Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

The Thing Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 30, 2016

Film aficionados who are also trivia freaks no doubt know that the “villain” in Howard Hawks’ iconic 1951 outing The Thing from Another World was played by a guy who would soon become the very epitome of a hero: James Arness, also known as Marshal Matt Dillon from television’s hugely successful western Gunsmoke. While the casting of John Carpenter’s 1982 remake of the film might not have that same level of interest for those who parse the credits for fascinating nuggets, there’s another kind of fascinating trivia with regard to the general time period of the film’s release. The summer of 1982 was an incredible moment for lovers of science fiction and/or horror films, as a cursory review of Box Office Mojo’s list of the top earning films for the weekend when The Thing made its debut prove. Firmly ensconced at the top of the list (in its third week of release, no less) was Steven Spielberg’s ode to “friendly” aliens, E.T.: The Extra- Terrestrial, while the number two position was held by a somewhat more dystopian view of what the future might hold, Ridley Scott’s phantasmagorical Blade Runner. Holding down the number five spot, and starting to lose a bit of its box office allure after around a month on the market, was Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, while at number seven (and also starting to show the signs of decline after several weeks in release) was Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist. With competition like that, it’s perhaps easier to understand why the John Carpenter film didn’t initially resonate with audiences the way it later seemed to (it placed number eight, right after Poltergeist, on the list). The Thing has indeed gone on to greater recognition and appreciation than it received at the time of its initial release, and it’s now generally considered to be one of Carpenter’s better efforts and one of the smarter remakes of an already iconic work. Shout! Factory’s Scream Factory imprint is bringing the film out now in a new Collector’s Edition. To Shout's credit, they quickly offered replacement discs when an unspecified audio issue was identified on early screeners. Perhaps ironically, then, it may be the video component of this release rather than the audio that will potentially raise the hackles of longtime fans who will quibble with the look of the film in its “new” incarnation. The fact that this release boasts a new 2K scan of the interpositive that was supervised by the film’s Director of Photography, Dean Cundey, may or may not sway those who remember the film with a certain color grading which is not reproduced here.

Since my hunch is virtually everyone coming to this review will already be more or less familiar with the plot mechanics of the film, and are instead wondering about the video and audio quality of this release and its attendant supplemental package, I’ll defer to my colleague Martin Liebman’s overview of the story of the film. Marty wrote a winning summary of the film in his The Thing Blu-ray review covering the original Universal Blu-ray release.

The Thing Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Thing is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Since I've recently reviewed a ton of films which are either "new, improved" releases of product already out on Blu-ray, or alternatively Region B versions of films available here domestically in the United States, this may sound like I've become a bit of a broken record, but rather than go into a huge descriptive frenzy of the differences between this release and the Universal release, I've instead attempted to come close to duplicating several of the screenshots that Marty included in his The Thing Blu-ray review of the 2008 Universal release. That way, those interested can do their own contrast and compare, which is something I highly recommend. It's instantly apparent to anyone doing a cursory comparison that the color grading is different on this new release, with a cooler, almost velvety blue or purplish tone, but also what to my eyes looks like a slight but noticeable darker quality throughout the presentation. This is especially noticeable in some of the stark outdoor scenes—contrast screenshot 1 here with the first screenshot in Marty's review, and the darker look is apparent, along with what (again to my eyes) seems like a much more noticeable grainfield and better differentiation between the nuanced tones of the snowy environment. While Marty didn't overtly address this in his review, my hunch is the Universal release may have had some high frequency filtering applied (as tended to be the case with Universal catalog releases back in that era), for the grittier texture on this new Scream version is also fairly apparent and will no doubt be a plus for those who like visible film grain. Perhaps due to that filtering, I found the new Scream release much better in delivering fine detail levels in elements like the fabrics on the outfits or even some of the sliminess of some of the prosthetics and other practical effects that are utilized in the film. Despite an overall very dark ambience informing large swaths of the film, compression is generally great, though grain can tend to assume a slightly chunky look in some of the darkest moments (see screenshot 19). While this has been touted as a new 2K scan of the interpositive (done under Dean Cundey's supervision), there are still some tiny but perceptible issues with regard to dirt and the like, as well as (again negligible but noticeable) wobble during the opening credits. Finally, I'd caution against reading too much relevance into any comparison of my 4.5 score for this version with Marty's 4.0 score for the Universal, for there's no guarantee that I would have scored the Universal at 4.0, and similarly no guarantee that Marty would have scored this one as I have. That's part of the "fun" of reading competing reviews of the same film--you actually get different opinions.

