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DVD The Thing (Collector's Edition)
Howard Hawks's original 1951 production of The Thing from Another World can be glimpsed playing on a TV that fateful October evening in John Carpenter's blockbuster hit, Halloween (1978). A few years later, Carpenter reteamed with his Escape from New York star Kurt Russell to do a remake. But while the first movie version of The Thing was in atmospheric black and white, Carpenter's 1982 version is in widescreen, full color, and features some of the most revoltingly explicit, surreally imaginative special effects (courtesy of FX-meister Rob Bottin) that have ever been seen on the screen. Researchers in the remote Antarctic dig up the remains of a spacecraft that has long been frozen in the ice. But the alien life unthaws and infects the living (not only humans but sled dogs too), living and gestating inside them. (This horrific concept was also explored in the two versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the Alien movies.) This Thing is chilling in every sense of the word, with plenty of terrifying, adrenaline-pumping moments that build it to a powerful and shockingly nihilistic conclusion. It's a harsh and uncompromising movie (hewing more closely to the original 1930s story "Who Goes There?")--so much so that it probably never would have been given a green-light by any studio in the more cautious and doggedly upbeat 1990s. --Jim Emerson
First of all I would like to say that The thing is John Carpenter's masterpeice it deals with the state of paranoia that an isolated research team in Antartica experiences, the film is both scary and gory at the same time and the special fx are magnificant especialy since during that time there were no CGI used. The story is about a team of scientist and some other staff pilot, cook ect. at a research station in Antartica find an alien being that has fallen from the sky and been buried in the ice for 100,000 years. Soon they discover that the alien is able to consume and then take the appearence of its victim, most of the time while watching this film I was thinking to myself holy crap did I just see that especialy the blood test scene where the tension of the film is at an all time high, you don't know whats going to happen next and when the alien is going to leap out from somewhere. The bloody and gory special fx were amazing as the alien itself starts to transform out of parts of humans and dogs and sometimes it looks disgusting, the fx were way ahead of thier time. The cinamatography was great as John Carpenter had a large scope to work with once the crew find the alien space ship buried in the ice he also did a great job with the insides of the compound where the research team are staying at led by Mcready played by Kurt Russel, it looks very clostrophobic and the ending was fantastic and makes this film a true and geniunly great sci fi horror film. I think that John Carpenter stuck with the original idea from the book by John Campbel called who goes there instead of remaking the 1951 film the thing from another world. The extras were great as you can get a better look at the film with cast and crew interviews, behind the scenes features and the alien designs ect. Great film which I suggest that every horror fan should see.
The Thing (1982) - John Carpenter
THE THING is John Carpenter's masterwork both visually and technically. Released the same year as E.T., and offering a completely different look at extraterrestrial life, John Carpenter's alien invasion film is not exactly a remake of Howard Hawks 1951 film, but a re-telling of the John W. Campbell short story "Who Goes There?" By combining incredibly fantastic special effects by Rob Bottin and Stan Winston, an unnerving electronic/orchestral score by Ennio Morricone, and fine cinematography by Dean Cundey, John Carpenter essembled a visually horrorific opera complemented by the talented all male cast. Carpenter's friend and leading man Kurt Russel gives a nice subtle performance as the unbilled leader of the group, and although the film follows some typical horror formulas, it's apocalyptic feel, paranoid undertones, similarites to a rising new disease at the time (A.I.D.S.), and it's nihilistic ending puts The Thing a step above most films in it's confining genre. The Thing is John Carpenter's finest hour, and falls just short of being a cinematic masterpiece.
****1/2 out of *****
excellent horror screenwriting tool...
Not even so much that it was a remake, but take any film with a group of people, and put them in a sort of "Russian Rhoulette" situation and you're bound to captivate your audience. Constantly on the edge waiting for the next gruesome moment as one of the researchers is taken over in an unspeakable way. You could make this movie twenty times over, but for now we'll stick with the classic remake (a forgotten good remake at that, most are bashed).
