January 9, 2024 • 38 mins
Imagine the chills running down your spine as you uncover the horrors lurking in the Antarctic ice with John Carpenter's "The Thing." With my "The Thing" t-shirt proudly worn, I lead you into the heart of Carpenter's masterpiece, discussing the opening's gripping spacecraft scene and the relentless suspense that follows. As the American research team delves into the eerie silence of the Norwegian camp, we're met with strange occurrences and a husky that's hiding a terrifying secret. Kurt Russell's MacReady provides a stoic center to the film's increasing paranoia, and we walk in his snow boots as the alien threat becomes all too real.
The true star of the episode is the argument I lay out for the superiority of practical effects in horror films—a debate as old as the genre itself. "The Thing" stands as a testament to the bone-chilling power of physical effects, effortlessly outperforming the CGI spectacles of today in instilling genuine fear. Without a guest to temper the discussion, the conversation deepens into the characters' skepticism and the film's examination of what it means to be human when faced with an indistinguishable enemy.
As we near the end of our frostbitten journey, we celebrate the film's nerve-shredding climax and draw parallels to "The Hateful Eight," another snow-laden tale with an equally compelling score by Ennio Morricone. I pour my passion into a gratitude-filled reflection on our podcast's growth, teasing future episodes that may roam through cinematic snowscapes. If you've not yet succumbed to "The Thing's" icy grip, let this episode be the beacon that guides you to one of horror's most treasured films. Stay tuned – the horizon of our discussions is as boundless as the Antarctic expanse.
If you'd like to own your own copy for when this film isn't streaming, look no further!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Movies, colin
.
They're pretty good.
I'm your host, travis Studding,and today we're going to
continue our non-holiday wintermovie month with John
Carpenter's 1982 film, the Thing.
As you can see here, I amwearing my Thing t-shirt About
(00:27):
as much of it as you can see.
So I'm ready, you're ready,let's do it.
So first shot we open on aflying saucer going through just
above the Earth's atmosphereWell, pretty far above, but
outside of the Earth'satmosphere and we see it head
(00:49):
towards Earth to land, to crash,we're not really sure yet, but
right after that goes out offrame.
Then we get John Carpenter'sthe Thing and it kind of tears
through the screen, a little bitvery 80s, but very awesome too.
And then we get a card sayingAntarctica, winter 1982.
(01:14):
And the first shot we see onEarth is a helicopter presumably
chasing after a husky and justchasing it through the snow and
thinking like maybe, oh, they'rejust trying to get the dog that
escaped.
So they're trying to catch thedog that is wild or left another
(01:36):
station, who knows.
But then someone comes out ofthe, hangs out of the door of
the helicopter with a rifle andstarts firing at the dog.
So we're like, okay, like now,what's going on?
Like whoa, why are they tryingto shoot this dog?
So, and then after that we cutto the US National Science
(01:57):
Institute station, which iswhere most of the movie is going
to take place, and we getintroduced to our main
protagonist, mcgreedy, played byKurt Russell, and he's playing
computer chess on a very olddesktop computer and he loses
and he does what any sane personwould do when they lose, and he
(02:18):
opens the computer up and pourshis whiskey and then shorts it
out.
And then that's that with thecomputer chess.
So we cut back outside and thehelicopter that's chasing the
husky is getting towards thecamp and they're like, hey, like
what's that chopper doing?
Like can you read it?
Like who are they?
(02:38):
And they figure out that it's aNorwegian group and like, right
, when they're discussing all ofthis, the dog runs into the
camp.
They're showing they'rethrowing explosives at the dog.
And so now they're like alittle more on edge.
(02:59):
They open fire on the dog, theyland the helicopter, open fire
on the dog as it's running intothe camp.
So they're shooting towards theother people.
Hopefully that make a lot ofnoise.
And so now they're like reallylike, oh shit, like we got to
take care of this.
They end up blowing up the theirown helicopter and Because one
(03:26):
guy tries to throw a grenade, itfalls on the snow and he tries
to like dig it out and you knowit's not quick enough and the
whole chopper blows up.
But there's still one guy andhe's still going after the dog
to shooting at it.
And the one guy inside that'swatching this kind of like he's
(03:47):
more dressed in a militaryuniform, so he's probably like
the military presence at thisscientific site, and he breaks
the window and fires at the guyand shoots him in the head
Because now he's likeendangering them, so he's a
threat.
So this guy, the captain thinkGary is his name and he goes and
(04:13):
, like, once everyone calms downfrom this, he goes and talks to
the communications guy thattells him to like reach out to
someone on the radio, tell himwhat's going on.
He's like, what?
Like who am I gonna reach outto?
Like there's nobody nearby.
But you know it's like justkeep trying.
They decide that they're gonnaget in the their chopper and go
(04:35):
investigate this Norwegian campand see if they could figure out
.
Like, hey, like we'll go talkto somebody or just Investigate.
See what's going on like whyare they Throwing explosives and
shooting at a dog?
So they get in the chopper,they head over there back in the
main American camp we get Nallswho seems to be like the chef
(05:01):
maybe, but I'm sure all of themhave, like different jobs, so
maybe he's just the onescientist that can cook, but
he's riding around on rollerskates, he's blasting music.
The one guy that got shot in theleg I forgot to mention that,
but One guy got shot in the leg.
(05:23):
He's like on the intercomsaying no, I was like turn that
shit off.
Like I'm trying to get somerest.
I got shot today, damn it, youknow.
And no, it's just like goes tothe radio and like waves his
hand over it and then doesn'teven turn it down.
We then see that the, the dog,the husky that from before is
(05:46):
now like in the camp andeverything, and we see him just
kind of Him or her, I don'treally know, but see the dog
Just kind of very quiet and verylike, almost like it's
observing.
And then it goes into one ofthe rooms and we see that like
(06:11):
the, the person turns.
We just see their silhouette ofthem turning to like look at
the dog, and then the seam cuts,seemingly pointless, but we'll
figure out why.
Later they get to the othercamp, the ones that went on the
chopper tire camps destroyed.
I like like shit, like what,what happened here?
(06:31):
But they get out and they do alittle investigation.
They head into the main roomand end up finding this dead
body and he's you know, it'sAntarctica, so he's completely
frozen.
But like the, we see that his,his throat's been slit and his
hands have been slit, but he'sstill holding like the knife or
the scalpel.
(06:52):
And then there's like bloodicicles dripping down and
everything.
It's super gnarly.
But then they just keep lookingaround and like, geez, like
what happened here.
And then they like decided tograb some documents and stuff
like that, you know, just seewhat they can figure out like
once they get back to their campwhere it's safe.
So they think they head intoanother room to, you know,
(07:16):
continue investigating, and theyfind this like weird, like ice.
It almost looks like a bathtublike, but like very angular I
don't know how else to describeit but it's like a perfect
rectangle, column or whatever.
That's like dug out in themiddle.
So it kind of looks like theold style, like the, like the
(07:38):
Turkish baths in Grand BudapestHotel it kind of runs me of that
.
But it's just like carved outof ice, like ice blocks and
stuff, and like like what, whatthe hell is this all about?
Like, they're like, I'm notsure.
Then they go outside and thenthey find these charred,
deformed bodies you know greatcameo from Uncle Owen and Aunt
(07:59):
Baru and they're like geez, like, what the hell?
Like, what is that?
Like, is that human?
Is that an alien?
Like what, what the hell?
And they're like I don't know.
Like they get it in a body bagand they decide to take the you
know the evidence, plus thisthese charred bodies are one of
them back with them.
We see them landing the chopperback at their camp and we also
(08:22):
see the dog is watching themfrom inside the, the building,
like out the window andeverything.
It just also just somethingjust feels off with the dog.
