Just The Thing

This week on Just The Thing , we're heading into the low-budget wasteland of early '90s straight-to-video sci-fi as we drop John Carpenter's shapeshifting nightmare into Circuitry Man and its bonkers sequel, Circuitry Man II: Plughead Rewired . Joel and Chris explore these forgotten cyberpunk curios, discussing killer cyborgs, brain-addling biochips, post-apocalyptic world-building,...

This week on Just The Thing , we re-release one of our old Patreon episodes as it's becoming more and more relevant in the lead up to Avengers: Doomsday . Yes, we're dropping the shapeshifting nightmare from The Thing into the bright, optimistic world of The Fantastic Four: First Steps,  a film that already features a Thing! Find us on social media https://linktr.ee/justthethingpod Music...

This week on Just The Thing , we head into space again with Predator: Badlands, and for the first time in the show’s history, Joel and Chris find themselves on opposite sides of the battlefield. Joel had a surprisingly good time with this new entry in the franchise… Chris, on the other hand, absolutely did not. Along the way they revisit the original Predator , discuss where the series has gone si...

In this episode of Just The Thing , Joel and Chris turn to one of cinema’s oldest monsters as we explore the legacy of Frankenstein — from its gothic roots to Guillermo del Toro’s lush, tragic reinterpretation. Joel and Chris dig into a story already obsessed with life, death, and very bad parenting decisions to try to answer the eternal question: who would win in a fight between The Thing and Fra...

This week on Just The Thing , John Carpenter’s shapeshifting nightmare crashes head-first into peak JCVD as we drop The Thing into Double Impact . Joining Joel and Chris for a third time is filmmaker Ross Boyask ( I Am Vengeance, Ten Dead Men ), bringing expert insight to this epic action classic. Can The Thing outmanoeuvre not one but two Van Dammes? Along the way, we veer gloriously off course i...

This week on Just The Thing , Chris and Joel are joined by returning guests Alex Jessep and Matt O'Dwyer. Together, they take on festive nightmare fuel by dropping John Carpenter’s shapeshifting horror into The Polar Express . What happens when a story built on belief, warmth, and hot chocolate meets a creature that thrives on mistrust and imitation? Can paranoia derail Christmas magic? And a...

This episode on Just The Thing , we’re jacking in and glitching out as the Antarctic shapeshifter meets David Cronenberg’s fleshy virtual reality fever dream, eXistenZ . Joined by returning guest Dr. Geraint D’Arcy, Associate Professor and Head of Media at the University of East Anglia (who also helped us put The Thing into Slipstream, link below), we dive deep into questions of identity, simulati...

This week on Just The Thing , we’re doing something a little different. To give you a taste of what goes on over at our Patreon, we’re sharing one of our exclusive bonus episodes right here on the main feed. Join us as we dive into Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning , unpacking the stunts, the twists, and whether Tom Cruise has finally out-run the laws of physics. Obviously, we'll also...

Just The Thing is back from a summer break, and we’re kicking things off with a horde! This week, the Antarctic nightmare takes on the hammer-swinging, parasite-jawed zombies of Resident Evil: Afterlife . Can a creature that thrives on stealth and imitation survive against enemies who are already dead? We break down viral logic, video game adaptations, and why Chris believes this is the greatest z...

In a bold detour from our classic creature-feature clashes, this episode of Just The Thing crashes John Carpenter’s icy existential dread into the warm, irony-soaked glow of Wayne’s World . Can a postmodern comedy duo rooted in parody and pop culture survive a deadly force that thrives on isolation and imitation? We dig into the genre dissonance, ask whether you can have too many pop culture refer...

This week, Just The Thing takes on its most superpowered challenge yet: what happens when the ultimate shapeshifter faces the Man of Steel? Joined by book designer and comics connoisseur Chris Gould, Joel and Chris dive into James Gunn’s Superman (2025) . They dissect the film’s overt politics, its gloriously goofy comic-book logic, and why this version of Superman, with all his gentleness, feels...

This episode on Just The Thing , Joel and Chris are joined by returning guests Alex Jessep and Matt O'Dwyer for a cosmic clash for the ages as the perfect organism takes on the perfect imitator. Ridley Scott’s iconic Xenomorph goes acid-blood-to-tentacle with the Antarctic horror from The Thing . We take the first film as our starting point and then discuss the wider  Alien  universe before p...

