It's Weird and Pissed Off: John Carpenter's 'The Thing' Review

John Carpenter isn't known for happy feel-good horror films. The Thing is no exception.

Carpenter creates a setting which allows for extreme tensions, and not simply due to the deadly and isolated location: Antarctica. He hints at a major flaw in humanity itself: self-loathing. Humanity has a distrust of others due to their country of origin, skin color, and other factors beyond its control. In  a sense, in the context of the film, humanity tries to separate itself, to be homogeneous. In the beginning of the film, after the helicopter crash, a clear sign or geographic ignorance is displayed when one character didn't distinguish between Norwegian and Swedish. Hence, a major flaw in several characters.

Tension rises at the beginning when all forms of communication fail. Radio communication is vital to the base, so for that to fail signals future failures. Speaking of communication: several characters are guilty of lack of communication simply due to their egos. Each character is certainly guilty of having an ego, but is overshadowed by creeping fears.

The introduction of the Thing, does have certain parallels to the Lovecraft novella At the Mountains of Madness. The Thing has properties similar to that of the Shoggoths, the slave race of the Elder Things, whom rebelled against their creators, nearly destroying the entire civilization. The Thing can imitate living organisms; even their personalities to a limited extent. The Thing is much more terrifying, even to the extent some will commit suicide out of fear of being assimilated by the Thing.

The nature of the Thing is worthy of terror and awe. It has no discernible true form and its cells act on their own, so in a sense, the Thing is a microbe which absorbs which life form it comes into contact with. Dr. Copper (Richard Dysart) calculated that the Thing could imitate every human being on the planet in 27,000 hours, roughly 3 years. With the current population of Earth at 7,500,000,000, the Thing could imitate 6,666,666 people per 24 period.

This information increases the tension among the crew and drives them to the brink of madness with despair and fear.

During their battles with the Thing, it proves to be difficult to kill. It isn't just instinct, it has intelligence.

Rating: 5/5

Beware the Moon: American Werewolf in London Review

The werewolf is a creature of, one can say, fuzzy origins. Landis's film doesn't go so far into the folklore, at least not directly. The modern setting in the film makes the origins of this creature obscure and in essence, the modern settings nearly render the origins almost meaningless simply to to the fact that superstitions hold less and less power as time moves on. What Landis does, is expand on the origins and examines how superstitious folklore and modernity interact.

The Slaughtered Lamb is host to superstition: the regulars there are stuck between superstition and modernity and with good reason; the pentagram does have its roots in Paganism, a religion that predates Christianity. Landis's werewolf combines with American and English sensibilities, which sets up a dynamic film. Granted the film isn't confined the one place, the sense of loneliness does cast a shadow.

David Kesler (David Naughton) is an American traveler, who is stricken by the curse of the werewolf. Landis does a wonderful job of handling Kesler's character. Kesler is dynamic in the sense he has the incredible sense of self that sways back and forth, yet doesn't seem to want to break, yet it fractures in key points. Perhaps in his madness he finds his saving grace: love. Nurse Gallagher is commendable for her efforts, and indeed the efforts of Dr. Hirsch deserve credit, but when faced with the supernatural forces, which belief in the supernatural only exists in small pockets of the human population.

Going further into the conflict between supernatural and modernity. This conflict, modernity and the supernatural, is long standing, to be sure. What Landis does to address the conflict, or at the very least, attempt to examine these two forces, is force the two to meet. A supernatural creature rampaging in London, where money is always a main concern, a werewolf only made things worse. The mere presence of it took several lives; an insurance nightmare.

However, Landis goes another step further, perhaps another direction altogether. Kesler is visited by his friend Jack (Griffin Dunne) and his victims. Landis expands on the werewolf, namely its human counterpart/half. The curse of the werewolf wears down on its unwilling host. One could claim Kesler, as a werewolf, walks the line between life and death, also adding to his mental burden.

Rating: 5/5

Alien in the Belly: "Alien" Review

First: R.I.P H.R Giger.

Upon first glance at the technology presented in the film, aside from the time it was made, gives a sense of crude yet advanced technology. The ship doesn't quite compare to the ships used in other science-fiction settings. That aside, the crude technology adds a certain amount of tension with the several malfunctions during the film. Couple that with extreme isolation (space) and there's an easy recipe for disaster.

Speaking of disaster: character. The range of character was great. Ripley (Weaver) played a rather strict yet resourceful woman, something her male counterpart Dallas (Skerritt) didn't seem to take well to. The concerns about payment is brought up several times. The dynamic in characterization extends into professional and personal behavior, which considering the long isolation these characters endure, even in the company of the rest, their own traits give them depth and a sense of realism.

In a Lovecraftian lens, this certainly does have the "tentacles" about it. The devil is certainly in the details: the ship is by far more advanced that the ship used my the main characters. This odes to Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness: the human trait of curiosity, things far more ancient than human endeavor could hope to understand, and genetic engineering right out of theory and Science Fiction.

The monster was a monstrous monster and not just due to its appearance and strength, the acidic blood is a major obstacle in challenging it in any meaningful way. Even should it die, it would do severe damage to who or what engaged it in combat. The alien is eerily similar to Rawhead Rex, Clive Barkers monster: both possess incredible strength and are older than the human mind could even conceive. Both monsters are creatures from a place where time is subjective, if not useless.

Rating: 5/5

Another Yo-yo for the Fire: "Night of the Living Dead" Review

I'd be hard-pressed to find anything wrong with this film.

This was basically a perfect set-up. The character's breathed-for a while, of course. Ben (Played by Duane Jones) is interesting in his own right and significantly different than his counterpart, Harry Cooper (played by Karl Hardman). Ben and Harry are both correct in their approach to dealing with the outbreak: Ben was more proactive, while Harry was fear-based. Granted, Harry does earn his fair share of sympathy in the film, his inflexibility and hyper-masculine tendencies dampen any chance in reconciliation. Ben in the other hand, has those same masculine tendencies, but his flexibility in perilous situations is what places Ben in stark contrast to Harry.

Now, onto the monster at hand: the zombies. The make-up is what is to be expected in early horror films.This adds a greater depth to the terror of the film. Each zombie has a story: just look at their clothing, and the occasional heroine needle.

All things considered, and there are many, this is close to perfection in the horror genre.

Rating: 5/5

World War Z: A Review

A zombie Apocalypse is an even many look forward to partaking in or not. I did enjoy this book. It hit on numerous key emotional notes done so by interviews. It is a very interesting take on zombie literature in the 21st century, considering real-world implications. However, some flaws in the story are noticeable.

The key flaw in this narrative style is repetition. Brooks does a great job in creating a believable fictional narrative, however the major drawback to this technique is repetition of narratives. Brooks writes very well, but the dialogue just doesn't seem to come from real people: the paragraphs go on, but is it reasonable for those people who likely have PTSD to be able express their experiences during the conflict so easily? Perhaps not.

An alternative view of the narrative is that it was meant to be unreliable. It is reminiscent of War of the Worlds, though more contained and more emotionally visceral. Additionally, in terms of mood/tone, it is similar to early Lovecraft: it is virtually the same throughout.

Though, the audio book version packs more of a punch than the book version.

Rating: I don't know if I can give this a solid rating, though it would range from 3.5/5 to 4/5