Little Bracket of Horrors
A horror movie review podcast that puts the fight in fright. We review a film every other week and at the end of the season we'll have a tournament to see who is the champion in the Little Bracket of Horrors Death-match.
Little Bracket of Horrors
The Thing (1982)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Welcome to Little Bracket of Horrors. The pod that puts the fight in fright!
On this episode we assimilate ourselves into John Carpenter's 1982 science fiction/ horror classic, The Thing. Though it was considered a flop when it came out, it's aged finer then a bottle J&B Scotch. Just don't go wasting it on any dirty cheating computers that play chess.
With flares and flame throwers in hand join the LBOH crew as we put each other to the blood test to see who's real and who's a imitation.
Welcome back, everyone. I'm Derek. I'm Shelly. I'm Matthew. And we are little bracket of whores. This week we got into the classic the thing, John Carpenter. But before we jump into that, has anything scary happened? Or have you guys watched anything scary? Matt.
SPEAKER_00Oh, me first. Anything? No, I have nothing. You're good. Nothing happened. I live a I live a pretty lame life. Nothing scary. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Nothing, nothing for me. You know, normal life, just like Matt. What about it?
SPEAKER_04Um, I mean, I finished the finale episode of the um, I guess you could c consider it almost like a horror TV series called Yellow Jackets. Oh, yeah. I would say like cannibalistic horror abandonment. But they kind of do it between like the 80s and present time. So or maybe 90s. 90s. Sorry about that. Um, they were the class of 96. So finish that up today. So uh uh hoping they have a second season because they left a lot. Yes, a lot of things.
SPEAKER_01Is that the imagination? Is that a peacock?
SPEAKER_04No, Showtime.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay. Showtime. Okay. So I finished that today. I've heard people talk about it. I have not checked it out, but Shelly's into it.
SPEAKER_04Really good, great music, great soundtrack, great acting uh team.
SPEAKER_01So you guys ready to jump into it?
SPEAKER_04I am ready for the thing. This is a good one.
SPEAKER_01Let's jump. Yes, I'm excited too. So we're gonna Matt's gonna kick us off with Dig Up the Bones. And with that, he just goes, gives us a brief synopsis of the film without you know ruining the ending, and then we will go from there. So, Matt, please take it away.
SPEAKER_00I will, I will take us away. I will take us away to the thing. It is a 1980s sci-fi horror film in remote Antarctica. A group of American research scientists are disturbed at their base camp by a helicopter shooting at a sled dog that has escaped from a Norwegian research station. After the distraction of the Norwegian chopper, the members of the US team fly to Norwegian base only to discover them all dead or missing. They do find the remains of a strange creature the Norwegians burned. The Americans take it to their base and deduce that it is an alien life form. After a while, it is apparent that the alien can take on and assimilate into other life forms, including humans, and can spread like a virus. This means that anyone at the base can be innovated by the thing intentions escalate. Ooh, cool spooky.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, it's an crazy film, and I'm so excited to finally get to talk to you guys about this.
SPEAKER_04I think it's one of the first actual like sci-fi, true sci-fi horror that we've had. I mean, the visitor claimed to be sci-fi horror. Um really grasping it. This is this is the heart of sci-fi, like sci-fi, outer to this, outer world kind of stuff happening.
SPEAKER_00I was excited to watch it. I've watched it in the past, you know, years ago. Oh, yeah, I've seen it a few times. Like on TV. Oh, yeah. Okay. On TV and stuff. But um, I I this is probably one of my uh favorite sci-fi movies. So cool. Yeah, I loved it.
SPEAKER_01This was uh this was the first time for me. Oh, you had never seen it. Oh really? Never saw it. No kids, it's been on the list. There's a bunch of movies I put on our our main list to pick from that I've always wanted to see and never got to. So I'm I was ecstatic that we landed on it. And when I was watching it, I was I was not uh let down. I'll say that because so I watched a horror movie that you have not watched.
SPEAKER_00Wow, yeah. I'm excited. Absolutely very good.
SPEAKER_01So uh I say we get into our round table discussion. Feasting fiends and this we just discuss uh the topics of overall pros, cons of the movie, favorite lines, most enjoyable, and most annoying characters, and then we finish it off with favorite kills slash scares. So Shelly, kick us off with your pros.
SPEAKER_04We're gonna do pros first. Shelly, kick it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So fun little story about the thing. I had actually not seen it until maybe like my early 30s, which was very recent. Uh super recent. Super recent. Super recent. Um, I didn't watch it, you know, because I didn't watch a lot of horror movies as a kid. Yeah. But then there was a haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights.
SPEAKER_03Yes, there was.
SPEAKER_04That was the thing themed. And it scared the pants off of me. So I didn't watch the movie for the longest time because the haunted house was so scary. I was like, I can't watch it. I did finally, you know, in my early 30s. Watch it. But um, this is uh probably only my second or third viewing of it. So pros for the thing, right off the bat, the opening credit. Um, you know you're going into something really awesome. Like just the letters slowly fading in and then the way they kind of melt away. Yeah. Um, I really like it gets you kind of geared up what you're going into. So love the opening credits. Get it kick-started me um right off the bat. The mystery of who it could be, uh, they do a good job of making people have like a different attitude. Yes. So they're just the slight nuances of people when they like maybe stand there for just a little longer but not say anything, yeah. Question everyone. I like how you're kind of a part of it, how we can't even tell who it could be. Um, I am gonna steal a fun fact. Oh, do we take it right off the bat because it has to do with this pro. They had that scene where the dog goes in the hallway and sees the shadow of someone in the room.
SPEAKER_00Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_04They didn't use any of the actors for that shadow.
SPEAKER_00Oh, funny. Did not know that. I knew that particular.
