Good film from Carpenter

Rating: Null/10 (12 February 2006)

After watching The Thing From Another World, I was expecting to be disappointed by remake The Thing. Boy, I was wrong. The Thing is excellent remake, if I ever seen one. Usually, I don't approve of remake but John Carpenter did fantastic job on this one. From what I heard, The Thing is more faithful to the original story than the predecessor The Thing From Another World. But The Thing is perhaps one of the best horror films if I ever seen one, although I confessed that I'm not expert in horror genre like some folks are.
What makes The Thing different from its predecessor is that it creates its own universe, along with its own set of characters. That's why The Thing, along with handful of remake, is one of the successful remake films at where millions and millions of remake had failed. Kurt Russell, in one of his best roles, is fantastic as MacReady whose took charge of the base when bad stuff occurred. The set up in The Thing is very different from original film, which set the tone for whole film. I find it very hard to explain what the set up is like so check this one out.
The Thing is fantastic because it doesn't rely on CGI, which is astonishing. The special effects are top notch and have held up very well to this day. One of the most entertaining horror films ever made and it's just very exciting from beginning to the ending. If the studios want their remake to be very successful, they should take notes from The Thing. It's very solid film of its genre.
The actors are fantastic and didn't try to outperforming each other but they're perfectly content with their roles, which is good. Carpenter's direction is top notch and his handling of the material is just fantastic. It's great. Like its predecessor, The Thing has held up very well, which isn't something that happens to every film.
Carpenter was very smart to place The Thing on South Pole instead of the North Pole, where The Thing From Another World had been placed. We can see that Carpenter isn't being pressured by the original film; instead he just focuses on constructing original screenplay that is based on short story, which is very smart thing.
The DVD of The Thing is one of the handful best DVDs I've ever seen. Solid presentation of the film and very nice special features, which is very seldom seen in this day where studios like to put lot of fluff and talking heads on their special features. I think I'm going to get DVD of The Thing once I get my hands on DVD of The Thing From Another World.
One thing I have problem with The Thing is the music Ennio Morricone had produced. It just sounds bit out of place and very electronic. But when used properly, it's great. It's only thing I have complaints about this one.
Very solid stuff. Highly recommend.