Halloween Countdown 2024 Part 31
Happy Halloween from R-Rated Movie Club!
Boo! It’s Halloween! I know, I know: we couldn’t have gotten to this beautiful day without the first-ever Halloween Countdown at R-Rated Movie Club playing a critical role. Thank you for your readership, I appreciate you coming along for the ride on this creative project I do just for fun!
Before we go any further, two points of business:
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Read a Bonus Essay on Ghostbusters
Besides R-Rated Movie Club, I also write Movie Memories over at the Pika platform by Good Enough. I have a new entry there today about watching Ghostbusters in the movie theater when I was 4, watching it again as an adult, and watching it as a parent with my then-4-year-old. Thanks for reading!
Okay, on to the feature presentation…
Oh, so scary!
October essentially has 5 weeks this year, so I wrote 5 entries contrasting scripture with a total of 15 movies this year. Some were shocking, some were gruesome, some were scary. I thought for my final entry on Halloween itself, I would write about an R-rated movie that actually scared me.
There are a few PG and PG-13 movies that actually scared me. For example, I really don’t care to revisit this alien abduction scene from Fire in the Sky, especially since my friend and I had to walk home at night after seeing it in the theater as teens:
Nor do I have any desire to watch Communion again. Not because it comes across a little clunky. Not because it comes off a lot bonkers. But because I got very creeped out by the alien visitors:
And while I can watch it now, and even enjoy it immensely, I was haunted for years by the ending of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, particularly by that long-armed fella. When I was a kid, I was just certain he was at the base of the stairs slowly outstretching his arm right behind me as I charged up the stairs to my bedroom. Lucky for me, I had a door to shut and a blanket to 100% cover me, so I was safe!
Aliens. Aliens. Aliens.
Are we sensing a trend here?
I think we are.
Okay, here’s an R-rated movie that actually scared me.
Dear Reader, we’re going to talk about The Thing.
From Another World…
It’s hard to write about The Thing without diving into spoiler territory, but I’ll give it my best shot. 12 men stationed at an Arctic post discover that they are not alone when an intrusive force enters their camp. The problem? This force can seemingly take any one of them over, so it’s impossible to determine who is human and who… isn’t!
What else is this movie? It’s a horror story and a murder mystery and a puzzle to solve and a special effects bonanza and a character study and superb remake and all with a bit of that 80s edginess as only actors like Kurt Russell and Keith David could deliver.
And it’s scary!
Why? Three things:
Let’s talk about trust.
As the crew tries to determine who is who, they begin to suspect some more than others of being with The Thing. But, the thing about the thing is you just never know. At one point, Blair (Wilford Brimley) explains how he feels to MacReady (Kurt Russell):
MacReady: How you doin’, old boy?
Blair: I don’t know who to trust.
MacReady: (swallows, sighs) I know what you mean, Blair. Trust's a tough thing to come by these days. Tell you what - why don't you just trust in the Lord?
MacReady may be flippant or he may be sincere. To this day, I don’t know. But the lack of trust that he, Blair, and the rest of the men feel is palpable for the audience.
Ever heard “Trust in the Lord” and wondered where it came from? You’ll find it in the Older Testament or Hebrew Bible in the wisdom pages of Proverbs 3:5-6.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Let’s talk about infection.
Each member of the crew is at risk of infection. It’s contagious and you could get infected by the person right next to you. Even right there on the couch:
Some things are infectious and you don’t want to catch it. Other things are infectious and not only do you want to catch it, you want to give it away. Number one on my list? Come on, Dear Reader, you should know me by now - it’s LOVE!
Plenty of examples in scripture, but I’ll pick one: Ephesians 4:31-5:2
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. 5 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
Watching this movie, there’s no love lost between these characters. In fact, its short supply fades as the number of people alive dwindles and the chances that the thing is amongst you grows…
Let’s talk about inhumanity.
When we let temptation and violence take us over, we lose our very humanity. This movie is scary because it truly tests human limits again and again. Here, MacReady lays it out for the survivors to say we have to face the test together:
MacReady: I know I'm human. And if you were all these things, then you'd just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn't want to show itself, it wants to hide inside an imitation. It'll fight if it has to, but it's vulnerable out in the open. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it's won.
One of my favorite pieces of scripture is Psalm 139. It is beautiful and speaks to God’s creative power in our lives. Toward the end, however, the writer speaks of his hatred against his enemies! But just when it looks like he will devolve into an inhuman self, he takes a turn, as if taking a deep breath, and asks God to test him, to keep him in love, to keep him human:
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Let’s talk about paranoia.
That’s why this movie is truly scary. You don’t know who is who, even yourself. This happens in real life all the time. Let me put it this way: have you or someone you know ever slid so slowly into a new belief or practice that is unhealthy that nobody noticed until it was too late?
I mean, let’s say you’re a dog person. Then somebody shoots at a dog screaming in Norwegian to you about how the dog is not a dog. What do you do with that?!
Isolation leads to suspicion leads to fear. And what do we do with fear? We love. 1 John 4 says a lot of amazing things, but let’s go with the short and sweet 1 John 4:18, which states it very clearly:
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear
The Thing is a cautionary tale. I once heard Kurt Russell say of this movie in an interview: “Are you you? How would you know?” If you haven’t seen The Thing yet, let me tell you: it’s easy to have that same feeling about yourself!
It’s not just the ultimate “What would you do?” movie.
It’s the ultimate “Who are you?!” movie.
And that can be scary!
I didn’t even write about the special effects - that’s how scary this movie is without even mentioning “The Thing!”
Let’s talk about the original.
The original 1951 Howard Hawks film, The Thing from Another World is awesome, too. It’s a pioneering science fiction film that elevated the genre:
Oh! Colorized! And in Italian! How’s that for an entrance?!
Oh, and the best part of the original:
Halloween Countdown 2024 has concluded! Thank you! Close the door!
Thanks for reading, sharing, and subscribing. God’s peace and good movies to you!