Current Events > The Thing is such a massively overrated film

(+) Yeah! (+)

Its a 10/10 movie

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Lmao you put James Woods's dick over The Thing?

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Jerry_Hellyeah posted...

Yeah, lets all appreciate the film tastes of the guy who says The Thing is overrated while having never seen Psycho.

Otay.

Who caaaares, and how is that significant? Do you really want to play that game? How many movies could I probably cherry-pick that you haven't seen?

Honestly Blair Witch fucking sucked and Paranormal Activity did everything it did but way better.
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Smashingpmkns posted...

Honestly Blair Witch fucking sucked and Paranormal Activity did everything it did but way better.

Hell noooo. Paranormal Activity is whack as hell -- and it didn't advertise itself the same as Blair Witch. The marketing behind Blair Witch is a big part of its brilliance.

I also have seen other movies.

The Thing is great though, such a fantastic movie.

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BOY! The Thing is so much better than so many of those movies listed. Like fuck my dude. But agree to disagree. I do consider it to be one of the very best and it's among my favorites for sure.

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bobbaaay posted...

Hell noooo. Paranormal Activity is whack as hell -- and it didn't advertise itself the same as Blair Witch. The marketing behind Blair Witch is a big part of its brilliance.

I disagree. Blair Witch isn't even a quarter of the movie that Paranormal Activity is. The marketing was okay (only because some people for some reason actually thought it was real at the time wtf lmao) then you see the movie and all that marketing is gone to waste because it was absolute garbage imo.

Noroi shits on them both tho.
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Smashingpmkns posted...

I disagree. Blair Witch isn't even a quarter of the movie that Paranormal Activity is. The marketing was okay (only because some people for some reason actually thought it was real at the time wtf lmao) then you see the movie and all that marketing is gone to waste because it was absolute garbage imo.

Noroi shits on them both tho.

Whaaat? Noroi is so insanely mediocre! Next to The Poughkeepsie Tapes it's probably the most I've ever been disappointed by a found footage movie.

I like the poughkeepsie tapes

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Actually the only movies listed I'd put above the Thing would be...the VVitch (my favorite), Halloween and Alien are probably better, but I don't like them as much. Blair Witch was more influential/important, but not nearly as good. Psycho is great, but I'd put the Thing over it, but that's kind of a toss up. But I don't get how you can watch Candyman or Black Christmas and think it's objectively better than the Thing. And stuff like I Spit on Your Grave or Cannibal Holocaust? C'mon. An argument can be made for the found footage influence, but still.

Also you list the original Suspiria. I suggest the recent remake if you haven't seen it.

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bobbaaay posted...

Whaaat? Noroi is so insanely mediocre! Next to The Poughkeepsie Tapes it's probably the most I've ever been disappointed by a found footage movie.

I'm about to jump through your screen. Poughkeepsie Tapes was actual trash but Noroi was amazing!
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By far the best horror movie film analyst on YouTube is Collative Learning.

https://youtube.com/user/robag88

his film analysis on the exorcist being a film about the sexual maturity of teens is very well researched and nuanced. Comparing the directors other work you can see the director very purposefully made a film after about a vampire killer actually just being a guy with a damaged brain once it goes to court to dismiss the supernatural.

he also has an excellent free analysis about how the original Texas chainsaw massacre is an anti meat industry protest film. Same with the shining film version by Kubrick being about sexual abuse by a father to his son.

I just cant speak highly enough about this guy. His eye for detail is incredible. His breakdown of set and time alterations during the Michael Jackson documentary that was unedited in one shot shows just how much we can be fooled by anything. Hes really gotten me to be more critical about film at large. And yes he has high high praise for the thing.

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lemondrop7 posted...

By far the best horror movie film analyst on YouTube is Collative Learning.

Truth. His coverage on the Shining was probably my favorite.

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GameGodOfAll posted...

Actually the only movies listed I'd put above the Thing would be...the VVitch (my favorite), Halloween and Alien are probably better, but I don't like them as much. Blair Witch was more influential/important, but not nearly as good. Psycho is great, but I'd put the Thing over it, but that's kind of a toss up. But I don't get how you can watch Candyman or Black Christmas and think it's objectively better than the Thing. And stuff like I Spit on Your Grave or Cannibal Holocaust? C'mon. An argument can be made for the found footage influence, but still.

