In recent years, decades-after-the-fact making-of movie docs, which previously existed as DVD/Blu-ray extras, have entered the mainstream. Examples include JUST DESSERTS: THE MAKING OF CREEPSHOW (2008), LOST SOUL: THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY’S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU (2014) and ALIENS EXPANDED (2024). The latter, a four hour-plus exhumation of James Cameron’s ALIENS (1986), was a product of CreatorVC Studios and director Ian Nathan, who in 2026 gave us THE THING EXPANDED, focused on John Carpenter’s THE THING (1982).
THE THING EXPANDED runs a whopping five-plus hours (20 minutes of which are taken up with a listing of the film’s crowdfunded backers) and features extensive interviews with nearly everyone involved in the production: Carpenter, producer Stuart Cohen, cinematographer Dean Cundey, special effects designer Greg Nicotero and actors Kurt Russell, Richard Masur, David Clennon, and Peter Maloney (conspicuously absent are deceased participants like screenwriter Bill Lancaster, actors Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter and Donald Moffat, and the still breathing makeup effects creator Rob Bottin). We also hear from famous fans of THE THING like Guillermo del Toro, Eli Roth, Mick Garris and Stephen Colbert.
Divided into chapters, THE THING EXPANDED takes us through the film scene by scene, with the participants filling us in on the behind-the-scenes details, accompanied by a staggering collection of newspaper clippings, promotional artwork, conceptual drawings, documentary footage, and excerpts from THE THING and various other films (a listing of which takes up a large portion of the end credits). Much of what we learn is well known, such as the fact that Kurt Russell’s foregrounded hand seen in the famous blood test sequence was fake; that critics and audiences roundly rejected THE THING upon its initial release in the summer of 1982, only to later rechristen it a genre masterpiece; and that Mr. Bottin was hospitalized for exhaustion at the end of the shoot.
Also included in THE THING EXPANDED are details that aren’t well known, such as the fact that the actors involved in the special effects sequences had to be clean-shaven (the reason Wilford Brimley was seen without his famous mustache); that the shot of David Clennon speaking the immortal line “You gotta be fuckin’ kidding” came about by badgering from Clennon’s scene partner Richard Masur (Carpenter having initially wanted the line to be said offscreen); and that a transportation mishap on a snowbound road nearly wiped out much of the film’s cast and crew. We even hear Carpenter’s attitude toward THE THING’S major summer ’82 competitor E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, which, as you might guess, isn’t too sanguine (he likens the title character to Humpty Dumpty).
THE THING EXPANDED, in short, fulfills its promise, standing as the premiere THING resource. Every question one could possibly ask about the film and its makers is answered in a film that’s extremely obsessive, yes, but also fully rounded and entirely satisfying.
Vital Statistics
THE THING EXPANDED
CreatorVC Studios
Director/Screenplay: Ian Nathan
Producers: Josh Weiss, James Evans
Cinematography: Oktay Ortabasi
Editing: Samuel Way
Cast: Kurt Russell, John Carpenter, Keith David, Guillermo Del Toro, Frank Darabont, Eli Roth, Thomas G. Waites, David Clennon, Richard Masur, Peter Malone, Joel Polis, Chuck Russell, Issa Lopez, Stuart Cohen, Dean Cundey, Todd Ramsay, Erik Jensen, Margaret Bessera, Ken Diaz, Greg Nicotero, Alec Gillis, David McGodrick, Phil Nobile Jr., Anne Billson, Nathalie Cabrol, Phil Hore, Wayne White