Why was this film shit on at release, but praised as a great film decades later?
What changed?
>>65124103
People's opinions. You said it yourself.
>>65124103
People were pussies and wanted happy alien films like ET, same for blade runner
Wasn't ET in theaters around the time of it's release?
Maybe people weren't too fond of this type of alien at the time.
>>65124103
E.T. was in theaters at the same time. That should tell you enough.
>>65124178
It doesn't tell me ANYTHING
>not a single woman in the movie
>greatest movie ever made
Coincidence?
>>65124342
Computer was a grill
>>65124103
i love it. One of my favs
>>65124342
Wrong. The chess games computerized voice is female.
Most people only knew the story from the 1950s film, and not the original 1938 novel and so they had zero expectation of the graphic transformations and body horror in the film.
Plus Aids was on the rise in the country and so body horror was considered... insensitive.
>>65124342
Fucking wrong.
>>65124342
>remake/prequel had a woman and it wasn't half as good.
coincidence?
It took my brain a while to realize the absolute brilliance of Land of the Lost. Saw it in the theater and thought it sucked balls. Saw it later on the tube and was blown away.
It was one of the most graphic films ever released at the time, and people thought it was disgusting and degenerate.
Carpenter took the failure really personally, because he felt like he had made a really excellent film.
>>65124295
E.T. is a feel good films about aliens, and a p. good film at that.
The Thing is a paranoid film about aliens, a p. good film too, but after E.T. nobody wanted to see graphic alien transformations and shit.
>>65124451
Oh please The 2011 was mishandled by the writers. They showed the cunning Thing trapping Mary Elizabeth Winstead but then show off the comical effects. They could've had the BRILLIANT use of language barriers between the American and Norwegian characters and they do it in one fucking scene and it's over in five minutes. Instead of playing on paranoia like the first one, it was all flash and no substance.
>>65124493
poor JC ;_; he really did make an excellent film. He really did.
>>65124342
The thing was female.
Because Pulp Fiction. With Pulp Fiction, the America viewing public finally acknowledged all the films they once saw as a "guilty pleasures" as legitimate art. All of a sudden Texas Chainsaw Massacre was inducted into New York's Museum of Modern Art. Slasher films were revived and shared movie theaters with "high art". Now people had an excuse to say all the crappy movies they had seen were important. All of a sudden academic papers were being written on the virtues of Ernest films.
Quality of writing dipped, because people were more concerned with "impressions to ideas" or used it as an excuse not to actually learn anything so they could justify sitting alone masturbating to porn, rather than reading book. It was another excuse for our generation to feel entitled to their tastes, and consequently defend them inarticulately.
>>65124135
its*
if you can't even spell just kill yourself or gtfo underaged faggot
>>65124493
>I take every failure hard. The one I took the hardest was The Thing. My career would have been different if that had been a big hit...The movie was hated. Even by science-fiction fans. They thought that I had betrayed some kind of trust, and the piling on was insane. Even the original movie's director, Christian Nyby, was dissing me."
Fucking 1980s audience. At least we got Big Trouble In Little China I guess.
>>65124516
Thanks for spelling it out for me, cause apparently I'm STUPID
>>65124103
skip to 8:17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUgNSiwlNeI&index=2&list=FL1e0cdmE5ihfvUZFF9jQvCg
>>65124556
Are you implying The Thing is some kind of guilty pleasure? Did you actually see it?
And this dumb down of writing you speak of started back with Jaws, you don't remember all the fucking Charles Bronson movies and similar ilk? This "second" quality of writing dip you speak of happened with the internet getting bigger, and now we have a third one starting from 2009-now.
>>65124584
Holy shit the plebs really plebbed back then huh?
>>65124556
You might be actually retarded.
threadly reminder
>>65124878
ABSOLUTE MADMAN
>>65124691
Not to derail the thread, but man what the fuck happened to script writing?
Even movies that get critical praise these days are often written like dog shit.
>>65124103
Because critics are worthless parasites
Prequel set in WW2 where the Nazis are trying to save the the world from The Thing (jews) when?
