extensively gory, yes, but that's part of the appeal of the effects, and it never comes off as being used to cover up any shortcomings from the production crew. It really is a shame that this film was a box office and critical flop upon release (though this can be blamed on timing as "E.T" was still in theatres and audiences were used to a "friendly looking" alien), as Bottin deserved a fucking accolade for his hard work.
Also, love the "TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH" moment to break the tension. Thanks, Garry!
A lot of what made a lot of these scenes more memorable is the almost total absence of music, the soundtrack itself being handled by Ennio Morricone, whom you might know from classics like "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", "The Untouchables" and "The Hateful Eight". While the main score itself is, naturally, creepy and atmospheric, I'm actually glad that the soundtrack itself is hardly ever used throughout the film after the first half hour of the film. It adds to the overall suspense and the few times the score is used is when the action and the tension heightens. Even then, the music is mainly comprised of lower synth tones and deep bass as to not overshadow the impact of the scene.
Like any good musical score, it is instead used to emphasise the core themes and tone, adding to the overall nihilism felt throughout by the entire cast. To compare to the not-prequel, the music in that is not only bland and forgettable, but it is also used too often during the scenes that needed to be quiet, thus losing any and all terror it could've had while also making the audience more annoyed as they are forced to hear the same crap over and over again. Even the remix of the original theme for the not-prequel is ruined by the additions of people screaming in the background and (presumably) the creature roaring.
Just to compare, here's the original theme:
And here's the not-prequel's remix:
It's no contest. The original version wins. Fatality. Flawless victory.
I've gone into other details as to why this film is superior to the not-prequel, so I'll just wrap it up instead. This film has all of the best elements to make not just a great horror film, but a brilliant film in general. The effects, directing, acting and music all compliment Carpenter's style of filmmaking and allows the viewer to get sucked in with how the characters work off of each other, seamlessly balancing these elements with each other while still keeping a slow pace as to allow the suspense to build until the final shot. And thankfully, it was never ruined by ANY sequels whatsoever.
ANY. SEQUELS. WHATSOEVER!
Overall rating: 9/10 (Excellent).
If you liked what you have read and want to see more, please leave a comment and share this review through social media; namely, through Twitter. I appreciate any word being spread about what I write. You can also follow me on Twitter @Media_Man18.
So until next time; this is Callum Lewis, the Media Hood, signing off.
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