Johnny To: 10 Films Streaming on Roku

Katherine Spring, recent author of Saying It With Songs: Popular Music and the Coming of Sound to Hollywood Cinema (congrats, Katherine!) posted an interesting link on her Facebook page to Ranked: The Films of Johnnie To From Worst to Best. Almost everyone commenting on the link agreed that there were problems with the rankings (that is true of all such lists, and that is why people keep making them), but nearly everyone agreed that the list itself was ambitious. While many fans in the West know To for his action and triad films, this list does a good job recognizing his romance and comedy output as well.  While I'm a personal fan of Running on Karma (2003), I'm not sure if I would place it at #3 among the films that I've seen so far, but then again clearly Jake Cole at Film.com has seen more of To's overall output than I have. His list has 49 titles, of which I have seen 20, most of which are the action films (and most are at the top of his list).

What inspired me to follow up on this list with a blog entry today was Cole's placement of Romancing in Thin Air (2012) at number 1 on the list. It's one I hadn't seen, or even heard of. Cole points out that while it has not been released in theaters or on DVD in the United States, it is currently available on Hulu (free Hulu in fact, not just Hulu Plus).  I did a little more digging and discovered it is also available on Amazon Prime Instant Video, for those who want to avoid Hulu's ads.

Romancing in Thin Air is certainly a charming, if somewhat predictable, romance. While watching it I was reminded how To has viewed his output as one film to keep Milkyway Studios going strong, then one film for the critics.  Certainly this film is for a general audience, it's well crafted and acted and certainly worth a look for those who are less familiar with this significant part of To's output.  I'm not as crazy about it as Jake Cole at Film.com, but it does fit in interesting ways into To's recurring themes in his non-triad work. Also streaming on Amazon Prime Instant Video is the #16 film on Cole's list, Don't Go Breaking My Heart (2011, co-directed by Wai-Ka Fai), which I also hope to catch up with in the near future.

The other recent To films hat have received more attention from the critics currently are also worth checking out. Drug War has several interesting genre twists that really get you just when you think you know where the film going, and its third act really punches you in the gut. Life Without Principle is a clever network narrative following several characters on the day of a global financial meltdown. It features some abrupt shifts in tone that only To seems to be able to pull off effectively (or perhaps only To is allowed to get a away with).

I did a March, 2011 blog entry on To films streaming on Netflix, but while those links still bring you to the film's Netflix page (the links are not broken), very few of those titles are still streaming.

Posters and Synopses from The Movie Database unless noted.

Romancing In Thin Air (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2012, 111 minutes)

Amazon Instant Video: After a popular actor is jilted at the altar by an actress he travels to the mountainous area of Yunnan province. There, he finds true love with a heartbroken woman who is also a secret fan of the actor.

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Drug War (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2012, 105 minutes)

The taciturn police commander Zhang leads an undercover drugs team and in his continuous battle against the ubiquitous drug barons, takes up arms against his arch enemy, Timmy Choi. When he gets hold of Choi, he makes a deal with him: in exchange for his life (in China you can get the death penalty for producing only 50 grams of drugs) the young criminal will help the police infiltrate a sizeable drug network.

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Life Without Principle (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2011, 87 minutes)

A criminal, a bank clerk and a police officer find their destinies entwined when a loan shark gets assaulted after having withdrawn $10 million from the bank in the midst of the world financial crisis.

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Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Johnny To & Wai Ka-Fai, Hong Kong, 2011, 115 minutes)

Mainlander & financial analyst Cheng Zixin (Gao Yuan-Yuan), who followed her then boyfriend Owen (Terence Yin) to Hong Kong, runs into her ex-boyfriend while riding the bus. Owen is now with his pregnant wife and when his wife spots Owen talking to his ex she she freaks out. Cheng hurriedly gets off the bus and, being in a daze, is almost run over by a car. A haggard drunk named Fang (Daniel Wu) then saves Cheng. Meanwhile, in a nearby car, sits CEO Cheung Shen (Louis Koo) who watches everything that transpires. CEO Cheung Shen is a playboy who also works in an office building directly adjacent to Cheng Zixin. Cheung Shen soon starts to woo Cheng Zixin by sending messages to her through the window of his office building. The drunk haggard Fang, who saved Cheng Zixin's life, runs into Cheng Zixin a few weeks later. It turns out that the drunk haggard is a Canadian-born top architect going through personal problems. They soon become friends.

