Response #5 - The Thing

Adam O'Rourke

The Thing - Sight, Sound and Knowledge

Our viewing of John Carpenter’s The Thing was also my first viewing, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think this film has aged incredibly well; the visuals, sounds, and plot all feel great, even by today’s standards. In particular I enjoyed the practical effects used to produce the monstrous ‘thing(s)’. In their true form, they are gooey, slimy, malformed imitations of those they have taken over. Their liquidy exteriors reminds me chiefly of Alien, with dripping unknown fluids everywhere. The effect is quite unsettling, and one that I don’t think can be reproduced even with modern digital effects. In the modern context I didn’t find this movie to be particularly scary, but it excels at the grotesque and disgusting- I think mostly to due to the appearance of these monsters. Frankly I’m surprised this didn’t win any awards for the effects work.

I also really enjoyed the sound and music. The sounds the monsters produce heavily aid visuals to create disgust and fear in the audience. One instance of this that struck me most clearly is when Bennings(?) is being taken over and is outside kneeling in the snow. The camera comes up behind him(it) slowly and when his head turns he lets out a piercing and unearthly moan. This combines with the visuals of its undisguised hands and rising music from an organ, to create what I think is the scariest sequence of this whole movie. In the scene when Mac has everyone on the couch, one of them turns and eats one of the other guys. Mac is frantically trying to get his flamethrower to work, and once he finally does ignite the monster it lets out a strange, creepy, distorted noise that makes it sound like it’s underwater. The effect is, again, quite unsettling.

To touch on the music a bit more, I think it is used incredibly well to situate this movie at the crossroads of the horror, sci-fi, and western genres. The main theme of the film, that reappears in various forms throughout, is built around a low, slightly off canter, heartbeat-esque, synth beat. For me, the synth puts me in the sci-fi mindset, and the beat feels securely positioned in the horror genre. This is then joined by strings and organ that further increase the tension and suspense. I can’t quite put my finger on what elements link it the western genre, but I can definitely feel it’s there; the composer Ennio Morricone has done countless westerns afterall. Listening to some of Morricone’s other work, I found this theme very similar in its movements to the track Neve from his recent work on The Hateful Eight.

Another aspect of the film I would like to touch on is the notion of knowing. Throughout the film, both the characters onscreen, and we the viewers, are not given all the information as to what is going on. A lot happens offscreen. The chameleon-like nature of the monsters make it very hard to tell who is still human and who has been turned. Chiefly this dynamic serves to create the film’s suspense and mystery. Why were those Norwegians trying so hard to kill that dog? Who could have broken into the blood locker? We’re constantly unsure of who is who, and this creates an unsettling paranoia in both the audience and the characters. The characters lack of knowledge is also compounded by their unfamiliarity with one another. These relationship dynamics here are those of coworkers, not friends. Because no one is really very close, the paranoia is heightened, and no one can be trusted. There are many moments when the characters even doubt their own status, seen most clearly when Mac is testing the blood of the remaining characters. They all show signs of relief when it’s proved they have not been inhabited by the thing. I think this is also meant incite some questions in the viewer about their own existence. How do I know I’m human? How do I know I’m real? I think leaving the audience with such dark and nihilistic questions work to enhance the horror.