[Jack Deth]

The John Carpenter remake of The Thing may be more faithful to the original story, but is an inferior film in nearly every level except a technical one. In fact, I consider it to be the single most overpraised science fiction film of all time.

I agree with you, RightWingAthiest. Carpenter had to know that he could not come close to competeing in the overlapping dialog/character department. Which is probably why he went overboard on the special effects and kept the dialog to a minimum.

"The Thing From Another World" is a Stand~Alone Textbook Classic that has yet to be surpassed for Atmosphere, Style and Dialog.

Pay attention to the scene wher The Thing is dowsed with kerosene and touched with a Flare Pistol. The flames surrounding The Thing is the only lighting used and it still makes people jump!

Jack.

[RobbyS]

,,, it still makes people jump!

Me, too,every time.

[BIGLOOK]

Am a sci fi junkie too. One that hasn't been mentioned is Runaway. Tom Selleck vs Gene (KISS) Simmons. Thought it was pretty good.

[RightWingAtheist]

Spot on! Also, The Thing is still very relevant in its message today. The people who made it included some of Hollywood's biggest conservatives (Howard Hawks of course, but also Christian Nyby, Charles Lederer, and the uncredited Ben Hecht), and the allegorical Cold War subtext has of course been noted ad nauseum. But whenever I watch Carrington try to reason with Arness's Killer Carrot, I can't help but think about today's Not In Our Names types, who aren't necessarily evil themselves, but keep insisting that we shouldn't try to defeat those genuinely evil people who to kill us, and that we should try to understand them even when it's obvious that negotiation is futile.