The Thing rip off

[Spiffy Niffy]

ive been seeing a few movies lately that have been basically ripping off the thing. Like  Decoys ot dreamcatcher.Its really p**sing me off to see this, and that these people are getting away with it.

[Menard]

I agree. Ben Grimm belongs with the Fastastic Four and nobody else should be trying to use his character ( :

[Dreggen]

Good one Menard.

[Andrew]

The absolute worst one I have ran into is Unknown Origin.  The whole plot is almost cut and pasted (going to the other base, bringing back the alien, someone being infected at first, etc.)    Some of the dialog is ripped off word for word!

Also, "Evil Spawn" took the low, forboding, music score.  That also drove me nuts, because "Evil Spawn" is really a remake of "The Wasp Woman" - just with music from "The Thing."

[Menard]

The X-files was good about using movie plots as the basis for their early episodes. They did a take-off of the The Thing with the creature being some kind of worm (I believe) that invaded the body and caused to host to attack or sabotage the others.

[BeyondTheGrave]

leviathan (I think that was the name)was a Thing/Alien ripoff. It stared that guy who played robocop (Peter Weller).

 You can’t give it, you can’t even buy it, and you just don’t get it!-Aeon Flux

[trekgeezer]

Okay, the basic plot has been ripped off so many times that it would be easier to ask if there is monster flick that hasn't ripped it off in some way.

[ulthar]

trek_geezer wrote:

> Okay, the basic plot has been ripped off so many times that it
> would be easier to ask if there is monster flick that hasn't
> ripped it off in some way.
>

I think an interesting take on this question is what movies have ripped off the mood of the movie.  The Thing was really one the first movies that introduced the idea of no hope for the characters (fairly early in the plot), and then actually stuck with this through the end.

How many times has a film set up a bleak ending, only to drop the ball with some sappy ending?  On the DVD, Carpenter mentions several endings were considered, one of which has a rescue helicopter coming in pretty much just as MacReady and Childs sit down after blowing the camp.  He goes on to mention that he just could not do that to either the story or the characters.

As I recall, "Who Goes There" has a manufactured, happy ending in which they kill of the Things, and know that they have killed all of the Things.

[Sugar_Nads]

Why are you wasting your time getting upset? Don't you realize that Hollywood thrives on theft and rehashing old plots and ideas?

All their crap is so predictable and formulatic, that's why I support more and more independents.

[BoyScoutKevin]

I think it depends upon what one thinks is bleak. I thought, though some may not, that "The Incredible Shrinking Man" had an incrediblely bleak ending. And the original "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" had a bleak ending, until the studio tacked an happier ending onto the end.

[Sugar_Nads]

Doesn't that p**s you off though? What's the matter with bleak endings? I believe that they portray a better sense of reality in human suffering.