The Thing Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Scream Factory hasn't just provided a new video component for The Thing, they're also offering a new DTS-HD Master Audio 4.1 mix created from the film's original 70mm six track Dolby stereo soundtrack (the previously released DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is also included, as is a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix). Truth be told, I didn't hear a whale of a lot of difference toggling back and forth between the 4.1 and 5.1 mixes, with both offering a nice reproduction of the film's dialogue, fun sound effects and nice Ennio Morricone score. There are some ambient differences apparent within each track that may be due to post-looping, but otherwise fidelity is consistent and natural sounding, and dynamic range extremely wide.

Note: As mentioned above, Scream Factory has been commendably up front about an audio issue they discovered in early screeners sent to reviewers, resulting in replacement discs being manufactured. It's my understanding that absolutely none of the afflicted discs made it to market, and so consumers should not be concerned about getting a product they'll need to go through some kind of disc replacement program with.

The Thing Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One (with the feature film)

• Theatrical and Teaser Trailers

  Theatrical Trailers (1080p; 3:27)

  German Trailer (1080p; 1:47)

  Teaser Trailer (1080p; 1:22)

• TV Spots (1080p; 1:35)


• Radio Spots (1080p; 2:27) also offers a bit of "extracurricular" footage, as well as Stevie Wonder's "Superstition".


• Still Galleries

  Behind the Scenes (1080p; 4:47)

  Lobby Cards and Press Stills (1080p; 4:18)

  Programs (1080p; 1:44)

  Posters (1080p; 1:59)

  Storyboards (1080p; 2:34)

  Production Artwork (1080p; 1:24)

• Audio Commentary with Dean Cundey (found under the Setup Menu)


• Audio Commentary with Co-Producer Stuart Cohen (found under the Setup Menu)


• Audio Commentary by Director John Carpenter and Actor Kurt Russell (found under the Setup Menu)

Disc Two (Bonus Features)

• Interviews

  Requiem for a Shapeshifter (1080p; 28:39) features John Carpenter being interviewed by Mick Garris.

  
  

  The Men of Outpost 31 (1080p; 51:14) features interviews with several of the supporting players.

  
  

  Assembling and Assimilation (1080p; 11:09) features editor Todd Ramsay.

  
  

  Behind the Chameleon (1080p; 25:26) is a fun overview of some shapeshifting activities with Peter Kuran, Visual Effects Supervisor.

  
  

  Sounds from the Cold (1080p; 14:53) features Alan Howarth, Special Sound Effects and Music.

  
  

  Between the Lines (1080p; 15:58) features author Alan Dean Foster.

• More of The Thing

  Network TV Broadcast Version of The Thing (480i; 1:33:45) is sourced from pretty spotty looking video.

  
  

  John Carpenter's The Thing: Terror Takes Shape (1080i; 1:24:03) is a really well done in depth piece on the background and production of the film.

  
  

  The Making of a Chilling Tale (480i; 5:14) is a brief vintage featurette.

  
  

  The Making of The Thing (480i; 9:20) is another archival piece.

• Featurettes

  The Art of Mike Ploog (1080p; 12:21) is a nice tour through some storyboards.

  
  

  Back into the Cold (1080p; 11:16) visits some of the film's locations.

  
  

  Outtakes (1080i; 5:19)

  
  

  Vintage Featurettes (480i; 13:20)

  
  

  Vintage Product Reel (480i; 19:38)

  
  

  Vintage Behind the Scenes Footage (480i; 2:02)

  
  

  Annotated Production Archive (1080i; 54:12)

The Thing Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The original 1951 version of this film has long been cited as yet another "warning" against incipient Communism cloaked in a somewhat fanciful context that perhaps suggested a subliminally paranoiac state that was perfectly in tune with how America was feeling in the early fifties. Rather interestingly, then, the 1982 version of the film, shorn more or less completely of any "meta" analysis issues, retains and arguably even builds on the original's sense of fear and unease. Fans are no doubt going to debate the "look" of this new release, but I'm the sort who tends to side with the film's DP in controversies like this one. Color grading aside, technical merits are uniformly strong and as usual Scream has assembled an absolutely first rate batch of supplements. Highly recommended.