But you know, they bring thebody bag inside, they get it on
the autopsy table and or youknow, medical table, whatever it
is, open it up and then it'slike it's like steaming and
(08:43):
everything and the smell iscrazy and and everyone's like,
oh, what, like what the hell isthat?
We see that it has like twofaces, almost like they're like
pulling away from each otherSuper crazy.
Kind of looks like the PinkFloyd Wow, I forget what the
album is, but I could even beway off on Pink Floyd, but it
(09:07):
reminds me of like somethinglike that but I wish I could
remember.
But yeah, like two heads on itand everything, or two faces at
least it's almost looks like oneface that separated, but it
could also like be like twoseparate heads and it's all like
charred and everything.
(09:28):
One of the doctors, blair,played by Wilford diabetes
brimley.
He's doing the autopsy, he'spulling out the organs and stuff
and he's like this.
It's weird because all theseorgans are just normal human
organs.
You know, it's just the outside.
That's crazy.
We just get a couple of scenesof the you know the different
(09:48):
crew members Going about theirevening like they regularly,
regularly would.
Palmer is in his room with, Ithink, child's, is also in the
room with him and he's watchinga game show and like he's like I
already know that how this oneends and like Ejects the tape.
So it's that's just like tapestuff that they have from the
(10:10):
mainland puts in something elseI forget what it is.
It's not a game show, thoughand then we see a bunch of guys
in the game room playing cardsand the guy that got shot Goes
kind of like like under thetable and the dog is under there
and he's like, hey, can youknow?
I forget his name.
But it tells the other guy togo put the dog in.
Clark, tells Clark to go put thedog in the Kennel with the
(10:34):
other dogs, so they have a bunchof Huskies of their own, and so
Clark heads back with the dog,puts it in the kennel and at
first the dogs just kind ofsitting there like staring at
the wall, like not at any of theother dogs, just in the middle
of the cage or or pin, andstaring like directly at the
wall and just once again beingweird.
(10:55):
But then all of the other dogsstart barking like madly at this
, this new dog, and there's liketowing crazy, like trying to
like get away and like bark atit and growl at it and
everything.
Clark comes back in to see likewhat the commotion is about and
he, when he gets in there, thedogs head like bursts open like
(11:17):
a a well, kind of like ademogorgon and stranger things
and it's just like burst openinto four pieces and then
there's like a little bloody doghead like coming out the center
and it then like tentaclesstart shooting out and like
grabbing the other dogs and likepulling them in.
Yeah, then amongst all thiscommotion, mcgreedy pulls the
(11:41):
fire alarm, or just the alarm,and he's like have, have childs
get the flamethrower, likesomething's going on, and so
they head back there.
Dogs just like all over theplace.
I think it.
Yeah, it's like pulling otherdogs in with the tentacles.
They end up Torch in it.
Yeah, they torch it with theflamethrower.
(12:02):
It has these like big spiderlegs too I forgot to mention
that as well as the tentacles,and it's just craziest.
Practical special effects likeit.
Just like it feels more realwhen it's practical, even though
it could.
It could look technically faker, but Like the feeling is more
(12:25):
real.
Then, with CGI and there'sgreat CGI out there, like I'm
not one of these like completelyanti CGI people but like you
can't tell me that the creaturesand monsters in 1982 the thing
are not scarier than like anyCGI monster, like as soon as
(12:51):
like a monster.
Cgi it's rarely scary.
That's just my opinion, but I'mfeel very strongly about that.
It's just, I don't know, it'ssomething weird.
It doesn't trigger that uncannyvalley that you get with the
CGI stuff.
That's like almost looksrealistic and then it's just,
it's just off-putting and kindof like how most Marvel movies
(13:15):
just look like a video game withthe person's face.
You know the actor just has to.
Only their face has to show up,because everything else is CGI
and it's like that's.
It's not as engaging assomething like this, like this
is actors reacting to likeactual, like crazy practical
effects that are happening rightin front of their face, and
(13:38):
that's way more effective, in myopinion.
But yeah, they torch this spider, tentacle, dog, hentai, monster
.
Then they're like shit, likewhat the hell was that?
Like like why did that happen?
And there now it's like allright, what's going on?
Like, and now we know why theNorwegians were trying to kill
this dog, because whatever'sabout to happen here at the
(14:00):
American station already tookplace over at the Norway station
.
Blair Wilfred Brindley'scharacter, first one to figure
it out.
He's like all right, the dog islike imitating the other dogs,
it was like absorbing thempretty much.
And then he's like asking Clark, he's like how long were you
alone with the dog and like inkind of a suspicious tone and
(14:22):
he's like I don't know like acouple minutes why, and he's
like nothing, like don't worryabout it, even though he should
be very worried about it.
They then watch one of thevideotapes that they took from
the Norwegian site and it'sshowing this video of an
excavation and everything.
And I don't know which one, butone of the Norwegian scientists
in the excavation video is JohnCarpenter, but it's in like
(14:46):
black and white and grainy on asmall screen so it's kind of
hard to like pinpoint who's whoand plus everyone's in cold
weather gear and like bundled up, so you only see like this much
of John Carpenter anyway.
So they're watching this andthen basically see that there's
this.
They uncover this giant UFO likethis, the flying saucer, from
the opening of the film and itjust looks huge and it's just
(15:09):
big, open, empty, like big, open, crater, giant UFO.
And they're like all right,like let's go check this out.
So Mack leads a team, they grabthe chopper, they head over to
the this dig site and they findit.
They go back to the, the campand tell everybody else what
(15:31):
they saw Palmer like right away,because he's kind of like a
stoner weirdo guy is rightalready on board with like
aliens and everything.
And some of the other peopleare more skeptical.
Even though they just saw thecraziest shit that anyone has
ever seen in their entire lives,they're still a little
skeptical on what it is.
But you know, that's, that'show it would be.
(15:51):
I guess it's more believable tojust find out about some unknown
disease that just occurs inAntarctica versus, you know,
another species from anotherplanet that's capable of
interstellar travel.
You know, now Blair's back inhis office and he's on the
(16:11):
computer and he's put this likevisualization of the cells, like
replicating, like.
So it's like the, the aliencell and the dog cell, and the
alien cell takes over the dogcell and assimilates it and like
is pretty much identical to it,and then another cell comes and
it assimilates that one andthen you know, and it's just
(16:33):
like this non-stop takeover oflike other species, basically.
So then he runs like a testwith the computer and like the
sees that the probability thatsomeone on the team is already
infected is 75%, puts in anotherthing.
(16:55):
And then we see that if the,this virus, the cell, whatever,
were to get to the generalpopulation of the world, that
the entire planet would be takenover in 27,000 hours.
I'm pretty sure that's what itwas.
It's definitely 27, I justdon't remember if it was 100 or
thousand, but I'm pretty sure27,000 hours.
(17:15):
So I mean it's a long time, butnot really at the same time.
So Windows the guy that is thecommunications guy earlier that
said that he couldn't reachanybody.
He's saying like hey, likeshouldn't we burn these other
bodies?
Like shouldn't we burn I guessit's just the Norwegian but like
(17:39):
yeah, like shouldn't we likeburn them or what.
And then they're like nah, likewe like are you kidding me?
This is like the biggestscientific discovery of all time
, like we're gonna get the NobelPrize for this or something
like that.
So then he leaves the room togo like help with something else
and leaves Bennings in therewith the bodies.
Meanwhile fuchs is findingBlair's notebooks and kind of
(18:01):
like brings it to the attentionof McCready.
Like hey, like there's someweird stuff in here, like who's
probably like check on him orwhatever you know, and also like
this could be really scary forus and the entire world if he's
right about this stuff.
And like, all right, like onething at a time.
They head back to the room whereBennings is with the bodies and
(18:25):
he's got tentacles around hisneck and everything and he's all
like bloody and he's being likeassimilated.
