The Thing (1982)

[Angel Eyes]

I watched The Thing last night (again), and I noticed that Morricone performed the music, for the life of me I'd always thought Carpenter did the music himself as he usually does, it sounds just like his style.
The soundtrack is awesome and creates the mood of the whole film.
Does anyone know how Ennio came to perform the soundtrack instead of Carpenter?

[cigar joe]

Morricone, No kiding this is another of my favorite films, I'll have to watch it again soon.

[Harmonica]

You guys are kidding right?  The Thing is on my Top Ten (Well lets say top 20)  list of movies of all time...

http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/data/movies/sounds/thscwier.wav

John Carpenter is a HUGH Western Fan.  Infact alot of his infuluences are from Howard Hawks, John Ford, Sergio Leone.  Being a Leone fan one can't help to be an Morricone fan.  He asked Morricone to do the soundtrack and Morricone, in essence, "borrowed" Carpenters Sound....  The critics SLAMED Morricone at the time.   In fact he won a razzie (razzy) award that year for years worst soundtrack...  I watch it each time(about four time a year) and Love that Theme.  Infact I downloaded off of Napster some years ago...

[Harmonica]

1. Humanity (Part I) (6:50)
2. Shape (3:15)
3. Contamination (1:02)
4. Bestiality (2:56)
5. Solitude (5:58)
6. Eternity (5:35)
7. Wait (6:22)
8. Humanity (Part II) (7:15)
9. Sterilization (5:12)
10. Despair (4:58)
 
 
  Music Composed and Conducted by Ennio Morricone
Album Produced by Ennio Morricone
 
       

[shorty larsen]

The Thing is also one of my favourite movies. Im' trying to download it from Kazaa right know without any succes.

The movie is vaguely based on a H.P. Lovecraft excelent book. I don't remember the title right now but I'll have it for you later.

You have to read the book because it is really excelent.

Morricone's music was under rated for a long time. He never won an Oscar (maybe the proove that he's the best!!!!). It's not the first time that Morricone did a terror movie soundtrack, he had a lot of expierence making Dario Argento and other guys "gothic horror" movies.

[shorty larsen]

Ok, I found it on the John Carpenters official website    http://www.geocities.com/j_nada/carp/thing.html    

The movie was indeed inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft novel "In The Mouth of Madness", wich I recomend you all to read.

[shorty larsen]

More information on     http://www.geocities.com/j_nada/carp/interview/theyliveretro.html    

"Since the screenplay was the product of so many sources: a short story, a comic book, and input from cast and crew, Carpenter decided to use the pseudonym, "Frank Armitage," a subtle allusion to one of the filmmaker's favourite writers, H.P. Lovecraft. Frank Armitage is in fact a character in Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror." Carpenter has always felt a close kinship with Lovecraft's worldview and his influence can be felt in other Carpenter films -- most notably, The Thing (198?) and In The Mouth of Madness (1995). According to Carpenter, "Lovecraft wrote about the hidden world, the world underneath. His stories were about gods who are repressed, who were once on Earth and are now coming back. The world underneath has a great deal to do with They Live" (Swires 43). "

[visitor]

   

The movie was indeed inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft novel "In The Mouth of Madness", wich I recomend you all to read.

Carpenter's IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS was from Lovecraft-THE THING was from a story by John Campbell, called WHO GOES THERE, previously filmed by Howard Hawks.

THE THING works best as an AIDS allegory, virus/alien spread through infected blood in an all male enclave; but as such, it would probably not be able to be made today.

[Jon]

Certainly an excellent film,it was criticised when it came out for it's gruesome effects but the best thing about the film is the tension,which is amazing.O,and the score,which is another example of Morricone's diversity.The soundtrack CD has a lot of good music that was not in the film,shame.

The DVD of this film is excellent,with a really good commentary by Carpenter and Russell.

[Christopher]

This is a good movie. A worthy remake for once. I've seen the original, and it's pretty good, but this one stands on it's own.

It's been a little while since I've seen it, so I don't recall too much about the music in it.

[Brendan]

This is one of my favourite John Carpenter movies (Escape From New York and Halloween being my favourite above it, and Big Trouble in Little China coming behind it) and I loved the tension Carpenter built around the movie.

The isolation, few people, the cold, no where to go. It was done very well.

The music by Morricone, while not alot of it in the movie, was done very well. It did its job of being terrifying when it had to be and, while its not as good as the Man With No Name trilogy, its still decent.

[KERMIT]

invation of the body snatchers/  both vertions
the thing / both vertions
alien  (original olny)

the thread these films come from is based on one great idea.

things get persnikity. nowhere to run. it's getin colder. who can you trust ?  this thing/alien is smart and pissed off !  w/ alien 1  & thing 2 there is a prevailing feeling you don't know whats gonna pop outta  someone you trusted a second ago. or what new kind of creature will manifest it's self unlike alien's one bad-ass acid bleeder.
you got your terror.  
org. thing  was sort a summing up the situation that the commies are coming, the commies are coming. joe mccarthy was the real creature and in "tailgunner joe" peter boil is at his best.  the org. thing was the mother of all sci-fi plots. it changed things.
alein & thing 2 have a lot in common.
both send out expeditions.
the  crew must rush to quarantine themselves against what used to be a trusted buddy. carpenter inserts creepy characters to play on our paranoia.  alien 1 comes from j. hurts belly. thing 2 a german shepard. ie. before the blood test.
aliien had the creature in a haunted haunted space ship devised by  h.r. geiger. (?)
alien, after killing off the crew one by one  lets   s. weaver slip through its claws  clearing the decks for it's sequel.

not so w/ carpenter. w/ thing 2. crew  mutated  then mutilated, again, as in alien, one by one. ,and by which  fellow member ? old doc ? played by wilford brimley ?

have you, or have you not ever been a member of the alien/communist party ?

 my fav. scene in thing 2 is the blood test macready administers.   there's no guessing.    just paranoia/tension.      and more paranoia/tension.  
thing '51 diologue sharp as a razor.    hawks inspired.
thing 2.  all perish in the end.  not so happy.  a sort of last house on the left from outter space.  
don seigal's vertion of IOTBS in the same vein but the wrong arm.  carpenter, together w/ morricone's creepy score, leaves you walking around in a daze 20 minites after you exit the theater.  now your talkin' very scary stuff.              BOO!!  
kermit

[aaronson]

 


THE THING works best as an AIDS allegory, virus/alien spread through infected blood in an all male enclave; but as such, it would probably not be able to be made today.

Recent SRAS epidemy awoke our fear .
But during the "cold" war the signification of these films was easy: even your family could be infected by Red ideas: kill them quickly !
So the Thing is marvellous also because it's a very modern film and far of this problematic.

For example Ferrara failed shooting a sort of "Body snatcher"  including that old speech.(I like Ferrara others films)    

[aaronson]

One of the interest of our marvellous website is that it pushes others films.
So I bought " The Thing" DVD and projected it from my Video  Projector .

Trust me, alone in the night , face to a  very large screen,I feeled  something like ... fear .

[KERMIT]

carpenter's thing ****
thing from another world *****
even w/ out the special effects cristian nyby had the tight direction, the deliberate pacing- not to mention exceptional performances by the entire cast.

carpenter's chameleonlike creature finishes off all inhabinents like one of his slasher movies.