Why would it want to communicate? It’s not like we talk to ants or cows or pigs or breakfast. Tools? It did use tools, I’m not sure what you’re referring to here. It built the space ship, it sabotaged the radio, etc. It never shot anyone or used a flamethrower or did it? Depends on if you think Childs is infected.
It may have hid because of its failure at the previous camp? Or because it might not know jack about humans and their society, how close they are, whether its a military base its assaulting, etc. Better to play it safe, and it’s transformed form isn’t invulnerable to standard stuff and it did have to worry about freezing.
Dingus or Tom pointed out after we finished the podcast that Kurt Russell and Mary Liz Winstead both appear in Sky High(which I alone consider grossly underrated) and in Death Proof, although in the latter they have no scenes together.
Since my mind is filled with such useless coincidences, I’m annoyed this one somehow slipped through the cracks.
I didn’t see Carpenter’s The Thing in its entirety until a year or two ago. At which point I bought the Blu-Ray then watched it at least thirty times within a two week period. I’m not entirely sure what it was, but something caught my imagination with this movie. I love the interaction between the characters, the camera, the subtle uses of shadows and who is really watching on the other side of the camera.
There were some great things that The Thing (2011) did. The main one was the filling test. That was something I’d never considered, nor did it ever come into play with Carpenter’s. Other than that, I didn’t need to see the carapace. It didn’t fit with 1982’s version, which was more sinew, almost plantlike in its reveals. Instead, we’re treated with a literal bug that simply eats people.
The Thing also seems way too eager to isolate and devour someone without any holding back, too eager to reveal itself. The helicopter and the keys scene are two prime examples. There was no reason for either versions of the Thing to show itself, but yet it leaped out, trying to kill everyone for some inexplicable reason. I thought at first that maybe the creature would learn, that it was naive in dealing with the humans, but there really wasn’t any learning. It just fell apart and felt like a plot contrivance to make sure everyone knew that the Thing was dangerous.
Has anyone read the short story “The Things?” I found it at Clarkesworld. I thought it was a fascinating version of the events in Carpenter’s The Thing. A friend of mine thought it revealed too much of the monster’s perception, too much of a character that it didn’t need. What do you guys think?
Watched the 2011 movie last night. Pales in comparison to the 1982 version.
Interesting discussion here.
It never occurred to me that the spaceship isn’t the Thing’s, but some other creature the Thing has assimilated. I like that idea.
I haven’t watched the 1982 film in a long time, but it wasn’t my impression that the Thing eats people and replicates them, it rather infects them.
In the 1982 version I thought of the Thing as not having a true form, at least not a true form we ever see. Rather, it can manipulate genetics on the fly to create whatever organic structure it needs. For example, the dog near the beginning turns into a spider-like creature because that form suited the Thing’s purposes at that time, not because it was revealing its true form. Other situations call for a two-human-headed creature, or giant abdomen-jaws, or whatever. Maybe I’m misinterpreting the 1982 film, but I like that a lot better than the 2011 version’s conventional people-eating monster.
Do Things know they’re Things? In my interpretation they do. It’s as if you think you’re using Siri, but in fact I’ve hacked your phone and you’re really communicating with me. As long as I want to hide that from you, I just pass your requests along to the real Siri and pass back her responses verbatim. Similarly, Things are indistinguishable from people because they perfectly simulate the behavior of the host, even including simulating surprise at the results of a test revealing their nature.
Why does the Thing not know in the 2011 version which ear is supposed to be pierced? Because the 2011 movie is badly written.
