Threatthriver/General_Text_Data · Datasets at Hugging Face

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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

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