Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

[MartinT]

Good link, thanks Jerry.

I watched it in Sony 4k hi-res 2D digital projection and it was fab. They can keep their 3D shite

[Macca]

I couldn't get Iron Sky at Blockbuster. They have none for sale and only 3 rental copies which are all out. Bummer,

I ordered a copy from Amazon and it arrived here at work today! Should have time to watch it in between getting home and the footie starting - hopefully it will make me forget my pre-match nerves

[MartinT]

The Thing (2011) [Blu-ray]

The original The Thing (1982, John Carpenter, itself a remake) was an icon of the horror/SF genre and one of my all-time favourite films. It features a very strong cast, real build up of suspense, some very unnerving scenes, a feeling of impending doom, great soundtrack (Morricone), excellent special effects for its time and something convincingly other-worldly and uniquely horrible in the portrayed creature. I challenge anyone to watch it without feeling for the predicament of the base scientists or being bloody unnerved by it. Only Carpenter could have made it, and it stands tall as a relatively low budget but superb achievement.

This prequel, set in the Norwegian camp that discovers the alien ship, has none of these attributes. Disappointment began fairly early on as I realised that it doesn't build any suspense, it takes no great care of characterisation, the special effects are weak because the creature looks like something from a nightmare and not something we simply could not conceive of. In the Carpenter film, you 'know' the characters (or at least their type) because they are so skillfully introduced. In this one, you really couldn't care less about any of them. There is precious little soundtrack to help with any suspense created. It is so standard as a B-grade horror film that I could barely bring myself to finish it.

Get the 1982 The Thing on Blu-ray and relish a cinema great.

[Mike]

Disappointment began fairly early on as I realised that it doesn't build any suspense, it takes no great care of characterisation, the special effects are weak because the creature looks like something from a nightmare and not something we simply could not conceive of. In the Carpenter film, you 'know' the characters (or at least their type) because they are so skillfully introduced. In this one, you really couldn't care less about any of them. There is precious little soundtrack to help with any suspense created. It is so standard as a B-grade horror film that I could barely bring myself to finish it.

Get the 1982 The Thing on Blu-ray and relish a cinema great.

Well said, sir!

[synsei]

I thoroughly agree with you Martin. The 1982 version is a masterclass on how to build suspense in a movie. I think what makes it so impactful is that the viewer has no idea what form the creature is going to take next or from where it will appear. When I watched it for the first time, the scene where a head turns into a spider unnerved me a great deal. It wasn't so much that it became a spider, more that I just wasn't expecting it. In fact there's a hell of a lot going on in that scene which sets everything up for the appearance of the spider, so upon first viewing it's almost a case of sensory overload with a big payoff at the end. As I said, it's masterful scene construction on Carpenters part.

[Covenant]

Great opening sequence if I remember correctly-a dog being chased by a helicopter. The dog makes it to the camp and then the trouble starts.....

[MartinT]

Great opening sequence if I remember correctly-a dog being chased by a helicopter. The dog makes it to the camp and then the trouble starts.....

...and the superb Ennio Morricone score, with it's boom-boom motif, chills the spine to perfection.

[Mike]

Great opening sequence if I remember correctly-a dog being chased by a helicopter. The dog makes it to the camp and then the trouble starts.....

And that's how the new one should have ended. But it did'nt.... Or did I miss something? I was only paying about 10% attention by that stage!

[Roy S]

John Carpenters own musical scores aren't bad either, really adds to the tension in 'Assault on Precinct 13'

[dantheman91]

Rory gallagher - live in montreux