Movies in 2026 166

 

The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)

After watching Christian Nyby's (or Howard Hawks's) original 1951 The Thing From Another World last week, last night I was able to re-watch John Carpenter's 1982 version The Thing. Janet had forgotten that we had watched it a couple years ago, but about five minutes in the memories began to kick in. As I've stated previously, I think both versions are fantastic, although obviously in very different ways. I knew that they were both based on John Campbell's 1938 novella Who Goes There?, but I assumed that the 1951 film was probably closer to the novella, whereas Carpenter had gone rogue. However, a little research indicated that actually Carpenter's version is closer to Campbell's story. I just downloaded Campbell's story on my Kindle, so I'll be better positioned to add to this commentary soon. It could just be that in 1951 Nyby/Hawks figured that America needed a happier ending than Campbell wrote, especially since a creature which could imitate anything to go unnoticed might have seen as a direct commentary on Communism (and, who knows, maybe that was Campbell's original intent - I'll check back soon on that one). Anyway, both The Thing From Another World and The Thing are highly recommended - and thanks to the Criterion Channel for the doubleheader.

A local cartoon from this week's Seven Days, which gives you a sense of how Carpenter's version has entered the cultural lexicon.