Paranoid Winter

Rating: 9/10 (30 April 2008)

Since the very beginning we all realize that is going to be a long and difficult winter for all the men of the research station in Antarctica. Besides the fact that must be really frustrating to be working in a station like that without your family and women, the winter looks even more difficult in part because now they can't make a communication with anybody so practically nobody will hear their screams. That cold and lonely environment is perfect for the story of this film, story of paranoia, human behaviour and unknown things. That aspect of the unknown things is brilliant, first everything starts with an unusual situation: a Norwegian helicopter is pursuing a Siberian husky, trying to kill it. Not knowing why that Norwegian went crazy shooting everywhere, the men of the station kill him and the dog stays there. And since then they start to investigate, first to know more about the Norwegian station and later to know more about a thing that was defrost. Of course thanks to their science skills they obtain great information about what was really the dog and how that thing is able to imitate other life forms. Now the paranoia begins with everybody trying to survive and not trusting in anybody. Here the best part of the film begins with that thing that could be anybody. Of course every team has a leader, here is RJ MacReady (Kurt Russell) who is the helicopter pilot and definitely the smartest and the only who still can think about a possible solution, also realizing that the thing is trying to survive just like them. The last part is just great with the "still humans" knowing that they are not going to survive but with the hope that they can take with them the thing. In the end the only thing they can do is to wait there for a little whilesee what happens.
"The Thing" was the first studio film made by Carpenter but it was released just after "E.T." back in 1982 and was a theatrical failure but definitely is a terrific film with many great visual scenes; of course the ones when the thing appears are my favourites. The cast is also pretty good with Russell in his best days, just after his escape from New York and now with more hair and beard ala Morrison. The rest of the team is good too and is odd that there aren't women in the entire cast.
Conclusion: "The Thing" is just another great film of John Carpenter that gained more audience with the video, laser-disc and DVD releases. In these days when in America there is nothing but remakes of the classics, remakes of Asian films, prequels & sequels, mixes between two films and stuff, is almost a fact that another remake of a Carpenter film is coming. Now this film is probably going to be remade and if the thing will be just like in the past years, after seeing the remake where are going to re-watch this 1982 version just to take off the bad taste in our mouths. It's true that this film is also a remake but in this case is more faithful to the original story and is just great.
Region 4 DVD: Although the box doesn't say this is the single-disc collector's edition of "The Thing". It contains many bonus materials: the really interesting and informative 80 minutes documentary "John Carpenter's The Thing: Terror Takes Shape" (the only problem with this documentary is that it doesn't contain Spanish subtitles), the classic director commentary also with Kurt Russell, Production Background with the description of settings and characters, photos of the cast, Production Art and Storyboards (great concept sketches), Location Design, Production Archives, Outtakes and two scenes(frame by frame and full motion), Post Production (cool photos of the premier and posters), Production Notes, Cast and Filmmakers, Theatrical trailer. THAT'S A DVD!