"We need a character with no arms. Get a bloke with no arms!"
Genius. How did they think of that?
It's more the brilliance of the mask of Richard Dysart's face that the amputee wears. Try telling me that you can tell that
that's not the Richard Dysart himself (@37s). It's that kind of clever use of the practical effects of the time that make
The Thing such a magically grizzly film; invention through necessity. These days they'd just have the actor wear green gloves and digitally remove his arms in post, which would impress no-one.
The bit that always takes me aback is when they pull up the floorboards under the shack and find the scientist guy has built a fucking flying saucer
Out of helicopter parts no less! That scene is one of the very few things in the film which I consider to be a flaw within an otherwise damn near perfect film (the others being a handful of dodgy effects shots - mostly in the Palmer Thing reveal scene). I don't care how much knowledge the creature has from different species and civilisations; it ain't gonna be able to build a flying saucer out of helicopter parts and other random junk from an Antarctic research station.
I enjoyed the 2011's revelation that the Thing rejected metal and thus teeth fillings replaced the blood test. Though, you'd be fucked if you had perfect teeth.
To be fair they address that in the prequel itself, during the scene where they're separating people based upon who has fillings; "so I'm gonna get killed because I floss?".
Can we at least agree that the opening is total balls? We don't need to see a flying saucer falling to Earth, it would be much better if we didn't.
Same deal with
Predator, though I think the inclusion of the opening flying saucer shot in that is far worse, given that without it, the movie would play out as a
From Dusk Til Dawn style bait and switch (you think you're watching a typical Tarantino/Arnie flick and then BHAM! It's now a creature feature).
Should have added in my previous post, that the Playstation 2 game (which was set after the events of the 1982 film) wasn't much cop either. I remember some decent ideas, but naff execution.
Agreed. Can you believe that there's still idiots who harp on about it being a "canonical sequel"? Just because Carpenter said that at the time, in order to promote it. The same shit happens with
Ghostbusters: The Video Game.