THE THING - 4K UHD Coming This Fall

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Monterey Jack
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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#16 Post by Monterey Jack »

Sweet...can't wait for my pre-order to ship. 8)

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AndyDursin
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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#17 Post by AndyDursin »

Will check it out later on. Can't wait :)

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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#18 Post by AndyDursin »

What a brilliant set. Don't want to "spoil" everything but the transfer is spectacular compared with the previous efforts. There's lots of grain, lots of detail, you can safely dump the UK Blu-Ray now.

They also rescanned the trailers in HD from what look like fan provided sources, so there's a teaser I've never seen before.

The extras are great, the new interviews are terrific because Shout seemed like they intentionally avoided repeating the same anecdotes or discussions we've heard before. For example, the half-hour Mick Garris interview with Carpenter is wider-ranging, talking about the movie's legacy and Carpenter's love of music -- not so much, say, the casting.

There are also several places where Morricone and Carpenter's relationship is discussed, which is interesting, obviously. Alan Howarth talks about them adding a few cues after Carpenter "wanted more" from whatever Morricone first gave them. The main title came about because Carpenter asked Morricone for something more like his ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK theme than what he initially provided. There is a sense Morricone was "taken aback" from Carpenter's instructions for something more, and that he probably felt whatever he gave him the first time was good enough (that kind of thing). Mick Garris asks Carpenter about this also.

The interview with the film editor even talks about them shooting the "safety ending" with MacReady taking a blood test after being rescued -- I don't know but there must be specific reasons why we've never seen it. That was revealing.

The vintage extras are fantastic, especially the Percy Rodrigues-narrated, 19-minute "Product Reel" that has some alternate footage (I haven't watched it all yet).

There are two new commentaries, which I just sampled, but the one with the associate producer is very interesting from a conceptual, behind the scenes standpoint about the production's history, including the Tobe Hooper version. As far as the old Carpenter-Russell commentary, let me know MJ about where there is a specific edit and I will check and see if it's "uncut".

In all, this is going to be Shout's legacy release, and they absolutely delivered the goods. The effort that went into it, the transfer and extras -- it's everything it should've been and then some.

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Monterey Jack
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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#19 Post by Monterey Jack »

AndyDursin wrote:As far as the old Carpenter-Russell commentary, let me know MJ about where there is a specific edit and I will check and see if it's "uncut".
The two most noteworthy omissions are in the scene where Nauls is introduced on his roller skates (and they're draping the sheet over the dead Swede -- Norwegian, Mac 8)), where Carpenter talks about how actor TK Carter was "worried he'd get up there and find out we were all racist", and the scene where Blair goes crazy in the communications room, and Childs runs up behind Mac and informs everyone that the helicopters have been trashed, and the dogs have been killed, and Carpenter points out the cast on Keith David's hand and says he broke it "while stealing cars, or something". If those two comments are included, then it's the uncut commentary.

God, this set sounds delicious. :D

mkaroly
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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#20 Post by mkaroly »

Really dumb question here (I am full of them), but this new transfer is not one where I have to buy a new DVD player/TV set or anything, right? Or is it that new thing that I have to spend thousands of dollars on to upgrade everything? Or is that the 4K thing? I am confused...any help would be appreciated. Lol...

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Monterey Jack
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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#21 Post by Monterey Jack »

mkaroly wrote:Really dumb question here (I am full of them), but this new transfer is not one where I have to buy a new DVD player/TV set or anything, right? Or is it that new thing that I have to spend thousands of dollars on to upgrade everything? Or is that the 4K thing? I am confused...any help would be appreciated. Lol...
You can watch this on a regular Blu-Ray player, no worries. :)

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AndyDursin
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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#22 Post by AndyDursin »

Yeah it's a 2K restored transfer, just means it's a much better transfer than the old one which had noise-reduction lathered all over it.

8)

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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#23 Post by AndyDursin »

Carpenter talks about Keith David's hand in the cast but there's no comment about stealing cars. Nor is there a line about race in TK Carter's rollerskating scene.

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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#24 Post by Monterey Jack »

AndyDursin wrote:Carpenter talks about Keith David's hand in the cast but there's no comment about stealing cars. Nor is there a line about race in TK Carter's rollerskating scene.
Sonofa...looks like I'm buying the DVD again. :x

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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#25 Post by Monterey Jack »

AND I got an e-mail from Shout talking about a three-week delay to fix an audio synch error. :cry:

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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#26 Post by AndyDursin »

I guess the 4.1 track has a delay? I watched the 5.1 mix and it seemed to be good.

DavidBanner

Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#27 Post by DavidBanner »

According to Stuart Cohen, as he put it on his website, there were actually three ending ideas presented for The Thing.

1. The one that exists in the movie, which matches to the script by Bill Lancaster.

2. A shot of McCready at McMurdo, sitting on a gurney. Quoting from Cohen's page: "This was actually one long shot filmed at Rob's special effects facility, Heartland, on a day sometime after principal photography when Kurt was available (we also did two additional scenes with him that day, but that's another story). I was there when John filmed it, and what I remember was a very deliberate camera dolly down a deserted industrial hallway, slowing panning left and eventually coming to a stop at an open doorway to reveal McCready alive, alone and shivering seated on a gurney at the far end of the room. I think he was dressed as he was in the final scene, with the same blanket wrapped around his shoulders. No Childs, and no other actors or extras. My impression at the time is that this was an honest but half-hearted attempt to provide closure (and clarity) for those who were clamoring for it (see below), and John was never serious about using it. For one thing, the corridor used at Heartland had a sort of harsh tech whiteness to it - we didn't bother to paint it, and after spending the entire film carefully crafting the use of color this didn't look like the sort of image John would want to end on... Never tested or screened, I last saw this piece of film sitting off by itself at the end of an editing room bench."