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Vengeance (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2009, 108 minutes)

François Costello arrives in Hong Kong to avenge the death of his daughter and her family, who were murdered by hired killers. Twenty years before, Costello was a professional hitman... As Costello's memory is fading away, three professional killers, Kwai, Chu and Lok, are sought to help him complete his revenge plan.

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Triangle (Johnny To & Ringo Lam & Tsui Hark, Hong Kong, 2007, 101 minutes)

Small-timer Fei (Louis Koo), his harried buddy Sam (Simon Yam), and antique store owner Mok (Sun Hong Lei) are all in desperate need of money. Fei wants his friend to drive a robbery getaway car but Sam backs out, throwing Fei in trouble with the triads. As the three are arguing, a mysterious man leaves them a map, leading them to an unlikely treasure under the Legislative Council building. All their financial woes seem to be solved after a late-night heist, but they are being tracked by shady cop Wen (Lam Ka-Tung), who is carrying on an affair with Sam's emotionally unstable wife, Ling (Kelly Lin), and has connections with Fei. When the twisted relationship tangles come to light, the brotherhood dangerously breaks down and the treasure ends up in the wrong hands.

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Mad Detective (Johnny To & Wai Ka-Fai, Hong Kong, 2007, 89 minutes)

A rookie cop teams up with a former detective with a supernatural gift to hunt down a serial killer.

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Exiled (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2006, 110 minutes)

A friendship is formed between an ex-gangster, and two groups of hitmen - those who want to protect him and those who were sent to kill him.

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Election (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2005, 115 minutes)

A drama-thriller centered on a democratic election within an organized crime society.

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The Heroic Trio (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 1992, 88 minutes)

Tung and Ching were both adopted by the same master. But later Ching was abducted by the eunuch-Chan. Ching grew up and became scientist Li's assistant and Tung married officer Lau. Chat had escaped from Chan at 15 and became a thief-catcher. During Chan's intrigue the trio united to become "The heroines of the East".

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Korea: I'm a Cyborg..., Poetry, I Saw the Devil, Mother

Here's a quick list of recent Korean films available for streaming on Netflix Watch Instantly.  Korean cinema has been very successful on the international film festival circuit in the past few years, and a few Korean directors have also earned a cult following in various areas of genre filmmaking (especially horror).

Chan-Wook Park is probably best known for Oldboy, which won the Grand Prix of the Jury at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.  His Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Lady Vengeance (2005) are also currently streaming on Netflix.  These next two films are interesting ventures in to very different genres: romantic comedy and vampire horror.

I'm a Cyborg, but That's Okay (Chan-wook Park, Korea, 2006, 107 minutes)
Netflix: Placed in a psych ward for believing she's a robot, troubled Young-goon forsakes food and attempts instead to charge her body with electronic devices. As her health deteriorates, another eccentric patient tries to inspire her to start eating again.  Netflix link.







Thirst (Chan-wook Park, Korea, 2009, 133 minutes)
Netflix: When the smoke clears from a failed experiment to find a cure for a fatal disease, a devout priest finds himself forever changed. Specifically, he's a vampire -- but that isn't the only thing that's different. Now he's also willing to commit adultery with the wife of his childhood friend, a sin he never would have considered before. Kang-ho Song, Ha-kyun Shin and Ok-bin Kim co-star in this horror offering from Korean director Chan-Wook Park.  Netflix link.