In the brand new series of Just The Thing , writers Joel Jessup and Chris Regan will be pitting the terrifying, shape-shifting alien from John Carpenter’s The Thing against iconic monsters and movie characters from cinema history. Each episode explores a new hypothetical horror showdown—debating lore, abilities, weaknesses, and who’s most likely to survive. We’re kicking things off with perhaps th...

In the last of our bonus episodes before we get stuck into a whole new season, Joel and Chris imagine what happens when a shape-shifting alien crashes the most secretive election in the world. That’s right—we’re putting The Thing into Conclave , the tense political thriller about the inner workings of a Vatican papal election. As Ralph Fiennes navigates political intrigue and whispered secrets in...

In this bonus episode of Just The Thing , Joel Jessup and Chris Regan dive deep into Karyn Kusama’s slow-burn psychological horror The Invitation . Join us for a lively chat about super fun subjects like grief, cults, and social discomfort. We ask the question, when would you leave the death cult party? And does the film’s quiet dread and social awkwardness make it more terrifying than The Thing i...

In the Just The Thing 2024 Christmas Special, Joel and Chris are joined by Matt O'Dwyer and Peter Regan as they attempt to unwrap Tim Burton's Batman Returns and imagine what might happen if the shapeshifting creature from John Carpenter's The Thing crashed Gotham's most chaotic Christmas party. Join us as we revisit this wildly dark "kids' movie" from the '...

Joel and Chris are joined by Geraint D'Arcy, Associate Professor and Head of Media at UEA, where the three originally met as students in the late 90s. Geraint was also the star of Chris and Joel's short film, Bad Day, often referenced on the podcast. Together, they try to understand the 1989 sci-fi film, Slipstream, starring Bob Peck, Mark Hamill and Bill Paxton. Slipstream was a prestig...

It's a Just The Thing first as Joel and Chris finally welcome a guest who actually worked on the film they're talking about: John Jessup, Joel's father! For most of his life John has been an award-winning advertising creative, but when he was younger he worked at the legendary Pinewood Studios and has lots of fascinating stories to tell! And then we put The Thing in The Devils! If y...

Joel and Chris try to decipher Richard Kelly's 2006 puzzle of a film the only way they know how... by adding the creature from The Thing. Will the addition of a shapeshifting, parasitic alien help to make sense of this sprawling, apocalyptic satire? Listen to the episode to find out, just be warned you will be subjected to some ex-film student bitterness along the way. Find us on social media...

Joel and Chris take on the totally not controversial and not at all divisive Star Wars entry, The Last Jedi. Directed by Rian Johnson, they discuss how this film went from critics' darling to most-hated movie of the century, and consider why that might have happened (answer: misogyny). Then they put everything right by adding The Thing to the plot. Find us on social media https://linktr.ee/ju...

Joel and Chris are delighted to be joined by author and folk horror enthusiast Kit Whitfield to put The Thing into the 1999 found footage movie, The Blair Witch Project. Overrated? Underrated? Just about accurately rated? Our extensive discussion covers the film's creation and aftermath, as well as its impact on horror films and the rise and fall of fake found footage. Also...the plot? We als...

Season 4 of Just The Thing begins, and Joel and Chris try to fix the 2023 Haunted Mansion by putting John Carpenter's The Thing into it! The Haunted Mansion is a well-loved theme park ride, but why is it so difficult to turn into a movie? The answer may shock you! Or seem blindingly obvious. We talk about haunted houses, ghost logic, and how best to use a Danny DeVito in your film.  PLUS: Chr...

A quick catch-up episode to let you know that Just The Thing will be returning for Season 4 on Tuesday 6th August. Find us on social media https://linktr.ee/justthethingpod Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio

Chris and Joel wrap up their Kurt Russell season by putting The Thing into Escape from L.A. They started in New York and they're ending in La La Land! (Not the musical.) Is this the last good John Carpenter film, or was that the one before this? And can they now provide the definitive take on Kurt Russell's career? Chris has a new way to analyse film quality based on background actors. J...

Joel and Chris are joined by filmmaker Ross Boyask ( I Am Vengeance: Retaliation ) to help put The Thing into the Fast and Furious universe. Why did they come in at number 7? Family. And because it's the first one Kurt Russell is in! But they dip into the whole franchise and come to some amazing, baffling conclusions! Joel compares the franchise to My Little Pony. Chris explains why he forced...