SPEAKER_04They didn't use any of the actors because John Carpenter wanted to keep it still just as much of a mystery for us. Okay. So he didn't want the shadow to give away who it was either. Because the dog obviously passed the first, you know. So that was my second pro. And lastly, the whole like when they start going off the rails. So like the last 30 minutes of the movie where they lose McCready outside, and then everyone inside are just like like yelling at each other, and then it leads to the the blood-taking scene. Uh-huh. That whole last 30 minutes of the movie is like pure cinematic horror to me. Yeah. And just the whole everybody in that film brought you in, and you're you're on your edge of your seat. Like, who is it? Who's it gonna be? And like you're getting all pumped. So I love how they did the last 30 minutes of this movie.
SPEAKER_01So that was my third pro. Yeah, they they had a lot of heavy hitters in the film. I mean, obviously, Kurt Russell, Golden, right? But then uh Wilfred Brimley, Wilford Brimley.
SPEAKER_00How do you not like diabetes? Diabetes. I'll tell you what, though. What Wilford Burnley, uh, well, when we get to I guess we'll get we'll get to that, but he is an awesome actor.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I thought he was phenomenal.
SPEAKER_00He did great. But anyways, so yeah, yeah. Matt takes a lot of things. So yeah, I mean, Shelly, you gave a uh great description. I mean, I don't think I can beat that. Mine is mine's pretty bland. I just said I love the storyline. I love I love backstories. I like to know where these where these things are coming from. So I love the backstory of the alien, how old it was, and and what it's what it's actually doing. So I thought that was I thought that was really cool. But yeah, like I said, I'm very basic.
SPEAKER_04So the only thing I think we're liking on backstory is why were they in the Antarctica? Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So so yeah, so we'll going on to cons, we'll go there because I'm with you on that. Okay. Yeah, we'll say that. A few cons, but anyways, yeah.
SPEAKER_01All right, so I'm gonna go ahead and jump in. Hands down, special effects, best I've ever seen. Shout out to Rob Botine, the whole special effects crew. I think they spent 1.5 million just on special effects, in my opinion, money well spent. And then I guess they use like a mixture of chemicals, food products, rubber, and like mechanical parts, but like, oh, just like as Shelly said a couple uh episodes ago, chef's kiss. Yes, yes, just perfect.
SPEAKER_04Even um, I think it was Lance Anderson who did the makeup. Yes, not so much like the the the things. Um so even the guy who did the makeup in, I guess he goes on to do like Cabin in the Woods, Joss Whedon.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_04And makeup for them. That's awesome. That was really cool to see that connection, but even the makeup, the sci-fi, the special yeah, agreed.
SPEAKER_01That whole crew, yeah. I I just I I gave the shout-out to Rob, but uh also I just there weren't any slow parts. Kicked us off right into the suspense, and it kept going to the end. I w there was never a point in this film where I was relaxing. I was always tense, waiting for something to happen, and you know, for a horror flick, that's what you want. So phenomenal. And then like uh Matt and Shelly said, good story. I thought it was a good, it was like a self-preservation where it was the thing versus like self-sacrifice where it was the humans and what they would do to try to stop it. And we'll get into all that in the end, but I thought that dynamic was really cool and that stuck out to me. So those are my pros.
SPEAKER_04Nice.
SPEAKER_01You guys ready to move on into cons? Let's do it. And we're gonna keep the table going the way it's been going, and Shelley, take the cons.
SPEAKER_04I'll keep I'll kick it off. Contradictory to what you thought about how it you it was never slow. I thought the scene transitions could have been better.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_04It almost seemed like they were sloppy or like it was a made-for-tv movie. It could have used more music to transition to the next scene.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, which is funny because it's a good idea.
SPEAKER_04Case in point, yeah. Case in point, they're in the base talking about going out in the helicopter and then they just chop it off, and now they're outside. There's no like transition of the city. I see what you're saying or anything. It's just the scene, the way the frame chopped, it wasn't anything smooth. So the editing, maybe it would be editing. The way it was cut together would be one of my complaints. I'm gonna go into the dog scene.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_04I can handle the real snake getting killed. Okay. No emotions, no tears were shed over that. But I cannot handle even the fake dogs getting the way they got killed. Yeah. Because the thing, it wasn't so much that they were killed, because that's gonna happen. Sometimes, you know, that's why they have websites, does the dogdie.com, where you can go and see if a dog dies. And we know that the dog's not really dying contrary to 1980s snake killing, that it was real. But the way the dogs were suffering over this thing, taking them, that even though a puppet, still like, ugh, I I can't even. I had to watch it twice because my sister watched it with me, and I was I had to look away.
SPEAKER_01That scene was so heavy, and that dog was like biting the uh.
SPEAKER_04Oh, but it's trying biting the fence, and they're like, Oh my gosh, get him out, get him out. And then they're spraying it, which they are really spraying that real dog. And that dog was like, Oh, oh, traumatized.
SPEAKER_01It's like, what the hell's going on? There's a lot of dog trauma in his so much dog trauma.
SPEAKER_04And I can't, because I'm four legal friends.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I hear you.
SPEAKER_04So that scene was I uh but then again, I even put in parentheses here where maybe that's a pro. Like they did a good job of making me feel really uncomfortable about this thing attacking the dogs. So I can see, and you know, I can see both sides of the coin. Lastly, I had what kind of doctor is Dr. Blair? Because they're like, we found this species, and within seconds, he's like, This is what it's doing.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04That was a little too quick to just be on track of what was happening and nothing and nothing was established before they came asked and what he was just like, can't make it a four-hour movie. Right, right, right. So they're just they found a dog head within the thing, and and that's how Dr. Blair was like, Yeah, this is what it is, and this is how it works. I maybe impressed, maybe questioning his doctorate a little bit on why he knew what that was.