Lee Chang-dong's Poetry was particularly successful on the international film festival circuit, winning the 2010 Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival.  Poetry currently has a 100% Tomatometer critical rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Poetry (Chang-dong Lee, Korea, 2010, 139 minutes)
Netflix: A poetry-writing class inspires serenely self-possessed grandmother Mija (Jeong-hie Yun) to open her senses to her suburban surroundings, but in rushes an array of unsettling discoveries in this lyrical South Korean melodrama. Along with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease comes information that Mija's teenage grandson was party to a horrific incident, and it is left to Mija to compose order from the untidy emotional consequences.  Netflix link.





Kim Ji-woon is also known for his 2008 cult action film The Good, the Bad, and the Weird, which is also streaming on Netflix.  I Saw the Devil is not for all tastes, but you'll realize that when you read the synopsis.

I Saw the Devil (Ji-woon Kim, Korea, 2011, 142 minutes)
Netflix: From famed thriller director Ji-woon Kim comes this edgy thriller about secret agent Dae-hoon (Byung-hun Lee), who discovers how far over the edge he will go in order to seek revenge after his fiancée is brutally slain by psychopathic serial killer Kyung-chul (Min-sik Choi). With the police baffled by Kyung-chul's murders, Dae-hoon decides to capture the killer, but his own increasing violence makes him wonder who the monster really is.  Netflix link.






Bong Joon-ho had an international breakthrough hit with The Host in 2006, and that film just became available again on Netflix Watch Instantly.  His most recent film, Mother, currently has a 95% Tomatometer critical rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Mother (Joon-ho Bong, Korea, 2009, 129 minutes)
Netflix: A murder rocks a South Korean town and suspicion quickly falls on a reclusive, mentally challenged -- and alibi-free -- young man (Bin Won). When an inept public defender botches the boy's case, his mother (Hye-ja Kim) sets out to prove her son's innocence. Acclaimed director Joon-ho Bong (Memories of Murder) explores the lengths a mother will go to protect her child in this atmospheric crime thriller.  Netflix link.

Bollywood: Ghajini, Dev.D, Jodhaa Akbar

After a significant of time off, I will return to regularly scheduled posts and updates in the coming weeks.

This past month a significant number of Bollywood films have been added to Netflix Watch Instantly.  Some of them mark the return of films that I've posted about in the past, including several films with Shah Rukh Khan.

Ghajini might not be for everyone, but it certainly is a wild ride and it features many of the pleasures and odd contradictions of Hindi popular cinema.  It is actually a Hindi-language remake of a 2005 Tamil language film (by the same director), and it is currently the sixth highest grossing Bollywood film in history.  It is often described as a Bollywood version of Memento, but that description will be misleading to those who are unfamiliar with the mix of tones and genres within many Bollywood films.  Certainly many of the plot elements will be familiar to those familiar with Memento, but Ghajini also features an extreme mix of light whimsical romance and brutal violence that one simply would not see in Hollywood genre filmmaking.  If you are willing to handle some extreme genre mixing within the same film (even more so that the typical Bollywood film), you should give Ghajini a try.

Ghajini (A.R. Murugadoss, India, 2008, 177 minutes)
Netflix: After a vicious attack claims the life of his girlfriend and leaves him with a debilitating case of short-term memory loss, mobile phone mogul Sanjay Singhania sets out on a quest to bring down the perpetrators that have ruined his life. Netflix link.







Here are some other films, perhaps more typical of recent Bollywood output.

Dev.D (Anurag Kashyap, India, 2009, 137 minutes)
Netflix: Because they come from different castes, Dev, the son of a tax collector, and his true love, Paro, are not allowed to marry. After Paro's family sends her to Calcutta, Dev despairs and spirals down into a life of overindulgence. Netflix link.

Jodhaa Akbar (Ashutosh Gowariker, India, 2008, 205 minutes)
Netflix: What begins as a strategic alliance of two cultures becomes a genuine opportunity for true love between a mighty Mughal emperor and a Hindu princess in director Ashutosh Gowariker's epic romance set in 16th-century India. Netflix link.