>>65124342
Actually Carpenter admitted that there was a female character in the movie but the actress got knocked up during production so Carpenter let her go and said fuck recasting. Kept it a men's club basically
>>65124797
>not recognizing pasta
>calling him dumb without offering your own opinion
fuck off crossposter, here's your (you) or +1, the latter might be more familiar to you
>>65124981
There's a lot of factors throughout the 20th century that contributed to it, but I posit that it was primarily the evolution of the internet that has us in the current state of affairs for writing. The internet allows you to look up whatever the fuck you want in seconds. It lowered the average person's attention span, so movies had to compensate.
I mean good lord we live in a world where The Winter Soldier is seen as a genuinely good film somehow.
>>65124878
I thought he had said previously that neither were assimilations, on for the video game was childs an assimilation or something?
>>65124878
Didn't the original script have Mac hiding a flamethrower under his jacket and he used the beer to test Childs to see if he was one of them?
>>65124878
CARPENTER NOOOOO
THE BEST PART OF THE ENDING IS THAT THERE IS NO RESOLUTION, WE END THE MOVIE ON SUSPENSE AND ISOLATION JUST LIKE WE STARTED WHAT ARE YOU DOING
>>65124981
Special effects can now pad out the parts that would be boring. Also movies have too much potential to make money even if theyre shit so why fuck it up by making something that would only appeal to half of the population when you can remake star wars another 3 times?
>>65125145
Nah in the PS2 game the first level is you and your squad checking out the camp some time later, you find Child's corpse frozen to death but no Mac.
>>65124103
1. Wasn't what people were expecting.
2. It ended in an unresolved way that made people think they were gonna have to wait for a sequel.
3. At the time people just didn't realize how deep it was I guess.
>>65124439
The Fly came out a few years later, had all those things and was a huge hit though.
>>65125314
The Fly didn't come out a few weeks after E.T.
>>65125314
The Fly didn't have people turning inside out and turning into visceral abominations that had most people, including the original director, leaving the theatre.
The Fly was pretty tame. Also Jeff Goldblum was a huge box office draw in the 80's
the same thing that will happen to MoS in 5 years, dumb plebs hate it but will recognize it as one of the best of it's genre in time.
>>65124981
It's more to do with economics than you'd think. Many of the great screenwriters have retired or moved on due to the continual fuckd-overness that studios do. You can notice a catastrophic decline in new screenplays almost immediately after the last Writer's Guild strike ended.
Don't pay Jennifer Lawrence 90 million and the screenwriter 250,000. That's not how you get good scripts. Instead of raising the pay etc neo-Hollywood opted to market harder/make more reboots/more remakes/more sequels.
And now we're here. Look at TFA - subpar writing 0 originality but made 4 billion. Capeshit is much the same. As long as plebs spend money on bullshit this trend will continue.
Because the people with taste stopped being the critics and the plebs became the critics
this
>>65125049
>>65124103
Because it was quickly dismissed as gorehound dreck with no substance.
It took years for the incredibly high level quality of suspense, paranoia, mystery, and subtext to really be noticed and appreciated.
Same with Blade Runner but for different reasons. Blade Runner theatrical cut is dogshit, and it didn't get GOAT until Final Cut.
this
>>65125577
th >>65125630 is
>>65125431
Have you seen it recently? It was no way tame. Maybe not as extreme as The Thing but pretty close.
>>65124103
All time greatest
this
>>65125715
>>65125716
FUCK 1 NUMBER
>>65125690
Different sort of gross. The body horror shit like Goldblum pulling off his nails and the maggot baby are not quite the same thing.
Also The Fly pinned all of it's special effects to a romance story.
>>65124981
>>65125143
Look how two of the most articulate, bravado works of screeenwriting of the year, by the two best writers of their era got snubbed at oscars (Sorkin and Tarantino), basically memes have ruined cinema, and memes have ruined the last 30 years of generation
>>65125431
Don't think he became a box office draw until afterwards actually.
>>65125181
i always thought that was a rumor
>>65125763
Are you memeing right now?