SPEAKER_02He's just a vet, that's all he is.
SPEAKER_04So, yeah, uh, that was my last con. Um it was hard to find like solid cons, so I guess I nitpicked maybe a little, but yeah, so that's it for me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, go ahead. So for my cons, just sort of in relation to the backstory of the aliens, I'm with you. Like, what are they doing research on? Who are these people? I couldn't like I mean, assume that uh McCready was a helicopter pilot. So I was just assuming that, and then like obviously there's a cook. So who are who are the other people like there's like yeah, like two doctors or something?
SPEAKER_04Like, I didn't like everyone seemed to be a doctor at some point.
SPEAKER_00Blair Blair was following I think Doctor was it Dr. Blair or something? He was a doctor, then Cooper or Copper.
SPEAKER_01Maybe Cl maybe Clark was the vet because he was the one that had such an you know an affinity with the dogs. Yeah, dogs, so maybe he was the vet. I just didn't know what they were doing there.
SPEAKER_04I wish there was the right clock, I think, was his character's name was Clock, right? I thought it was Clark.
SPEAKER_00Clark. I could be wrong. Yeah, I thought it was C L R K, but but I wish that Clark, you're right.
SPEAKER_04Maybe the guy just had an accent, the Scottish guy. Donald Moffat, he was he had like an Irish accent suddenly, or Scottish or whatever. Right, right.
SPEAKER_00I just I just wish that there was more of a more of a story on what they were doing, who they were. I think one of the facts were they actually actually do have a longer explanation of of who these people are, but they took that out.
SPEAKER_04Well, and apparently this is a remake.
SPEAKER_00Right, it is 1951 or something like that.
SPEAKER_01I think it's called The Thing from Outer Space, but they they went back to the original. It was like a short novel, I think, called Who Goes There? Yeah, I don't know. And Carpenter went back to the original novel and they redid it from there.
SPEAKER_00I forget who his writer was.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I got that in my notes somewhere.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but I just wish that there was a little bit more on that. I mean, it didn't have to take forever. Yeah, just a little more meat. I I like that. I on my notes here, I I just wrote, so how come there's like no flashlights? They use the shit out of flares, like everything is a shit out of flares. I think there was one flashlight. McCready busted out a flashlight to go into that little tarp area looking for Blair or something. Oh, the helicopter. Right. Because he destroyed it. It was tarped off, and he has a flashlight. I'm like, so where the fuck are the rest of the flashlights? I didn't even catch that. How many flares did they go through in this movie? There's a shit ton of flares. They're using them for everything. Yeah, that's a good one. I thought that too.
SPEAKER_04The one doctor like came out well and someone walked in the hallway, and that was after the blackout in the lab. And when he walked outside to see who walks past him, he just lights a flare. And I'm like, you guys have those candy. They're just lighting flares.
SPEAKER_00I know it's like they must have a uh never-ending abundance supply of flares. I thought that too. I picked up on that time. And then not to not to go into the ending or anything, but I wish there was more in the ending. Okay. The anti-cli-click. You didn't like how it ended. Yeah. Okay. I wish there was a little more. But it's like we can discuss more.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So those are my cons. How about D-Rec? How about you, buddy? We I think we all sort of touched on this a little bit, but for me, I said there was too many characters for film with too little character development and not like getting their backstories because like I wasn't really connected to anyone. It was just kind of thrown into the mix. And like I did like how it just kind of kicked off, but maybe an extra 10 minutes or something, just like getting a backstory would have been fun. But I think uh so I did write down in the in the novel that this based is this is based off of, they had 37 characters. So they cut it back drastically to fit in just I think 12 characters in this.
SPEAKER_00There were also there were also, not to jump on you, but another little fact. There were there were females in the original. There were no females in this. However, I think there was an original female in this movie, but she ended up in the city. I just wanted to be on her own. I wanted to be chauvinistic for a second. Yeah. She went and got herself. She got herself pregnant, so she wasn't she wasn't in the movie. That's a joke. Yes, absolutely. But yeah, so there were actually females in the in the uh in the original. Like you said, they scaled it back quite a bit.
SPEAKER_01So that was that was my only con. Oh, yeah, just the one? Just the one, just more characteristics. A little bit more characters. Wow. So that was it. All right, moving on. Let's go to favorite lines. Shelly, you are up.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so um, I haven't had a good favorite line in in a while, but this one kind of hits you and makes you kind of question what you would do in the scenario. So we're gonna go with Kurt Russell, McCready, uh, in the lab with four guys chained to chairs, and he goes on to say, we're gonna draw a little bit of everyone's blood because we're gonna find out who's the thing. Watching Norris in there gave me the idea that every little part of him was a whole, every little piece was an individual animal with a built-in desire to protect its own life. You see, when a man bleeds, it's just tissue. But blood from one of you things won't obey when it's attacked. I'll try and survive, crawl away from a hot needle, say.
SPEAKER_00Well done. Nice, nice. Well, I'm an actor. Yeah, you are yes, you are.
SPEAKER_04And then of course I had said, yeah, fuck you too. Um but ad lib.
SPEAKER_01That was ad lib. Did you know that? Oh, I know. At the end, they're just like, I don't know, just say something. He's like, Yeah, fuck you too. It was just an ad lib. Yeah, so I I think they did a couple takes of different things and they look at us all trying to find fun facts.
SPEAKER_00I know, we're we're all part of a team.
SPEAKER_01We're a team.
SPEAKER_00We're growing up.
SPEAKER_01But that I did that monologue was awesome. He had so many good monologues. McCready had a lot of good lines.
SPEAKER_04He was the only one who really had lines.
SPEAKER_01It was his story.
