John Carpenter’s The Thing infects its first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release thanks to Universal Home Video in a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital set. Pressed on a BD-100 disc, the discs are housed in a standard sturdy two-disc case. The included SDR Blu-ray is the exact same disc from 2008 without any updates in audio. The 4K disc loads to Universal’s standard static-image main menu with an animated bonus features menu along the righthand side. Critically panned at the time of its release, John Carpenter s The Thing has rightly gone on to become one of the most celebrated sci-fi horror efforts ever made now newly restored by Arrow Video in a stunning 4K transfer supervised by Carpenter and director of photography Dean Cundey.

It also deeply hurt John Carpenter, changing the trajectory of his career and, more or less, forcing him to do other types of films, but with less independence and less creative control from then on in. Today, it’s seen as a masterpiece, staying true the tagline framed atop its theatrical poster “The ultimate in alien terror.” Arrow Video has restored the celebrated sci-fi horror movie “The Thing” in stunning 4K quality and carefully wrapped it in this tantalizing SteelBook® edition. The icy details get an interesting play from the metal canvas and fits perfectly with the dark blue tones in the artwork.

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The good news is this new 2160p 2.35:1 transfer offers up a fair and welcome middle-ground between the 2016 and 2017 releases. With a natural film grain texture, there are impressive fine point details in clothing, facial features, and set design work. I’ve seen this film countless times over the last 25 years or so and I felt like I was seeing small things I’d never noticed before. As mentioned, film grain is apparent but well-resolved without ever appearing too noisy, nor is there any sign of waxy DNR or other compression artifacts. Soft shots that have always looked soft - well, guess what, they’re still soft. That’s just the way they are. But close-ups and middles shots look terrific, the gnarly autopsy sequences are still grotesquely beautiful offering up even more fine detail in the fleshy bits. You can really fully appreciate all of the incredible Rob Bottin special effects. John Carpenter’s The Thing arrives on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with an excellent native 4K transfer with HDR10 grading. This is a film with a very passionate fanbase who needs to own this in every new and hopefully better version possible. I’m one of those, and with that devotion comes some heated discussion about benefits and detriments to any release. While few would argue that the 2008 disc lands anywhere near the top, the discussion between Scream Factory’s 2016 release and Arrow’s 2017 release certainly was tense, to say the least. Every release of this film has had some plusses and minuses often drawing some hard lines with fans. One Amazing Summer an all-new retrospective documentary produced by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures about the unforgettable films released in the summer of 1982 This release also features all of the terrific extras included on the original Scream Factory Collector's Edition Blu-ray release, but not what's available on Arrow Video's release. On Disc Two, there are 3 audio commentaries: one with Dean Cundey, moderated by Rob Galluzzo; another with co-producer Stuart Cohen, moderated by Michael Felsher; and another with John Carpenter and Kurt Russell. In addition, there are 2 U.S. theatrical trailers, the German theatrical trailer, the teaser trailer, 3 TV spots, 4 radio spots, and an extensive set of still galleries (behind-the-scenes, lobby cards and press stills, programs, posters, storyboards, and production artwork).

The fate of The Thing theatrically is truly one of cinema’s greatest losses. It’s always been a personal favorite, but no matter how well made the film was, its bleakness as a story about isolation and paranoia, of which many metaphors can be drawn out of, just wasn’t going to be able to hold up against the monster hit that was E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. Both are about alien beings, but both are completely different ends of the spectrum, and releasing The Thing two weeks after E.T.’s premiere all but guaranteed that it would fail. Sounds From The Cold – Interviews With Supervising Sound Editor David Lewis Yewdall And Special Sound Effects Designer Alan HowarthA research team based out in the snowy wilds of Antartica find themselves beseiged by a terrifying, shape-shifting creature which has found its way into their base. When it becomes clear that the creature can take the form of any organism it so chooses, the tension within the team reaches breaking point any one of them could be… The Thing. Much like Carpenter’s classic The Thing, Heijningen’s The Thing wasn’t exactly kindly received. While critics decried Carpenter’s film for being unrelentingly bleak, critics and fans savaged the audacity of crafting a prequel to a now revered Sci-fi/Horror classic. It’s not an amazing film, but I don’t think it deserved the savaging it received when it hit theaters. That said, it's also far from being a masterpiece often landing in that middle ground of frustrating mediocrity and missed potential. The Men Of Outpost 31 – Interviews With Keith David, Wilford Brimley, David Clennon, Thomas Waites, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur And Joel Polis Brand new restoration from a 4K scan of the original negative, supervised and approved by director John Carpenter and director of photography Dean Cundey

