Review Detail

TRANZOR: These are more reviews that were taken down when the fanedit database was re-organized. Though i understand Fe's reason for this, I still think a review is a review regardless if a member is present or not, so here are some older ones that you help you decide:


Review by InvisibleWolfMan — November 27, 2007
Forget what you know about John Carpenter’s THE THING. It has no place here.

Tranzor has succeeded in taking a modern classic and almost, almost making it his very own, and I don’t use those words lightly. You see, I’m a guy that 9 times out of 10 likes the original version of whatever I see, hear or read. It’s a cancerous growth that sometimes just sucks the living fun out of EVERYTHING. Yes…I know Carpenter’s THE THING is basically a remake of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, though it went back to the original source material rather than the B-film from the 50’s. Carpenter succeeded so well in the storytelling because he loved what he was doing and had a clear vision of how to make it fresh again.

To his credit, Tranzor’s THE THING – LATE NIGHT TV EDIT is like a breath mint on a -40 degree winter night.

He, like myself and at least several others out there, grew up watching many old horror films late night on the weekends. You know the ones WAY past bedtime and beyond permission granted by over-bearing parents. On those occasions the popcorn would be all ready in a bowl, the sodas chilled to perfection and TV’s would be on as loud as the room would keep it from drifting too far into parental ears. Anticipation of a creepy fun time (and future nightmares) would build while the intro to the movie would begin. And Tranzor manages to recapture this feeling all with a simple but effective menu.

Let me assure you, once PLAY has been pressed you won’t want to move a muscle. As I’ve said earlier, forget what you know about John Carpenter’s THE THING. It has no place here. A sense of mystery taken away from years of multiple viewings has been immediately restored. More engrossing is the fact you are looking at a “local tv station” transfer of already misused and degraded film material, just like they found it on the last shelf near the garbage bin. And, God bless you for this Tranzor, just when the going gets good…..

COMMERCIAL BREAK!

Promises of clean hair, the newest LP from your favorite band, not to mention some very hungry hippos only make you want to be terrified even more! Once it comes back, you are exactly where you left off; wondering who will survive and what will be left of them?!? I could be a “Harry Knowles” and spoil all the fun, but that’s like pissing in the wind…

To “borrow” a quote from a famous author;

I have seen the future of true fanedits, and his name is Tranzor.


MESSENJAH14 WROTE (2008):

I’m giving this 4/5. Brilliant idea, and greatly executed. The pacing was “perfect” in the sense that Tranzor near perfectly captured the mood that he wanted to catch. Why 4 instead of a 5? well, the DVD was kinda lackluster, I mean for me atleast english subtitles are really helpful to understand the movie, but there’s also one thing that bugged me about the edit itself: The audio. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but in most of the old movies, all the dialogue is rather high pitched. I would’ve wanted that from this aswell in order to entirely recreate the mood of the old tv programming. But this is definately the best fanedit I’ve seen (and it’s also the third I’ve watched!)


Review by TCGames — June 19, 2009
Thank you for this edit. You did a great job. It took me back to when I was a kid. The timing on the ‘cuts’ in the film were perfect. The intro, ending, and commercial breaks just added to the fun. The only thing missing was either an appearance by Bob Wilkins or John Stanley. If you know who those men are you already know what I’m talking about.

Again, thank you for taking your time to make this edit. It honors an already great film with a really fun way to watch it again.


Review by flyboy707 — December 14, 2009
I grew up in the 80s and experienced this type of late-night TV (it still existed on cable, of which I grew up on – never had “rabbit ears” for TV).

I definintely liked the idea of this edit and was very eager to watch this after I downloaded it and transferred it to my HD TiVo.

The execution is great and the edits very prefect; loved the old school TV commercials (we had the same type of local commericlas in Oklahoma where I grew up).

I agree with one of the other reviewers – the constant “popping” and simulation of poor quality film was to much, less of it throughout would make this a better watch.

This was more enjoyable as a trip down memory lane than watching the actual film – but that was the point of the movie, right?


review by tylerdurden389 (2010)

Been meaning to watch this for probably close to a year. Watched it just now. I LOVED it!! The new opening is a great way to get the story going. The new ending was also a great way to get to the conclusion faster. The commercials are what did it for me. It was definitely cool seeing commercials for stores based in NYC since that’s where I’m from.

My only dislike was presenting this in black and white. I was really looking forward to see the grainy-ness and color deterioration. Now, I understand that since the original is in black and white, maybe that’s what you were going for. Then again, I was born in 1984, so I obviously can’t connect with what you’re aiming for from a nostalgic viewpoint. However, what attracted me to this fan edit is my obsession for nostalgia. I loved Grindhouse. I can still remember the commercials and tv station logos for movies I watched as a kid that my mom taped off of tv. Also because this is one of my favorite movies of course.

Anyway, overall this was a great edit. 9/10.