SPEAKER_04And I often wondered that too. I'm like, who is this helicopter pilot that they all looked to? Yes, he's the why is he the one in charge, not the guy who's like the actual captain or whoever he was like, Yeah, uh Gary.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. They didn't trust him with the because they thought that he sabotaged the the blood bank or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Because he's the one he he's the only one that had had the uh keys or whatever. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, that was my favorite line, Matt.
SPEAKER_00It was a good line, Matt. I guess I could I guess I need to sort of uh get away from always having like funny lines because lines are just lines are good whether they're funny or not. So it's it's substitute interpretation. That was that was awesome. You're you're absolutely right. So my one of my favorite lines, or a few in there, but I just did one, was when he's playing chess in the beginning with the computer. Computer wins the game. He calls the uh the computer a cheating bitch. And then he opens, yeah. Then he opens up the uh I don't know what the hell that was, just a little compartment to like electronic compartment.
SPEAKER_01Whatever.
SPEAKER_00So he opens the computer itself. So he dumps his JB right into it and destroys the computer, by the way.
SPEAKER_04R.I.P.
SPEAKER_01R.I.P.
SPEAKER_00So that was mine, that was my my favorite part there. Um I did like the interaction with him in uh Childs where where he's like you gotta sleep sometime, and he does say, I'm a light sleeper. So I thought that was kind of cool too. That's another good song.
SPEAKER_04Again, well, right there. That's not a super funny line, but it it's it's quippy and it kind of makes you think it's adding to the distrust.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it's making it abundantly clear that like this guy is like, alright, I'll wait for you to sleep, and the guy's like, I'm a light sleeper. He's willing to give up his shut eye. That's right. Because he doesn't trust him. Alright, so much like Shelly, uh, I picked one of McCready's monologues. So this is after they torch Bennings, he says, I know I'm human. And if you were all these things, then you'd attack me right now. So some of you are still human. This thing doesn't want to show itself and wants to hide inside an imitation. It'll fight it if it has to, but it's vulnerable out in the open. And if it takes over, then it has no more enemies. Nobody left to kill. And then it's won. Much like that other where after he torches Norris, it was just it painted such a picture of like, ugh, just dread.
SPEAKER_04Great, great writing. I loved it. Great writing.
SPEAKER_01Another great juicy line from McCready, who was full of them. So, alright, let's scooch on on to most enjoyable characters, Shelly.
unknownTake it.
SPEAKER_04I think there's one, and it's probably gonna be all of ours. Yes. We could even maybe do a count of three or be embarrassing.
SPEAKER_01I have I have one more other than that. But the main one yes, yes, yes. One, two, three. McCready.
SPEAKER_04I mean, yeah. Overabundling.
SPEAKER_00Overabundling.
SPEAKER_04Um just he ran the whole movie. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but uh, you're going back to what you said. He's a helicopter probably.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, why he was.
SPEAKER_00But they might as well just had the uh cook, right?
SPEAKER_01He could have just been the the saving grace, you know. So I wrote down he wasn't the leader they wanted, but he was the leader they needed. So that's why I liked him. You're so deep.
SPEAKER_04He had no right to you know run the crew, but he just he's the one that stepped up and he's like the whole dog scene, he's in the front, and then like telling everybody and everybody's listening to him, and and you know, the one guy goes, but Grady says get the flamethrower. And I'm like, why is he? Yeah, given the yeah, but I loved him still.
SPEAKER_00So what was the what was the flamethrowers for? Like, what were the what were the flamethrows? Right, with flames with an abundance amount of flares and flamethrowers. That's a great question, dude. They were all packed with flamethrowers, right? I think supply of flamethrowers. That's it. That's it. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um, and if I had to pick another one, I did like the chef Knolls. Yes. He was fun, he was a little bit lighthearted.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. He was on roller skates. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. Super dope.
SPEAKER_04I like how the one guy was like, Nalles, turn it down. I just got shots. I'm trying to sleep. And Nalls was like, I don't give a fuck.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he walks over and he's like, walks away. Walks next to his music. Yeah, walks next to his boom box. Yes. And fuck it.
SPEAKER_04So that was my second one. If I had to pick another one. Matt, did you have any other ones?
SPEAKER_00So other than other than McCridley, McCritdy. McCreedy. McCready. Russell. Russell. Whatever. I liked I liked uh Dr. Blair. Okay. Wolf Brimley. I really did. I thought I thought he just did I thought he did a really excellent job. I mean, from being this uh very serious guy to just losing his shit, you know. I thought he was cool. I also like Windows. I did like Windows. Windows. Windows was also in one of my favorite movies, The Warriors.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, Windows was in the Warriors. Yes, he was.
SPEAKER_00Yes. But I thought he was kind of a cool, I mean, not cool, but just kind of a goofy sort of character.
SPEAKER_04He added some tension in the road. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So yeah. So I I I had two more, I guess.
SPEAKER_01That's fine. Yeah. Just I did want to speak on uh Blair. I thought when so when it was clear that he was being taken over and and uh assimilated, he was still like the Corvin was there, but the way that he was like communicating with them was like, oh, there's he's way too calm in a situation. So it was like, oh, the way he acted that part out and the way that he did that, Wilford Burnley was awesome.
SPEAKER_04So was he your other favorite character?
SPEAKER_01No, so um I was just piggybacking out that because I didn't really think of it, but selfish. I'm just kidding. That was more of a shout out to Wilford and not so much Blair. But um I liked Fuchs because I I just thought he was selfless. He ended up committing suicide to avoid assimilation, and I just thought that was that was a uh that was a stand-up move. If he felt like he was getting assimilated, he took himself out. So it's like what a selfless guy. He didn't want to wait. No, he just wanted to chill out, he was like but it was also kind of a letdown too, because like he ran out in the cold with the flare again. Again, and then it was just looking for the guy, and then next they they find some charred remains outside. But I was like, I I appreciate that. I appreciate the self-sacrifice. So nice enjoyable characters.