3. An abbreviated version of the existing ending, only with Childs no longer showing up. McCready just sits there by himself. This version was a committee affair and is the situation Cohen alludes to in the second paragraph. Apparently, preview audiences were confused by the ending and Universal execs wanted something that clarified what was going on. A lot of people tried to mess around with the footage, including Verna Fields, but in the end, Carpenter and his guys convinced Universal to just stay with what was scripted.


I strongly doubt we'll ever see the alternate McMurdo ending - everything Cohen says about it indicates that Carpenter himself didn't want it seen. It was shot to demonstrate to Universal that Carpenter was trying their idea. And of course that was all he intended to do.

DavidBanner

Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#28 Post by DavidBanner »

Cohen also describes significant edits and changes that were made to the movie during production, between the stage phase at Universal and the location phase up in Canada.

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Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#29 Post by AndyDursin »

I strongly doubt we'll ever see the alternate McMurdo ending - everything Cohen says about it indicates that Carpenter himself didn't want it seen. It was shot to demonstrate to Universal that Carpenter was trying their idea. And of course that was all he intended to do.
Editor Todd Ramsay mentions in this featurette that he suggested the alternate ending to Carpenter and was surprised he shot it. It was never intended to be used, but ended up causing "bad blood" (his exact words) between Carpenter and Universal because when the movie didn't test well, Carpenter's insistence on not changing it lead -- he believes -- to Universal not supporting/promoting the film in the weeks leading up to its release as much as they should have. To some degree they realized they had a lame duck on their hands in terms of tepid audience response.

Personally, I'm still not sure lack of promotion was a real issue in terms of the movie's disappointing box-office. I was young at the time (7), but I remember seeing ad after ad for THE THING, especially that trailer that played in front of E.T. and scared the living crap out of any kid waiting to see the Spielberg classic. lol. The novel could be found in any bookstore. There were plenty of TV ads, radio spots, etc. I remember them well.

The movie was ahead of its time in terms of tone and FX, and like BLADE RUNNER, didn't find widespread public acceptance from mainstream audiences of that year. Doesn't mean it wasn't marketed properly (if anything, I think marketing/promotion may have been more an issue for BLADE RUNNER, not THE THING).

Either way, the movie's failure stunted Carpenter's career and at least dropped him a rung from the pedestal he was on. It seems to me Carpenter believes he never truly, fully recovered from it, either, which is something the supplements and interviews here likewise convey. Had the movie been a hit, Carpenter's entire career from that point would've likely been very different.

DavidBanner

Re: THE THING - Shout Factory Sept: New 2K Transfer, Extras!

#30 Post by DavidBanner »

According to Cohen's blogs, Todd Ramsay also wanted the crew to reshoot the footage of the dog running across the snow and was overruled by Verna Fields after she looked at the shots herself.

I agree that Universal did the best they could with promoting a movie that both tested poorly and bombed upon opening. Cohen describes some very unhappy screenings, including a crew screening where Rob Bottin's guys were all delighted and Albert Whitlock castigated him for allowing so much gore. Other screenings were marked by repeated walkouts. Between the gore and the negativity of the story, the movie did not make friends in summer 1982. Cohen gives a contrast between the depression of the people in the theaters showing The Thing vs the happiness of the people who were watching E.T.

As for Carpenter's career, it's true that The Thing put a dent in his career momentum. Up to that time, he'd been working in independent movies, having varying levels of success. Halloween was obviously a massive success for him, but The Fog wasn't. Escape from New York did better. The Thing was his first shot at doing a genuine studio picture, working at the place where the old monster movies were made. While he was making it, and having a lot more time to do so than he'd enjoyed on earlier shows, Universal also had him prepping Firestarter to shoot next. But when the movie bombed, Universal pulled the plug on Carpenter's Firestarter and he had to scramble for his next gig. It's not an accident that his next two movies were for Columbia, not Universal, and that Christine was notably free of gore and blood. I actually felt that Carpenter did a really nice job with Starman, as it was a complete departure from his usual mode, and it's a genuinely good-hearted film.

Starman went a long way toward repairing the damage Carpenter had done with The Thing. But he completely blew it with the next movie, Big Trouble in Little China. Fans of the movie love it, but the general public stayed away and that one failed at the box office just as much as the earlier ones. Big Trouble is what sent Carpenter back to the world of the indies, and his next two movies were throwbacks to his style of Escape From New York and The Fog. In my opinion, by this point, Carpenter was in a major career decline, as much as I enjoyed They Live. (Critic Andy Klein noted at the time that Carpenter would examine interesting and provocative ideas in his movies, but he couldn't help putting those ideas into B movies. Really BAD B movies...) Carpenter's 90s output was pretty bad. There were some inspired moments in both Vampires and In the Mouth of Madness, but he simply never came up with what anyone would think was a good movie. The last gasp of his career appears to have been his segments for Masters of Horror and The Ward. The segments were okay but nothing to write home about, and The Ward bombed the same way his other movies have.
As I see it, he's effectively retired at this point.

Looking back on it, I don't think it's fair to say that The Thing really stopped Carpenter's career, because he was able to bounce back and actually improve on his standing two years later. I think if anything stunted Carpenter's career, it's Carpenter's own bad decisions and a slew of mediocre to bad movies.

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