# "The Thing" HD DVD review



## Richard W. Haines (Jul 9, 2007)

I saw John Carpenter's "The Thing" yesterday projected on my Optoma HD70 machine on a 10 foot wide screen. It was okay but not spectacular. I saw the movie in 70mm at The Rivoli in NYC when it came out and if memory serves, I thought it looked much sharper than the current disc. It wasn't bad, just not as sharp or fine grain in high definition as I remember it back then. Some of the optical dissolves are rather soft. The movie had a lot of underlit scenes that look a bit murky on DVD. Part of this was to hide the flaws in the special effects. If you lower your contrast and brightness too much the film is too dark but if you raise those levels, it starts to look muddy. You'll have to zoom ahead to the special effects scenes before watching this disc to get a compromise between contrast and detail.

The sound is good and pretty much how I recall it in six channel stereo. The sub woofer is the most effective for Ennio Morricone's score with it's low 'thumb thumb' theme. A very minimalist track compared to his Leone Westerns but it works within the context of the story. Curiously, the explosions do not contain loud sub woofer effects and are rather mild.


The movie is quite gory and disgusting with special effects by Rob Bottin and Stan Winston. Lots of slimy guts and intestines with monster heads emerging out of them. Far more graphic than "Alien". I'm suprised they were able to get an "R" rating out of it at the time although the MPAA tended to accomodate films with huge budgets compared to indie films with the same amount of gore which would've garnered an "X" or gone out unrated. For example, I received an X for my first
two features and had to cut them to get an R (the video versions were uncut)
which is why I stopped bothering to rate my movies afterwards.


"The Thing" is a good horror flick. Not great because characterization isn't too detailed. Virtually no background is given on any of the people but it works if you like these type of pictures. The all male cast play their roles in a low key fashion, especially Kurt Russell who is deadpan throughout the story. It's a more accurate adaption of the Joseph Cambell's novella, "Who Goes There?" compared the the fifties' version. The most suspenseful scene is when they do the blood test to see who is an alien in disguise.


I enjoyed seeing it again since I'm not grossed out with the slimey intestines and creatures. I've created them for my pictures (i.e. "Space Avenger" and the upcoming "What Really Frightens You") so know how they're done. They're
latex rubber puppets with moving parts and lots of KY Jelly poured on them. 
Some of you might find the images too repulsive and disgusting so don't say 
you weren't warned if you want to 'Go There'.


As a sidebar, check out the primitive computer games and old VHS recorders
the Artic crew play with before the monster strikes. That was the level of
technology back in 1982. Home video was still an emerging medium and hadn't
taken off to the level that it did by the end of the decade when most housholds
had videocasette recorders. The VHS and laserdisc
release of a feature film was still considered an 'ancillary market' rather than
the primary source of revenue. By the late eighties, the opposite was the
case. Theatrical exhibition was 'paid advertising' for cable and home video
formats. By the late nineties they had eliminated the 70mm format and
Roadshow bookings completely.


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