The Green Slime (1968)

This is a rather big cheat, as though i'm writing this for the Wildgrounds Japanese Blogathon it's actually an international production - though co-produced by Toei Company and lensed in Japan - with an entirely English speaking cast. That said, it was directed by the late, great Kinji Fukasaku (who had a long career directing genre films, but might be best known for helming Battle Royale) and features plenty of miniature special effects by Toei's usual Godzilla film crew, so i'm thinking it should still count. Add in the fact that The Green Slime has just been released in beautiful widescreen through the great folks at the Warner-Archive and I don't think the timing could be much better. Considering how long the film has only been available in muddy, painfully cropped VHS versions, this new version is practically a revelation.

Which isn't to say that this film is sterling. Even compared to the rough approximation of science expected in sci-fi films of the time, this one will consistently be having you scratch your heads. Despite coming out the same year as 2001: A Space Odyssey, the special effects in The Green Slime are more than a little rough around the edges, though have plenty of goofy charm. When you see a space station burning in space, sending smoke spiraling upwards you sort of just have to go with it. Combine with performances that run the gamut from stiff to uptight, and settings that represent that special 1960s view of the future (go-go boots, miniskirts and lots of flashing lights) and you're in for a very specific kind of pleasure.

It's the future and Commander Jack Rankin (Robert Horton) is pulled out of his impending retirement when some brainy science people at the United Nations Space Command discover an asteroid headed towards planet earth. Jack is plenty conflicted about his past - particularly his former friendship with Commander Vince Elliott (Richard Jaeckel from The Dirty Dozen) - but accepts the (apparently suicide) mission to plant charges on the asteroid, despite having to prepare for the mission on space station Gamma-3, which is currently Commanded by.. Vince Elliott. Are you getting all of this?

To make things even more complicated, Vince's current fiancée is Dr. Lisa Benson who used to be Jack's gal and still has rather obvious feelings for him, much to the perpetually intense Vince's chagrin. Despite the hard feelings, Vince volunteers to join the mission and the group successfully carry out their mission thanks to some heroics from Rankin. However, the scientist guy they brought along found a green slimy life form on the planet, and accidentally brought some of it back with him. You may be wondering if this slime feeds off electricity and rapidly grow into tentacled creatures that run amuck around the space station, and your suspicions would be correct.

Despite in-fighting, Jack and Vince decide to corral the creatures - who have the ability to heal themselves and procreate from a drop of blood - into a section of the space station and blow it up real good. When this proves only to litter the side of Gamma-3 with the creatures - realized in one of the film's crummier effects - Rankin makes the decision to evacuate the space station before demolishing the whole thing. There are lots of rubber suits, heroic sacrifices, and plenty of the titular green slime to go around.

I mentioned the goofy charm of the special effects in this and other late 60s Toho monster movies, and while this one doesn't have the wholesale destruction evident in the Godzilla movies of the time, there's still plenty of impressive (though totally unconvincing) model-work to be seen here. The actual green slime creatures are pretty terrific, with waving tentacles (often with visible guidelines) and a giant red eye that can blink, though we never see more than a handful on-screen (except for the rather poor looking shots of the outside of Gamma-3). Gamma-3 itself looks like something out of The Thunderbirds, and while it looks ok when it's spinning silently in the cosmos, once you add smoke and fire to the equation it's a bit difficult to take seriously - especially with a very visible wire holding it up. 

While the actual plot has echoes of many 50s science-fiction films - the unkillable creatures in a remote location bring to mind The Thing From Another World, while the character of the scientist whose wish to study the creature ends up nearly killing us all is a staple of the genre- the film's biggest flaw is that the main characters are simply too unpleasant. While Rankin is shown to be tough-as-nails and a quick thinker, he's also ego-maniacal and makes nearly as many bad decisions as Vince, who is a perpetual screw-up throughout. Luciana Paluzzi (best known as Fiona Volpe in Thunderball) as Lisa is certainly attractive, but is particularly unconvincing as a doctor (what is she doing with that stethoscope?). While the performances are stiff - and not helped by the sometimes shaky dubbing - the leads are fine, it's just the characters who have difficulty holding interest.