Also you list the original Suspiria. I suggest the recent remake if you haven't seen it.

Candyman had a wonderful score, a fresh story, it pioneered a few new camera techniques, it had a rich lore, it was filmed on set in the dangerous neighborhood where it was set, the acting is top-notch, and it had strong themes regarding the nature of folklore and urban mythology as well as poverty. It was an incredibly well made movie that unfairly gets judged as a dime-a-dozen mediocre slasher - because lots of horror casuals put Tony Todd on horror parody shirts with Freddy and Jason and shit, and Tony Todd showed up in tons of casual garbage like Final Destination.
Black Christmas is well made - so I don't know what you're talking about there. Cannibal Holocaust easily has the best horror score period; the work Riz Ortolani did with Deodato was top notch. Cannibal Holocaust was also shot well, its special effects were good for the time, it was shocking to general audiences, its story is engaging, it pioneered the found footage genre and framed itself in a very unique way for its time. Whenever anybody doesn't credit Cannibal Holocaust I assume either they're not actually into horror films, or they're put off by the animal cruelty and use it to delegitimize the rest of the film.
I Spit on Your Grave probably isn't on par with other rape revenge/exploitation films of the time, like Ms.45, and isn't as shocking as something like Rape Squad -- but I don't count the latter two as horror films. I Spit on Your Grave just had a mood about it that's untouched by most other cinema, and it was definitely competently shot. The acting kind of ranged from bad to great - but that aside it's a good film.

lemondrop7 posted...

By far the best horror movie film analyst on YouTube is Collative Learning.

https://youtube.com/user/robag88

his film analysis on the exorcist being a film about the sexual maturity of teens is very well researched and nuanced. Comparing the directors other work you can see the director very purposefully made a film after about a vampire killer actually just being a guy with a damaged brain once it goes to court to dismiss the supernatural.

he also has an excellent free analysis about how the original Texas chainsaw massacre is an anti meat industry protest film. Same with the shining film version by Kubrick being about sexual abuse by a father to his son.

I just cant speak highly enough about this guy. His eye for detail is incredible. His breakdown of set and time alterations during the Michael Jackson documentary that was unedited in one shot shows just how much we can be fooled by anything. Hes really gotten me to be more critical about film at large. And yes he has high high praise for the thing.

The films I listed have very high praise as well, and I do enjoy film critiques/analyses a ton.
I'm a huge fan of a lot of the videos from Style Is Substance, and that channel has multiple videos 30+ minutes long just talking about Possession.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8ItKtUb8aA
Possession is a much better film than The Thing. It has much more substance, and its acting is leagues ahead of any of the performances in The Thing.

Wait just googled Black Christmas. Got it confused with another Christmas slasher. This one's better for sure, but still not in the Thing's league.

And I liked Candyman. Had a lot of good in it, but I just don't see it anywhere near the upper echelon of horror films.

End of the day you said in your OP that you think those are more worthy of being the "Greatest of All Time" than the Thing. I don't see how they are even in the conversation. The Thing's tension is masterful with the paranoia and build. Just the blood test scene alone out shines almost every other movie on your list. I know it's an opinion, but I don't get what scene in Candyman can compare. The acting is all spot on and the breakdown of the crew comes across as so natural with the characters being pretty well defined and it all just works. The core story of an alien that can disguise itself to be any human with a stressed out crew of researchers isolated in an Antarctic base is a great set up. Then there's the astonishing special effects. Those I can't see anyone making an argument against. Aside from a shot or two, they were spectacular.

What was it about the Thing that didn't work for you? I haven't read through the whole topic, so sorry if you went into more depth already.

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And they say opinions cant be objectively wrong.

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The most disturbing thing about The Thing, is Wilford Brimley without a mustache.

Blair Witch is not overrated because it's marketing overrated it... ok...

Which one? The original or the newer one that acts as a prequel?

whoever hasn't seen psycho should watch it. it's a legit nightmare

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ledbowman posted...

whoever hasn't seen psycho should watch it. it's a legit nightmare

https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-f2d09971c3c3a88d0391cb7fb0a7c57f

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This topic is pretty much a shitpost but US was indeed pretty good and I agree on the social commentary you mentioned.

The Thing is still a great film and I would absolutely rewatch it.

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pikachupwnage posted...

