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From “Instant Junk” to “Instant Classic” – Critical Reception of ‘The Thing’

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On June 25th, 1982, The Thing was unleashed into theaters across the US. John Carpenter’s updated vision of the Howard Hawks’ classic and re-adaptation of the short, Who Goes There?, faced some stiff competition at the box office. As the story goes, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was “phoning home” all the cash that summer (forgive me) with its Spielberg-ian, family friendly brand of sci-fi. Audiences just didn’t seem to be in the mood for Carpenter’s bleak, gory alien tale. While that might be true, it’s likely more to do with the fact that E.T. had only been released two weeks prior and was still hogging the ticket-buying spotlight. Afterall, it was quite the phenomenon upon release. In addition to that, audience members seeking more high-minded sci-fi had Blade Runner (also released on the 25th) to catch their attention. All of this to say, on a budget of 15 million to total box office draw of around 20 million, The Thing was far from a smash hit.

Huge turnouts weren’t the only thing missing upon the film’s release; from those who did see it, there was a lack of positive word of mouth too. The most vocal opinion was one of disdain from the audience reactions, critical reception, and even genre magazines of the time. However, these many years later it’s hard to imagine The Thing being considered anything less than a genre masterpiece. Nonetheless, Carpenter’s career was even put on ice for months after the film failed to light Hollywood on fire. The distributor, Universal, had signed a multi-picture deal with the rising director/producer. His follow up was to be the Stephen King adaptation, Firestarter. Mortified by the outcome of their first collaboration with Carpenter, Uni paid off the director’s contract and sent him on his way.

Carpenter spotted the writing on the wall early on:

“I had this sixteen year old ask me what happened at the end – which one of them was the Thing? I told her she had to use her imagination. She told me she hated that. So I realized I was in deep trouble with that film. And I was right. The industry turned against me because they thought I had gone too far with the gore. I think it probably changed my career.”

Carpenter has even relayed another incident from an early screening where a man rushed from the auditorium to unpack his lunch…so to speak. The effects were too much for the man to handle. Of course, the gory bits and creature designs from legendary Rob Bottin are now considered the absolute pinnacle of practical effects work, but in the eyes of critics the summer of 82′ – they went too far. Roger Ebert called The Thing a “barf-bag movie” and “a geek show, a gross-out movie in which teenagers can dare one another to watch the screen.”

As of right now, the film sits at a nice, ripe 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. Of course, that ‘Fresh” rating is mostly culled from reappraisals and retrospective reviews. If you narrow the blurbs down to “Top Critics” you’ll find 6 reviewers all labeling the film “Rotten”, except for one – James Berardinelli. Of those 6 reviews, Berardinelli’s review also seems to be the only modern take of the lot. So, yeah, critics weren’t keen on The Thing upon its initial release.

“John Carpenter’s The Thing is a foolish, depressing, overproduced movie that mixes horror with science fiction to make something that is fun as neither one thing or the other…

…It qualifies only as instant junk.”

Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times

Ouch. For the sake of comparison, how did Canby feel about E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial? Of the Spielberg classic, he wrote, “[E.T.] may become a children’s classic of the space age.” I’m sure you may be thinking that these are mainstream critics. Of course they didn’t understand the film at the time. Unfortunately, it seems that genre outlets weren’t too high on it either.

Cinemafantastique ran a cover story on The Thing asking, “Is This the Most Hated Film of All Time?” Even Starlog, originally a Star Trek fan-zine that grew to cover all things sci-fi, was the source of one of the more scathing takes on the material. Beyond throwing jabs at some of Carpenter’s previous work (seen in the clipping above), the reviewer (Alan Spencer) goes on to say this:

“I’ve seen John Carpenter’s The Thing twice. Once with a paying audience, and the second time in a private screening at a producer’s home. Both times the reactions were the same. Then again, when anyone passes by a city dump . . . who on earth likes the smell?

John Carpenter’s The Thing smells, and smells pretty bad. It bears plenty of Carpenter’s trademarks as a director. It has no pace, sloppy continuity, zero humor, bland characters on top of being totally devoid of either warmth or humanity.”

Starlog manages to double-down on the The Thing mudslinging by including a smaller panel within the review from Kenneth Tobey, actor from 51’s The Thing from Another World. Tobey was invited to a cast and crew screening and asked by Starlog to share his thoughts. While he claims to believe Carpenter is a fine director, he also points out the many mistakes he felt were made during the remake’s production: the callbacks to the original, the effects that “were too horrifying’, the title, he thought, should have been “Who Goes There?” since Carpenter’s film bared little resemblance to the original, and in regards to the ending:

“I also thought it was wrong for the ending to be so inconclusive, instead of showing
good winning out over evil. I don’t think it was fair to do that to the audience…”

They even had the gall to slap this smug SOB on the cover that month –

I’d always heard The Thing wasn’t well received back in 82′, but I didn’t fully understand how rough it was until doing my research for this article. It’s hard to wrap my mind around one of the greatest examples of paranoid-horror, or horror in general, being trampled on as harshly as this film was back in the day. Thankfully, after 35 years of VHS, DVD, and now Blu-ray (and upcoming 4k restoration!), John Carpenter must feel vindicated. The Thing amassed quite the impressive following, and even that 81% on Rotten Tomatoes looks a little low.

 

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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