They Live (1988)

Director: John Carpenter

Cast: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, Raymond St. Jacques

Have I Seen it Before: I had to have, right? The images are so indelible that I know them as much as anyone. But it’s possible, and I’m just going to put it at “slightly possible” that I’ve never actually sat down and watched the film from beginning to end. I’m going to say yes, as that is the only way I think I can look at myself in the mirror anymore, but the doubt exists.

Did I Like It: Up until this point—and really, after it as well—I would never dream of describing Carpenter as a political filmmaker. Sure, Escape from New York (1981) has an institutional nihilism at its core, but that is a statement about politics and the establishment, not a specific statement at the expense of the politics of a particular age or the figures which dominated it.

Rejecting the excesses of the Reagan years and ensuring that it was out and available for people the week George H.W. Bush won the election to give everybody four more years of Reaganomics (you know, as a treat) is a ballsy move, and in doing so managed to find a new frontier in unpredictability in his work… that was sadly rapidly snuffed out by uncaring studios.

The film is not without its flaws. There’s a reason that Roddy Piper didn’t rise to the level of movie stardom enjoyed by a Rock or even a Hulk Hogan. He was probably a fine wrestler in his day, but that involves exhibiting an attitude, which he does here in spades. Unfortunately, he doesn’t embody a vibe, which movie stars both great and not-so-great manage to do. It might have been too much of a good thing, but Kurt Russell could have played the hell out of Nada, and reuniting him with David would have been icing on the cake.

Also, it’s a small moment, but I’ve got to wonder what Siskel thought about specifically being called out as a Ghoul. It was far subtler than the hits they took in <Godzilla (1998)>, but unfortunately the extensive archive of their reviews available on Youtube came up short in this regard. Even Ebert’s website would seem to indicate that he (and possibly Siskel) never reviewed the film at all.

The Thing (1982)

Director: John Carpenter

Cast: Kurt Russell, A. Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Dysart

Have I Seen it Before: Oh, of course. In fact, I was a little surprised that I hadn’t written a review of this one, as the we did do the show on Beyond the Cabin in the Woods, but it must have been in that brief time between when I joined the show and when I started these reviews.

Did I Like It: An idiot out there might say—and probably did when this film was initially released—that decided that Carpenter had effectively run out of juice after Halloween (1978)*.

This film is an absolute triumph of everything Carpenter excels at. It is lean. It is mean. What it adds to the proceedings that Carpenter’s earlier films—largely out of necessity—lacked is a visceral (and I do mean of, pertaining to, or possessing qualities of viscera…) . The various Thing-creatures are some of the most nauseating and unnerving creature work in the movies. Those images stuck with me before I ever even managed to see the movie. I remember a kid’s book from the library I devoured when I couldn’t have been any older than six or seven featuring various movie monsters. Godzilla was there, and Dracula, but also the recently revealed Norris-Thing (Charles Hallahan), all contorted face and absurd limbs. It stuck with me then, and it sticks with me now.

What’s more, this film is still unnerving and still scary as hell. The scene where MacReady (Russell) is testing the blood of the other men. I’ve seen this film. I know how it ends. But I’ll be damned if I don’t feel every inch of the tension as it proceeds, and I’ll be doubly damned if I wasn’t completely thrown for a loop when the blood finally reacted.

If a movie can blow past forty and still hold power on multiple viewings, that’s magic of a high order, and no one can take that away from Carpenter. He certainly never ran out of juice by the time The Thing was released, and for my money he never did. He may have eventually given it up after he didn’t have any use for it anymore, but that’s up for debate.

*The original The Thing from Another World (1951) was, naturally one of the films playing on TV during Carpenter’s breakthrough hit. The other was Forbidden Planet (1956), and I’ll never not wonder what Carpenter’s remake of that film could have been like. Might even be better that it is always something that I’ll have to just imagine… Unless, you know, he decides to make one on his couch. It just now occurred to me that Russell would probably have to play the Walter Pidgeon role… Which, now that I think about it is essentially Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2019). God damn that was a long footnote…