Steve Jobs was a shit movie nobody asked for and H8ful 8 was a solid 8/88
>>65125759
A bunch of even worse shit got left on the cutting room floor. There was deleted scene where Brundle had an insect leg growing out of his side that he amputated by biting off that honestly almost made me throw up. Then another scene where he combines a monkey and a cat that ends up being so awful he immediately beats it to death with a crowbar.
>>65125989
Oh and a scene where Brundlefly is eating some trash in an alley and gets discovered by a homeless lady and melts her face and eats it.
>>65125878
yes but they are important works of screenwriting
>>65125763
Call me pessimistic but it'll only get worse. Mid-budget films are near dead as it is. And people won't leave their house to go to the theater unless it's some kind of "social" event ala Star Wars or the upcoming Cloverfield spinoff.
>>65125183
he has gone senile
>>65124103
It opened in competition with Spielberg's E.T
>tfw JC still has 10 years+ that he could spend directing movies but he wont because Hollyjews siphoned his life force
literally unironically one of the best directors ever
>>65125989
>>65126030
Why were these cut? They sound like great scenes that would add to the movie and themes.
>>65126220
Not really.
The Thing is a masterpiece, Mouth of Madness and Halloween are okay, but everything else he's ever made is dumpster tier.
>>65126253
Test audience didn't receive them well
>>65126220
Doesn't he hate movies now? I remember reading an interview by him where he said he gets zero enjoyment out of watching movies anymore.
>>65124878
He's said elsewhere that the movie was designed to be ambiguous. The point being that the audience isn't supposed to be sure that Childs is or is not the thing.
On the director's commentary, though, he and Kurt Russell both personally agree that they believe Childs has been assimilated. At the same time, Keith David says in every interview and at every convention that he is just as convinced that Childs was not the thing.
The fun of the movie resides in that ambiguity. Speculating and presenting a case is way more fun than knowing one way or the other.
Why spoil the fun J.C.?
>>65126287
>>65126378
>They Live
That movie is a "so bad it's good" at best and you know it. You might as well literally unironically call Tommy Wiseau one of the best directors ever
>>65125143
I'll take your notion a step further and say that the appearance of youtube has encouraged screenwriters to write for scenes rather than structure. If the audience is always looking to dissect your movie and share clips with their friends online, then you write to that style.
Watch a lot of the seminal American "classics" to come out of the 1960s and 1970s.
Back then they allowed a screenwriter time to open up a premise. Now we're given very easy distinctions instead of ambiguities and movies that take patience to build a sense of being (two things the Thing excels with).
>>65126472
except it's not bad
it's not poorly made
it achieves everything it set out to do and does it brilliantly
just because it's not a highbrow film doesn't mean it's a bad flick
Best actor desu
>>65126472
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Cc8HcJ2Yk
>>65126472
>They Live
>bad
Nope.
>>65126554
>>65126472
>>65126287
>everything else he's made is dumpster tier
Yeah he took the poor reception to The Thing pretty hard: >>65124584
What is it, I think he spent two years story-boarding The Thing? He could've been one of the greats, but that's not to say I don't enjoy his movies immensely.
>>65126287
>forgetting this
you didn't mention it on purpose did you?
>>65126603
>this cute dog is probably dead now
>>65126681
I personally don't like it, but I left it out because I know a lot of people do and I understand why.
>>65126598
>>65126548
They Live is a meme movie. It's fine if you like it, I like it too, but it's a fucking retarded movie, and to use it as an accolade for literally unironically the best director in the world is just as retarded.
>>65126649
Exactly. It was without a doubt his magnum opus, and he knew it. Then it got shat on by every critic and viewer ever. It must have destroyed him.
At least now people can appreciate it. I hope that means something to him. ;_;
>>65126723
It died right away
What do you guys think of the prequel?
>>65126287
Eh, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live, and Assault on Precinct 13 are all worth a watch because they're more imaginative than your average Hollywood movie.
Escape From New York is also up there with Halloween and In the Mouth of Madness. The Thing stands alone as possibly the greatest horror AND greatest Sci-Fi movie of all-time.
The reality is that he hasn't made a movie worth seeing in more than 20 years though. Shit sucks.
He lost his touch for whatever reason.
