
Notes on John Carpenter’s “The Thing” - yurn
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/03/04/dismembrance-of-the-things-past/
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mullen
I can not stress enough to the Hacker News community that if you have not seen
this movie, go see this movie. John Carpenter did a really great job with this
movie and story. Every scene in this movie plays to the story, there is
literally no filler in this movie. Unlike movies today, which are epic 2 hour
snoozefests that are chock full of pointless scene after pointless scene which
adds nothing to the film or the story line. The Thing starts right off with
the story and smoothly transition through it to the very end. Also, The Thing
monster in this story is scary as hell too.

~~~
farmdve
I think the movie is good as well, but the article uses a really hard to read
font.

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sheensleeves
The presentation of Websites is to HN as "sharp knees" are Fark.

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freehunter
Sharp knees is generally snark meant to imply that the person being discussed
is attractive. Bad web design is a legitimate concern, and is something that
is often found in articles linked on HN when designers get a little too
experimental.

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untog
Yes, but criticising this site's font as being hard to read is a stretch. It's
fine. HN will be critical of anything that isn't stock sans-serif in black on
white.

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freehunter
It might not be impossible or even difficult to read for you or I, but
remember that every OS displays fonts a little differently, indeed some
browsers may display differently, and different monitors display a little
differently. People could be having a vastly different experience from what
you or I have.

There's a reason sans-serif black-on-white is the default, and why people ask
for it. It's easy to read no matter what. That's why Readability exists. And
for what it's worth, at first glance I find this page difficult to read as
well on a 1080p 15" monitor. The font makes me have to focus on one line and
one word at a time, where in stock sans serif I can skim. That's what happens
when you try to translate text that works fine in a novel and put it on a
computer screen. You would never see a newspaper or a textbook printed in this
fashion. Because it's harder to read.

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acqq
The most dramatic setting in which "The Thing" is traditionally watched:

[http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/04.13/01-winterover.htm...](http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/04.13/01-winterover.html)

"Shortly after the last plane leaves, the winter-overs gather in the main
dining room, the Galley, for a showing of the science fiction movie "The
Thing," about an alien that attacks researchers in an isolated Antarctic base.
"

The winter personnel are physically isolated from the rest of the world
between mid-February and late October.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%E2%80%93Scott_South_Po...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%E2%80%93Scott_South_Pole_Station)

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patmcguire
I can't see something about the antarctic without linking this: Alcoholism in
Antarctica [http://www.funraniumlabs.com/2013/06/alcoholism-in-
antarctic...](http://www.funraniumlabs.com/2013/06/alcoholism-in-antarctica)

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wyldfire
Here's a cool Hugo-nominated story based on "The Thing": "The Things" [0] --
it's retold from "The Thing's" point of view.

[0]
[http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/](http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/)

~~~
tjradcliffe
That's awesome!

So far no one here has mentioned that the whole "thing" is based on the John W
Campbell story "Who Goes There": [http://www.scaryforkids.com/who-goes-there-
by-john-w-campbel...](http://www.scaryforkids.com/who-goes-there-by-john-w-
campbell/)

Carpenter's movie is great in part because it's so true to the source
material.

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drpgq
I always like Carpenter's They Live. Who knew Roddy Piper could act? Or at
least sort of act.

~~~
grubles
That's a great movie as well. Roddy Piper also shows up in an episode or two
of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".

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madengr
One of the best horror movies, ever.

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bobbyi_settv
In my opinion, the best.

Anyone who has access to the DVD/ Blu Ray should also check out the commentary
track with John Carpenter and Kurt Russel. It is great.

~~~
bshimmin
The other two films in what Carpenter calls his "Apocalypse Trilogy" are also
well worth watching: "Prince of Darkness" and "In the Mouth of Madness".
Neither has aged quite so well, but both are good and _interesting_ horror
films.

I feel that "Suspiria" and "Don't Look Now" are actually the best horror films
ever made, but de gustibus non est disputandum, as they say.

~~~
madengr
Yes, POD was awesome. A good twist on religion.

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lobster_johnson
Very poor article. I think I understand what the author was going for, but I
expected much better from The Paris Review.

Fans looking for more behind the scenes stuff about the movie should check out
"The Thing: Terror Takes Shape", about the making of the film, with much of
the cast and principal crew included. The whole film is on YouTube [1], and
also on several releases of the movie.

Also highly recommended is the site by one of the producers, Stuart Cohen [2].
It's a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes info, photos, rambling gossip and
old-fashioned war stories from the set.

[1]
[https://youtube.com/watch?v=B48Yp00LitE](https://youtube.com/watch?v=B48Yp00LitE)

[2] [http://theoriginalfan.blogspot.com](http://theoriginalfan.blogspot.com)

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hitlin37
there is a game by the same name. it was one of the best game of its time.
pretty scary. and chilly.

~~~
inanutshellus
The video game, incidentally, is the official sequel to the film. If you saw
the movie and loved it and want to know what happened next, there's yer
chance.

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throwawayornot
great making-of doc on The Thing:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B48Yp00LitE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B48Yp00LitE)

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badocr
Someone once posted on the film's IMDb forum a blog post by one of the movie
producers. Lovely and juicy behind the scenes details.

[http://theoriginalfan.blogspot.com/](http://theoriginalfan.blogspot.com/)

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jksmith
I love how Wilford Brimley was probing the alien with a pencil, then starts
tapping his lips with the same pencil. The Thing is a true classic.

~~~
andrewstuart
The Thing is one of my fave movies, have watched it at least 30 times but
never noticed that till I watched it again last week.

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e40
OK, so I read it and I still don't know how it "nearly sabotaged John
Carpenter's career"!

~~~
jakejake
I'm right there with you - I clicked thinking of hearing behind-the-scenes
stories about how The Thing was over budget, behind schedule, having technical
problems, etc. But instead the article was just a kinda rambling collection of
thoughts about the movie (which it is a great movie).

~~~
lobster_johnson
The "collector's edition" (DVD, not sure about BluRay) includes a really
wonderful 83-minute documentary, "The Thing: Terror Takes Shape", about the
making of the film, along with several other great extras, including a clip of
the original ending. Highly recommended. Seems the whole film is on YouTube
[1].

Also highly recommended is the site by one of the producers, Stuart Cohen [2].
It's a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes info, photos, rambling gossip and
old-fashioned war stories from the set.

[1]
[https://youtube.com/watch?v=B48Yp00LitE](https://youtube.com/watch?v=B48Yp00LitE)

[2] [http://theoriginalfan.blogspot.com](http://theoriginalfan.blogspot.com)

~~~
jakejake
cool, thanks for those links!

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peterwwillis
.....the fuck did I just read?

