The Thing (1982) (Collector’s Edition) [Blu-Ray]

Director: John Carpenter

Cast: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David

Release Date: October 11, 2016

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 10/10

Synopsis:

In the winter of 1982, a twelve-man research team at a remote Antarctic research station discovers an alien buried in the snow for over 100,000 years. Soon unfrozen, the form-changing alien wreaks havoc, creates terror and takes on the appearance of those it kills.

From master filmmaker John Carpenter, his 1982 masterpiece ‘The Thing’ follows a group of men operating a remote research station in the Antarctic who encounter an otherworldly creature that has the ability to replicate other life forms. As this thing begins to sow confusion and madness within the team, it attempts to slowly overtake them one by one. Now this research crew must find a way to stop this alien being before it’s too late and the entirety of mankind is threatened. Directed by legendary filmmaker John Carpenter and starring a stellar cast that includes Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, and more, ‘The Thing’ still holds up in every possible way over three decades later and looks better than ever before courtesy of a gorgeous new transfer.

Fellow fans of this fantastic horror gem from John Carpenter will almost surely want to make certain to pick up a copy of Scream Factory’s phenomenal new 2-Disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of ‘The Thing’ to add to their collection, or more likely to replace their copy of the previous studio Blu-ray release. This new 2-Disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray features an absolutely breathtaking new high definition master of the film from a New 2K Scan of the Interpositive which was supervised by Director of Photography Dean Cundey. It also includes fantastic lossless audio presentations and hours upon hours of exciting extras such as ‘2 Audio Commentary Tracks’ for the film, ‘New Interviews with members of the Cast and Crew’ and a great deal more (more detailed information regarding the bonus content can be found in the special features section of the technical specification coverage below), altogether sure to make this truly gorgeous new Blu-ray release of John Carpenter’s classic an absolute must own for any fan, even most of those who may already own a previous release of the movie on BD; it’s easily worth the upgrade.

Overall, fellow fans of John Carpenter’s work in general and particularly his outstanding 1982 effort ‘The Thing’ will undoubtedly want to make sure to purchase a copy of this new 2-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory. This outstanding new Blu-ray release of the film features a gorgeous new high definition master of the film, along with hard hitting lossless audio and a surprisingly massive collection of supplemental material which includes many new extras created specifically for this release. This new Collector’s Edition of John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ from Scream Factory is a thing of beauty and easily one of the most impressive releases I’ve had the pleasure of all year. It should without a doubt serve as the definitive version of the film and is well worth coughing up the cash to replace that old studio BD release for any fan.

VIDEO:

The Scream Factory Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation from a new 2K Scan of the interpositive supervised by Director of Photography Dean Cundey and utilizing the film’s original 2.35:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The new video presentation looks simply amazing and delivers a sharp, detailed and just outright gorgeous presentation from start to finish that’s complimented by a more than sufficient bitrate. It holds up beautifully throughout and suffers no notable faults at any point, while still maintaining a sufficient amount of grain and some other mild artifacts representative of its source material. Overall, this is an absolutely phenomenal new high definition video presentation of Carpenter’s masterpiece that should easily blow away the fellow fans.

AUDIO:

The Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release features both a lossless 5.1 and 4.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. I personally opted for watching primarily with the 5.1 channel soundtrack utilized, although both sounded quite impressive after some jumping between the two for comparison; nonetheless my coverage will focus on the 5.1 channel presentation. This lossless multichannel soundtrack sounds outstanding and provides a consistently crisp, clean and notably aggressive audio presentation. Frequently utilizing all five available channels in order to fully immerse the viewer within the film’s memorable score in addition to sending no shortage of creepy, crawly, and explosive auditory effects along with some weather related elements and more making their way throughout the various speakers with regularity, while never resulting in any dialogue which may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted, let alone rendered inaudible. Overall, this is a wonderful 5.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtrack that should easily please the fans.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Scream Factory Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ is overflowing with hours of extraordinary extras (many created specifically for this release) including an entire second disc dedicated solely to supplemental material. For the sake of simplicity, I’ve broken down the bonus content by disc below.

Disc One (aka the Feature Film disc) includes a new ‘Audio Commentary with Dean Cundey’, in addition to a second ‘Audio Commentary with John Carpenter and Kurt Russell’. The disc also includes a collection of ‘Theatrical and Teaser Trailers’ (running approximately 7 minutes in total), ‘TV Spots’ (approximately 2 minutes in total), ‘Radio Spots’ (approximately 2 minutes altogether) and 6 ‘Still Galleries’ for the film.

Disc Two (aka the Special Features disc) includes hours of additional worthwhile extras which are broken down into three sections; for the sake of simplicity I’ve broken down the disc’s extras by these sections as well. First, we are treated a collection of ‘Interviews’ with members of the cast and crew, including a number created specifically for this release. The interview segments are: ‘Requiem for a Shape Shifter’ (running approximately 29 minutes in length), ‘The Men of Outpost 31’ (running approximately 51 minutes), ‘Assembling and Assimilation’ (approximately 11 minutes), ‘Behind the Chameleon’ (25 minutes), ‘Sounds from the Cold’ (15 minutes), and ‘Between the Lines’ (16 minutes). Next, we are treated to numerous ‘Featurettes’ for the film which include behind the scenes footage, more interviews/comments with the cast and crew and more. The included Featurettes are: ‘The Art of Mike Ploog’ (approximately 12 minutes), ‘Back into the Cold’ (11 minutes), ‘Outtakes’ (5 minutes combined), ‘Vintage Featurettes’ (13 minutes), a ‘Vintage Product Reel’ (20 minutes), ‘Vintage Behind the Scenes Footage’ (2 minutes), and an ‘Annotated Production Archive’ (54 minutes). The last section on the disc is titled ‘More of The Thing’ and features: ‘The Network TV Broadcast Version of The Thing’ (approximately 1 Hour, 34 minutes), and the Feature Length Documentary ‘John Carpenter’s The Thing: Terror Takes Shape’ (approximately 1 hour, 24 minutes). Two additional behind the scenes Featurettes are also included: ‘The Making of a Chilling Tale’ (5 minutes), and ‘The Making of The Thing’ (9 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

Disc Rating: 10/10

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