So Windows runs like get helpand everything.
They get back to the room andit's empty and he's not there.
Like Bennings is gone.
They're like shit, like whatthe fuck happened.
Then they see him like runningoutside and they follow Bennings
(18:46):
and he's out in the snow and hekneels down onto the end of the
snow and they kind of likegather around him and like I
think Blair is the one that saysit first like that's not
Bennings.
And then like Bennings turnsand his hands are like these,
like giant claws almost, and helike turns and his eyes are like
solid black and then he justlets out this like crazy, like
(19:11):
roar, sound, like something likethat.
I don't think that's perfectlyhow it is, but super creepy.
And then and they just torchhim with the flamethrower
because obviously he's gone andhe's gonna start attacking
people.
So they torch him and and atthis point they know like all
right, yeah, windows is right,let's burn the other bodies.
(19:31):
And they grab them and put themin a pile, dial some gasoline
and light them on fire out inthe snow.
So then at some point they seeBlair like by the chopper and
they're like hey, like what areyou doing?
And then he runs off.
And then they go check thechopper and it's been like
sabotaged, like shit, likewhat's going on.
They head into Blair's office.
He's like well, first theyoverhear a gunshot and they run
(19:53):
over Blair's like in his office,smashing computers, smashing
the radios, firing guns atpeople.
Anyone that tries to come in,he's like shoots at him.
He doesn't luckily doesn'tshoot anybody or hit anybody.
But yeah, he's just like losingit because he knows that like
all, because in his mind allhope is lost, like there's no
way that they're gonna stop thisLike for him it's too late
(20:14):
already and maybe he's right,but you know, there's just no
hope for him at this point.
Childs goes around the back tothe other entrance of the room
to try to distract him.
Blair shoots at him but missesand like during this time
everyone else tackles him andthey get him down and they get
him secured and tied up and tiehim to a chair and everything
(20:37):
and end up putting him in thetool shed.
As they're tying him up,blair's like says like hey, keep
an eye on Clark, you know,because he's the one that was
with the dog who we know waspatient zero for the American
camp.
Just like, hey, keep an eye onhim.
They have like a little meetinglike outside, like a couple of
them do.
They're like, hey, like whatcan we do to like figure out
(20:59):
who's taken over?
Because they're not going toout themselves and we have no
idea, because they just looklike each other or they look
like the real person until theystart shooting tentacles out.
So they have an idea to do ablood test.
Like they have bags of theirown blood there in the in the
(21:20):
refrigerator in the station, andso it's like all right, we can
test it against our, you know,test our current blood with the
blood in the bags, and then wecan find out who's you know a
thing or whatever.
And they go to the fridge wherethe blood is and all the bags
(21:40):
have been like popped andemptied, and so they're like all
right, like well, who hadaccess to this?
And it's like only a few people, like the captain, gary, he has
the key and the doctor hadaccess to it and that's pretty
much it.
So right off the bat, they'remajor suspects.
So, while all this is happening,the lights go out and then, of
(22:03):
course, like all right, likewhat's going on?
Uh, fuchs goes missing.
But before he goes missing, wesee that he finds a like a
tattered shirt for McReady andwhich is making him look
suspicious.
And then Palmer doesn't want tobe on the search team with
(22:23):
Windows.
He's suspicious of him.
They go to talk to Blair in thetool shed.
He has, during his time inthere, he made a noose and but
you know he's not hanging in it,luckily.
He's trying to talk them intoletting them back in.
He's like hey, like, I know, Iwas being crazy before, I'm
sorry, I calm down, likeeverything's fine.
(22:46):
And they're like, no, like,let's figure some shit out.
First, out in the snow, theycome across Fuchs's body and
it's just burnt, and they'relike okay, like did he get burnt
by a thing?
Did he know he was turning andlike burn himself to stop it
from spreading?
Or did he like was it comingfor him and then he burned
(23:09):
himself to stop it fromspreading?
Like you know, they don't knowBecause and we don't know either
, because we don't see whatactually happens to him.
But while they were out in thesnow Nalls actually found the
same piece of clothing but itwas like shoved into like the
furnace in McReady's room.
So he's like shit, like I thinkMcReady's turned so I cut him
(23:32):
loose, like on the you know,because they were all like tied
together because it's a crazysnowstorm going on.
He's like I cut him loose and Igot back in here, like closed
all the doors and then McReadylike comes back but he has a
flare that's lit and he's likeholding it up to like a bundle
of dynamite and he's like ifanyone tries anything we're all
gonna fucking die.
So like, leave me alone.
(23:54):
He's like I know I'm not one ofthem, but like, but I don't
know who of you is and it's likeand I figure if all of you were
, then I'd be dead.
So some of you have to be, youknow, normal Amongst.
Like all this commotion, norris,one of the other guys.
He passes out and just likehits the ground and they're like
(24:15):
shit, like what's wrong.
Get him in the table, let'sfigure it out.
Doctor or Doc is examining himand while he's examining him,
norris' chest like bursts openand like, but it's like a mouth
Like, it's not like an alien,where it just like the single
alien like pops out Literallylike his whole chest, like
becomes like a chomping mouthand it chomps the Doc's hands
(24:41):
off and he's like holding hishands up and they're just like
bloody nubs and he's screaming.
And then the flame thrower andthey torch, uh Norris, before
anything else can happen.
During all of this his headdetaches and grows spider legs
and starts like walking out ofthe room.
But they notice it and turnaround and then they torch the
(25:03):
head and they're just like whatthe fuck was that?
But then everyone's stillsuspicious of McCreedy and he's
still suspicious of everyoneelse.
He's got the dynamite andeverything.
Paul er not Paul Clark in thebackground.
He grabs a scalpel off thetable and he decides to make a
run at McCreedy and McCreedyturns around and shoots him in
(25:24):
the head.
So Clark's done, you know, andthey're like shit, like all
right, let's do this blood test.
Like.
I have an idea.
Basically, I'm going to drawall of our blood and put them in
like little labeled Petridishes and, if you're normal,
nothing's going to happen.
I'm going to put the blood, I'mgoing to put a hot wire in the
(25:46):
blood and it's just going tosizzle and that's it.
If you're a thing, the blood isgoing to try to fight back or
flee from the heat or whatever.
Because he basically has thisrealization that, like we're
just like one thinking organismbut the thing seems to be like
each individual part can thinkand move and defend itself.
(26:09):
So the and he's thinking thatthis will go all the way down to
the blood cells Like eachindividual cell will, like, flee
from the heat and everythinglike that, and fight back.
So Windows goes around and hehas, like everyone tied up
except for him, because he's gotthe, the flamethrower and a gun
and dynamite and all that shit.
(26:29):
And then Windows goes aroundand I think because even though
he doesn't trust anybody at thispoint, he at least trusts him a
little bit.
So Windows goes and like doesthe scalpel in the thumb and
gets the blood from eachindividual person and then it's
time to do the test.
Windows goes first because he'salready untied and of course
(26:50):
he's good.
Then McCready does his ownblood just to prove to everyone
else like I know what I am, butjust so you guys know and then
he does the, the wire.
So basically he's got theflamethrower and he just like
heats up this copper wire andthat's what he used and he
inserts it into the blood andthat's how he does the test.
(27:10):
So McCready is good.
Does the dock?
He's good, even though he'salready dead.
He does Clark and turns out hewas good.
He was just overly suspiciousof McCready.
Child says I guess that makesyou a murderer, and like then
they just move on from that.
(27:31):
Then he's getting ready to do.
Now it's only Child's, noll's,palmer and Gary are the only
ones left.
