THE THING
This was the first time I have watched this movie the whole way through. Up until now, I have only seen bits and pieces. Wow. What a fun movie. :)
The opening scene was striking (and as a person with a bunch of dogs, I didn’t really like it). But it works so well. It’s attention getting and it raises several questions that recur throughout the movie. What’s wrong with the person/animal? Does he/she/it have some terrible disease? Is he/she/it a monster? How do you know? What will happen if it gets away?
I love this type of monster movie. When I say this type, I mean body snatcher type of movies. Next to zombies, these ones are really creepy. Just the thought of monsters/creatures/aliens getting into people, changing the people, and then taking over is scary. It raises the question of “What if this really happened?” How long would it take to notice? Would we notice the changes in others? Would we be aware of a change in ourselves? That particular question gets me. What if I was attacked and some alien took over my body. I wonder if there would be a part of me that is still the same and realizes that something has happened, even though I can’t do anything about it.
Another aspect of this movie is that the monster isn’t always visible, but it’s always there in a way because every suspects everyone else. It feels like there’s the constant question of “Who is the monster?” For example, that blood testing scene in the movie. You have a group of people who work together in an isolated environment every day. For the most part, they work together well. Eventually though, any trust that may have been there is gone and they all suspect each other. To the point that one ties up the rest of them so that their blood can be tested. And they find out that some of the people the suspected the most were actually uninfected. I think that’s the most disturbing part of this movie (and others like it). The thought that the monster could be anyone and that the society can fall apart pretty quickly (and even turn hostile) when people are so distrustful.
Some of the effects weren’t all that great. At times, some weren’t even scary. I did enjoy the scene where the man’s head (I can’t remember the character’s name) grows legs and walks off on it own. While that was cool, I didn’t like when the monster took on the look of a spider. I just thought it was kind of goofy looking and not really scary. Not really even gross. However, after the monster gets to the penned up dogs and they have that huge mass of stuff on the table that they’re checking out…that was interesting and got my attention. It looked gross and I couldn’t easily write it off as looking like something else (like a spider). In addition, their discovery of the body with two faces was another good one. Gross and attention getting. There seemed to be a mix of really interesting effects that worked well, and others that the movie could have done without.
This one is a remake of “The Thing from Another World” right? Anybody see that one? Any good?
Stephanie, I have to agree with you on pretty much everything. And now I'm interested in your suggestion. I wanted to point at that amongst all of this chaos that was taking place they managed to throw some comedy in.
ReplyDeleteThe scene where they are testing the blood and two of the guys are still tied up with the one that is a monster and they are trying to escape. Scary and hysterical at the same time, one of those wonderful moments of relief that pulls you back before you have to deal with the reality of the situation and a gun that won't ignite.
And I stand beside your concept that there was "a mix of really interesting effects that worked well." I felt that was the key to making this movie stand out from the others.