A research team based out in the snowy wilds of Antartica find themselves beseiged by a terrifying, shape-shifting creature which has found its way into their base. When it becomes clear that the creature can take the form of any organism it so chooses, the tension within the team reaches breaking point any one of them could be... The Thing. Vintage Featurettes From The Electronic Press Kit Featuring Interviews With John Carpenter, Kurt Russell And Rob Bottin (SD) We now come to the fourth incarnation of the film on Blu-ray (and I've actually reviewed the previous two). This time around, Scream Factory has re-released the film in a Limited Edition Steelbook, featuring not only their content, but a third disc that features the recent 4K scan of the film by Arrow Video. Behind The Chameleon: The Visual Effects Of THE THING – Interviews With Visual Effects Artists Peter Kuran And Susan Turner, Special Make-up Effects Artist Rob Burman, Brian Wade And Stop Motion Animators Randall William Cook And Jim Aupperle The prequel The Thing tried to replicate this lightning in a bottle of tension, fear, and horror. While there are some clever moments to that film, it’s ultimately unsatisfying and unnecessary. Now, Blumhouse is apparently in the hunt to adapt John Campbell’s previously lost full-novel manuscript of the story originally titled Frozen Hell. In the right hands, this could be an interesting take on the story. It’s certainly material worth revisiting, but there’s got to be something unique about it to make it worth the time. I always thought an early 1930's period film with limited technology would be the best way to go. The last thing we need is another useless tired retread. Even if that’s all we get, nothing can take away from John Carpenter’s 1982 classic - or the badass 2002 video game.

Over the years, star Kurt Russell and master of horror John Carpenter have teamed up on a multitude of films (Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from New York to name a few) but of all their collaborations, 1982 s horror/sci-fi amalgalm The Thing surely tops the list. Vintage Product Reel – Contains A Condensed Version Of The Film With Additional Footage Not In The Film (SD) Wisely, this version aims to stake out its own corner of the story taking place mere days before MacReady and Copper find the burnt-out Norwegian outpost. The opening may borrow a bit too heavily from 2004's Alien vs Predator for my liking, but it's a serviceable setup. In a nice touch, some of the characters and story beats are practically lifted right from John Campbell’s original story Who Goes There - or Frozen Hell if you're in for the full manuscript version. Even Ulrich Thomsen’s Dr. Halvorson plays like an ode to Robert Cornthwaite’s Dr. Carrignton from Howard Hawks’ The Thing From Another World. There are new twists to the creature’s biology and methods for detection in human form that don’t repeat what Carpenter and his crew did so effectively in 1982. You can’t keep a good gory shape-shifting creature buried in the ice for long. Almost thirty years after John Carpenter unleashed his beast The Thing, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. delivers an interesting and fairly entertaining prequel that is unfortunately undermined by too much source familiarity and rushed CGI work. To be fair there are some smart pieces to this film with strong performances from the cast and it dovetails into the 1982 original, but there’s some measure of authenticity missing. As it freezes in the ice today, I find the 2011 The Thing to just be okay. I didn’t love it in 2011and I don’t feel much differently about it twelve years later. It’s distracting enough to be entertaining but not good enough to be something I pull off the shelf very often. I appreciate its ambition, I liked some of its ideas, and I liked the main cast of Winstead, Thomsen, and Joel Edgerton. I especially enjoyed this film’s suggestion that someone taken by the creature may not fully be aware they’re no longer human. There are a lot of other great elements in play but something failed to glue together to form a genuinely fitting prequel. Until we see anything officially official from Blumhouse about their adaptation of Frozen Hell, the 2002 PS2 and Xbox video game (and the Dark Horse comics if you can find them) remains the best follow-up to John Carpenter’s classic.