Does Palmer he's a thing he doesthe blood and the blood like
kind of like spreads and likeretreats from the hot needle and
(27:51):
then after that then Palmer islike tied up in his chair and he
just starts like shaking andeverything and it's super creepy
but everyone's like also tiedto the couch with him.
So they're freaking out, liketrying to get away from him and
he's like expanding and likestuff's like shooting out of him
and his head's like getting allweird.
So they're trying to get awayfrom him.
(28:13):
He like breaks from the ropesand like shoots up to the
ceiling and then drops down andlike his head opens up and like
basically eats windows andwindows is dead at this point.
Well, either dead or gonnabecome a thing in a little bit.
So so yeah, they torch Palmer.
(28:33):
He's dead, and then they goback and then windows is
starting to change, so they gotto torch him too, and it's just
like shit Now.
It's just like I said, thoseother three, of course.
The other three are fine, youknow, and they all get untied.
Now they're like all right,childs, you stay here and watch
(28:55):
the main building.
I'm going to go test Blair, butif Blair comes back first, then
torch him, because that meanshe killed us and he's the thing
you know.
They get to Blair's room and ofcourse, he's nowhere to be
found.
The door was locked from theinside, but so where the hell is
(29:15):
he?
They realized that somefloorboards are loose and they
open them up and there's likethis tunnel down there.
They go down the tunnel andthere's like all this equipment
and this like makeshiftspaceship that Blair has been
building from the chopper parts.
(29:36):
So it's like OK, like howquickly did he build this?
Like they're kind of vague onthe timeline.
I do think it's a few days thatthis takes place over, even
though it could easily be likebelieved, just in the pacing of
it, that it's all within one day.
But I think at one pointMcCready says something about it
(29:57):
being 48 hours, but still veryshort amount of time to be
building a spaceship in secretin a tunnel.
But if you're a thing it may beyou can use all those tentacles
to dig really fast and putpieces together.
You know, who knows?
And it's at this point that theyall come to the realization
that they're, that they're notgetting out of there alive at
(30:20):
this point.
So the main mission is just tomake sure that neither does.
The thing you know like, yeah,like we might all die, but as
long as that thing dies, thenthen humanity saved.
So because of that, thenthey're like, well, like, let's
make it, let's make sure that hecan't get away and can't
(30:42):
survive.
So they start blowing shit up.
They blow up the littlespaceship, they blow up the
generator, like all this stuff.
But well, they try to go blowup the generator, but the
generator is gone.
So, like, shit, like, and thenduring this time they like kind
of spread out a little bit.
Gary is down one tunnel.
(31:02):
He turns around, there's Blair.
He puts his whole fucking fistin his mouth and starts like
spreading the fingers and it'slike, it's like stretching his
whole mouth and it's.
It's crazy, like I hope I hopeyou guys watch it and just see
what I'm talking about, becausethere's no way I could like
(31:24):
accurately describe it and giveit any sort of justice, because
it's just one of the coolestlike effects and it's just his
like fingers like stretching inthere.
Of course he like kills Gary.
We don't see Nahl's die, but wedo see him like kind of like
turn around and you know, thenthat's the last time we ever see
him.
So McGreedy is there setting upsome dynamite like the old
(31:47):
school style with the plungerand everything.
So he's got it all set up andhe's calling for the other guys
and no one's answering and he'shearing like commotion and
sounds and stuff.
It's like shit.
And then like all of a suddenthe ice burst and the creature
or the thing is like tunnelingunder the ice and it pops up and
pulls the dynamite plunder downand kind of sabotages that and
(32:10):
then it like pops up out of theuh yeah, like pops up out of the
ground.
It starts like expanding and wecould see like elements of
Blair and the dog still and likeall this different stuff and
it's like almost like this, likea megazord of American
scientists and article and andone dog and it's just like kind
(32:35):
of like growling on McCready andMcCready's like yeah, fuck you
too.
And he throws the lights ofdynamite stick and throws it and
then like dives to like getaway from the explosion and
blows the whole thing up andthen he gets out, he crawls out
and it's just child's andMcCready at this point See these
child's and they're like kindof like draw on each other.
(32:58):
But they're both like hey, atthis point I know it's not you,
you know it's not me.
And McCready even says likeeven if you were a thing, I
don't have the energy to stopyou at this point.
Like I'm so like tired and I'mabout to die and it's so cold
(33:21):
it's supposed to get like minusa hundred Fahrenheit there that
night because there's a stormand even though there's all
those flames, it's only gonnakeep it warm like for so long.
So they both just kind of sitdown and just embrace the fact
that they're gonna die, but atleast they stopped whatever was
coming, and he's like out.
(33:42):
You know, what do we do now islike I don't know, just wait
around a while and see whathappens.
And then there's kind of likesmirk at each other and then it
pulls back and we just end on ashot of the camp just burning
away and then credits directedby John Carpenter.
So, like I said, amazing movielike just, and such good
(34:05):
performances like unnecessarilygood for just being like Horror
movie from the 80s, you know.
And then there are like goodperformances in 80s horror
movies, but this like kind ofseems like not early elevated
horror and I even hate to likethrow that word around.
But there's just something likeso special about this and it's
like Especially Kurt Russell andKeith David as a child, both
(34:33):
like so amazing and like sell itso good and you don't get too
much of it.
But there is the score by anymore Connie, and since there is
such like a bare bone score inthis, he ended up reusing A lot
of the score that didn't go usedfor this in the hateful late,
(34:53):
which is which I plan on alsodoing this month.
But another movie where there'sa bunch of people trapped in the
snow and a lot of accusationsare being thrown around on who
you can trust and People end updead, and you know it's very,
it's very similar, even thoughone is a very, you know,
(35:14):
basically a Western, and this isa sci-fi movie, and one takes
place in, I think, wyoming andthe other in Antarctica.
But very similar vibes and Ilove that any more.
Connie score for the hatefullate it's.
I have it on vinyl even.
It's just so good.
It's just one of the betterscores in the last like few
(35:35):
years and I'm pretty sure he didwin the Oscar for that one, but
I could be wrong on that.
100% nominated, but pretty surehe wanted to.
So, yeah, that is the thing.
Like I said, one of my favoritehorror movies and just like
definitely top 100 moviesoverall.
I'm maybe even top 50.
(35:55):
I've never made that list, I'mjust throwing out numbers here,
but I love it.
I've never Not enjoyed aviewing of it.
It always.
There's always things that stillsurprise me and I'm like, oh, I
forgot about that, or like Iliterally every single time I'm
surprised by that opening shotof the flying saucer, because I
(36:16):
always just assume, like thatwe're along with the characters
figuring everything out like,and.
But they tell you right off thebat that it's an alien and you
should know if you know that itthat this, even though it has
been remade in 2011.
I haven't seen that one, or theoriginal, the thing from outer
(36:37):
space or thing that came fromouter space, that one in the 50s
, I think.
So, yeah, like that, the titleright there gives it away that
it's an alien, but still verysurprising and very good movie.
You know, and I think this isalso one of the first horror
movies I watched with like agroup of friends over and we
have like a movie night andeverything.
I don't know if it's the first,but it's one of the first.
(37:00):
I know Silver Bullet was alsoone of those early ones.
But, yeah, love this movie.
If you haven't seen it,hopefully you have if you watch
this, watch or listen to this.
But please check it out if youhaven't.
It's so good and don't don'tthink that my explanation of it
is sufficient.
Like I just like to get hereand like talk about it, like,
(37:21):
like we're having a conversation, like oh, like wasn't this part
great and is what I liked aboutthis and stuff like that.
So please check it out if youhaven't.
If this is your first timeSeeing or hearing this podcast,
I hope you stick around andcheck it out again.
If you know anybody else thatmight like it, pass it along.
Like subscribe rate, review,all those things.
(37:44):
Thank you guys so much for yourcontinued support.
