Halloween is a time for horror fans to revisit their favourites and you can be certain that John Carpenter’s The Thing certainly makes it to their list of movies to watch.
This sci-fi masterpiece starring Kurt Russell as the lead with an equally talented ensemble is premised on a group of scientists who travel to Antarctica and are being hunted by an alien that takes the form of its victims. This video will show you a handful of fantastic films that remind viewers of the all-time classic and are just as exciting!
Harbinger Down (2015)
A group of college students are seen to have reserved passage on Harbinger, a crabbing boat to be able to study the effects of global warming on a pod of Belugas in the Bering Sea. Things take a drastic turn when the crew chances upon a recently thawed Soviet space wreckage.
They discover that the Russians had been experimenting with tiny animals called tardigrades that withstood extreme conditions of space radiation. Although the species survived they mutated to something dangerous that the crew must now face. After being locked in ice for thirty years, the creatures aren’t about to give up the warmth of human companionship!
This movie, directed by Alec Gillis, is made for aficionados of the 80s sci-fi horror era. It stands between self consciously cheesy to better than average in terms of production value, performance levels, and overall suspense.
Harbinger Down is a low budget, high concept trifle that attracted sufficient home screen traffic during its release. Over a short period, it has acquired a cult status, becoming a creature-feature favourite for the audience, especially hardcore fans of John Carpenter’s The Thing. Yes! That’s what this film reminds you of.
It’s most interesting aspect is that it received its initial funding from a Kickstarter campaign by promising fans of an old school opus with minimum CGI, an abundance of animatronics, and practical effects.
The movie successfully delivered on their word and showcased a more or less quaintly retro vibe. Gillis keeps the film moving at a satisfyingly brisk pace. After about a half-hour or so of exposition and sketchy character development, he gradually builds up the body count that will make for the perfect adrenaline-rush that you seek!
X-Files Episode – Ice (1993)
This episode of X-Files has a team of scientists headed to Alaska where some scientists engaged in the Arctic Ice Cold project seemingly went mad and murdered each other. Just as the team had created a new record for finding the deepest core sample, there was a sudden change in their behaviour.
On arrival, the team discovers an ancient microorganism from one of the core samples that had caused the tragedy. The helicopter pilot becomes its first victim and he has to be put on restraint after getting infected. It is when another member of the troop gets infected that things finally start going South!
Ice is the eighth episode of the first season of X-Files, one of the early classics written by Glenn Morgan and James Wong, directed by David Nutter. Viewers will immediately identify its lack of originality with Carpenter’s The Thing written all over it, from the team working on the Arctic Ice Core Project to the mysterious organism being discovered, responsible for everyone’s death.
With that being said, it stands out as one of the most intriguing episodes. To the writers and director’s credit, they are able to sustain the paranoia and tension throughout the episode. It has a remarkable opening sequence that establishes the visceral and unsettling tone right from the start.
Scully’s distressed reaction, accompanied by Mulder suspected of carrying the infection, doubles that excitement. Overall, it is a wonderfully executed homage that never feels too dependent on the original story. Mulder and Scully’s regular, hilarious exchange of dialogues are accompanied by sophisticated photography to sway the audience.
The Void (2016)
Sheriff Deputy Carter chances upon a bloodied man limping down an empty street and takes him to the local hospital. They staff and patient begin turning insane when cloaked, cult-like figures start surrounding the hospital. Carter tries to save the day as he leads the survivors to the depths of the hospital where they chance upon a gateway to extreme evil.
The Void is a supernatural horror film directed by Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie, and it is a gory, special-effects-driven film inspired by surrealism. It contains clear influences and cosmic fear of Clive Barker, George Romero, and most importantly, John Carpenter from his classic sci-fi horror film, The Thing.
Half the fun of being a horror fan is trying to seek new stories amidst heaps of genre and the shameless homages paid to all-time veterans of filmmaking. After a promising start, The Void drifts into a muddled sci-fi mystical horror hybrid that grows more thematically ambitious.
Although some critics pointed out certain shortcomings of this film, in an era where remakes and sequels dominate big-screen horror, this resourceful, polished indie film merits a great deal of admiration. Things escalate so rapidly in the film that viewers are glued to their screens for more than half the movie in anticipation and excitement of how the plot will unfurl.
The Mist (2007)
David, Stephanie, and Billy Drayton reside in a small town in Maine. One night when a fierce storm hits the town, their house is damaged. The storm followed by a strange mist in the morning that engulfs the town.
When David and Billy along with their neighbour Brent Norton go to the town, they are trapped in a grocery store with several others. They make a horrific discovery that the mist is something more than what meets the eyes and contains something strange that intends on killing humans.