Blame for this has to go to the committee of television and b-movie writers who collaborated on the script, including Batman co-creator Bill Finger, who weighed down a fun, pulpy adventure film with unnecessary melodrama and cardboard characters. Director Fukasaku does the best he can keeping things moving, but it's sometimes at the expense of continuity as i'm still not quite sure I fully grasp some of the crew's plans in the final half hour. Much can be forgiven, however, thanks to the inclusion of one of the very best science fiction theme songs ever. Composed by Charles Fox, the psychedelic song plays over the opening credits and it is outstanding. The film's actual score is comparatively subdued, though is occasionally inappropriately cartoonish during what should be rather tense scenes. 

When developing the concept for what would eventually become Mystery Science Theater 3000 the creators used segments from The Green Slime to exhibit the kind of fun but ridiculous films they would be featuring, and it's easy to see why it was chosen. Full of ridiculous dialogue played totally straight and plenty of fun monsters and explosions, the film takes itself just seriously enough to remain enjoyable fun despite flat characters and inconsistent special effects. Lots to love for fans of monster movies, and thankfully given a wonderful looking DVD release that shows off its dated - but still wonderfully enjoyable - style.

The Thing (1982)

The first time I saw John Carpenter's The Thing I would have been around 13 or 14 years old and staying overnight at my cousin's house. We rented a bunch of horror movies and decided to stay up all night watching them, and things were going well up until three in the morning or so. That's when we popped in this horror classic. We were repulsed by the gory effects and tense atmosphere of the first half, but then comes the blood test scene.

Hoo boy. The blood test scene.

I'm not going to give too much away, but the film features an alien creature that can copy the appearance of any living thing it encounters, and at one point in the film the main character discovers that each cell of the creature works as a living organism (horrifically demonstrated in a scene where the head of the creature pulls away from the body of a person it is copying, sprouts spider legs and attempts to walk away).. He postulates that if this is the case then the blood of someone who is "infected" would move away from a hot needle.

Tying the paranoid crew to chairs, the character tests them one at a time. A hot wire being laid into a petri dish of each character's blood. After several tests revealing nothing (and exonerating characters that the audience may have suspected) there comes the single biggest fright i've ever gotten from a horror film. I already knew at this point that the film was something special, but this moment pushed it over the line as one of my very favorite films.

When released in 1982, The Thing was a very modest financial success, and got only mixed critical reviews. It came out the same summer as Steven Spielberg's E.T., and it's theorized in the special features that audiences were not prepared to watch such a nihilistic science fiction film after seeing Spielberg's cutesy classic. The years since have found an increasing number of people discovering the greatness of the film, with it joining a number of John Carpenter's films that took some time to find an audience (such as They Live, Big Trouble In Little China and even In The Mouth Of Madness).

The film centers on a group of scientists in a remote base in Antarctica. One day they are startled to see a helicopter circling their base, apparently attempting to attack a dog that is racing through the snow towards them. After landing, one of the helicopter's inhabitants chase the dog towards the men, firing blindly in an attempt to kill it. After accidentally blowing up the helicopter, the inhabitant shouts Norwegian before wounding one of the scientists in the leg, and is subsequently shot and killed. Startled and confused, the men take the dog into the base before helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady decides to head to the Norwegian camp to see what caused all of this. On arrival they find the base demolished, and the grisly remains of something that appears half human. An autopsy reveals that the remains are at least partly human, and it is soon discovered that the parts are actually pieces of the title creature, who can copy organisms exactly if given a short amount of time. Soon, the men are in a fight for their lives as the paranoia of who has and hasn't been taken over starts to breed mistrust. The film comes to an explosive conclusion as the remaining men desperately try to stop the creature from escaping and eventually reaching populated civilization.