Every every month I'm blown awayby the growth and everything
like that.
I never expected to get to thislove and this is like Get to
this level, and the level is one.
You know, I'm still like so lowon the totem pole when it comes
to a podcast, but I am growing,the show is growing.
(38:08):
I like to Soon, have moreguests on and everything like
that expand ideas, everythinglike that.
I'm just so happy with how it'sbeen going and I just thank you
guys so much.
Like I don't even know like howmuch I appreciate this and how
out of my comfort zone any ofthis is.
So thank you guys.
Stick around for the rest ofthe month.
(38:30):
Like I said, probably do thehateful eight Next or at some
point during the month trying tothink of other snow non
Christmas snow movies out there,but that's definitely one of
them.
So thank you guys and I'll seeyou next week.
Thanks, bye.
Hello and welcome to another episode of Movies, colin
.
They're pretty good.
I'm your host, travis Studding,and today we're going to
continue our non-holiday wintermovie month with John
Carpenter's 1982 film, the Thing.
As you can see here, I amwearing my Thing t-shirt About
(00:27):
as much of it as you can see.
So I'm ready, you're ready,let's do it.
So first shot we open on aflying saucer going through just
above the Earth's atmosphereWell, pretty far above, but
outside of the Earth'satmosphere and we see it head
(00:49):
towards Earth to land, to crash,we're not really sure yet, but
right after that goes out offrame.
Then we get John Carpenter'sthe Thing and it kind of tears
through the screen, a little bitvery 80s, but very awesome too.
And then we get a card sayingAntarctica, winter 1982.
(01:14):
And the first shot we see onEarth is a helicopter presumably
chasing after a husky and justchasing it through the snow and
thinking like maybe, oh, they'rejust trying to get the dog that
escaped.
So they're trying to catch thedog that is wild or left another
(01:36):
station, who knows.
But then someone comes out ofthe, hangs out of the door of
the helicopter with a rifle andstarts firing at the dog.
So we're like, okay, like now,what's going on?
Like whoa, why are they tryingto shoot this dog?
So, and then after that we cutto the US National Science
(01:57):
Institute station, which iswhere most of the movie is going
to take place, and we getintroduced to our main
protagonist, mcgreedy, played byKurt Russell, and he's playing
computer chess on a very olddesktop computer and he loses
and he does what any sane personwould do when they lose, and he
(02:18):
opens the computer up and pourshis whiskey and then shorts it
out.
And then that's that with thecomputer chess.
So we cut back outside and thehelicopter that's chasing the
husky is getting towards thecamp and they're like, hey, like
what's that chopper doing?
Like can you read it?
Like who are they?
(02:38):
And they figure out that it's aNorwegian group and like, right
, when they're discussing all ofthis, the dog runs into the
camp.
They're showing they'rethrowing explosives at the dog.
And so now they're like alittle more on edge.
(02:59):
They open fire on the dog, theyland the helicopter, open fire
on the dog as it's running intothe camp.
So they're shooting towards theother people.
Hopefully that make a lot ofnoise.
And so now they're like reallylike, oh shit, like we got to
take care of this.
They end up blowing up the theirown helicopter and Because one
(03:26):
guy tries to throw a grenade, itfalls on the snow and he tries
to like dig it out and you knowit's not quick enough and the
whole chopper blows up.
But there's still one guy andhe's still going after the dog
to shooting at it.
And the one guy inside that'swatching this kind of like he's
(03:47):
more dressed in a militaryuniform, so he's probably like
the military presence at thisscientific site, and he breaks
the window and fires at the guyand shoots him in the head
Because now he's likeendangering them, so he's a
threat.
So this guy, the captain thinkGary is his name and he goes and
(04:13):
, like, once everyone calms downfrom this, he goes and talks to
the communications guy thattells him to like reach out to
someone on the radio, tell himwhat's going on.
He's like, what?
Like who am I gonna reach outto?
Like there's nobody nearby.
But you know it's like justkeep trying.
They decide that they're gonnaget in the their chopper and go
(04:35):
investigate this Norwegian campand see if they could figure out
.
Like, hey, like we'll go talkto somebody or just Investigate.
See what's going on like whyare they Throwing explosives and
shooting at a dog?
So they get in the chopper,they head over there back in the
main American camp we get Nallswho seems to be like the chef
(05:01):
maybe, but I'm sure all of themhave, like different jobs, so
maybe he's just the onescientist that can cook, but
he's riding around on rollerskates, he's blasting music.
The one guy that got shot in theleg I forgot to mention that,
but One guy got shot in the leg.
(05:23):
He's like on the intercomsaying no, I was like turn that
shit off.
Like I'm trying to get somerest.
I got shot today, damn it, youknow.
And no, it's just like goes tothe radio and like waves his
hand over it and then doesn'teven turn it down.
We then see that the, the dog,the husky that from before is
(05:46):
now like in the camp andeverything, and we see him just
kind of Him or her, I don'treally know, but see the dog
Just kind of very quiet and verylike, almost like it's
observing.
And then it goes into one ofthe rooms and we see that like
(06:11):
the, the person turns.
We just see their silhouette ofthem turning to like look at
the dog, and then the seam cuts,seemingly pointless, but we'll
figure out why.
Later they get to the othercamp, the ones that went on the
chopper tire camps destroyed.
I like like shit, like what,what happened here?
(06:31):
But they get out and they do alittle investigation.
They head into the main roomand end up finding this dead
body and he's you know, it'sAntarctica, so he's completely
frozen.
But like the, we see that his,his throat's been slit and his
hands have been slit, but he'sstill holding like the knife or
the scalpel.
(06:52):
And then there's like bloodicicles dripping down and
everything.
It's super gnarly.
But then they just keep lookingaround and like, geez, like
what happened here.
And then they like decided tograb some documents and stuff
like that, you know, just seewhat they can figure out like
once they get back to their campwhere it's safe.
So they think they head intoanother room to, you know,
(07:16):
continue investigating, and theyfind this like weird, like ice.
It almost looks like a bathtublike, but like very angular I
don't know how else to describeit but it's like a perfect
rectangle, column or whatever.
That's like dug out in themiddle.
So it kind of looks like theold style, like the, like the
(07:38):
Turkish baths in Grand BudapestHotel it kind of runs me of that
.
But it's just like carved outof ice, like ice blocks and
stuff, and like like what, whatthe hell is this all about?
Like, they're like, I'm notsure.
Then they go outside and thenthey find these charred,
deformed bodies you know greatcameo from Uncle Owen and Aunt
(07:59):
Baru and they're like geez, like, what the hell?
Like, what is that?
Like, is that human?
Is that an alien?
Like what, what the hell?
And they're like I don't know.
Like they get it in a body bagand they decide to take the you
know the evidence, plus thisthese charred bodies are one of
them back with them.
We see them landing the chopperback at their camp and we also
(08:22):
see the dog is watching themfrom inside the, the building,
like out the window andeverything.
It just also just somethingjust feels off with the dog.
But you know, they bring thebody bag inside, they get it on
the autopsy table and or youknow, medical table, whatever it
is, open it up and then it'slike it's like steaming and
(08:43):
everything and the smell iscrazy and and everyone's like,
oh, what, like what the hell isthat?
We see that it has like twofaces, almost like they're like
pulling away from each otherSuper crazy.
Kind of looks like the PinkFloyd Wow, I forget what the
album is, but I could even beway off on Pink Floyd, but it
(09:07):
reminds me of like somethinglike that but I wish I could
remember.
But yeah, like two heads on itand everything, or two faces at
least it's almost looks like oneface that separated, but it
could also like be like twoseparate heads and it's all like
charred and everything.
(09:28):
One of the doctors, blair,played by Wilford diabetes
brimley.
He's doing the autopsy, he'spulling out the organs and stuff
and he's like this.