SPEAKER_00So next time we go camping, let's make sure we bring some flares and flamethrowers.
SPEAKER_01And flamethrowers, yeah. All right, let's move on to most annoying characters, Shelly. Take it away.
SPEAKER_04I I had a hard time picking one because there wouldn't be anyone that I absolutely hate it. I mean, in all the movies that we've done so far, there's always one that I'm like, oh my god. Yeah, but there's no one here that I absolutely hate it. If I had to draw uh like draw straws on it, Bettdings, I didn't like him, and I I didn't like Blair just because I don't know. I also don't understand why he was in the shed with like a noose sitting in front of him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that was he he made that little noose. I I think to try to get sympathy. I don't know what his idealized.
SPEAKER_04They'd never really like addressed it. I and I couldn't figure out the symbolism of it, but and I hadn't noticed it until now, I guess. Maybe even that it was predominantly in the scene, even the shot, half the scene was half the frame was the noose, and the other half was Blair.
SPEAKER_00Did Blair did Blair make the noose or did they make the noose?
SPEAKER_04I it wasn't in the shed before.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Blair, I think Blair showed up, so he's like, hey, I'm gonna kill myself. They're like, I don't get stupid.
SPEAKER_04I like how uh maybe that's the way the thing was trying to say, I'm still human. Look, I'm making a noose because I can't take it anymore.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, yeah, I like how I like how McCready he's still talking, he shuts the little door off. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01He's like, he's like, I'm fine, let me back out. And it's just like click, click, go back.
SPEAKER_04But I didn't really like have a big con as far as characters went. So right.
SPEAKER_00So I put uh I put Gary. I have Gary and I also have Palmer. I mean, like you said though, too, I agree. There wasn't anyone that really stood out where I was just like, I fucking hate that person. Yeah, there really wasn't. I just like I thought that uh if of all the people, if I could take any of them out, those two would probably be probably be it. I mean, you need someone there to be the thing.
SPEAKER_01So Palmer had like the coolest like transformation though. That was awesome.
SPEAKER_00I just thought, I don't know if his his character, his pothead character, I thought it'd be a little more hippie or something. I I don't know, maybe it's just me. But I just I just thought of all of the characters he had a cool line those two could could have been gone.
SPEAKER_01Palmer had that line when uh Norris's head turned into like the spider thing was crawling away, and he was just like, You gotta be fucking kidding me. Yeah, yeah. I was like, that that was a good line for Palmer.
SPEAKER_00But it was again, it was hard for me to, you know, I I had to like rewatch it again. I'm like, who do I do who do I not like in this?
SPEAKER_04So yeah, it's hard because I mean, I think they all equally had a part, yeah. Maybe not so much character development like we discussed, but they all had a part, a role, whether we know why they were there doing that. But yeah, it was hard.
SPEAKER_00So I can see how the original had like 51 people, right? Right. The story had like 37, yeah. Right, so you gotta have like all these kills and stuff, you know.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, I get it. My most annoying character, and I liked him, but I didn't so it was Clark. I liked Clark because you know he was he was close with the dogs. I appreciated the kinship that he was finding with him, but when he was trying to take out um McCready, I just thought it was such a half-assed plan that he was coming out with a scapel, and then he got shot and killed. And I was like, what a waste! You're annoying me. Like you should have stayed around. I was I was upset that he died and that he died in that manner, and then it was found out that he wasn't one of the things when he did the blood test. Yeah, so I was just like, what a waste. So that was that was, I guess, my most annoying character. So we are moving on to favorite kills slash scare, Shelly.
SPEAKER_04Sure up. Oh, I'm so excited. There's so many kills. Like sometimes we're like, give us more kills. Like, we didn't have to fight for them in here. All right, so my favorite kill was by far Bennings, because it was really our first look at a human turning into the thing. The way he ran out into the snow and they chased him with flares. Right. And just kind of collapsed to his knees and then looked up with these thing-like arms, which were so well and so cool looking. So great. Yeah, and he just screeches an alien scream. And then McCready just lights him up. And I just thought that was a great one. I have another one, but I'm not gonna say it because I've in case it's one of your guys's, but I might jump in and say something about it if you guys choose it. But absolutely that was I I think it was just cool the first look at someone being this thing, because we saw the dog. Yes, but it actually seen a human.
SPEAKER_00I like I liked how they kind of just got to the point, you know, there wasn't a lot of like fat in the beginning of it. It was just like, let's just get the movie going and get the story going. So I I really, I really like that. But um, so yeah, so my favorite kill scares was uh the scene where Knowles leaves McCready out in a cold and he thinks that McCready is the thing. Uh McCready makes his way back into the base, threatening to blow up the place, and then the others attack McCready and uh try to secure him when Vance gets pushed off to the side and stops breathing. And uh they're all they're all like, Oh, he's he's not breathing. So they send him in with Dr. Cooper or Copper, and uh they try to get Vance to start breathing again with a defibrillator, and he's pushing on his chest and his his hands go right in, and the thing chops his hands right off. Oh, it's so good, and he stands up, ah, and then they light up Vance and then his head separates. So there's a lot of that whole scene to me where his head separates, yeah, falls to the ground, and then these like spider-like legs pop out, and then that's where Palmer says, You've gotta be fucking kidding.
SPEAKER_01I thought that was Norris that got uh the defibrillation going, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00No, it's Vance. It was Vance was the um was the guy.
SPEAKER_04Cooper is trying to resuscitate him. Dr.
SPEAKER_00Cooper is trying to resuscitate him. Vance Norris the j the guy that that uh we're looking at characters. I know we are. That's okay.
