John Carpenter's 'The Thing' sadly didn't attain the status it has now for many years. Released a week after Steven Spielberg's 'ET', audiences and critics were turned off by a violent and angry alien attack movie and for many years until home video and now DVD/Blu-Ray the film did little to impress other than those few who saw the diamond in the rough. Now in 2016, Shout! Factory has provided the second Blu-Ray release with a new video/audio transfer and a load of special features, including some old favorites. So is this new release worth the double dip? I say yes, yes, a million times yes.
For those who don't know the tale, 'The Thing' has a group of researchers in Antarctica who discover a hostile alien life form who has the ability to assimilate the form of other humans in an effort to trick and protect itself from danger. This naturally leads to paranoia, violence, and terror in the snow ridden wilderness where there is no one to help and nowhere to hide. The film was released in 1982 but has a timeless feel to it. Other than some primitive technology or out of date clothing, the film's environment holds up due to its plainness and in this film's case, that's not a bad thing.
The cast is fantastic as well, with Kurt Russel in one of my favorite roles he's done for Carpenter. His 'give no shits' attitude suits him and from the opening scene with him and the computer chess, he hooks you in as a great character. The rest are good as well, though for many you do not get nearly as much time as you could in other films to develop them, you get a good sense of what they all provide for this facility and they provide humanity, humor, and sympathy throughout the run time. The special effects by Rob Bottin (The Howling) is still to this day the best in the business you could possibly provide. Nothing feels dated here, you believe that every gory, slimy creature on screen is truly alive and its a cliche to say at this point, but they really don't make them like this anymore if the 2011 prequel/remake is anything to go by you just can't recapture this film's awesome effects. Does the film have flaws? Yes it does, as most films usually have. The film is quite slow to take off, even for a John Carpenter film and modern audiences may feel cheated and bored before the titular 'Thing' even reveals itself. The film also suffers the opposite with a rushed ending in my opinion though to be fair, this may have been due to production troubles as shown in the special features. Still though, one wishes the film could have ended on a more satisfactory tone than what we ultimately get. 'The Thing' is still a great film after all these years and one of my top ten favorite Carpenter films.
The video quality has been remastered and differs greatly from the past Universal single disc release. The film looks brighter and crisper than the previous High Def picture and the contrast is enhanced slightly as well, giving us a better outline of blacks and colors. The film's darker moments seen in previous releases are now clear as day and the special effects in said shots stand out even more, bringing a big positive to this release. Overall, I love the picture here and it's far superior to the Universal release.
Audio on this release was subject to controversy leading to a delayed release but as far as I know, the issue has been resolved and the 4.1 and 5.1 channels both sound great. Though truth be told, I find little differences between the two, they are improvements from previous versions of the film. It's not going to blow you away or anything, this is a rather quiet film after all but the audio quality satisfies this reviewer.
Special Features include all previous features transferred over including Three Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots, Radio Spots, and Audio Commentary with John Carpenter and Kurt Russell. The good people at Shout! have given us a treasure trove of new material on a whole disc in itself with this collector's edition release including several new documentaries and featurettes while keeping the excellent 'Terror Takes Shape' from the previous DVD/Blu-Ray release. You also get a new Audio Commentary with Cinematographer Dean Cundey, The Network TV version of the film in its entirety, new interviews, and some archival documentaries from the time of the film's original release. This is a packed Blu-Ray collection folks and well worth the price alone. These are some amazing special features and once again Shout! has really outdone themselves this time.
While 'THE THING' is already an excellent film, this new release has given the film and its fans the treatment they deserve. From the upgraded quality to the vast amount of special features, this is a double dip well worth owning.
THE FILM:
THE BLU-RAY:
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