>>65126332
yeah pretty much, he doesn't care about movies anymore, both making and watching them
>>65125181
>>65124418
>he kills both of his enemies by giving them alcohol at the beginning and end of the movie
POETRY
O
E
T
R
Y
>>65126797
>meme movie
>>65126900
>one side is white
>one side is black
>Mac is cornered like at the end of his chess game
>shown in the past, when he fried the circuits, that he will cheat to lose
I see you watch Rob Ager's videos too.
>>65124103
Back then Howard Hawks nostalgiafags reacted to prosthetic fx the way hipsters react to cgi.
>>65126882
I'd say Prince of Darkness is pretty damn good too. Not perfect, but there's some genuinely disturbing and creepy shit in that film.
>>65126511
>instead of ambiguities and movies that take patience to build a sense of being
This is the real crux of it I feel. I'm not going to pretend ALL movies back in the day were fantastic, but they weren't afraid of letting things simmer. But nowadays if you let things go slow for too long the audience is turned off. Youtube, the internet as a whole has been a large contributor to this.
>>65126649
I actually like Ghosts of Mars and Vampires
John Carpenter movies were ALWAYS shitty you fucking retards
his lack of pretentiousness is part of what makes them good
yeah, his earlier classic movies had some more inventiveness or creativity in them but his later stuff isn't any worse than something like The Fog or Assault on Precinct 13 which are entertaining but unspectacular. Thats like his later shit. Entertaining but unspectacular. Nothing wrong with em.
He probably had zero money to work with after They Live anyways so you can't blame him for his output.
>>65124564
>implying anyone gives a fuck about proper grammar in here
How new are u?
>>65126898
He said he just wants to play videogames. He did toy with the idea of making a hardcore porn movie in anamorphic widescreen, with a hard leftist theme. Man is he crazy.
Read a story from the Thing's POV
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/
>>65127047
You're preaching to the choir mate. I dig all his movies I just think he could've been really great if The Thing was received differently. Though maybe it would've given him a big ego like Shyamalan, who knows.
>>65127066
He loves Dead Space and Silent Hill.
He's actually such a based guy.
>>65127076
gay
>>65126287
>The Thing
>Halloween
>Mouth of Madness
>Prince of Darkness
>Assault on Precinct 13
>Big Trouble in Little China
>Escape from NY
>The Fog
>>65126332
>>65126898
Can't find any interviews on this.
>>65127148
>Though maybe it would've given him a big ego like Shyamalan, who knows.
I don't think so. Carpenter is far too grounded and workmanlike to be influenced by his ego. If his movies were received better, he'd simply have made more movies with less constrained budgets.
>>65127215
>Assault on Precinct 13
Hey I didn't know that. He really is best director.
>>65127066
I thought he was a vocal libertarian like kurt russel l and keith david
>>65127047
>his lack of pretentiousness is part of what makes them good
no one implied otherwise
>>65127301
I'd call him a Leftist in his politics.
I mean that in the traditional sense, not in the attention-grabbing form Leftism takes today.
>>65127301
He's anarcho leftist. Old school libertarian. He considers Kurt to be right wing
>>65125465
>you'll see, mom, with an opinion THAT unpopular, I'm sure they'll take me seriously
>>65124342
post >yfw you realize Blade Runner had no prominent human women and is the greatest movie of all time
>>65125233
MacReady was assimilated.
>>65127559
Well in the gameMacReady helps you out with the final boss, he's piloting a chopper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ziOISjHN3nk#t=194
It's weird that my two favorite horror movies are basically the same story but with the sexes reversed.
>The Thing
>all-dudes
>paranoia and monsters in the expanse of a cabin isolated in Antarctica
>The Descent
>all-chicks
>paranoia and monsters in the claustrophobia of a cave deep underground
>>65127192
I'd kill for a John Carpenter Silent Hill movie
>>65127675
I played it. It was to divert suspicion away from itself. The organism is inherently selfish, and would betray other assimilated organisms to attain its goals.
>>65127235
it was from a few years ago, i don't remembrer much from it except for the part where he stated that he was just enjoying his free time playing video games and not doing much else
>>65127724
I'd much rather play a John Carpenter horror game.
He's said multiple times he would love to make a game, and he's been gaming longer than most people on this board have even been alive. I think it would turn out pretty great.