Directed by Frank Darabont, The Mist, is based on Stephan King’s novel of the same name. It is dark, tense, and inhibited by just enough gore to keep viewers’ flinch reflex intact. The film’s ending is so uncompromising that one assumes that Darabont had the final cut without allowing the studio to interfere since he does not use the same end as in King’s novella.
He has fashioned a tense motion picture filled with paranoia, religious fanaticism, and the price of hopelessness. In fact, many critics claim that Frank Darabont, the creator of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, has succeeded here, where John Carpenter could not, with The Fog.
This is ironic considering how similar the film’s vibe is to The Thing. The transition from the ordinary to the surreal remains the film’s speciality. It portrays a group of unlikely heroes that blow viewers’ minds and makes watching it a memorable experience.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Several friends and patients of Dr. Matthew Bennell come complaing to him of them of their relatives appearing a little different in some ways. However, when they are questioned later not only do they retract from their original statement but also act in the same strange way that they had come complaining about.
As these invaders grow in number, Bennell, who has already witnessed an attempted replacement, must escape with his remaining friends before they too suffer the same fate. However his biggest challenge remains on whom to he could trust and who had already been compromised.
This sci-fi horror film based on Jack Finney’s quietly creepy novel is a remake of the 1956 movie of the same name directed by Don Siegel. Philip Kaufman’s efforts to remodel the film and fashion it with the more modern settings of the late 70s is indeed commendable. With each remake, the film’s setting uses a more vulnerable, mainstream American location for the creepy invasions to take place in.
Kaufman makes sure that the story is not narrated in a straight line. Instead, he builds up the viewers’ unease by using disjointed scenes that show that the world is subtly wrong. The scenes remain unique from those encountered in contemporary American horror films. This isn’t the sort of scene that one encounters in a contemporary American horror film.
Throughout this version of the film, Kaufman creates one of the most subtle and extraordinarily fluid textured scenes. The performances delivered by Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams beautifully complement Kaufman’s vision for the film. Overall, this is an entertaining thriller that is a must-watch for those who loved the excitement on offer for The Thing!
The Faculty (1998)
Teachers in the Harrington High School in Ohio start exhibiting a stark change in their attitude. Two students Casey and Delilah are traumatised when they witness two teachers strangulating the school nurse.
Their shock is doubled when the nurse is found alive moments after the strangulation! The students start suspecting an alien infection to be the cause of these bizarre occurrences. Now it is their duty to take on the queen before all is lost.
The Faculty, directed by Robert Rodriguez, is a lump of self-aware genre trash. It is an unlikely blend of Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatcher and John Carpenter’s The Thing. This sci-fi horror teen flick involves a meeting of minds between Rodriguez and famous screenwriter Kevin Williamson.
Each of them values style over substance in their films, referencing movies according to their personal mantra. The most important aspect of this movie is that it is aware and in full control of its paper-thin story, characters, and points of view. It might not pass off as an award winner but will give the audience enough chills to dive into their blankets in fear.
Williamson playfully incorporates subversive narrative elements when he is not paying homage to The Breakfast Club or The Thing, whichever one seems more appropriate at specific points of the film.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Michelle finds herself in a mysterious bunker after awakening from a car accident. She finds herself with two men- Howard and Emmett. Because of her immobility from a sustained leg injury, Howard offers her crutches and asks her to “get good on those”.
However, Michelle is horrified to discover that there has been an alien attack and the outside world is affected by a chemical attack. However, the duo in the bunker seems to exhibit questionable intentions too. Soon Michelle is thrown in a dilemma of whether she would be safer in the bunker or outside of it.
This movie, directed by Dan Trachtenberg, plays on forced perspective, keeping viewers in the dark regarding its whereabouts. This tense thriller is backed by excellent performances of its cast John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. It has echoes of Alfred Hitchcock and H.G. Wells embedded in a cat and mouse chase after the world has ended.
Without traditionally acknowledging it, it serves as a sequel to the 2008 film Cloverfield. It also subtly nods towards John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi thriller The Thing. For a film made in 2016, it feels slightly old-fashioned in portrayal.
It recalls genre pictures from the 50s and 60s. Although Trachtenberg and his team do not explore its themes to their full potential, it is quite visually engaging and makes for rock-solid entertainment. It keeps viewers guessing and jumping for 100 minutes before it evokes the sense of unease that keeps them at the edge of their seats.
The Thing (2011)
The film starts off with Dr. Sander Halvorson inviting Kate Lloyd, a palaeontologist to join his team. The team has made a rather extraordinary discovery deep below the Antarctic Ice where they have found an alien spacecraft that has been there presumably for thousands of years. They find the remains of the occupant nearby.
They cut it out and carry it back to the camp. Once the ice melts, the creature thaws and comes to life. But things go haywire as it not only attacks them but begins taking their forms as well!
The Thing is one of the most durable sci-fi stories of all time. It was initially written as Who Goes There by John W. Campbell and, of course, serves as the remake and prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 film of the same name. Its ideas for aliens are transmuted into two versions. In the 1950s, aliens were considered allegories of the communist menace.
