THING, THE - HD DVD review

"Chariots of the Gods, man. They practically own South America."

With a few exceptions, most good filmmakers are known for less than the body of their work, usually for two or three pictures at best, sometimes only one. I believe that people fifty years from now will remember director John Carpenter for three popular works: "Halloween," "Escape from New York," and "The Thing." Others will disagree and argue for "The Fog," "Starman," "Big Trouble in Little China," "Christine," "They Live," or others. Nevertheless, if I had to go with just one of his films, it would be "The Thing," so you can perhaps understand my delight to see Universal release it on an HD-DVD. Of course, with its improved picture and sound, I like it even better than before.

Anyway, the late 1970s and early 80s saw two excellent remakes of iconic 1950s' horror films: Philip Kaufman's 1978 "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and Carpenter's 1982 revision of the old Howard Hawks production, "The Thing From Another World." Critics were understandably disappointed with both remakes, especially "The Thing." I'm sure it was hard for them to accept anyone's tinkering with favored classics, and in the case of "The Thing" it probably seemed too preposterous.

But I enjoyed both reworkings slightly more than the originals, and now both of the remakes are minor classics in their own right. I found "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" more suspenseful the second time around, and "The Thing," for all its excesses, simply more fun than its dead-serious predecessor. Now on HD-DVD, "The Thing" looks and sounds better than ever. It's amazingly silly, true, and it's certainly closer to a horror-fantasy than to a science-fiction film, but I continue to enjoy it.

Based more closely than its forerunner on the story 1938 short story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, "The Thing" is set in an Antarctic research station, hundreds of miles from nowhere. Twelve men, including the star, Kurt Russell, and co-stars Wilfred Brimley, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Donald Moffat, T.K. Carter, and others are isolated there when an alien being from another planet comes among them.

The first thing the men see is a dog running across the snow toward their labyrinth-like base camp, followed by a Norwegian helicopter shooting at it. The dog manages to escape and the helicopter blows up. Don't ask. It turns out, the dog is really a thing from another world, come to Earth in a spaceship 100,000 years before and frozen in the ice ever since. You bet he's ticked off, too, after waiting all that time to get thawed out. Of course, the thing isn't really a dog. It's a shape-shifter of a kind that can devour its prey and imitate its shape. Or "What we're talking about here is an organism that imitates other life forms." Thus, the film becomes an Agatha Christie "And Then There Were None" or "Ten Little Indians" kind of story, with the monster killing off each of the humans one by one and duplicating them in turn. The survivors quickly catch on to the creature's behavior, but not until the paranoia builds to a pretty high level. Who is next, who is human, and who is the creature this time? We're kept wondering until the very end.

The movie has its fair share of tension and thrills, and it also has more than its fair share of frivolities. When a man's head disengages itself from its body, sprouts legs, and scurries crab-like across the floor, it's hard really to be scared. In fact, it's hard not to laugh out loud, as the Wife-O-Meter does every time she watches it. (When she did this the first time, it was in a movie theater, and, yes, she got some looks. Then people started laughing along with her.)

Moreover, the film is loaded with good, if somewhat outrageous special effects. They are not of the latest CGI variety, mind you, but they look pretty good, nonetheless. Some of them are gory and gross, and some are quite amazingly naturalistic. Some are both. Thank make-up effects designer Rob Bottin, production designer John L. Lloyd, and cinematographer Dean Cundey for the impressive look of the film.

But let me say just a little more about the quality of the film's visuals, which are remarkable. The photography is, as I say, by veteran photographer Dean Cundey, whose shots of the base camp, the rugged outdoor scenery, the snow and the mountains, the spacecraft in the ice, and the creepy, shadowy interior of the research station are all quite stunningly beautiful. Yes, it may be strange to say that a horror movie can be beautiful, but that's the case with some of the scenes here.

John Carpenter's "The Thing" is good, old-fashioned bogeyman material, with composer Ennio Morricone's relentlessly minimalist score effectively underlining every action. The film's quieter moments build its suspense and set it apart from so many less-competent monster movies. There is not a lot to engage the intellect, but there is plenty to engage one's fancy, and for a good horror film, that's enough.

Video:
The first thing of interest here is that the keep case says the movie's ratio is 1.85:1, but the actual dimensions measure about 2.15:1 across my television, closer to the film's original 70 mm prints. The HD-DVD brings to life all of the picture's better images, both the beautiful and the grotesque, in complete clarity, and in comparison with the regular DVD that I own, the difference in picture quality really is night-and-day. The HD-DVD is very clear, with only a minor, fine grain that shows up in vast white areas of snow. Inside the research station, the men, their clothing, and the objects about the rooms show up quite realistically. Facial hair is sharply etched. And the various shapes the monster takes are never more vivid or more bizarre. One could hardly fault the color depth, black levels, or overall definiton. In direct comparison to the SD DVD, it's almost like going back to watching a video tape.

Audio:
The difference in the SD discs's regular Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and the HD-DVD's Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 is not so great as the difference in picture quality, but it is readily noticeable. Those throbbing bass notes never sounded more tightly focused or more sinister. And you'd better get used to them if you've never seen the movie before because they take up what seems like half the soundtrack. There are stronger dynamics and impact than ever and quicker transient reponse. By comparison, the regular DD 5.1 track sounds slightly hollow and woolly.

Extras:
The disc's extras duplicate those found on the previous, standard-resolution, Collector's Edtion DVD. The two main items are a feature-length commentary by director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell and an eighty-odd-minute documentary on the making of the film, "John Carpenter's The Thing: Terror Takes Shape." The commentary, made about ten years ago, is entertaining and insightful. Carpenter, for instance, tells us that liked the blood-testing scene most of all and it's the reason he made the picture. The documentary, filmed about the same time as the commentary, contains a wealth of behind-the-scenes footage, annotations, reminiscences, and insights from the cast and crew.

In addition, there is a series of text-and-stills, including a "Production Background Archive," five minutes, "Cast Production Photographs," two minutes, "Location Design," several minutes, and "Production Archives," ten minutes. These segments cannot be fast-forwarded, an awkward arrangement. Then, there are "The Saucer," seven minutes, "The Blairmonster," seven minutes, and "Outtakes," four minutes, all of which can be viewed frame-by-frame or in full-motion. Finally, there are four minutes of "Post Production" and a standard-screen theatrical trailer.

Universal also provide pop-out menus, a chapter list of thirty-seven scene selections, English and French spoken languages, French and Spanish subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Parting Thoughts:
John Carpenter's "The Thing" is a reasonably effective thriller, a good horror fantasy, and great entertainment. Just try not to take it too seriously. It's not "2001" or "Close Encounters."