It's weird because all theseorgans are just normal human
organs.
You know, it's just the outside.
That's crazy.
We just get a couple of scenesof the you know the different
(09:48):
crew members Going about theirevening like they regularly,
regularly would.
Palmer is in his room with, Ithink, child's, is also in the
room with him and he's watchinga game show and like he's like I
already know that how this oneends and like Ejects the tape.
So it's that's just like tapestuff that they have from the
(10:10):
mainland puts in something elseI forget what it is.
It's not a game show, thoughand then we see a bunch of guys
in the game room playing cardsand the guy that got shot Goes
kind of like like under thetable and the dog is under there
and he's like, hey, can youknow?
I forget his name.
But it tells the other guy togo put the dog in.
Clark, tells Clark to go put thedog in the Kennel with the
(10:34):
other dogs, so they have a bunchof Huskies of their own, and so
Clark heads back with the dog,puts it in the kennel and at
first the dogs just kind ofsitting there like staring at
the wall, like not at any of theother dogs, just in the middle
of the cage or or pin, andstaring like directly at the
wall and just once again beingweird.
(10:55):
But then all of the other dogsstart barking like madly at this
, this new dog, and there's liketowing crazy, like trying to
like get away and like bark atit and growl at it and
everything.
Clark comes back in to see likewhat the commotion is about and
he, when he gets in there, thedogs head like bursts open like
(11:17):
a a well, kind of like ademogorgon and stranger things
and it's just like burst openinto four pieces and then
there's like a little bloody doghead like coming out the center
and it then like tentaclesstart shooting out and like
grabbing the other dogs and likepulling them in.
Yeah, then amongst all thiscommotion, mcgreedy pulls the
(11:41):
fire alarm, or just the alarm,and he's like have, have childs
get the flamethrower, likesomething's going on, and so
they head back there.
Dogs just like all over theplace.
I think it.
Yeah, it's like pulling otherdogs in with the tentacles.
They end up Torch in it.
Yeah, they torch it with theflamethrower.
(12:02):
It has these like big spiderlegs too I forgot to mention
that as well as the tentacles,and it's just craziest.
Practical special effects likeit.
Just like it feels more realwhen it's practical, even though
it could.
It could look technically faker, but Like the feeling is more
(12:25):
real.
Then, with CGI and there'sgreat CGI out there, like I'm
not one of these like completelyanti CGI people but like you
can't tell me that the creaturesand monsters in 1982 the thing
are not scarier than like anyCGI monster, like as soon as
(12:51):
like a monster.
Cgi it's rarely scary.
That's just my opinion, but I'mfeel very strongly about that.
It's just, I don't know, it'ssomething weird.
It doesn't trigger that uncannyvalley that you get with the
CGI stuff.
That's like almost looksrealistic and then it's just,
it's just off-putting and kindof like how most Marvel movies
(13:15):
just look like a video game withthe person's face.
You know the actor just has to.
Only their face has to show up,because everything else is CGI
and it's like that's.
It's not as engaging assomething like this, like this
is actors reacting to likeactual, like crazy practical
effects that are happening rightin front of their face, and
(13:38):
that's way more effective, in myopinion.
But yeah, they torch this spider, tentacle, dog, hentai, monster
.
Then they're like shit, likewhat the hell was that?
Like like why did that happen?
And there now it's like allright, what's going on?
Like, and now we know why theNorwegians were trying to kill
this dog, because whatever'sabout to happen here at the
(14:00):
American station already tookplace over at the Norway station
.
Blair Wilfred Brindley'scharacter, first one to figure
it out.
He's like all right, the dog islike imitating the other dogs,
it was like absorbing thempretty much.
And then he's like asking Clark, he's like how long were you
alone with the dog and like inkind of a suspicious tone and
(14:22):
he's like I don't know like acouple minutes why, and he's
like nothing, like don't worryabout it, even though he should
be very worried about it.
They then watch one of thevideotapes that they took from
the Norwegian site and it'sshowing this video of an
excavation and everything.
And I don't know which one, butone of the Norwegian scientists
in the excavation video is JohnCarpenter, but it's in like
(14:46):
black and white and grainy on asmall screen so it's kind of
hard to like pinpoint who's whoand plus everyone's in cold
weather gear and like bundled up, so you only see like this much
of John Carpenter anyway.
So they're watching this andthen basically see that there's
this.
They uncover this giant UFO likethis, the flying saucer, from
the opening of the film and itjust looks huge and it's just
(15:09):
big, open, empty, like big, open, crater, giant UFO.
And they're like all right,like let's go check this out.
So Mack leads a team, they grabthe chopper, they head over to
the this dig site and they findit.
They go back to the, the campand tell everybody else what
(15:31):
they saw Palmer like right away,because he's kind of like a
stoner weirdo guy is rightalready on board with like
aliens and everything.
And some of the other peopleare more skeptical.
Even though they just saw thecraziest shit that anyone has
ever seen in their entire lives,they're still a little
skeptical on what it is.
But you know, that's, that'show it would be.
(15:51):
I guess it's more believable tojust find out about some unknown
disease that just occurs inAntarctica versus, you know,
another species from anotherplanet that's capable of
interstellar travel.
You know, now Blair's back inhis office and he's on the
(16:11):
computer and he's put this likevisualization of the cells, like
replicating, like.
So it's like the, the aliencell and the dog cell, and the
alien cell takes over the dogcell and assimilates it and like
is pretty much identical to it,and then another cell comes and
it assimilates that one andthen you know, and it's just
(16:33):
like this non-stop takeover oflike other species, basically.
So then he runs like a testwith the computer and like the
sees that the probability thatsomeone on the team is already
infected is 75%, puts in anotherthing.
(16:55):
And then we see that if the,this virus, the cell, whatever,
were to get to the generalpopulation of the world, that
the entire planet would be takenover in 27,000 hours.
I'm pretty sure that's what itwas.
It's definitely 27, I justdon't remember if it was 100 or
thousand, but I'm pretty sure27,000 hours.
(17:15):
So I mean it's a long time, butnot really at the same time.
So Windows the guy that is thecommunications guy earlier that
said that he couldn't reachanybody.
He's saying like hey, likeshouldn't we burn these other
bodies?
Like shouldn't we burn I guessit's just the Norwegian but like
(17:39):
yeah, like shouldn't we likeburn them or what.
And then they're like nah, likewe like are you kidding me?
This is like the biggestscientific discovery of all time
, like we're gonna get the NobelPrize for this or something
like that.
So then he leaves the room togo like help with something else
and leaves Bennings in therewith the bodies.
Meanwhile fuchs is findingBlair's notebooks and kind of
(18:01):
like brings it to the attentionof McCready.
Like hey, like there's someweird stuff in here, like who's
probably like check on him orwhatever you know, and also like
this could be really scary forus and the entire world if he's
right about this stuff.
And like, all right, like onething at a time.
They head back to the room whereBennings is with the bodies and
(18:25):
he's got tentacles around hisneck and everything and he's all
like bloody and he's being likeassimilated.
So Windows runs like get helpand everything.
They get back to the room andit's empty and he's not there.
Like Bennings is gone.
They're like shit, like whatthe fuck happened.
Then they see him like runningoutside and they follow Bennings
(18:46):
and he's out in the snow and hekneels down onto the end of the
snow and they kind of likegather around him and like I
think Blair is the one that saysit first like that's not
Bennings.
And then like Bennings turnsand his hands are like these,
like giant claws almost, and helike turns and his eyes are like
solid black and then he justlets out this like crazy, like
(19:11):
roar, sound, like something likethat.
I don't think that's perfectlyhow it is, but super creepy.
And then and they just torchhim with the flamethrower
because obviously he's gone andhe's gonna start attacking
people.