Like Carpenter’s film, this modern-day remake finds useful the notion that the story takes place entirely within a closed system. It is either a research station in Antarctica or a spaceship, traveling the void. Since the Thing secretly inhabits its ghosts, the plot comes down to a deadly puzzle.
Several viewers who have seen both the original and remake still seem confused about what the creature looked like. The point of the movie was not its appearance but the suspense it created that kept the audience on the edge of their seats. Carpenter’s contribution in the film was to take advantage of three decades of special effects to construct the awfully gooey creatures.
This movie’s best scene is a very creative spin on the original film’s best scene, the extraordinary tense blood test sequence in which paranoia tips over into mass bloodshed.
Cold Prey (2006)
A group of friends Jannicke, Morten, Eirik, Mikael, and Ingunn take a snowboarding excursion in Norway. After Morten breaks his leg, the group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hotel as their car is too far away for them to reach within nightfall.
They quickly discover that the hotel was closed in the 70s due to the manager’s son’s disappearance. Unknown to them, someone is still living in the hotel, and getting home or even surviving the stay won’t be as easy as they thought!
Although the first act of Cold Prey might look like a car commercial playing the ship of fools formula, it is all too excruciatingly familiar. Directed by Roar Uthaug, the narrative takes viewers back to the whole, brief glory days when the slashing in slasher films was merely part of a compelling mix that includes atmosphere, suspense, and character development.
At first, the approach might seem a little dry, but this film is a good reminder that it doesn’t take much to make a good quality slasher film. Several filmmakers have exploited the perceived ease and phoned in many bad, gory splatter movies over the years, but Cold Prey works in reverse by attempting to make the best possible film out of its lean premise.
Uthaug manages to capture the essence of a slasher and evoke John Carpenter’s The Thing-like vibe amidst the ice-cold, snowy setting, and location. This movie makes a great argument that this genre can still thrive without resorting to gimmicks or even a whole lot of bloodshed. Roar Uthaug meticulously crafts a solid horror movie that almost feels like an accidental slasher despite following a similar blueprint of what’s been around for over three decades.
The Colony (2013)
The year is 2045 and global warming induced climate change has forced humans to build weather machines to control the climate. One day due to incessant snowing these machines break but the snowing does not cease. The living humans take shelter in underground bunkers escape the extreme cold.
Their challenges are controlling disease and producing sufficient food. Two soldiers, Briggs and Mason, are the leaders of one such bunker, Colony 7. Briggs, Sam, and Graydon travel to nearby Colony 5 after receiving a distress signal, and it turns out to be a crisis that they didn’t quite imagine!
The Colony is a jaw-dropping innovation, and this exciting story is directed by Jeff Renfroe. It is a mash-up of standard-issue dystopian sci-fi and basic zombie movie tropes with a hint of John Carpenter’s The Thing.
The film claims a few solid performances by veteran actors like Charlotte Sullivan and Laurence Fishburne and is well-executed on a technical level. The photography of this film is commendable, being able to capture wide-angled shots of terrified people and their ghoulish pursuers, dashing down dark underground corridors.
The film contains a frostbitten script, whose skeletal plot cuts, pastes bits from several other survival yarns. This movie is two-thirds of a pretty decent sci-fi suspense film that is professionally polished, but it lacks novelty and personality on some level.
The Blob (1988)
A cheerleader Meg Penny is out on a date with a footballer Paul Taylor. On the way to their date, they encounter an old vagrant running before their car screaming, appearing terrified. The old man is closely followed by Brian Flagg, a local teen rebel.
Paul blames Brian for chasing the old man, but after the trio takes him to the doctor, it becomes clear that the vagrant had more on his mind than some kid. In reality, he was screaming because of an acid-like substance on his hand. This substance spreads over his entire body and eventually consumes him.
Soon the growing red blob sprouts tentacles to attack its victims. It becomes a menace to the small town of Arbeville, Colorado. The military soon arrives in Hazmat suits led by Dr. Christopher Meddows, who claims they are here to stop the blob.
The Blob, directed by Chuck Russell, is intense, imaginative, grotesquely funny, and startling all at the same time. It’s one of those films where although a character’s death is expected it still remains dramatic and rather harsh for the audience to digest. The late 70s and 80s were a busy time for sci-fi horror films.
Although The Blob was largely overlooked in theatres due to its 50s predecessor, by the end of the 80s, popular opinion entailed that it was one of the few remakes that were better than the original.
The movie owes a great deal to the amorphous effects of Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the eerie, ominous vibe of the creature to John Carpenter’s The Thing. Tony Gardner’s effects for the film were impressive in their own right. The movie also contains an abundance of 80s cynicism, which gives it a different slant to the original’s cold war paranoia.