>>65126598
dat colour grading
>>65127913
Horror games aren't popular anymore, unless he wants to work with a very small team with no budget to create a small indie game.
>>65126865
>girl do everything so tough so stronk
>>65124103
Reddit wasn't around in the 1970's
>>65128004
But she fucked up at the end.
>>65126865
It was alright. The main problem it had was that it just wasn't... original enough. It didn't do enough with the concept. Compared to like, the Evil Dead sequelboot with the cute girl actually did some (arguably) new things with the premise.
The Thing prequel was just kind of a waste. Maybe studio interference or something? I know they built TONS of actual physical props for it, only to use CG for every goddamn thing at the end.
>>65127764
>The organism is inherently selfish, and would betray other assimilated organisms to attain its goals.
I don't think it's selfish since all assimilated organisms are really just pieces of one whole. Yes it will sacrifice assimilated pieces, but only to protect the greater whole by causing diversions or drawing attention away from its main self.
>>65127972
That's pretty much what he's done his whole career.For awhile after Kojima left I as hoping they might hand the Silent Hill project over to John Carpenter. It would have been even better.
>>65128090
When she burned the pilot?
>>65126865
S'okay. Missed potential with languages n' shit.
>>65127972
Yeah, but add his name to it and you'll already grab big interest.
Say Carpenter was a writer and let him compose a song. It could work depending on if he has good ideas left in him.
Its old, and liking old stuff makes you cool
>>65128182
Yeah I get that.
>>65128091
They had a lot of physical props? Maybe the movie would have looked a bit better with those physical ones. But I do have to admit despite its' flaws the movie did give me the same type of scare that the original thing did, just not to the same degree unfortunately.
>>65128149
>I don't think it's selfish since all assimilated organisms are really just pieces of one whole
Wrong. Each piece has it's own independent survival instinct. MacReady-thing had a better chance of making it out of the quarantine area, and allowing a human to witness it's aiding the other organism's destruction ensures no suspicion will be raised toward it. They are not a hive mind.
>>65128381
No. Read >>65127076
which makes it clear it's one organism that can split itself at will but still only has one mind. It's not a hive mind because there's only one mind.
>>65128337
This. Plus it has all the characteristics of a movie that neckbeard hipster faggots end up praising, in addition to being old. Every movie made around that time period is considered the best thing ever by the people here.
>>65128443
>which makes it clear it's one organism that can split itself at will but still only has one mind
No read the John Campbell story. Even in the MOVIE, even piece was an individual which its own instinct for survival. That's why Norris head fled the other section of the body. It's supposed to be a highly selfish organism.
>>65128512
>>65126287
>The Thing is a masterpiece
That's more than 99.99% of directors can say.
>>65125059
you're mistaken. there was 1 female crew member, but she was pregnant and left due to it, and her replacement was a man
>>65126030
This one was never filmed, didn't get past the script phase.
>>65124564
> Krager attempts to add to the thread
> anon talks shit and wastes everyone's time
You sound pretty faggy to me, anon.
> calls Krager a newfag
> doesn't know Krager's been posting for a while now.
Lurk moar or kill yourself, you underaged faggot.
>>65127683
>>The Descent
>>65125145
In the game Childs is dead and no one got assimilated, in the comic Childs got assimilated
>>65124103
I can see why it was blasted by critics personally. The characters are not deep or interesting. You are given no real reason to care about them and a lot of assumptions are made by the characters that can be supported.
However Critics have come to realize (mostly) they could not see the forest for the trees. They were looking too much at specifics that are usually important that they failed to observe the movie as a whole.
As a whole it is an execellent suspense movie that works as a psychological thriller and monster movie. Also though the characters are not deep they are well acted and you don't automatically need deep characters to tell a good story.
>>65124584
Oh wow
Suddenly I feel bad for JC. He could have had a huge career. Oh well, I liked the film and is considered a classic now
>>65127683
>the thing
>bros, something has infiltrated our tight knit group and is making our former friends hostile
>the descent
>doesn't even need an alien for them to turn on each other
>goddamnit, you sluts can't find your own man!