So they torch him and and atthis point they know like all
right, yeah, windows is right,let's burn the other bodies.
(19:31):
And they grab them and put themin a pile, dial some gasoline
and light them on fire out inthe snow.
So then at some point they seeBlair like by the chopper and
they're like hey, like what areyou doing?
And then he runs off.
And then they go check thechopper and it's been like
sabotaged, like shit, likewhat's going on.
They head into Blair's office.
He's like well, first theyoverhear a gunshot and they run
(19:53):
over Blair's like in his office,smashing computers, smashing
the radios, firing guns atpeople.
Anyone that tries to come in,he's like shoots at him.
He doesn't luckily doesn'tshoot anybody or hit anybody.
But yeah, he's just like losingit because he knows that like
all, because in his mind allhope is lost, like there's no
way that they're gonna stop thisLike for him it's too late
(20:14):
already and maybe he's right,but you know, there's just no
hope for him at this point.
Childs goes around the back tothe other entrance of the room
to try to distract him.
Blair shoots at him but missesand like during this time
everyone else tackles him andthey get him down and they get
him secured and tied up and tiehim to a chair and everything
(20:37):
and end up putting him in thetool shed.
As they're tying him up,blair's like says like hey, keep
an eye on Clark, you know,because he's the one that was
with the dog who we know waspatient zero for the American
camp.
Just like, hey, keep an eye onhim.
They have like a little meetinglike outside, like a couple of
them do.
They're like, hey, like whatcan we do to like figure out
(20:59):
who's taken over?
Because they're not going toout themselves and we have no
idea, because they just looklike each other or they look
like the real person until theystart shooting tentacles out.
So they have an idea to do ablood test.
Like they have bags of theirown blood there in the in the
(21:20):
refrigerator in the station, andso it's like all right, we can
test it against our, you know,test our current blood with the
blood in the bags, and then wecan find out who's you know a
thing or whatever.
And they go to the fridge wherethe blood is and all the bags
(21:40):
have been like popped andemptied, and so they're like all
right, like well, who hadaccess to this?
And it's like only a few people, like the captain, gary, he has
the key and the doctor hadaccess to it and that's pretty
much it.
So right off the bat, they'remajor suspects.
So, while all this is happening,the lights go out and then, of
(22:03):
course, like all right, likewhat's going on?
Uh, fuchs goes missing.
But before he goes missing, wesee that he finds a like a
tattered shirt for McReady andwhich is making him look
suspicious.
And then Palmer doesn't want tobe on the search team with
(22:23):
Windows.
He's suspicious of him.
They go to talk to Blair in thetool shed.
He has, during his time inthere, he made a noose and but
you know he's not hanging in it,luckily.
He's trying to talk them intoletting them back in.
He's like hey, like, I know, Iwas being crazy before, I'm
sorry, I calm down, likeeverything's fine.
(22:46):
And they're like, no, like,let's figure some shit out.
First, out in the snow, theycome across Fuchs's body and
it's just burnt, and they'relike okay, like did he get burnt
by a thing?
Did he know he was turning andlike burn himself to stop it
from spreading?
Or did he like was it comingfor him and then he burned
(23:09):
himself to stop it fromspreading?
Like you know, they don't knowBecause and we don't know either
, because we don't see whatactually happens to him.
But while they were out in thesnow Nalls actually found the
same piece of clothing but itwas like shoved into like the
furnace in McReady's room.
So he's like shit, like I thinkMcReady's turned so I cut him
(23:32):
loose, like on the you know,because they were all like tied
together because it's a crazysnowstorm going on.
He's like I cut him loose and Igot back in here, like closed
all the doors and then McReadylike comes back but he has a
flare that's lit and he's likeholding it up to like a bundle
of dynamite and he's like ifanyone tries anything we're all
gonna fucking die.
So like, leave me alone.
(23:54):
He's like I know I'm not one ofthem, but like, but I don't
know who of you is and it's likeand I figure if all of you were
, then I'd be dead.
So some of you have to be, youknow, normal Amongst.
Like all this commotion, norris,one of the other guys.
He passes out and just likehits the ground and they're like
(24:15):
shit, like what's wrong.
Get him in the table, let'sfigure it out.
Doctor or Doc is examining himand while he's examining him,
norris' chest like bursts openand like, but it's like a mouth
Like, it's not like an alien,where it just like the single
alien like pops out Literallylike his whole chest, like
becomes like a chomping mouthand it chomps the Doc's hands
(24:41):
off and he's like holding hishands up and they're just like
bloody nubs and he's screaming.
And then the flame thrower andthey torch, uh Norris, before
anything else can happen.
During all of this his headdetaches and grows spider legs
and starts like walking out ofthe room.
But they notice it and turnaround and then they torch the
(25:03):
head and they're just like whatthe fuck was that?
But then everyone's stillsuspicious of McCreedy and he's
still suspicious of everyoneelse.
He's got the dynamite andeverything.
Paul er not Paul Clark in thebackground.
He grabs a scalpel off thetable and he decides to make a
run at McCreedy and McCreedyturns around and shoots him in
(25:24):
the head.
So Clark's done, you know, andthey're like shit, like all
right, let's do this blood test.
Like.
I have an idea.
Basically, I'm going to drawall of our blood and put them in
like little labeled Petridishes and, if you're normal,
nothing's going to happen.
I'm going to put the blood, I'mgoing to put a hot wire in the
(25:46):
blood and it's just going tosizzle and that's it.
If you're a thing, the blood isgoing to try to fight back or
flee from the heat or whatever.
Because he basically has thisrealization that, like we're
just like one thinking organismbut the thing seems to be like
each individual part can thinkand move and defend itself.
(26:09):
So the and he's thinking thatthis will go all the way down to
the blood cells Like eachindividual cell will, like, flee
from the heat and everythinglike that, and fight back.
So Windows goes around and hehas, like everyone tied up
except for him, because he's gotthe, the flamethrower and a gun
and dynamite and all that shit.
(26:29):
And then Windows goes aroundand I think because even though
he doesn't trust anybody at thispoint, he at least trusts him a
little bit.
So Windows goes and like doesthe scalpel in the thumb and
gets the blood from eachindividual person and then it's
time to do the test.
Windows goes first because he'salready untied and of course
(26:50):
he's good.
Then McCready does his ownblood just to prove to everyone
else like I know what I am, butjust so you guys know and then
he does the, the wire.
So basically he's got theflamethrower and he just like
heats up this copper wire andthat's what he used and he
inserts it into the blood andthat's how he does the test.
(27:10):
So McCready is good.
Does the dock?
He's good, even though he'salready dead.
He does Clark and turns out hewas good.
He was just overly suspiciousof McCready.
Child says I guess that makesyou a murderer, and like then
they just move on from that.
(27:31):
Then he's getting ready to do.
Now it's only Child's, noll's,palmer and Gary are the only
ones left.
Does Palmer he's a thing he doesthe blood and the blood like
kind of like spreads and likeretreats from the hot needle and
(27:51):
then after that then Palmer islike tied up in his chair and he
just starts like shaking andeverything and it's super creepy
but everyone's like also tiedto the couch with him.
So they're freaking out, liketrying to get away from him and
he's like expanding and likestuff's like shooting out of him
and his head's like getting allweird.
So they're trying to get awayfrom him.
(28:13):
He like breaks from the ropesand like shoots up to the
ceiling and then drops down andlike his head opens up and like
basically eats windows andwindows is dead at this point.
Well, either dead or gonnabecome a thing in a little bit.
So so yeah, they torch Palmer.
(28:33):
He's dead, and then they goback and then windows is
starting to change, so they gotto torch him too, and it's just
like shit Now.
It's just like I said, thoseother three, of course.
The other three are fine, youknow, and they all get untied.