Jackie Chan: Little Big Soldier, Project A, Wheels on Meals

Back in June in one of my Miramax/Dimension entries I mentioned that Jackie Chan's Operation Condor (Armour of God) films were streaming on Netflix Watch Instantly.  Some of his other early classics, unfortunately dubbed (although reasonably well dubbed), are now also available.  They might make a good pairing with what critics have called a nostalgic return to his roots in last year's Little Big Soldier.

Little Big Soldier (Sheng Ding, Hong Kong, 2010, 95 minutes)
Netflix: Jackie Chan stars as a grizzled veteran who kidnaps a young enemy general (Lee-Hom Wang), then escorts him on a long journey to collect a reward, in this comic martial arts extravaganza set in the days of ancient China. But as their perilous road trip unfolds, the old soldier soon realizes he's bitten off more than he can chew. Chan also wrote the screenplay for this film directed by Sheng Ding.  Netflix link.

Some of Chan's best films from the 1980s teamed him up with Sammo Hung.  This is the period where Chan perfected the comic kung-fu genre (which really kicked in with his Drunken Master (1978), also streaming), and many critics subsequently compared his work with the great silent comedians like Chaplin and especially Keaton.  In addition to Project A, Netflix is also streaming Project A 2 (1987)

Jackie Chan's Project A (Jackie Chan, Hong Kong, 1983, 98 minutes)
Netflix: This acrobatic action flick stars the inimitable Jackie Chan as an upright sailor in turn-of-the-century Hong Kong who's out to stop buccaneers from running roughshod over the South China Sea. So far, the crooked police captain and a band of thugs in league with the looters have hamstrung all efforts to battle the problem. Can Jackie foil the culprits with a little help from a wily con man (Sammo Hung)? Netflix link.

Wheels on Meals (Sammo Hung, Hong Kong, 1984, 108 minutes)
Netflix: Chan and Biao operate a catering van in beautiful Barcelona, Spain. They team-up with a bumbling detective to help him find a pickpocket named Sylvia. When they discover she's been kidnapped by a local gang, they swing into action.  Netflix link.

Dragons Forever (Sammo Hung, Hong Kong, 1988, 93 minutes)
Netflix: Jackie Chan is a lawyer defending a shady businessman. When he realizes that his client is involved in the drug business, he teams up with his buddies to take on the villians and their polluting ways.  Netflix link.

Nicolas Winding Refn: Bronson (2008) and Valhalla Rising (2009)

Back in May, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn won the Best Director prize for his new film Drive, starring Ryan Gossling. Two of his previous films are currently streaming on Netflix Watch Instantly, Bronson and Valhalla Rising.

Of the two I've seen Bronson and I hope to catch Valhalla Rising this week.  Bronson doesn't always work dramatically (it gets a bit repetitive as Bronson continuously confronts his jailors), but Refn displays a unique and vivid visual style well worth watching.  But perhaps the best reason to check it out is to watch Tom Hardy's fantastically maniacal performance as Bronson, which provides an interesting preview of what might come with Hardy's role as Bane in the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises.

Bronson (Nicolas Winding Refn, UK, 2008, 92 minutes)
Netflix: Nicolas Winding Refn's vivid and unflinching biopic delves into the life of Britain's most notorious prisoner, Charlie Bronson (Tom Hardy) -- who's been jailed for nearly 35 years -- and attempts to dissect the real man behind the deranged persona. While Bronson's primary ambition was to be famous, he became a celebrity of sorts as a criminal who seized myriad opportunities to demonstrate extreme and terrorizing savagery. Netflix link.

Valhalla Rising (Nicolas Winding Refn, UK/Denmark, 2009, 92 minutes)
Netflix: After years of slavery, Viking warrior One-Eye (Mads Mikkelsen) escapes from his captors and seeks refuge on a Norse ship bound for his homeland. When a storm throws them off course, the crew lands at a mysterious realm inhabited by invisible demons. As the bloodthirsty creatures claim one sailor after another, One-Eye rediscovers his fighting spirit but begins to wonder if they have arrived in Jerusalem or someplace much more sinister. Netflix link.

