To wrap up THING WEEK here at Confusion Central, I have a small collection of screencaps that are from my favorite scenes in John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982). These are scenes and moments that I really enjoy, or that create a specific mood, or give a little insight into the characters. As with the previous two posts, there be SPOILERS AHEAD.

Continue reading celebrating THE THING (1982) [pt. 3 of 3] →

Today’s post in honor of John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi / horror film The Thing is dedicated to the shots where he used a split-focus diopter to create the illusion of deep focus, that people or items in the foreground and background are in equal focus. A split-focus diopter is a lens attachment that basically makes half the lens nearsighted. However, it also creates a blurry line where the two halves of the lens meet, so it’s best used in shots where that line can be hidden with something in the scene, like a piece of scenery or a person, or in scenes where the lighting is very low-key. Which, incidentally, made it an ideal bit of camera trickery for Carpenter to use in The Thing, since many of the film’s scenes take place at night or on sets that are low-lit. Once again, SPOILERS AHEAD. Continue reading celebrating THE THING (1982) [pt. 2 of 3] →

Thirty-one years ago today, John Carpenter’s remake / revision of the science-fiction film The Thing From Another World (dir. Christian Nyby, 1951) opened in theaters across the United States. The Thing (1982) was a box office flop and a critical failure, but later found its popularity in the home video market, and is now considered a modern horror and sci-fi classic. Carpenter took his cues primarily from the novella “Who Goes There?,” by John W. Campbell, Jr., instead of doing a straight remake of that previous feature. The original story is high on paranoia and distrust in the face of an ever-changing alien threat, and Carpenter does an amazing job of taking that sense of growing unease to the nth degree. The tension in The Thing exudes from the screen, ratcheting ever higher as the film progresses and the body count grows. It is one of the best alien invasion films, and one of the last practical special effects extravaganzas, before CGI began flooding the market. But everything I can say about The Thing has been said already, and by more capable people. So here, and over the next two posts, I’d like to share some of my favorite things (ahem) about The Thing, in screencap form! [SPOILERS AHEAD YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED] Continue reading celebrating THE THING (1982) [pt. 1 of 3] →