Now they're like all right,childs, you stay here and watch
(28:55):
the main building.
I'm going to go test Blair, butif Blair comes back first, then
torch him, because that meanshe killed us and he's the thing
you know.
They get to Blair's room and ofcourse, he's nowhere to be
found.
The door was locked from theinside, but so where the hell is
(29:15):
he?
They realized that somefloorboards are loose and they
open them up and there's likethis tunnel down there.
They go down the tunnel andthere's like all this equipment
and this like makeshiftspaceship that Blair has been
building from the chopper parts.
(29:36):
So it's like OK, like howquickly did he build this?
Like they're kind of vague onthe timeline.
I do think it's a few days thatthis takes place over, even
though it could easily be likebelieved, just in the pacing of
it, that it's all within one day.
But I think at one pointMcCready says something about it
(29:57):
being 48 hours, but still veryshort amount of time to be
building a spaceship in secretin a tunnel.
But if you're a thing it may beyou can use all those tentacles
to dig really fast and putpieces together.
You know, who knows?
And it's at this point that theyall come to the realization
that they're, that they're notgetting out of there alive at
(30:20):
this point.
So the main mission is just tomake sure that neither does.
The thing you know like, yeah,like we might all die, but as
long as that thing dies, thenthen humanity saved.
So because of that, thenthey're like, well, like, let's
make it, let's make sure that hecan't get away and can't
(30:42):
survive.
So they start blowing shit up.
They blow up the littlespaceship, they blow up the
generator, like all this stuff.
But well, they try to go blowup the generator, but the
generator is gone.
So, like, shit, like, and thenduring this time they like kind
of spread out a little bit.
Gary is down one tunnel.
(31:02):
He turns around, there's Blair.
He puts his whole fucking fistin his mouth and starts like
spreading the fingers and it'slike, it's like stretching his
whole mouth and it's.
It's crazy, like I hope I hopeyou guys watch it and just see
what I'm talking about, becausethere's no way I could like
(31:24):
accurately describe it and giveit any sort of justice, because
it's just one of the coolestlike effects and it's just his
like fingers like stretching inthere.
Of course he like kills Gary.
We don't see Nahl's die, but wedo see him like kind of like
turn around and you know, thenthat's the last time we ever see
him.
So McGreedy is there setting upsome dynamite like the old
(31:47):
school style with the plungerand everything.
So he's got it all set up andhe's calling for the other guys
and no one's answering and he'shearing like commotion and
sounds and stuff.
It's like shit.
And then like all of a suddenthe ice burst and the creature
or the thing is like tunnelingunder the ice and it pops up and
pulls the dynamite plunder downand kind of sabotages that and
(32:10):
then it like pops up out of theuh yeah, like pops up out of the
ground.
It starts like expanding and wecould see like elements of
Blair and the dog still and likeall this different stuff and
it's like almost like this, likea megazord of American
scientists and article and andone dog and it's just like kind
(32:35):
of like growling on McCready andMcCready's like yeah, fuck you
too.
And he throws the lights ofdynamite stick and throws it and
then like dives to like getaway from the explosion and
blows the whole thing up andthen he gets out, he crawls out
and it's just child's andMcCready at this point See these
child's and they're like kindof like draw on each other.
(32:58):
But they're both like hey, atthis point I know it's not you,
you know it's not me.
And McCready even says likeeven if you were a thing, I
don't have the energy to stopyou at this point.
Like I'm so like tired and I'mabout to die and it's so cold
(33:21):
it's supposed to get like minusa hundred Fahrenheit there that
night because there's a stormand even though there's all
those flames, it's only gonnakeep it warm like for so long.
So they both just kind of sitdown and just embrace the fact
that they're gonna die, but atleast they stopped whatever was
coming, and he's like out.
(33:42):
You know, what do we do now islike I don't know, just wait
around a while and see whathappens.
And then there's kind of likesmirk at each other and then it
pulls back and we just end on ashot of the camp just burning
away and then credits directedby John Carpenter.
So, like I said, amazing movielike just, and such good
(34:05):
performances like unnecessarilygood for just being like Horror
movie from the 80s, you know.
And then there are like goodperformances in 80s horror
movies, but this like kind ofseems like not early elevated
horror and I even hate to likethrow that word around.
But there's just something likeso special about this and it's
like Especially Kurt Russell andKeith David as a child, both
(34:33):
like so amazing and like sell itso good and you don't get too
much of it.
But there is the score by anymore Connie, and since there is
such like a bare bone score inthis, he ended up reusing A lot
of the score that didn't go usedfor this in the hateful late,
(34:53):
which is which I plan on alsodoing this month.
But another movie where there'sa bunch of people trapped in the
snow and a lot of accusationsare being thrown around on who
you can trust and People end updead, and you know it's very,
it's very similar, even thoughone is a very, you know,
(35:14):
basically a Western, and this isa sci-fi movie, and one takes
place in, I think, wyoming andthe other in Antarctica.
But very similar vibes and Ilove that any more.
Connie score for the hatefullate it's.
I have it on vinyl even.
It's just so good.
It's just one of the betterscores in the last like few
(35:35):
years and I'm pretty sure he didwin the Oscar for that one, but
I could be wrong on that.
100% nominated, but pretty surehe wanted to.
So, yeah, that is the thing.
Like I said, one of my favoritehorror movies and just like
definitely top 100 moviesoverall.
I'm maybe even top 50.
(35:55):
I've never made that list, I'mjust throwing out numbers here,
but I love it.
I've never Not enjoyed aviewing of it.
It always.
There's always things that stillsurprise me and I'm like, oh, I
forgot about that, or like Iliterally every single time I'm
surprised by that opening shotof the flying saucer, because I
(36:16):
always just assume, like thatwe're along with the characters
figuring everything out like,and.
But they tell you right off thebat that it's an alien and you
should know if you know that itthat this, even though it has
been remade in 2011.
I haven't seen that one, or theoriginal, the thing from outer
(36:37):
space or thing that came fromouter space, that one in the 50s
, I think.
So, yeah, like that, the titleright there gives it away that
it's an alien, but still verysurprising and very good movie.
You know, and I think this isalso one of the first horror
movies I watched with like agroup of friends over and we
have like a movie night andeverything.
I don't know if it's the first,but it's one of the first.
(37:00):
I know Silver Bullet was alsoone of those early ones.
But, yeah, love this movie.
If you haven't seen it,hopefully you have if you watch
this, watch or listen to this.
But please check it out if youhaven't.
It's so good and don't don'tthink that my explanation of it
is sufficient.
Like I just like to get hereand like talk about it, like,
(37:21):
like we're having a conversation, like oh, like wasn't this part
great and is what I liked aboutthis and stuff like that.
So please check it out if youhaven't.
If this is your first timeSeeing or hearing this podcast,
I hope you stick around andcheck it out again.
If you know anybody else thatmight like it, pass it along.
Like subscribe rate, review,all those things.
(37:44):
Thank you guys so much for yourcontinued support.
Every every month I'm blown awayby the growth and everything
like that.
I never expected to get to thislove and this is like Get to
this level, and the level is one.
You know, I'm still like so lowon the totem pole when it comes
to a podcast, but I am growing,the show is growing.
(38:08):
I like to Soon, have moreguests on and everything like
that expand ideas, everythinglike that.
I'm just so happy with how it'sbeen going and I just thank you
guys so much.
Like I don't even know like howmuch I appreciate this and how
out of my comfort zone any ofthis is.
So thank you guys.
Stick around for the rest ofthe month.
(38:30):
Like I said, probably do thehateful eight Next or at some
point during the month trying tothink of other snow non
Christmas snow movies out there,but that's definitely one of
them.
So thank you guys and I'll seeyou next week.
Thanks, bye.
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