Setting a horror film in the barren arctic is something that strongly appeals to me. The starkness and remoteness of the situation, along with the extreme conditions that push people close together, seems to be a wonderful recipe for tension. While recent films like 30 Days Of Night have had a difficult time building appropriate fear, Carpenter was already well seasoned in terror by the time he made this film, already having made Halloween (1978) and The Fog (1980).

Aside from the setting, however, the reason the film works relies on the efforts of the entire cast and crew. The score by the amazing Ennio Morricone (which sounds strangely like one of Carpenter's own scores) builds dread effectively, and the Cinematography by Dean Cundey squeezes the tension out of every corner. But the real MVP of the film (aside from the cast, and Carpenter himself) are the horrific creations of Rob Bottin (The Howling, Robocop). Bringing the twisted nightmare of a creature that can copy other creatures to life, Bottin's work remains unparalleled in terms of special make-up effects, and may be the peak of pre-computer age make-up in horror films. Each horrific set-piece is like a demented work of art, and it's not difficult to see why he was hospitalized for exhaustion from the amount he put into the film.

The film wouldn't exist without Carpenter's vision to guide it, and he was at the height of his powers here. Working with an all male ensemble, he squeezes his grip around the audience's neck slowly, bringing things to a fever pitch several times before giving a few moments of relief. Carpenter seems to enjoy visions of apocalypse, and explored this theme again in Prince Of Darkness and In The Mouth Of Madness, but the hopelessness of the situation presented (as well as the parallels to blood diseases like AIDS) rises The Thing above much of his other work. Personally, I think this is the best work he's ever done. In both the included documentary, as well as the commentary, much mention is made of the difficulty of shooting dialogue scenes of a small room filled with actors. Onlookers seem amazed at the way that Carpenter deftly approaches such moments, and it takes a close look to appreciate the skill that Carpenter brings to a production.

The acting is spot on, with Russell being the stand out as the reluctantly heroic Macready. With a full beard hiding his movie star appearance Russell is totally believable as a desperate man trying to retain trust while the situation around him slowly begins to collapse. The rest of the cast acquit themselves very well, with Wilfred Brimley as Dr. Blair (who is the first to discover the danger they have found themselves in) showing impressive manic energy as he attempts to prevent the creature from reaching humanity.

This is not a pleasant movie. It's gory to the point of disgust in certain scenes (particularly when the men dissect the burned corpses), and while the ending is appropriate to the film, it doesn't provide anything close to happy conclusion. But this is a thinking mans horror film. An amazing piece of entertainment that survives because of the questions it raises. Created as a tribute to the original The Thing From Another World, as well as a more accurate adaptation of the source story Who Goes There by Joseph Campbell, the film betters on the original materials in almost every way.

The DVD of The Thing I own is the 1998 Collectors Edition, which was later released with a different cover in 2004. The major difference between the two is that the newer version's print has been enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and Carpenter once again proves himself a master of getting as much possible out of the frame. This film is sometimes shown in a heavily edited form on television, but I strongly suggest only ever seeing the film in its original presentation. The image quality is sharp, and the scenes of the icy glacier on which they filmed are impressive.

The DVD comes packed with special features, the most impressive being the documentary Terror Takes Shape, documenting the making, and release, of the film. Running 84 minutes, the documentary provides a candid, fascinating look at the difficulties of shooting the film. Including almost all of the major players involved with its creation, it's highly recommended to fans of the film or fans of film documentaries.

We're also treated to a feature length commentary from Carpenter and Kurt Russell. The men obviously have a lot of fondness for the film, and a close friendship, and their memories are both genial and often hilarious. I've heard a number of commentaries from the two at this point, and they never disappoint. Also included are a production background archive, cast production photographs, production art/storyboards, location design, production archives, small sections on the designing of the alien's flying saucer, the design of the Blair monster, several outtakes, production notes, and the original trailer for the film (which I quite like). All together a wonderful package that treats the film with deserved respect.

A horror classic that has amassed a cult audience in the decades since its release, The Thing remains a high point of 80s horror.