SPEAKER_01That like I said, there's so many characters.
SPEAKER_04They're all old white men pictures, so I can't figure out who's a I'm pretty sure.
SPEAKER_00As I was writing, as I was writing this, I'll just um I'm just gonna type in cast, we'll go here.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Charles Hall, who Hallahan? Who played who Charles Halan?
SPEAKER_00Charles Hallahan is Vance Norris. That's Vance Norris, it's the same person. Same person. You know what? Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01I got you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I thought I put it on here because it's so funny when I do enjoyable characters and annoying characters, in parentheses, I put their characters and I have their actor names. No, yeah, that's good. But he wasn't one of mine. But yeah, okay, cool. So that was my that was my favorite scare is when uh when he gets his arms chopped off. Yeah. And yeah, like I said, they light him up.
SPEAKER_01So that was that was that was a crazy scene getting the thing chomping in the arms.
SPEAKER_04That's the start of like my favorite part of the movie. Okay. Like I said, the last 30 minutes.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Uh, I got two. So talked about the beginning scene with the dogs. I know that was very uncomfortable for Shelly. Uh, it was extremely uncomfortable for me too, because I was lying, I was lying in my bed watching it. So the initial scene when they hear the dogs barking going crazy, and they're coming here in, and then you just hear that like alien like tentacle, like I'm just like, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I'm like kicking my feet, like trying to get away from the TV. I was like, my body just involuntarily is trying to get in the way. So I was like, I'd love that. But then also, so the Palmer blood test and subsequential attack on Windows.
SPEAKER_00Right, right.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. So Windows having his head chomped on by Palmer was amazing, so much blood everywhere. And also, you know, when they tested the blood and it's screeching and jumping out of the little dish was just like a jump scare, and it was yeah, uh, what a beautiful scene.
SPEAKER_04Which is that was my second that was my second favorite kill scare, and also the anticipation because when they first hit the blood with the metal, they don't show you like he was ta telling you every person's blood as he did it, or like they would shoot to them, but then you know, there's a little commotion, and he just picks one up and does it, and we don't know who it is, but we know it's a thing still, so we're still like, ah, and like the intensity of all four guys, that was some really I mean to me that was really good acting. Like the the way they were just all naturally just screaming and like, get us off her, get out of it. Like they're all still chained together to the guy who's about to like transform. He's like, uh, so great.
SPEAKER_00Well, I like when the you know the copper wire is in the is in the little petri jet dish and it and just the scraping of the like that, you're like, oh shit, okay, it's just that. So that part there was kind of like, oh, okay, it's just the scraping of the petri dish. So I'm waiting for something to happen. That whole that was a little intense there too.
SPEAKER_01It's and it's so great that it was like, you know, as they eliminated who was being assimilated and who wasn't, like, it was getting more and more intense as they were getting down the line because you knew someone was it, yeah, someone was infected. It was gonna happen, and we're just like waiting for it, oh, we're safe, waiting for it, oh safe. Nope, Palmer. Yeah, terrifying. But yeah, so that that was mine, and uh I think that brings us to Finine Cut. In this, I just revealed a shocking ending of said film, and we discuss and give our ratings of one to five stabs one stab, atrocious, no redeeming value, waste of time. Two stabs, forgettable, poorly done, bad. Three stabs, mixed feelings, mediocre, okay. Four stabs, good, interesting, and enjoyable. And the ultimate five stabs, masterpiece, excellent, and perfect. So, after dealing with the assimilation of Norris, McCready hypothesizes that Norris's head demonstrated that every part of the thing is an individual life form with its own survival instinct. He has everyone tied up and blood samples tanked to be tested with a heated piece of wire. Everyone passes except for Palmer, whose blood jumps away from the heat. Exposed, Palmer transforms, breaks free of its bonds, and attacks Windows by chomping down his head like a Venus flytrap, forcing McCready to incinerate them both. Now, untied, Childs is left on guard while McCready, Gary, and Knolls go to test Blair in a tool shed. Upon arrival, they find Blair has escaped under the floorboards and has been using vehicle components to assemble a flying saucer. Returning to the main quarters, they find that Childs is missing and the power generator is destroyed. McCready speculates that the thing intends to return to hibernation until its rescue team arrives. They decide to heat things up by detonating the entire station. As they are sending the explosives, Blair sneaks up on Gary and kills him by shoving his strong man alien fingers in his face. Shortly thereafter, Knolls wanders off and disappears like a goddamn child. And McCready, now realizing he's left all on his own, is attacked by the Blair thing after it destroys the detonator. The enormous creature reveals itself to McCready with a dog imitation popping out of it. McCready finds a stick of dynamite and yells, Yeah, fuck you too, before throwing a dynamite, destroying the base. McCready comes out alive somehow and rests nearby as a station burns. The child returns, saying he became lost in a storm while pursuing Blair. Exhausted and slowly freezing to death, they acknowledge the futility of their distrust and share a bottle of scotch. So that was the ending. What do you guys think about the ending?
SPEAKER_04I thought it kind of still had you guessing, and I think that's what this movie did. Because they kind of looked at each other and, like you mentioned, the distrust was still there. One of them could still be a thing. We don't know. But they have decided that that's that. Let's move on. Yeah. Let's just carry on. I mean, was it the ending we all wanted? No, but I mean I think I didn't hate it.
