The Thing (Zavvi Limited Steelbook) (Blu-ray)

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Over the years, star Kurt Russell and master of horror John Carpenter have teamed up on a multitude of films (Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from New York to name a few) but of all their collaborations, 1982 s horror/sci-fi amalgalm The Thing surely tops the list. You can’t keep a good gory shape-shifting creature buried in the ice for long. Almost thirty years after John Carpenter unleashed his beast The Thing, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. delivers an interesting and fairly entertaining prequel that is unfortunately undermined by too much source familiarity and rushed CGI work. To be fair there are some smart pieces to this film with strong performances from the cast and it dovetails into the 1982 original, but there’s some measure of authenticity missing.

When John Carpenter’s remake of The Thing premiered in 1982 and was mostly rejected by both movie-going audiences and critics, an afterlife on home video was all but inevitable. Beginning with CED, Laserdisc, VHS, and DVD, the film, like several that John Carpenter made that weren’t fully appreciated upon their initial releases, built an avid following, with many in that following proclaiming it to be “the best film that John Carpenter ever made” and/or “the best monster movie ever made”. Brand new restoration from a 4K scan of the original negative, supervised and approved by director John Carpenter and director of photography Dean Cundey It also deeply hurt John Carpenter, changing the trajectory of his career and, more or less, forcing him to do other types of films, but with less independence and less creative control from then on in. Today, it’s seen as a masterpiece, staying true the tagline framed atop its theatrical poster “The ultimate in alien terror.” After two men in a Norwegian helicopter flew into their camp trying to kill a single dog, the crew of a U.S. Antarctic research station encounters something from beyond the stars. An alien creature capable of infecting and perfectly imitating any living breathing organism. With any number of their team infected by the creature, helicopter pilot MacReady (Kurt Russell) and the survivors of the station must find a way of identifying and killing each imitation before it’s too late. John Carpenter’s The Thing infects its first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release thanks to Universal Home Video in a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital set. Pressed on a BD-100 disc, the discs are housed in a standard sturdy two-disc case. The included SDR Blu-ray is the exact same disc from 2008 without any updates in audio. The 4K disc loads to Universal’s standard static-image main menu with an animated bonus features menu along the righthand side.A research team based out in the snowy wilds of Antartica find themselves beseiged by a terrifying, shape-shifting creature which has found its way into their base. When it becomes clear that the creature can take the form of any organism it so chooses, the tension within the team reaches breaking point any one of them could be... The Thing. The prequel The Thing tried to replicate this lightning in a bottle of tension, fear, and horror. While there are some clever moments to that film, it’s ultimately unsatisfying and unnecessary. Now, Blumhouse is apparently in the hunt to adapt John Campbell’s previously lost full-novel manuscript of the story originally titled Frozen Hell. In the right hands, this could be an interesting take on the story. It’s certainly material worth revisiting, but there’s got to be something unique about it to make it worth the time. I always thought an early 1930's period film with limited technology would be the best way to go. The last thing we need is another useless tired retread. Even if that’s all we get, nothing can take away from John Carpenter’s 1982 classic - or the badass 2002 video game.

Much like Carpenter’s classic The Thing, Heijningen’s The Thing wasn’t exactly kindly received. While critics decried Carpenter’s film for being unrelentingly bleak, critics and fans savaged the audacity of crafting a prequel to a now revered Sci-fi/Horror classic. It’s not an amazing film, but I don’t think it deserved the savaging it received when it hit theaters. That said, it's also far from being a masterpiece often landing in that middle ground of frustrating mediocrity and missed potential. This release also features all of the terrific extras included on the original Scream Factory Collector's Edition Blu-ray release, but not what's available on Arrow Video's release. On Disc Two, there are 3 audio commentaries: one with Dean Cundey, moderated by Rob Galluzzo; another with co-producer Stuart Cohen, moderated by Michael Felsher; and another with John Carpenter and Kurt Russell. In addition, there are 2 U.S. theatrical trailers, the German theatrical trailer, the teaser trailer, 3 TV spots, 4 radio spots, and an extensive set of still galleries (behind-the-scenes, lobby cards and press stills, programs, posters, storyboards, and production artwork). Vintage Product Reel – Contains A Condensed Version Of The Film With Additional Footage Not In The Film (SD)The Thing is technically not a remake in the sense of the word, but more of a re-imagining of the original short story Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr., which Howard Hawks’ The Thing from Another World was based upon. That original film wound up having not much to do with the actual story, going so far as having the alien just being reminiscent of Frankenstein’s monster. While it worked in 1951 and is still heralded as a sci-fi horror classic, Carpenter’s update eclipses it. John Carpenter’s The Thing arrives on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with an excellent native 4K transfer with HDR10 grading. This is a film with a very passionate fanbase who needs to own this in every new and hopefully better version possible. I’m one of those, and with that devotion comes some heated discussion about benefits and detriments to any release. While few would argue that the 2008 disc lands anywhere near the top, the discussion between Scream Factory’s 2016 release and Arrow’s 2017 release certainly was tense, to say the least. Every release of this film has had some plusses and minuses often drawing some hard lines with fans.