The Thing From Another World (1951) VS. The Thing (1982)

Which version did you think was better? I recently saw the 1951 one and I kind of find myself leaning more towards that one surprisingly.

SPOILERS


The monster is weaker in this one, in the sense that it is just not near as interesting but a scary Frankenstein monster like presence.

However, I like the human characters more in the original, and I like how some of them want to keep the creature alive to study it and learn from it, where as the others want to stop them from keeping it alive and kill it, and it becomes a conflict for the humans of moral beliefs, where as in the remake, all the humans agree they want to kill it, which is okay too, I just thought the original had a more interesting human take.

So it's tough to decide, but perhaps find myself leaning towards the original possibly a little more. What do you think?

An intellectual carrot. The mind boggles.


Surprisingly enough, I choose the one from 1982!

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I prefer the 1982 version. It's closer to the story Who Goes There? too isn't it, on which the film was based. All the paranoia. I don't remember the Fifties version that well but I didn't respond to it really.

The '51 version was ok for the time. A basic horror monster movie with a man in spandex and a mask (as mentioned by others).


Carpenter's '82 movie though is a masterpiece. Sure there are a couple monsters in there that have aged a little (the stop motion at the end is a bit screwy), but overall, it's one of the best horror and paranoia movies ever made.


Disagree about the human side of things though.
Ok, the '51 film has basically two sides to the characters. One lot saying one thing, the other lot saying the opposite.
The '82 film has the characters all wanting to kill the thing, yes... but... it's through the study of the organism that they all realise exactly how dangerous the Thing really is... and they decide together that they have to fight this creature, and hope that the man standing next to you isn't one of them.


That's where the conflict is... the unknowing between the characters rather than a conflict of interests.


Blair goes completely nuts as well and decides that everyone on the base should be cut off from humanity, knowing full well that this alien is the end of all life on Earth should it ever get to a populated area.
The group thinks he's lost his mind, but in reality he hasn't. He's trying to protect the entire planet.

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Oh okay. I thought that Blair loosing his mind kind of came out of nowhere.

SPOILERS

I mean after he finds out what exactly the creature is, why doesn't he just explain to the others what is going on, so they can all figure out what to do? Also, I was taken out of the suspense somewhat, cause after Blair tells them the creature can imitate humans perfectly, the humans are constantly deciding to always split up and go off alone all the time, only to always rendezvous with someone returning as the thing, and they still go off in separate directions and never learn.

So this kind of took me out of it, but I admit the Who Goes There creature idea is very good.

Plus I never understood why The Thing decided to reveal itself. After he is locked in the dog cell, the creature decides to change after the dogs start barking, the humans come out and see it. Why reveal yourself? I felt that they gave away that too soon, rather than being more mysterious about it and building more suspense and kind of jumped the gun perhaps.

Ah, Blair goes crazy because the simple fact is that he doesn't know who is who.
His analysis on the computer shows that the chance of one or more people being infected, or even totally taken over, is at 85%.
He can't trust anyone. The Thing could be any of them. So Blair takes steps.






The dogs knew it wasn't a dog. Animals can sense things like this.
So, the only way out of the situation, is to take them over.
The way the creature works as well, as Mac explains, is that it hides inside an imitation.
There are only two circumstances that The Thing will actually attack.
1. When in close proximity to another organism and has enough privacy so it can take over and become 2 creatures.
2. It has been discovered and/or is threatened so it can get away.


So with the dogs:
It felt that it was kinda private enough to take over the dogs. The dogs kinda already knew something was wrong with this animal and they started sniffing and growling.
So, the dog scene, both rules 1 & 2 apply.

the thing 1982 is a classic scifi horror that stands time, even after 35 odd years holds up so well against many scifi horrors of today. a classic in the history of filmaking

The 82 version will never be topped.

No love for the newer version? I thought it was pretty OK. I'd rate that newer one a little higher than the 51 version.

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Meh, the 2011 version was a remake of the '82 version, though it was meant to be a prequel.
Total garbage.

Total garbage? Nah, I'd give it a reasonable . I thought it was alright. I kinda liked how they tied the two together.

But I thought since Blair didn't know who was who, the most logical step would be to get everyone in a room and explain the situation to get people to volunteer for tests to see who is the Thing... not go insane.

As for the dogs knowing it wasn't a dog, in that situation, wouldn't the smartest thing for the thing to do, would be to act innocent and still act like a dog, therefore, the humans will draw the conclusion that the other dogs must be crazy and just not like the other dog? That way the thing could just lie his way out of it, and act innocent as a dog?

But none of that would make for an entertaining movie

True, you don't want to be make it too non-suspenseful either. What if The Thing was written so that the characters did not constantly go off alone in different directions, and instead they decide to all stick together after Blair tells them what they are dealing with, but they find out that the Thing has already infected almost all of them anyway. Would that be better?

The ultimate thing abiut the 1982 film is that the soundtrack is super immersive , it just lets you feel the dread of who s being infected and who isn t,john carpenter mastered the way the scenes are delivered to us

I love the score, but it's Ennio Morricone, who is my favorite composer!

It's been ages since I saw the 1951 version but I'm pretty sure I do prefer Carpenter's take on the subject. Rewatched it few months ago and it was still great.

'82 without any doubts.

Accidental Spock!

Panic affects people differently.

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Man, I could barely get through the '51 Thing. That thing is so dull.

No contest.