A popular theory goes that because Spielberg’s cute “ET” was released just 14 days earlier, John Carpenter’s film about a bloodthirsty alien flopped in 1982. Some may have been overwhelmed by the carnage at an Antarctic research station. “A work like this,” said the director, “has never existed before. And it never will be again.” Stan Winston and Rob Bottin’s animatronic representations of the shapeshifter – the puppets of human-spider or wolf mutation – set new standards until the breakthrough of CGI effects at the end of the eighties.
The “Thing” – based on the story “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell Jr. – is, like Howard Hawks’ 1951 adaptation, an allegory of fears, both political and health-related. During the Cold War, paranoia was omnipresent in the USA: Who on the team was “infected” by evil, who was working as a communist behind my back? In Carpenter’s version, fear of AIDS played a role.
Morricone got the Oscar
The Carpenter-free prequel from 2011 is dispensable as an addition to this new edition. But the deluxe box also brings together all the documentaries and edited scenes that were previously divided into different editions. A must-see is the audio commentary from the acclaimed, self-deprecating director-and-star duo Carpenter/Russell: There seems to be nothing funnier for these two than looking back at a horror flick in which green fake blood was spilled.
There is also Campbell’s novella and Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack with the distinctive bass title motif, which is modeled on a double, unearthly heartbeat; It was also the composer who breathed life into the creature. He used several pieces again for the score for Tarantino’s western “The Hateful Eight,” for which he ultimately received an Oscar. In it too, Russell played one of several snowed-in people who distrust each other. The “Thing” legend lives on in other materials decades later. (Universal)