The Thing from Another World vs. The Thing

 

You're eyes don't deceive you folks. I truly am doing something a bit different this Halloween season. Sure, I'll still be reviewing movies. But I thought this little thing would be a nice way to spice things up.

Contender #1 - The Thing from Another World

Director - Christian Nyby

Writer(s) - Charles Lederer

Release Date - Apr 27th, 1951

Production - Winchester Pictures Corporation

Distribution - RKO Radio Pictures

Budget - $1,600,000 (estimated)

Gross - $1,950,000 (U.S. rental)

Contender #2 - The Thing

Director - John Carpenter

Writer(s) - Bill Lancaster

Release Date - Jun 25th, 1982

Production - The Turman-Foster Company

Distribution - Universal Pictures

Budget - $15,000,000

Gross - $19,600,000 (North America)

Story

Both stories are based on John W. Campbell's novel Who Goes There? and both plots involve a large group going to an arctic base where they discover a very unusual object, and then bring it back to base. They soon realize that this isn't just an object, but an alien creature, and they have to a find a way to survive.

Round #1 - Visuals

First let me just state something, when I mean visuals, I don't mean special effects, I mean which movie had the better look/style to it. With that out of the way, let's get to it.

First up is the 1951 movie. While the movie itself is fairly well made, the directing leaves lot to be desired. Most of the shots are static shots, which means everything, including the characters, are all just grouped together. And the things we don't have to be told to us, via the characters saying stuff out loud.

With the 1982 movie on the other hand, there's more of a flair. More playing with the camera. Because of this, the shots in the movie don't come off as bland as the previous movie. I remember far more scenes with Carpenter's film than I do with Lederer's film.

Round #2 - Monster

John Carpenter's monster wins, hands down. I mean here's what the monster from the '51 movie looks like.

Now yes, I'm fully aware it was the 1950's and there was only so much they could do. But it still feels like they could've been more creative. Anything would've been far better than something that looks like Frankenstein but with a bald head, claw hands, and a jumpsuit.

With the John Carpenter film, The Thing monster is not only creative, but you never know what kind of twisted form it's going to take, which can leave you with tons of suspense, and might even make you morbidly curious, that's if you're watching it for the first time, as suppose to repeated viewings like me and every other fan.

Round #3 - Scares

Let's kick this section off with the '51 movie. In all honesty, I wasn't really scared. Sure I was still entertained and there are a lot of movies during this era, where its scare factor still holds up. But not with The Thing from Another World, sure it's got a good build up, but it does come off as your standard alien invader flick.

So where does that leave the '82 flick? What made this movie scary, wasn't just the monster or the violence, although that did help. It was the other two factors, one was the paranoia. The fear of not knowing when something or someone is going to attack, or not knowing who you can trust. The other factor is how claustrophobic the movie is. It's bad enough that the characters don't know who's infected, but they're also trapped in their arctic outpost with no way to call for help, thus being completely isolated.

Round #4 - Story

While both movies essentially told the same story, they both took different paths. With The Thing from Another World, the story was still told but they made a lot of changes, some more weirder than others. Like for instance, The Thing isn't just some alien, it's a super plant....like I said odd choices. And I like I said previously, while there is some entertainment here, the movie still came off as a standard alien invades story, nothing really separating it from others.

Which now brings me to The Thing. Screenwriter Bill Lancaster did write a more faithful adaption of the original story, but both him and Carpenter fleshed things out more. More specifically, the paranoia aspect and how desperate our characters are. So with that, we get a much more memorable experience.

Winner - The Thing

So I hoped you enjoyed, because I do plan to make another. Before that though, I'd liked if you came back on Saturday, Oct 7th, for my review of Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.