Shudder Gets The Ultimate Sci-Fi Horror Remake Masterpiece To Stream

Written by Robert Scucci | Published 9 seconds ago

Every once in a while, a horror classic plays like John Carpenter Something makes its rounds in the broadcast and reminds us how early it was for proposing such a simple story with next-level creature effects. Now that Something unleashes all its violent and mindless glory on Shudder, you can see for yourself how intense and heart-wrenching it can be.

From the remote Antarctic wilderness to the ever-evolving and constantly building sense of paranoia that drips from each sequence, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a sci-fi horror film that will make you want to test the blood of everyone who lives in your neighborhood. in the house before bed just to be safe. Or, if you’re like me, your next look Something on Shudder you may or may not get to read Amazon reviews for fire archers.

Why It Works

However Something the preceding ones A hunter in five years, both films have one thing in common that makes them stand out from their contemporaries, and that is the sense of routine and camaraderie that comes from an experienced team that is disrupted by external forces. Kurt Russell’s RJ “Mac” MacReady has a relationship with the rest of the research team that easily allows the audience to know how these guys trust each other and get along in any other situation before the events that take place in. Somethingnow streaming on Shudder.

When the American team’s Antarctic research station is attacked by a Norwegian (not Swedish, Mac!) helicopter, Mac and Dr. Copper (Richard Dysart) decides to fly to the attacker’s station to see exactly how they went. Their first thought was that the Norwegians were suffering from cabin fever caused by isolation, and for some unknown reason they wanted to rob one of the many dogs living in the American countryside. It doesn’t take long for Mac and Dr. Copper found a severely burned body that appeared to be a person in the advanced stages of transformation after being burned by Norwegian workers.

Looking for a logical explanation, Mac and Dr. Copper took the body back to the facility, along with any research the Norwegians coordinated before things went south. Senior biologist Blair (A. Wilford Brimley) confirms that the body is human despite its deformity, but has a change of heart when one of the station’s dogs turns violent while locked up in the dorm. The group now knows that they are dealing with some kind of “Thing” that takes the form of its master in order to assimilate and eliminate any living creature that can capture its DNA, and they are shocked at the revelation.

Although at first there is doubt that they are dealing with an alien life form, it is hard for anyone to ignore the buried spaceship that was discovered by the Norwegians before they attacked.

Futile Exercise

Something presents a moral dilemma that must be resolved immediately. Blair, growing in his weakness, makes the ultimate decision that the Thing contamination and assimilation efforts should be left alone after predicting that whatever life they are dealing with could take over the entire planet in a matter of years if unleashed on the rest of the world. . He destroys the radios and sleds, and kills the remaining dogs to make sure no one can escape.

Armed with explosives and enough explosives to blow the research station up, the crew is sure not to survive the winter. When Bennings (Peter Maloney) and Norris (Charles Hallahan) are infected, the paranoia of the surviving group gets the better of them because they have no real way of knowing who else has been infected by the Thing. Although Mac and Childs (Keith David) have more than enough reason to distrust each other in this time of crisis, they have no choice but to put their heads together in their efforts to survive.

Next Level Creature Effects

Emotional turmoil and existence aside, Something shocked everyone upon its release in 1982 because it was ahead of its time with its creature design and stop motion, which still stands when you stream it on Shudder. Special effects designer Rob Bottin required a budget of $1.5 million (one-tenth of The Thing’s the entire production budget), and used a mixture of chemicals, food, rubber, and mechanical parts to bring the eponymous object to life in its various monstrous permutations. If you somehow see this John Carpenter classic for the first time in 2025, you might not believe you’re watching a 43-year-old film because of how well the visual effects are used.

A Certified Cult Classic

Something it’s one of those creature features that benefits from showing its monster on screen, and there’s no shortage of blood, ectoplasm, saliva, and bone to get this point across. As each change becomes stronger, so does the concept of the original the fear from its main characters made even more convincing by the cold temperatures on set, which probably kept the adrenaline levels high during the production, giving the film an air of authenticity that I have not seen replicated so well since.

You can broadcast Something right now on Shudder, and I highly recommend doing so the next time you want to see the world on fire. And if you want to check Something continuously, the GenreVision podcast does a great breakdown that you won’t want to miss.