So if you're new to writing watch this film again if you don't know it by heart already:). Just a friendly tip, a great place for screenwriting tips on how to submit.
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Horror master John Carpenter offers up a triple treat with The Fog: Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, and Janet Leigh all in the same movie. As if that weren't enough, both John Houseman and Hal Holbrook make appearances, each clearly enjoying the novelty of being in a horror flick. The Fog opens just before the centennial celebration of the seaside town of Antonio Bay. Then the witching hour strikes, glowing fog rolls in, and all hell breaks loose. Carpenter wrote the script with producer Debra Hill, his collaborator on Halloween, and the two know their craft. It's a creepy story and a tight script, and, as in their previous effort, the audience gets to know the main characters a bit before they're put in danger. The movie also has a sly sense of humor:... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Adrienne Barbeau - Jamie Lee Curtis Director(s): John Carpenter DVD Release Date: Released the 27 August 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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An economic crisis brings unemployed Nada (Roddy Piper) to L.A. in search of work. What he finds instead is that the ruling elite of the world are aliens in disguise, their aim being to keep humans in a state of mindless consumerism. His discovery comes when he dons a pair of special sunglasses made by a resistance group and sees for the first time reality unadorned. Billboards, store signs, magazine covers--all bear subliminal messages to OBEY, to CONSUME, to have NO INDEPENDENT THOUGHT. Money itself says THIS IS YOUR GOD. But worst of all, with these glasses you see which of us are really hideous, bug-eyed aliens. The conceptual breakthrough is hilarious while keeping its roots in darker matters. Although some fault the film for settling into its action plot, the ending has a... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Roddy Piper - Keith David Director(s): John Carpenter DVD Release Date: Released the 23 September 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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In delivering PG-13-rated excitement, Alien vs. Predator is an acceptably average science-fiction action thriller with some noteworthy highlights, even if it squanders its opportunity to intelligently combine two popular and R-rated franchises. Rabid fans can justifiably ask "Is that all there is?" after a decade of development hell and eager anticipation, but we're compensated by reasonably logical connections to the Alien legacy and the still-kicking Predator franchise (which hinted at AVP rivalry at the end of Predator 2); some cleverly claustrophobic sets, tense atmosphere and impressive digital effects; and a climactic AVP smackdown that's not half bad. This disposable junk should've been better, but nobody who's seen Mortal Kombat or... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sanaa Lathan - Raoul Bova - Lance Henriksen - Ewen Bremner Director(s): Paul W.S. Anderson DVD Release Date: Released the 25 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The B picture lives on in the films of John Carpenter. Prince of Darkness weds supernatural horror with quantum weirdness, when a group of theoretical-physics students, led by their professor, Birack (Victor Wong), joins forces with a priest (Donald Pleasence) to forestall the coming of the Dark Lord. His Darkness has been imprisoned in a cylindrical container as a swirling green plasma since time immemorial, and is now beginning to find his way out. All of this is bolstered by a lot of fancy science talk (all of which is real, I can assure you--someone did his homework), which allows us to settle down, say okey dokey, and enjoy the thrills that this presages. As the title character spreads his contagion through the group of students, holed up in a church to study the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Donald Pleasence - Lisa Blount Director(s): John Carpenter DVD Release Date: Released the 07 October 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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With its modest special effects, lean plot, and small cast of lesser stars, this 1951 thriller remains a sturdy blueprint for fusing horror and science fiction. The formula has been employed countless times since, fleshed out with more extensive and elaborate production values, and manned by higher profiled marquee names, but the results have yet to improve on The Thing from Another World, Howard Hawks's lone foray into sci-fi.
The story begins as military airmen are dispatched to a remote Arctic research station where scientists have detected the crash of a spacecraft. An effort to retrieve the saucer-shaped vehicle fails, but the team returns to the station with the frozen body of its sole occupant. When the extraterrestrial pilot is accidentally thawed, the crew, headed... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Margaret Sheridan - Kenneth Tobey Director(s): Christian Nyby - Howard Hawks DVD Release Date: Released the 05 August 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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