This topic is pretty much a shitpost but US was indeed pretty good and I agree on the social commentary you mentioned.

The Thing is still a great film and I would absolutely rewatch it.

us was awful. nothing made sense and nothings explained. one of the worst horror movies of all time which is pretty shocking because get out is one of the greatest horror movies of recent time by the same director.

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pikachupwnage posted...

This topic is pretty much a shitpost but US was indeed pretty good and I agree on the social commentary you mentioned.

The Thing is still a great film and I would absolutely rewatch it.

I did make this post to piss people off, although I do agree that the films I listed are better films from a critical perspective - especially stuff like Dawn of the Dead, Carrie, Possession, Repulsion, etc. I know that Blair Witch, Martyrs, I Spit on Your Grave, and a few others are probably debatable by most people - but they're all films that do have immense amounts of praise and influence in the horror community, and I don't think anything I listed is an absolute head scratcher aside from maybe The Reflecting Skin (which I think is criminally underrated).

But I do appreciate that you acknowledge that Us is a well made movie. It's definitely up there as far as intelligent horror movies go IMO, and it's definitely the best exploration of social class in horror. It does receive immense amounts of hate from people who claim Peele is racist, or people like the post immediately underneath yours. You literally can't make posts about Us, It Follows, or Midsommar in shitty mainstream horror groups without there being about three dozens responses saying "it sucks!" or "dumpsterfire!" per one positive response.

lemondrop7 posted...

us was awful. nothing made sense and nothings explained. one of the worst horror movies of all time which is pretty shocking because get out is one of the greatest horror movies of recent time by the same director.

Us is all one big allegory, and admittedly its literal narrative has a lot of holes and leaves a lot to be implied. So I can understand people not liking it if they're looking for a straight forward narrative or they're not interested in class dynamics/social criticism. The film is definitely very unconventional for having been a wide release.
I will say I think that Get Out is a much more popular film with most critics and general audiences because there's a big push for racial consciousness in the last decade -- so the themes of appropriation, racial fetishism, etc. are more in the forefront of our political discourse than the themes of Us.
This isn't a "you didn't get it" kind of response - I'm just saying that if that's not your thing then that's not your thing. I personally have zero interest in watching films about mafia or organized crime, or a good portion of drug movies. While films like Wolf of Wall Street or The Pursuit of Happyness have tons of acclaim I personally didn't like either, because they didn't really align with my politics or interests - even if I'd still say they're both good films.

Midsommar was not better than the The Thing.

Most of the those movies weren't better than The Thing.

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Hard disagree TC , The Thing is one of the best horror movies ever made.

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This topic is hilarious, can't tell if tc is serious or this is a well constructed troll topic.

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BaphometFlux posted...

Hard disagree TC , The Thing is one of the best horror movies ever made.

I don't think there's any question that at least Dawn of the Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Suspiria, Repulsion, Possession, Rosemary's Baby, Alien, Carrie, Cannibal Holocaust, Videodrome, and Audition are all better than The Thing -- making it not even a top 10 of all time.

Cannibal Holocaust is dreck.
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Cookie Bag posted...

This topic is hilarious, can't tell if tc is serious or this is a well constructed troll topic.

My topics are all onions.
I am serious about all the films I listed, even if it didn't need to be said. I'm rustling more jimmies than a nude picnic on an anthill.

Wait, are we talking about the 1951 The Thing or the 1982 one?

bobbaaay posted...

I don't think there's any question that at least Dawn of the Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Suspiria, Repulsion, Possession, Rosemary's Baby, Alien, Carrie, Cannibal Holocaust, Videodrome, and Audition are all better than The Thing -- making it not even a top 10 of all time.

I respect your choices and its fine by me if you dont think the Thing is a goat horror movie , but theres no doubt it was also a very influential movie and i still regard as one of the best , just the atmosphere the movie gives makes it awesome , but I digress , the movies you listed are also great horror movies.


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I have just watched the 1980's, "The thing". For my first time this last week. I thought it was pretty good. It wraps up a little quickly in the end.

Really impressive with how it's keeping track of everything. Keeping all the characters interesting entirely through the film. Wouldn't say it's amazing. The story itself is pretty basic. It's pretty damn good on a scene and editing level.

As well the pacing. The gore is pretty darn impressive no matter how you look at it.

9/10

Gonna watch the OG one sometime this year I think.

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