SPEAKER_01See, I thought I thought that it left it open to there be for there to be more, which it could have been like another series where there was other things too. It would have been great. But I I liked the end for me. I interpreted the ending that Childs was assimilated. And that he was the one obviously he destroyed the generator because he wanted all power, he wanted to go back to hibernation. And when he came up on McCready scene, he was the only one left. He was like feeling him out. He's like, What are we doing here? And all and when McCready was like, Let's just sit for a while and see what happens. Yeah, we're too cool. We're too tired to do anything. Yeah, so he's like, Cool, we're gonna sit here and freeze, and then I'll just wait for my rescue team. So I that's how that's how I interpreted the end is that Childs was assimilated, and that he was just like, Cool, this is this is how this is gonna end, and we're just gonna drift off to hibernation. What about you, Matt? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Again, I I just I wish there was a little bit more. I don't know what I wish there was more of, but like a definitive ending. Yeah, I just wish there was more of an ending where it's just these two guys, okay, that's it.
SPEAKER_01So I do know they sh they shot a couple different endings, but I think Carpenter liked the nihilistic feel of them just like drifting off and freezing to death. So yeah, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, all in all, I I really did like this movie a lot. Um I just thought the ending for me was just anticlimactic. I thought there would be a little bit more, a little more of a profound thing, but but that was it. Yeah. You guys ready for the stabby stab time?
SPEAKER_04Ready.
SPEAKER_01Shelly, what do you got?
SPEAKER_04I'm gonna give it a strong four and a half.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, five and five. I'm almost a five. Ooh, very good. Almost a five.
SPEAKER_04Um, it had little things, but not big enough where it's it's not perfect. I mean, I think it's gonna be hard to find the perfect. We'll see. Maybe I will. But we got a little bit of a close five. Uh so close five for me, but I'll give it a four and a half. Four and a half. It had everything. It had good acting, it had good music, it had good gore, it had good kills, it had good scares, good stories. So it just it hit a lot of, it checked a lot of boxes for me.
SPEAKER_00Nice.
SPEAKER_04What about you, Matt?
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I gave I didn't give it a four-five or four point five. I gave it just a solid four. Um, again, I I love the movie. I thought, I thought just the storyline was good. There were some things that definitely could have could have been better as far as describing what the hell they were doing there and the character characters and stuff, but um, but yeah, I thought it was a great movie. Is there a thing too? No.
SPEAKER_01No, they did like a remake in 2011.
SPEAKER_0011, 2011.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but there's no, yeah, it's not like a sequel or anything. Yeah, right. So so yeah, uh, I give it a solid four. Nice. Nice. All right, so I said, you know, Amazing Effects, great story. Uh, I just needed more for the characters. Um, and I like I said, I just wish that it turned into a series because with the way it ended, I think there could have been more to it. But I I gave it a very solid four stabs as well. So nice. We have been extremely fortunate the last two weeks with just stellar movies. Yeah. So I'm hopeful in the next Wheel of Death that this uh this keeps going. Keep it going.
SPEAKER_00No more, no more uh duck noises and hey bugging. That was very nice. Supernatural beings, the vi visitors. No one did it, he didn't murder you. So talking about the music. Um, fun little fact, talking about the music, you know, this was the first uh movie that John Car Carpenter did not score. Oh wow, so yeah, so he did not score this movie. So yeah, so yeah, that was a fun fact I saw nice, but uh, and also did you know that they were going to have they wanted to have uh Clen Eastwood be McCready. Oh, really?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, glad they didn't.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_04Well, I thought Kurt Russell was great, he was perfect. And John Carpenter was a very good thing.
SPEAKER_01And he was such a good partnership.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think he'd only done one like uh Escape from New York before this, and then it was this one, and then it was like Big Trouble in Little China, which was John Carpenter as well.
SPEAKER_01I love that movie. He also did like an Elvis something some Elvis show Carpenter did him, him and Carpenter worked on that as well, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00So the opening the opening scene, I thought this was neat too. The opening scene with the software the wind, well the wind, just the sound of the wind that was actually recorded in in Palm Springs in the desert in Palm Springs. Oh, in Cali. Not actually in the uh Antarctica or whatever. Yeah, they they I filmed in London.
SPEAKER_01Well, British Columbia. British Columbia. Okay, and then the base was in was it June, Alaska, something like that. Juno, yes. Yep, Juno Alaska. They're all over the place a little bit.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I think the only other cool fun fact to mention is that critics hated this film at Bomb. Which blows my mind. Yeah, yeah. Like I think it's such a good solid film. They said it was too gory and that it was like even the original guy who wrote the story was like, This movie sucks. Oh wow. Yeah, so it's crazy to me that we we all love and like tons of horror films. I mean, I got so many comments on this one. Um, so so many people love it for it to be such trash in the eyes of critics when it came out.
SPEAKER_00It's so funny because there's a lot of movies that are like that. These movies, these cult classics and stuff, they're they get terrible reviews, but but they're phenomenal. Everybody loves them.
SPEAKER_01With the cult classic stuff, it's it finds its legs later. Like I know, I know with HBO and then like the VHS stuff is really where the thing like got its following. So it was much later after its release that that people really got it and got into it. But what so I do have a fun fact too. So this so the budget of this movie was insane 1.5 million or something like that. So the associate producer producer Larry Franco, he suggested reusing at the end they did they destroyed their base. So instead of having a dish a separate destroyed Norwegian base, right? They just went ahead and reused the American base and saved like 250 million dollars.
SPEAKER_00I thought it was the nor was it the US base? I thought it was the Norwegian base.
SPEAKER_01They used they used the destroyed American base for the destroyed Norwegian base. The one that they blew up at the end, they just reused it and just cut it.
SPEAKER_04Piggyback that because I read that years later they went back. A couple people went back, and they the helicopter like spokes were still there and they didn't clean it up.
SPEAKER_00Litter bugs, a bunch of litter bugs. Yeah, so that was somebody brought some parts back or something like that. They still have it to this day. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That is crazy.
