Item 12 - Introduce 3 1 people person to movies I love "They Live" and "The Thing"

They Live by deathink

(Source)

I watched these movies for the umpteenth time in a single viewing with my friends Marquelle and Kyle. I think "They Live" is one of those movies that should either be watched in conjunction with another film, preferably one that is objectively great, or with friends that will enjoy it and can still laugh at it's absurdities. I lucked out with this viewing as I got both.

I don't think that there is a finer alien horror film than "The Thing." I doubt you'd find many people that would disagree with that statement. There are films that approach it or are as good ("Alien" and "Aliens" of course being the benchmarks, but "Slither" is another highly underrated film in the same camp) but most will always be in it's shadow. It works as every kind of horror movie: monster, slasher, gore-fest, unseen terror and psychodrama. And it has Cronenberg levels of body-horror that other movie makers could only dream of. If John Carpenter made no other films he would still have been considered a genius for "The Thing."

To have had the chance to watch these two movies back to back with my friends that hadn't seen either was a real treat. They loved every action movie line that Roddy Piper delivered; howling with laughter as he got tossed through plate glass windows. They appreciated Keith David's performance in both films (how could you not: he's one of those few modern character actors that have Presence, and not just because of that voice). And of course they loved the fight (the real deal of course has been removed from YouTube for copyright reasons, but how cool is it that South Park based that whole scene on that movie?) and wanted to watch it again as soon as it was over.

So much of watching and appreciating certain movies depends on the environment and mood that you are in and I'm happy that I was able to help facilitate a great viewing experience for these two movies for these two friends.