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film of 1982, an incredibly competitive year, and perhaps even the best genre |
motion picture of the decade". [160] Complex named it the ninth-best of the |
decade, calling it the "greatest genre remake of all time". [168] Numerous |
publications have ranked it as one of the best science fiction films, |
including number four by IGN (2016); [169] number 12 by Thrillist (2018); |
[170] number 17 by GamesRadar+ (2018); [171] number 31 by Paste (2018); [172] |
number 32 by Esquire (2015) and Popular Mechanics (2017); [173] [174] and |
number 76 by Rotten Tomatoes (2017) based on its average review score. [175] |
Similarly, The Thing has appeared on several lists of the top horror films, |
including number one by The Boston Globe ; [164] number two by Bloody |
Disgusting (2018); [176] number four by Empire (2016); [177] and number six by |
Time Out (2016). [178] Empire listed its poster as the 43rd best film poster |
ever. [72] In 2016, the British Film Institute named it one of ten great films |
about aliens visiting Earth. [179] It was voted the ninth best horror film of |
all time in a Rolling Stone readers poll, [165] and is considered one of the |
best examples of body horror . [180] [181] [182] [183] GamesRadar+ listed its |
ending as one of the 25 best of all time. [184] Review aggregation website |
Rotten Tomatoes , which has compiled old and contemporary reviews, reports |
that 85% of 84 critics provided positive reviews for the film, with an average |
rating of 7.5/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Grimmer and more |
terrifying than the 1950s take, John Carpenter's The Thing is a tense sci-fi |
thriller rife with compelling tension and some remarkable make-up effects." |
[185] On Metacritic , a similar website that aggregates both past and present |
reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on 13 |
critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [186] In a 2011 interview, |
Carpenter remarked that it was perhaps his favorite film from his own |
filmography. He lamented that it took a long time for The Thing to find a |
wider audience, saying, "If The Thing had been a hit, my career would have |
been different. I wouldn't have had to make the choices that I made. But I |
needed a job. I'm not saying I hate the movies I did. I loved making Christine |
(1983) and Starman (1984) and Big Trouble in Little China (1986), all those |
films. But my career would have been different." [187] Cultural influence [ |
edit ] The film has had a significant impact on popular culture, [162] and by |
1998, The Thing was already considered a cult classic . [156] [55] It is |
listed in the film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die , |
which says "one of the most influential horror movies of the 1980s, much |
imitated but rarely bettered ... It is one of the first films to unflinchingly |
show the rupture and warp of flesh and bone into grotesque tableaus of surreal |
beauty, forever raising the bar of cinematic horror." [188] It has been |
referred to in a variety of media, from television (including The X-Files , |
Futurama , and Stranger Things ) to games ( Resident Evil 4 , Tomb Raider III |
, [162] Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden , [189] and Among Us ), [190] |
and films ( The Faculty , Slither , The Mist ). [162] The Thing is screened |
annually at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station . Several filmmakers have |
spoken of their appreciation for The Thing or cited its influence on their own |
work, including Guillermo del Toro , [191] James DeMonaco , [192] J. J. Abrams |
, [193] Neill Blomkamp , [194] David Robert Mitchell , [195] Rob Hardy , [196] |
Steven S. DeKnight , [197] and Quentin Tarantino . [198] In 2011, The New York |
Times asked prominent horror filmmakers what film they had found the scariest. |
Two, John Sayles and Edgar Wright , cited The Thing . [199] The 2015 Tarantino |
film The Hateful Eight takes numerous cues from The Thing , from featuring |
Russell in a starring role, to replicating themes of paranoia and mistrust |
between characters restricted to a single location, and even duplicating |
certain angles and layouts used by Carpenter and Cundey. [198] Pieces of |
Morricone's unused score for The Thing were repurposed for The Hateful Eight . |
[61] Tarantino also cited The Thing as an inspiration for his 1992 film |
Reservoir Dogs . [12] The film is screened annually in February to mark the |
beginning of winter at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station . [12] [200] In |
January 2010, Clarkesworld Magazine published " The Things ", a short story by |
Peter Watts told from the Thing's point of view; it is unable to understand |
why humans are hostile toward it and horrified to learn that they do not |
shapeshift. The story received a 2011 Hugo Award nomination . [12] [201] In |
2017, a 400-page art book was released featuring art inspired by The Thing , |
with contributions from 350 artists, a foreword by director Eli Roth , and an |
afterword by Carpenter. [202] The 2007 Halloween Horror Nights event at |
Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, featured "The Thing: Assimilation", a |
haunted attraction based on the film. The attraction included MacReady and |
Childs, both held in stasis, the Blair-Thing and the outpost kennel. [203] |
[204] Sequels [ edit ] Dark Horse Comics published four comic book sequels |
starring MacReady, beginning in December 1991 with the two-part The Thing from |
Another World by Chuck Pfarrer , which is set 24 hours after the film. [205] |
[206] Pfarrer was reported to have pitched his comic tale to Universal as a |
sequel in the early 1990s. [205] This was followed by the four-part The Thing |
from Another World: Climate of Fear in July 1992, [207] the four-part The |
Thing from Another World: Eternal Vows in December 1993, [208] and The Thing |
from Another World: Questionable Research . [209] In 1999, Carpenter said that |
no serious discussions had taken place for a sequel, but he would be |
interested in basing one on Pfarrer's adaptation, calling the story a worthy |
sequel. [23] [205] A 2002 video game of the same name was released for |
Microsoft Windows , PlayStation 2 , and Xbox to generally favorable reviews. |
[210] [211] The game's plot follows a team of U.S. soldiers investigating the |
aftermath of the film's events. [212] In 2005, the Syfy channel planned a |
four-hour miniseries sequel produced by Frank Darabont and written by David |
Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick . The story followed a Russian team who recover the |
corpses of MacReady and Childs, as well as remnants of the Thing. The story |
moves forward 23 years, where the Thing escapes in New Mexico, and follows the |
attempts at containment. The project never proceeded, and Universal opted to |
continue with a feature film sequel. [213] A prequel film, also titled The |
Thing , was released in October 2011 to a $31 million worldwide box office |
gross and mixed reviews. [214] [215] [216] [217] The story follows the events |
after the Norwegian team discovers the Thing. [216] In 2020, Universal Studios |
and Blumhouse Productions announced the development of a remake of Carpenter's |
The Thing . The remake was described as incorporating elements of The Thing |
from Another World and The Thing , as well as the novella Who Goes There? and |
its expanded version Frozen Hell , which features several additional chapters. |
[218] Although released years apart, and unrelated in terms of plot, |
characters, crew, or even production studios, Carpenter considers The Thing to |
be the first installment in his "Apocalypse Trilogy", a series of films based |
around cosmic horror , entities unknown to man, that are threats to both human |
life and the sense of self. The Thing was followed by Prince of Darkness in |