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Joe and Mark are joined by Canadian writer of futuristic and contemporary mystery/thrillers, Timothy S. Johnston.

They discuss the classic 1982 science fiction horror movie, The Thing. Directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell, watching The Thing was a pivotal moment in Timothy’s life.

“It was a watershed moment for me!”

He’d already read the novelization of the movie, and there were themes that appealed to him even then, such as the isolation of the remote research station in Antarctica. He also loved the richness of the characters.

It’s an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, says Timothy, which is one of the aspects of the script that drew John Carpenter to the film.

Timothy outlines some of the interesting facts about the production of the movie, such as having one of the longest production time of any project Carpenter worked on. This allowed him to make the movie that was in his head.

“He eviscerated his own picture – he cut and cut and cut,” explains Timothy. The actors weren’t so happy about this, but Carpenter felt he needed to make the cuts for the power of the story to emerge.

This was one of the key lessons Timothy took away for his own work – the value of cutting and editing.

The three have a deep and nerdy conversation about more details of the masterpiece, John Carpenter’s career, and what can be learned from it.