"Strange Shapes": Painting a tiger and skin is difficult to paint a bone

Jacinthe 2021-10-18 19:52:46

It should be said that "Strange Forms" is an untimely work. Three years before it was born, a sci-fi masterpiece that is well-known in history-"Aliens" was born, and it led the next almost two decades. Coquettish. Compared with the latter who won many awards such as Oscars, the two Saturn Award nominations for "Strange Shape" look particularly shabby. And because of the disgusting monster image in the film and other reasons, "Strange Form" not only encountered a ban on broadcasting, but was also ignored by the world. It was not until later that the audience realized the greatness of this work again.

Different from the technological style and the metaphor of "sex" in "Alien", the theme of "Mutated" in "Strange Shape" is slightly cheaper. For a long period of time, a few mutant monsters and a few recklessness are often used. Of men and women can create a third-rate horror movie. However, the reason why "Strange Shape" can stand out from a lot of similar B-level films is inseparable from its core of universal value and careful polishing in all aspects. This point can be seen from the two master-level figures hired by the film alone. Stan Winston ("Terminator" series special effects artist) produced tens of thousands of special effects and models for this film, and Enio Mo Licone (Original music such as "Once Upon a Time in the West", "Once Upon a Time in America", "Paradise Cinema", etc.) contributed high-quality soundtracks to the suppressed and weird atmosphere.

The story of "Strange Forms" is not complicated. The Antarctic scientific expedition team members discovered strange things in the ice, so that they were successively "infected and possessed" by unknown creatures, and they were almost destroyed. Interestingly, in Ni Kuang's "Wesley" series of novels, there is a story called "Rhinoceros" which has a similar cause: Scientists have discovered many strangely shaped biological remains under the Antarctic ice. Although other plots are quite different, judging from the writing time of "Rhinoceros" (serialized in "Ming Pao" from January to May 1984), perhaps Ni Kuang found inspiration in "Strange Forms".

According to physiology, our fears are all caused by the amygdala in the brain. This place called the "fear center" controls human fears and makes us feel scared by mobilizing memories or experiences. But in the final analysis, the greatest fear of mankind stems from the unknown. We have no experience of death, and we don't know how to feel after death, so subconsciously, we regard death as an extremely painful thing. Over time, this kind of unidentified pain pushes fear to the pinnacle in our repeated imagination. In "Strange Forms", although the various mutations of the human body (including the dog's body) are terrifying, what makes the characters in the film and the audience in front of the screen feel terrified. After all, it is not the appearance after the mutation, but the inability of the mutation itself. Predict the huge impact on the psychological level.

As early as the 1950s, there was a movie called "Devil Flower Beyond the Sky" with similar colors. The film tells the story of a mysterious soybean pod that suddenly appeared in a small town in the United States. Anyone who approaches it will be controlled by it, making the residents of the town panic. It is difficult to tell whether neighbors and family members are friends or enemies. This kind of panic caused by the "confidence crisis" was also brought by John Carpenter to "Strange Forms". Although the members of the scientific expedition were colleagues, they had to doubt others when their lives were threatened. In the passage of the blood test, the atmosphere of mutual hostility and danger reached its culmination, which was truly breathtaking.

Those who have watched "Saint Seiya" should be able to remember that there was a sea fighter named "Lonidis" who relied on the method of transforming into an opponent's relatives and friends to cheat and kill each other. The behavior of creatures has similarities, and its prototype is the water monster that is good at imitating the human voice in Greek mythology. It can be seen from this that things like "trust" have been an unpredictable double-edged sword since ancient times. It can become a bridge for communication and cooperation between people, and it can also become a source of suspicion and fraud between people.

The title of this article is "It's hard to draw a tiger and a skin, but it's hard to draw a bone." Humans are very complicated and difficult to understand animals. Even oneself does not necessarily understand oneself, let alone others. Although the mimicry ability of alien creatures in the film is terrible, it is far more terrifying than human beings' hypocrisy and deception. It is not easy to trust a person, but it is even more difficult to see a person clearly!

View more about The Thing reviews

Extended Reading
  • Zella 2022-03-26 09:01:01

    The shape of the final boss of Double Face, Spider Head, and Dinosaur Kombat is based on the final boss of the strange shape.

  • Kimberly 2022-03-24 09:01:10

    Science fiction is just a cover, and monsters are just a cover. As always, this film is still discussing the human suspicion in desperate situation, and it is extremely exciting. Unfortunately, Carpenter’s B-level film is fun to discount the style of the entire film, and it cannot be matched. Alien has become a classic.

The Thing quotes

  • Palmer: [arguing about letting MacReady back inside] Let's open the door.

    Childs: Hell no!

    Windows: Do you think he's changed into one of those Things?

    Palmer: He's had plenty of time.

    Childs: Nothing human could have made with back here through this weather without a guide line.

    Palmer: Let's open the door now!

    Childs: Why are you so anxious to let him back in here, Palmer?

    Palmer: Because it's so close! Maybe it may be our best chance to blow it away!

    Childs: No! Let's just let him freeze to death out there!

    Windows: Childs, what if we're wrong about him?

    Childs: Well then, we're wrong!

  • MacReady: [holding dynamite] Anyone messes with me... and the whole camp goes!

    Palmer: Don't argue with him!