Samuel Fuller: White Dog, House of Bamboo, China Gate

This week I plan to use the Quick Picks entries to highlight films that I have put on my "In My Queue" list, and give brief reasons why I plan to watch them later in the day.  First up this week is Samuel Fuller's White Dog.

Fuller is well known for his tough war dramas (Steel Helmet, Fixed Bayonets!), bold noirs (Pickup on South Street, House of Bamboo) and sensationalist melodramas (Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss).  His unique voice in American cinema endeared him to filmmakers in the French New Wave, and Godard featured Fuller in a cameo in Pierrot le Fou (1965).  Godard's film features Fuller stating his philosophy about filmmaking: “The film is like a battleground; love, hate, action, violence, death. In one word EMOTION.”  Fuller had few directing opportunities in the 1970s, but he triumphantly returned with the  semi-autobiographical war film, The Big Red One (1980) which was a critical success but a commercial disappointment.  Still, Fuller was back on the radar, which led screenwriter Curtis Hanson and producer Jon Davidson to approach Fuller to direct an adaptation of Romain Gary's racial allegory, White Dog.

In his Criterion Collection essay on the film, J. Hoberman describes the sensibility that Fuller brings to the film: "filmed in headlines, framed as allegory, a movie of constant hyperbole and borderline absurdity, White Dog combines hard-boiled sentimentality and hysterical violence, sometimes in the same take."  Hoberman goes on to explain how objections from the NAACP and lukewarm test audiences led Paramount to shelve the film. The film was barely seen in America outside of occasional cable television airings until a Film Forum screening in 1991.  Fuller was devastated, and after moving to France (where White Dog had a limited release) he never completed another feature film in Hollywood (his last two, Thieves after Dark and Street of No Return were French productions).

Despite their reliance on conventions of popular genre filmmaking, Fuller's films are always just a bit off-center in terms of narrative and style, and Fuller was never reluctant to utilize any tool available to him to heighten emotional affect. But even when he rubs you the wrong way, Fuller is always admirable for his untethered fearlessness. I'm not anticipating anything subtle when I finally catch up with White Dog this afternoon, but I will see a treatment of sensitive issue by someone whose primary interest was always, in one word, "EMOTION," not sensitivity.  If you decide to join me, either today or in the near future, I look forward to your comments in the discussion section below.

 

White Dog (Samuel Fuller, USA, 1982, 89 minutes)
After hitting a German shepherd with her car, young actress Julie (Kristy McNichol) adopts it and nurses it back to health. When she discovers that her pet has been trained to viciously attack black people, she convinces dog trainer Keys (Paul Winfield) to try to cure the animal. Samuel Fuller directs this controversial, chilling drama based on Romain Gary's 1970 memoir, Chien Blanc. Burl Ives co-stars. Netflix link.






Netflix Watch Instantly also currently has two other Samuel Fuller films.  Of the two, I've seen House of Bamboo, which is fantastic in its use of vibrant widescreen cinematography and location shooting.  Again, despite being a relatively straight forward genre film, at times the compositions seem almost flat and abstract, inspiring later filmmakers like Godard.


House of Bamboo (Samuel Fuller, USA, 1955, 102 minutes)
Netflix: Filmed in Japan and featuring stunning photography, Sam Fuller's 1955 crime noir tells the story of Eddie Kenner (Robert Stack), a U.S. army operative sent to Tokyo to investigate ex-soldier Sandy Dawson (Robert Ryan). Working undercover, Kenner must gain the trust of Dawson, who now heads a gang that's robbed several ammunition trains. Mariko (Shirley Yamaguchi), the secret wife of a dead American soldier, comes forward to help Kenner. Netflix link.

