{"id":22633,"date":"2016-10-07T20:13:52","date_gmt":"2016-10-08T00:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=22633"},"modified":"2016-10-07T20:16:56","modified_gmt":"2016-10-08T00:16:56","slug":"the-thing-1982-collectors-edition-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/07\/the-thing-1982-collectors-edition-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thing (1982): Collector\u2019s Edition [Blu-Ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"thething\"<\/a>Back in 1982, American audiences were enamored with the extraterrestrial. We were in a time where the prospect of aliens was cuddly and friendly, and we were capable of exploring vast new worlds. What with \u201cET\u201d and \u201cClose Encounters\u201d and \u201cStar Wars,\u201d who didn\u2019t want to visit new worlds? Then John Carpenter came along in 1982 with his version of \u201cWho Goes There?\u201d a short story about an amorphous alien entity that could consume human bodies, and America wasn\u2019t too kind to it. John Carpenter\u2019s masterpiece is notorious for not being welcomed by critics or the box office during its release date, but thankfully years later, horror fans and movie buffs alike have embraced \u201cThe Thing\u201d for the sheer pitch perfect masterpiece it is. John Carpenter doesn\u2019t provide us with a more positive outlook of an alien visitor as he did with \u201cStarman.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The alien in \u201cThe Thing\u201d is formless, it\u2019s perverse, it\u2019s disgusting, and it\u2019s mean as all hell. When we finally do get to see it in its somewhat final form, even our main protagonist MacReady screeches \u201cYeah, fuck you too!\u201d This isn\u2019t an alien that wants to meet us, or even be our friends. It likely has no knowledge of its own home world. All The Thing is is a traveler that was stranded on our planet and seeks only to survive. How it does so is by transforming in to a twisted version of us and it begins to take hold of its hosts one by one until it\u2019s managed to take the entirety of its hosts. What it is and how many of it are present is almost always ambiguous because the Thing has a penchant for survival and wants only to survive, always slipping by our protagonists as they seek to destroy it before it reaches civilization.<\/p>\n

John Carpenter\u2019s \u201cThe Thing\u201d is not just a pitch perfect horror film, but an essential template on how to remake a movie. With \u201cThe Thing,\u201d Carpenter offers his own interpretation of \u201cWho Goes There?\u201d while also paying homage to the spirit of monster movies that the original Howard Hawks film celebrated. Carpenter\u2019s film doesn\u2019t trample all over its predecessor, but works as a wonderful companion piece and the films compliment each other as both are excellent examples of the sub-genres they work toward conveying on screen. Carpenter\u2019s horror film is straight forward, to the point, and simplistic, but also impressive and epic, as he teams a slew of marvelous character actors to work off of one another and build this energy of tension and biting paranoia. It\u2019s really hard to say something about \u201cThe Thing\u201d that hasn\u2019t already been said a thousand times by now since the eighties, but suffice it to say it hasn\u2019t shown its age at all and is still a master mold of horror, and science fiction.<\/p>\n

With this latest edition, Scream Factory pulls out all of the stops to give fans a royal treatment for John Carpenter\u2019s masterpiece. On Disc One there a trio of Trailers for \u201cThe Thing,\u201d and a TV Spot. There are also two minute radio spots, still galleries, a four minute behind the scenes, Lobby Cards, Press Stills, Programs, Posters, Film Storyboards, and Production Artwork. Finally there are three full length audio commentaries. One is with Dean Cundey, another with Co-Producer Stuart Cohen, and another with Director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell. Disc Two brings on more bonus features with \u201cRequiem for a Shapeshifter\u201d a thirty minute interview with Carpenter held by Mick Garris. \u201cThe Men of Outpost 31\u201d is a fifty minute interview session with the supporting cast of the film. \u201cAssembling and Assimilation\u201d is an eleven minute interview with editor Todd Ramsay, and \u201cBehind the Chameleon\u201d is a twenty five minute look at the shape shifting special effects with Special Effects Supervisor Peter Kuran.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s \u201cSounds from the Cold\u201d a fifteen minute interview with Alan Howard who produces the special sound effects and excellent music, as well as \u201cBetween the Lines\u201d with author Alan Dean Foster. Fans also get to view the Network TV Broadcast Version of The Thing, which is not high quality, but a great novelty. \u201cJohn Carpenter\u2019s The Thing: Terror Takes Shape\u201d is a wonderful documentary about the background and production of Carpenter\u2019s film, and its conception. \u201cThe Making of a Chilling Tale\u201d is a vintage featurette, while \u201cThe Making of The Thing\u201d is another vintage archive segment. There\u2019s \u201cThe Art of Mike Ploog\u201d with a tour of the storyboards, \u201cBack into the Cold\u201d is an eleven minute visit of the film\u2019s location, and there\u2019s a five minute outtakes reel. Finally, there are vintage featurettes, a vintage product reel, vintage behind the scenes footage, and finally an Annotated Production Archive clocking in at fifty four minutes.
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