Easily one of the best commentaries ever done.
Kurt and John (old friends) have a great time talking about this film and pointing out the comedy aspects of the production.
This is the best of the John & Kurt chat tracks so far (others are Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China)
If only all commentaries were this good. The world would be a funnier place to live

Pretty engrossing track, with fun set stories and the great friendship these two obviously share. On par with similar tracks (Big Trouble and Escape from NY). Often funny bits.

Carpenter & Kurt Russell always do a good track together. For further proof, listen to the track on Escape from NY. Best moment is when Russell talks about the helicopter lessons he was taking around the time when they were shooting...

Carpenter & Kurt Russell always do a good track together. For further proof, listen to the track on Escape from NY. Best moment is when Russell talks about the helicopter lessons he was taking around the time when they were shooting...

Very informative. One of the best commentary ever recorded. Highly recommended.

These guys are perfect together - and Kurt's laugh is addictive. Lots of information on display, laidback and chatty. No silences. A great film. What more can you want from a commentary? I wish these guys did more films together, so we could have more commentaries to watch!

Great rapport with Russell and Carpenter. Very enjoyable track!

It's nice to listen to two people who REALLY love the movie they made.

Kurt Russel is especially fun, and he really appreciates what he did, and is very complimentary to his other actors as well as the technical crews who made everything work.

John Carpenter is very down to earth, very informative, and also at times quite amusing.

This track is just a joy to listen to.

Carpenter and Russell sound like they're having a blast watching the movie, and they have the kind of behind the scenes information to share that's interesting for psychotic fans like me. Carpenter refers to "this Laserdisc," which gives you an idea of how old the commentary is.

Carpenter and Russell are perfect together. This commentary is a good addition to the documentry on the DVD. They talk about the acting, the sets, the script, the f/x stuff, the original movie and the reception at the time. Also the meaning and the motivation of the thing are points. Very intersting.

Both are having a lot of fun doing this track. Don’t miss it. 10 out of 10!

This is a decent chat track, entertaining comes to mind. A little bit of everything is sprinkled throughout the discussion but in the end it boils down to two of them watching a flick they haven't seen in ages. Kurt's laughter is infectious and is a definite booster of the track in the entertainment value. If you're looking for depth here, you won't find any - they try to delve into the theme of paranoia a bit, but nothing we already didn't know.

Probably the greatest commentary track ever recorded.

This is a great track for a great movie. Their reactions at the gruesome special effects is especially enjoyable.

It's hard for me to separate what I learned from the commentary track and the multiple documentaries on the laserdisc, but there is so much good stuff about the background and making of this film, that anyone who likes it, definitely should listen to it. Talks about the difficulties of filming it, little things I hadn't noticed after watching the film over a dozen times, things they hoped to convey but couldn't.

You can tell that the actors and directors liked the film, but few had any idea exactly how much of a pinnacle of their careers this was going to be for everyone involved, but by they time they did this commentary, they knew.

An amusing commentary, with enough energy and anecdotes to keep you listening. Russell brings up a few debates they had during filming ("Could you tell you are the Thing? I mean, if it takes you over so perfectly, would you know?"), though his laugh is inappropriate during one gruesome scene (we know it is a special effect, but still, it is brutal). Carpenter recalls how this was his first movie for a major film studio (Universal), how it was difficult to film in the studio in the warm L.A. and keep such a cold temperature throughout, while he defends his decision to make a dark ending, since the whole film was set up to be dark from the start. Still, they missed out to give an in-depth analysis of what the allegorical Thing stands for, or what kind of symbolism it represents, which is a pity. 9/10.

On the new Scream Factory bluray there are two new commentaries. The first is Dean Cundey. I am a big fan of his work but this track is mildly disappointing. There is one important whopper of a piece of information hidden in here but I'm not going to reveal it you will just have to listen to the whole thing!
He goes into just enough detail about lighting and colours for it not to be a complete waste I just wish he would spend more time talking about lenses, filters, lighting situations, blocking and other more technical information than complementing Rob Bottin and reiterating the primative conditions at the location or the paranoia in the story.
The host doesn't help when he continually asks dull questions like did it help his career (of course it did!) and theories about the ending (which have been debated to death).
For the hardcore fans only but worth it for that one important bit of information. 6/10

The other new Scream Factory commentary is with producer Stuart Cohen and moderated by Michael Felsher. This is an outstanding commentary and is the single new piece of material that has made this new bluray set extremely valuable on top of the other decent extras. Stuart is a good speaker and either by chance or careful planning this track is a great balance of telling stories, providing screen specific commentary on key moments and answering Michael Felsher's questions - it is the mother lode of information on The Thing and in my mind is as important a piece of historical documentation as the Carpenter/Russell documentary and the Terror Takes Shape documentary. If you have followed Cohen's blog you have a sense of how informative this is.
Cohen has made it clear both via this commentary and previous online articles how much this film means to him and it's audience and I am appreciate that there is someone from the film crew who is still willing to provide so much love for such a brilliant landmark of a film. A must listen. 9/10

Too much narration from Carpenter is what holds it back from a 10/10 commentary