China Gate (Samuel Fuller, USA, 1957, 95 minutes)
Netflix: Mercenaries infiltrate the Chinese border to blow up an arms depot during the French phase of the Vietnam War. A Eurasian smuggler, Lucky Legs (Angie Dickinson), cuts a deal with the mercenaries, agreeing to help them in exchange for her son's safe passage to America. Spaghetti Western legend Lee Van Cleef and crooner Nat King Cole also star in this action thriller by celebrated director Samuel Fuller. Netflix link.

Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers

Richard Lester is possibly best known for his work with the Beatles (A Hard Day's Night and Help) and the Superman franchise (II and III), but another mini-franchise he directed in the 1970s was a pair of films adapted from the Alexandre Dumas classic, The Three Musketeers.  Actually, the project was originally intended to be one film, but Lester and producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind split the film into two parts (leading some of the cast to sue them for breach of contract).  A good summary of the production of the film(s) can be found at the Turner Classic Movies website. Both films are a great deal of fun, and they were added to Netflix Watch Instantly just this past week.

The Three Musketeers (Richard Lester, UK, 1973, 106 minutes)
Netflix: After moving to Paris and skillfully dueling with musketeers Athos (Oliver Reed), Aramis (Richard Chamberlain) and Porthos (Frank Finlay), inexperienced adventure-seeker D'Artagnan (Michael York) joins forces with the talented trio to foil the cunning Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston). Featuring a Golden Globe-winning performance by Raquel Welch, this slapstick take on Alexandre Dumas's classic also stars Faye Dunaway and Christopher Lee. Netflix link.

The Four Musketeers (Richard Lester, UK, 1975, 106 minutes)
Netflix: After infuriating the utterly contemptible Lady de Winter (Faye Dunaway), newly inducted musketeer D'Artagnan (Michael York) teams up with his swashbuckling cohorts to avenge a close friend's death and rescue kidnapped maiden Constance (Raquel Welch), whom he loves dearly. A refreshing take on Alexandre Dumas's classic adventure, director Richard Lester's comedic sequel delivers slapstick antics mixed with awe-inspiring action. Netflix link.

James Bond on Netflix (Update: Removed 10/1/11)

Edit 6/4/2011: While I had originally posted that these would be available through June 17, traffic to this post helped me realize that they have already been taken down.  A shame, since this was my most often viewed post.

Edit 9/30/2011: All of these James Bond films were removed on October 1, 2011.  Also scheduled for removal are Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, and Diamonds are Forever.


This will be my last dispatch from the 2011 Wisconsin Film Festival, where I was invited to be a juror for the Wisconsin's Own competition (for filmmakers and films with ties to Wisconsin).  I will resume the normal schedule on Monday.

The Festival is in full swing now, leaving me little time to spare, so here is a Quick Picks entry inspired by the news that several Bond films (from the Connery, Lazenby, Moore, and Dalton eras) have been added to Netflix Watch Instantly as of April 1.  According to InstantWatcher, many of these will remain on Watch Instantly only until June 17, so you have 77 days to catch up on the Bond films you haven't seen, or re-visit the ones you haven't seen in a while.

 Favorites?  Least favorites?  Let me know in the comments section below.

 

Thunderball (1965) Sean Connery's third Bond film.  More or less remade as Never Say Never Again (see below).

You Only Live Twice (1967) Connery's first last Bond film.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) George Lazenby's only entry in the series.  This has the best Bond theme and music, by John Barry.

Diamonds Are Forever (1971) Connery's second last Bond film.

Live and Let Die (1973) Roger Moore's first Bond film.  I think this started the "First Sex Partner Gets Killed" Bond convention.

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) First appearance by Maud Adams as a Bond Girl.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) First appearance of Richard Kiel as Jaws.

Moonraker (1979)  A candidate for worst film in the series.

For Your Eyes Only (1981)  First Bond film I had a chance to see in the theater.

Octopussy (1983)  First of two Bond films to be released in 1983, this is one of the best Moore Bonds, despite the fact he's getting long in the tooth. Second appearance of Maud Adams as a Bond Girl.

Never Say Never Again (1983) Not an official entry in the series, but hey, it's streaming.  Connery's third and final last Bond film.