SPEAKER_00One of John Carpenter's uh favorite movies, by the way. That he's that's one of his favorites. Yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01We all came with a but a little bit with fun facts. Like it. That's awesome. So uh next we move on to Voices from Beyond. And this is where Shelly just goes for our social media platforms, chooses uh posts to read and all that fun stuff. Shelly.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so we've got our voices beyond. Uh we can voice voices from beyond. You can find us on Instagram and Facebook, little bracket of horrors. So we'll kick it off with Sandy F. This is her preferred horror flick. Lots of jump scares, some gore. And in the how in their household, Carpenter is considered the king.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Favorite scare was the doctor trying to shock back to life, Vance, and his chest opens up, swallows the doctor's arms, cuts them off.
SPEAKER_01Perfect.
SPEAKER_04They could go on and on. Their favorite line was what the fuck? Lee's favorite uh was the ending, little lackluster, but they gave it five stabs.
SPEAKER_01Nice, solid, real solid.
SPEAKER_04Lisa C. She said that this is her preferred, she doesn't like sci-fi horror, but this is the exception. The movie and the score again on final is really good. Oh, he shout out final. She does, no. Yeah. Carpenter is the director before his time, as his movies tend to be more cult classics because they're more appreciated later on in life. And she thought Kurt Russell was swoon.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. Very swoon. I'd cuddle that beard. It was a strong beard.
SPEAKER_04She gave it four and a half out of five. We've got Sherry F on Instagram said they watched the first time in 2020 and really liked it. Thinks it holds up today. Favorite scare or favorite scene is the rec room giving the blood samples. Right. Very anxiety inducing.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04We got Renee B, loves this movie. The best of the thing movies. Uh, when they were giving the C PR, so another C PR level and the spider head freaked them out.
SPEAKER_01Oh, so cool. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04John R said they love this one, probably their favorite splatter movies, and it's got atmosphere, suspense, and still scares them today. Courtney L just rewatched this the other week. Great classic 80s horror. The effects are nasty. And really drove them nuts how the characters know the thing imitates them, but would go separate ways. Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah. I didn't even think of that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And then lastly, Steve F said this is Carpenter's opus. The suspense, jump scares, the effects. Everything about this movie was perfect. The actors weren't spectacular, but add it to the tension of the movie. It also came up with a statement, you've got to be fucking kidding. So everybody liked the fucking kidding and the live scene. So that we got a lot of good uh uh comments from y'all. Keep them coming. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, everyone. That was that was awesome. Thank you guys so much for contributing, and thank you to Shelly for collecting those. Next is Wheel of Death. But before we do that, and before we pick our new movie, Shelly is digging her hands deep into the Frankenstein Monster's head to choose the one to replace.
SPEAKER_04So we're gonna replace a film and pick a new movie. Um, this episode for this new movie that we picked today is dropping when, Derek?
SPEAKER_01April 27th. So awesome.
SPEAKER_04So that won't be when our next episode drops out.
SPEAKER_01Be sure to tune in. Tune in and tune out. Beloved movie are we replacing the thing with?
SPEAKER_04Thirst.
SPEAKER_01Thirst. Thirst. Interesting. Thirst, you say. What's it's comedy? What is it? Comedy monster horror. Let me put it on the wheel. Is it on the wheel?
SPEAKER_00It's on the wheel. Okay. All right, let's go over the 10. So what's on the wheel? What's the 10? So we've got the cabin in the woods, Itchy the killer. Ichy. Ichy, Ichy the killer. I'm not looking forward to seeing this one. We'll see what happens. Now we're gonna land on it. Yeah. So we've got uh high tension, demented, mother, wolf cop, the mummy, not the Brendan Frazier version, Ginger Snap, Phantasm, and the newly entered Thirst.
SPEAKER_01Alright, so are we getting ready to spin? Wheel of Death. Wheel of Death. Wheel of Death. Wheel of Death. Wheel of Death.
SPEAKER_00Wheel of Death. Ooh, it's it's one of the OGs that's been on our list for.
SPEAKER_04I'm excited.
SPEAKER_00Phantasm.
SPEAKER_04Phantasm! Oh yes!
SPEAKER_01This is another one I purposely put on there so I could finally watch it. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Alright, so that's what's on our wheel. Derek, where can we where can we uh watch a lot of it? Shelly's got that. I've got it on, yeah. I'm fast. She's super fast.
SPEAKER_04If you have a looks like for free on Tubi, Tubi TB.
SPEAKER_00We should we should have Tubi sponsor us. Right. Reach out to a representative.
SPEAKER_04And then if you have um subscriptions to Peacock and Shutter.
SPEAKER_00Oh shutter.
SPEAKER_04And then uh looks like maybe AMC, so it might be on general TV sometimes.
SPEAKER_00Turner Turner Classics.
SPEAKER_04Pluto TV, like you can it looks like you can rent it on several things.
SPEAKER_00So it's free up everywhere. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I'm so excited.
SPEAKER_04Go to Tubi first and foremost. But if you have one of those subscriptions, it's there with no commercials.
SPEAKER_01So guys, shout out to Tubi. I'm so excited. Second week in a row, I put a film on the list and it has belovedly been given to us. So thank you, Will of Deaf. Just being so good to us.
SPEAKER_04That's one of my dad's favorite movies of all time. Great movies. So we got him an ornament of the orange. Yeah. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Steve knows what he's knows a thing or two. What year is this maybe?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I thought you guys knew you're 1970. 1979. It's a year after I was born.
SPEAKER_01You're one year old. I was one year old.
SPEAKER_04So you're not young like me.
SPEAKER_01You're not in your 30s. You're not young like that. You're not in your 30s like Shelly. All right, so that is Little Bracket of Horrors. I'm Derek.
SPEAKER_04I'm Shelly.
SPEAKER_01I'm Matt. And thank you guys for tuning in, and we will catch you on the other side.