John Carpenter, unlike Rob Zombie, knows how to make a good horror film. This one was technically a remake, inspired by "The Thing From Another World," a movie from the 50's, which is also very good and I highly recommend it. In fact if I see it again before Halloween I'll probably review it anyway. But although I am generally against any sort of remake, Joh Carpenter rewrote everything here, and there's the feel of the original movie without it feeling like a remake at all. So, completely the opposite of The Omen remake (which actually had the same exact lines as the original, just spoken by different actors... sad, huh?)!
In this movie, a team of researchers is goofing off at the South pole (in between doing important research, no doubt) when they hear shots from outside. A norwegian helicopter is chasing down what appears to be a sled dog, firing shots at it and throwing explosive grenades at it. The team of americans goes out to see what's going on as the helicopter lands, and one of the norwegians attempts to throw a grenade at the dog in a last ditch effort to stop it from reaching the americans, but he drops it and it destroys the helicopter and all but one of the norwegians. The last one, armed with a rifle, chases after the dog, which reaches the americans and begins licking one of them. The norwegian shouts a warning in norwayegianese or whatever they speak there, but no one understands him. The norwegian opens up with the rifle, hitting one of them in the leg, and they scatter, but he's apparently only interested in killing the dog, walking past them to chase it down. Finally, one of the americans draws a pistol and downs the norwegian with one shot.
Obviously this presents a mystery to the team, and like scooby doo and his friends, they get in the mystery machine (in this case, a helicopter) and chase it down. Unfortunately for them, the dog turns out to be, shall we say, not what it appears to be, and there's just no help coming in the middle of a blizzard at the south pole, so it's up to them to handle it themselves! :-D Oh, joy.
I know everyone has probably seen this already, but I'm still not going to give away any more, because the movie is that good. Go and watch it again if you don't believe me. Go on, do it. Right now. I'll wait. See? See how great it is?
Of particular note in this movie are Wilford Brimley, starring as the team's biologist. Yes, the diabeetus guy! He's also infamously linked on the internet to a masturbating walrus, but that's just mean. Funny, but mean. I saw old Wilford in a bunch of movies back in the 80's and he's an experienced actor even if he has fallen on hard times lately. He's actually very good in this movie, and plays his part awesomely.
Starring as the main protagonist (that's "hero" to those of you who don't know writer-speak) is Kurt Russell as the team's helicopter pilot. This movie came out in 1982, and it's amazing to see the changes in Kurt from his Disney film days back in the 70's. He's bearded, drunk half the time, and an actual ass-kicking bad ass in this movie. When he holds a stick of dynamite and says he's going to blow himself and everyone else up if they touch him again, I believe him! That's some ballsy shit right there. Then, a mere two years later, he stars in Overboard with Goldie Hawn as a hick handyman, and looks completely different. This guy has some serious range to his acting abilities! I can't wait to see him in something else, but I'm sure he's ridiculously rich nowadays and certainly doesn't have to work much.
There's a bunch of other actors in here who are good and consistent character actors, and they do their jobs excellently here, but none of them really got famous off this movie except maybe Kurt and Wilford. There probably should have been a sequel, and if this movie got made nowadays, there WOULD be, but back then movies were just better, and movies like this one were so damn good that the thought of a sequel would only have depressed everyone. I mean, HOW could you possibly live up to the expectations? In any case, since Hollywood is SO out of ideas lately, I have heard they are in fact making a prequel to this movie, showing the events that occurred at the norwegian base just prior to the start of this movie. Which, is closer to the events of "The Thing From Another World." So, in essence, a prequel to a remake which will still be a remake. Wow. I really hope the movie turns out well, but I won't keep my expectations high on that one.
Definitely no nudity in this movie, but still a good movie. It was all guys, so nudity would have just been a drawback, anyway. And come on, who wants to see Wilford Brimley naked except maybe another walrus? lol
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