A View to a Kill (1985)
Roger Moore's last Bond film.  Possibly the weakest film in the series.

The Living Daylights (1987) Timothy Dalton's first of two Bond films.


Licence to Kill (1989) Timothy Dalton's second of two Bond films.

John Carpenter: The Thing, Escape from New York

This morning's Quick Picks are inspired by the recent addition of John Carpenter's The Thing to Netflix Watch Instantly last week.

I'm not the biggest horror fan, especially the gross-out horror film that emerged in the 1980s.  So it took me a while to come around to seeing The Thing for the first time.  I had vaguely remembered its reputation when it came out, and I knew that many critics viewed it very unfavorably in relation to the Howard Hawks & Christian Nyby 1951 original, The Thing from Another World (Leonard Maltin, who wielded quite a bit of influence me at the time, was particularly dismissive of the film in his Movie Guide).  So when I finally sat down and watched it, I was pleasantly surprised, if "pleasantly" is the right word in this context.  It's a smart, dark (almost nihilistic) and genuinely suspenseful and scary horror film.

One of many things I like about the film (and what I like about a lot of good science fiction) is that it generates tension as you learn the "rules" governing the monster, but at the same time there are some points when you simply do not know what the monster is capable of doing.  It's hard to give an example of this without spoiling a moment, but in general the wilder transformation scenes are unsettling in part because they are so imaginative and off-the-wall.  At the same time, some of the best sequences in the film do not feature special effects at all, and instead they focus on the psychological states of the characters as they try to figure out who might be "it."  The much imitated and parodied "blood test" scene rivets up the suspense until it is literally hard to watch.

So in honor of The Thing, I thought I'd list the John Carpenter films currently streaming on Netflix Watch Instantly.  While I'm not always a fan of his films, even the films I don't like have the playful exuberance of independent b-filmmaking balanced with a sophisticated knowledge of cinema history.  And if you haven't seen Starman in a while (which I haven't probably since the late 1980s), it's worth looking at to remind you of Carpenter's range (it's a particularly interesting contrast with The Thing in terms of tone).

The Thing (John Carpenter, USA, 1982, 108 minutes)
Netflix: Scientists working in Antarctica are forced to abandon their research after a helicopter crashes near their camp, bringing a lone dog into their midst. But the plot thickens when the otherworldly canine changes form in the middle of the night. As it turns out, the dog is a shape-shifting alien that can attack animals -- and unsuspecting humans. Kurt Russell stars in this creepy John Carpenter-directed remake of the 1950s classic. Netflix link.

Escape from New York (John Carpenter, USA, 1981, 94 minutes)
Netflix: Soaring crime rates prompt the United States to turn New York City into a maximum-security prison -- which is precisely where the U.S. president (Donald Pleasence) lands when he's forced to bail out of Air Force One in director John Carpenter's action classic. Condemned criminal and former war hero Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) rescues the commander-in-chief, but on one condition: The President must promise to grant Plissken his freedom. Netflix link.

Assault on Precinct 13 (John Carpenter, USA, 1976, 90 minutes)
Netflix: This taut action flick from writer-director John Carpenter pits an understaffed police station against a bloodthirsty gang's angry horde gathering outside the precinct's walls. Before Carpenter hit pay dirt with slasher and sci-fi fare (Halloween, Escape from New York), he directed several low-budget, suspenseful thrillers. Assault on Precinct 13, co-starring Austin Stoker and Darwin Joston, is among his best. Netflix link.

Starman (John Carpenter, USA, 1984, 114 minutes)
Netflix: In this sci-fi love story from John Carpenter, Jeff Bridges -- who received an Oscar nod for his work -- plays Starman, an alien who crashes on Earth and takes the form of a recently deceased man in order to evade authorities. On seeing the image of her dead husband before her, widow Jenny (Karen Allen) is frightened. But eventually, Starman wins her trust -- and her affection -- and she agrees to help him return to his home planet. Netflix link.