Maniacal Music 4

True Blood came back to our small screens this week for a fourth season. YAY!!!!  Big toothy grins adorn our faces as this is one of our favorite TV shows with probably the best opening credits of any show!

Jace Everett - Bad Things

(Theme from True Blood)

The Thing (1982)

Writer: John W. Campbell Jr. (story), Bill Lancaster (screenplay)
Director: John Carpenter
Released: 1982
Labels: Monster|Sci-Fi|1980's

Continuing our current theme of Universal Studios horror with milestone special effects, we decided to feature John Carpenter's The Thing.

A re-working of the 1951 film The Thing from Another World based on the story Who Goes There? by John W Campbell Jr, The Thing is set in as about a remote place as you can get, the Antarctic. A group of scientists become cut-off from civilization as events unfold and are preyed upon by a shape-shifting alien life-form. The "thing," as it becomes known, is able to take on the appearance of it's victims and gives our team at the base the secondary terror of not knowing who is human and who is the Thing! 

John Carpenter's films are famously hit and miss (Halloween is a must-see but films like Christine and The Ward really don't live up to the promise) but 'The Thing' has got to rate as one of his best. 

The film impresses with its incredibly bleak look and sound, a low bassy score by genius film composer Ennio Morricone adds to the claustrophobic tension that builds throughout. Much like the characters in the film you are kept guessing as to who has been infected by the Thing and in-fact you never really know what happens to a few of the characters, and rather than an oversight this is entirely intentional as it gives you a taste of the confusion in the base. You can't even say for certain if our hero, MacReady (played perfectly by Kurt Russell) is infected or not! 

The special effects by Rob Bottin (The Howling, Witches of Eastwick, Se7en) and his team may look a little dated 30 years on but are still very impressive nonetheless. Plenty of slimy shape-shifting, body-ripping gore and teeth and tentacles will keep you squirming but it in no way lessens the dramatic impact of the film. 

Universal Studios Orlando Horror Make-up Show

A really well detailed feature on the creation of these effects can be found at the excellent fan-site Outpost #31.

The Thing performed poorly at the box office and was not well received critically, apparently audiences weren't quite ready for this level of body horror, and because of this it has remained relatively unknown in this genre in comparison to films like Alien or Predator. It is good news that this year they intend on releasing a prequel (confusingly also entitled The Thing) which we are told will reveal what happens right up to the opening credits of the original and remain true to all that has been told thus far, and in addition will also give some conclusion to the original film. We just hope that this new movie will re-kindle some interest in the original and allow many more horror fans to experience this excellent film.

The Thing theatrical trailer

The Thing at iMDB

The Thing at Wikipedia

Related Movie Picks

Maniacal Music 3

So, after featuring An American Werewolf in London, we really had to give you the music video that it inspired. Also directed by John Landis and featuring special effects from Rick Baker, here is Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Michael Jackson - Thriller

An American Werewolf in London

Writer: John Landis
Director: John Landis
Released: 1981
Labels: Monster|Comedy|1980's

Brief Synopsis:

Two young American backpackers, David and Jack, are attacked by a werewolf in a remote British village; Jack is killed, but David is just wounded. He awakes in a London hospital, has dreams and visions of his own burgeoning blood-lust and of random (and quite bizarre) scary scenarios, not least the military rampaging zombies that massacre his family! Jack re-visits David and explains that he is stuck in limbo as an "un-dead" until the werewolf bloodline is severed and insists that David kill himself.  A pretty young nurse, Alex, takes pity on David and invites him to stay with her. Full moon inevitably comes around and David becomes a werewolf and sets about doing what werewolves do best, all over London.

Our recent trip to Universal Studios Horror Make-up Show (see separate post) prompted this re-watch of  "An American Werewolf in London" as we were shown some of the props and techniques employed in the making of this film.

Made in 1981 by Universal pictures and directed by John Landis (The Blues Brothers, Twilight Zone ,  Animal House) it harks back to the movie making style of the classic British Hammer Film horrors from the 1950's 60's & 70's. (It is interesting to note that the "Hammer Horrors" thrived because, after the initial success of their first Dracula release, Universal Studios opened up their library and gave them license to remake all their iconic monster movies). It is a movie that has no CGI effects and in fact has a relatively small amount of gore and action compared to the modern horror, but it does have plenty of charm and humor. Actually it uses comedy to great effect (particularly in Jack (Griffin Dunne) whose pissed off un-dead laconic style is really funny) and there are some amusing sight gags too. This is, however, a true horror movie and it does not fail to create suspense and tension throughout, there is plenty to make you jump and you also do feel for the tragedy of David's plight.

The film is renowned for its transformation scene, and it really is a work of genius from legendary special effects artist Rick Baker (The Ring, Men in Black, Hellboy ... the list goes on and on....). There is no animation here, all that you see has been created with the use of prosthetics, make-up, animatronics and some intense acting from David Naughton. It won a 1981 academy award in a category specifically introduced for this piece of work, we couldn't resist giving it to you here in all its magnificence. so......

More of Rick Bakers make-up effects teams work. This was particularly uncomfortable for David Naughton as the contact lenses were made of glass back then! 

Oh and by the way...this face pretty much traumatized us! (it reminded us of the demonic subliminal images throughout the Exorcist)

This movie has so many interesting facts and trivia titbits that it's impossible to list them all but a couple of our favorites are:

*Frank Oz (of Muppets fame) makes two appearances in the film, one as an American embassy worker and the other as Miss Piggy!

*The songs used in the film all have 'Moon' in the title.

*Oh, and keep your eye on the credits for a royal message!

Yes, this film comes across as a bit dated now, and it's not as slick as modern productions, but we love this movie for everything that it is not, as much as everything that it is.

An American Werewolf in London Trailer

An American Werewolf at iMDB

An American Werewolf at Wikipedia

Related Movies

Friday the 13th, iTunes app

For those of us who just have to know when the next Friday the 13th is, why not be aware for the next 50 years!!  This app surely comes in handy when looking to schedule your next Horror Movie Marathon with all of your friends.  It also has the capability through iCal to schedule reminders onto the calendars of your PC, Mac, or iPhone/iPod/iPad device.  Now how cool is that?! 

Check out this app for free on iTunes!

Jigsaw Your Voice, iTunes app

Now here is an interesting app for those of you who are fans of the horror flick, Saw.  

Jigsaw Your Voice app, available at iTunes for FREE, will not only allow you to modify your voice to sound exactly like Jigsaw's creepy one, but you can also save it and send it to all of your friends (or enemies...hehe!). 

So, go ahead and check it out!

Click here to get this free app on iTunes!

Horror Movie Quiz, iTunes app

We thought this app was rather cool for a bit of horror movie trivia on the go.

The app is well presented with good looking animations to the buttons and appropriate sounds.  The questions are pitched just about right with regard to difficulty, so no mind-numbingly easy ones here but equally you're not going to be frustrated to the point of hair pulling either. I would say that they are a little repetitive in format though, e.g. there is a lot of 'who directed' and 'who played' questions.

This app is simply designed to while away a little time, you can choose to play against the clock or not and it keeps track of your progress discreetly in a statistics page, showing your percentages and giving you a ranking (you can re-set this at any time).

So while away some time testing your knowledge on horror and maybe learn a few new facts with which you can bore your buddies!

Click here to get the app on iTunes for FREE. Enjoy!!