Regarding Fulci, I think The Beyond is more of an exercise in the abstract as opposed to surrealism. It is convoluted, and certainly offers nightmarish imagery, but is still rather straight forward in terms of being able to follow the film’s plot and sequence of events if you pay attention. It was also further grounded in reality by German distributors that demanded he put zombies in the film to capitalize on his previous success
, it was originally supposed to be more of a metaphysical ghost story, which probably would have made it far more surreal lol. The Gates of Hell ( City of the Living Dead ) is a much more gratuitous example of Fulci doing surrealism. The film is completely unpredictable. Maggot storms indoors, walls splitting open and bleeding, people bleeding from their eyes and literally vomiting their guts out, a town being poisoned by a curse of the undead that seemingly has no limits or rules, and an ending that makes no sense whatsoever. That flick is a trip.
As for The Thing, I agree that it certainly has surreal qualities, but I have different ideas as to where they lie. Part of what I think is so amazing about the film, is that the creature is rooted heavily in science and biology, and it resonates on a primal level. To me, what makes the thing itself so horrifying, is that it makes sense. Take the dog scene for instance. When it starts to transform to assimilate the other dogs, it exposes itself while taking on the qualities of other creatures it had absorbed before, hence it looking so alien, but it’s still essentially “ made out of dog “. When one dog is trying to escape, it sprays it in an attempt to stop it, similar to a squid or spitting cobra. When attacked by Mac and the rest, it grows long appendages that are actually deformed “ paws “ to pull away from danger and into the corner while it continues to change. Lastly, before Child’s burns it, we see it, a mass of quivering flesh and eyes, split open, and what looks like some sort of worm-like “ flower “ come out towards the men which, upon close inspection, is made up of dog tongues and teeth. All of these things make sense. When cornered or hurt, it tries to retreat, make itself more intimidating ( i.e. increasing it’s size/mass, sprouting spines, disorienting shrieks , etc ), before finally attacking. I think these are instinct that we all recognize, either consciously or unconsciously, and that’s what makes them so effective. Even the scene where Norris’s head tears itself off to escape the burning body is reminiscent of a lizard getting its tail caught and ripping it off to escape, only later to regrow it. Whether this is all my own made up and over thought out interpretations, or things intentionally done by Carpenter and Bottin, it’s genius imo.
The parts that I do find surreal about The Thing, are more intangible. The questions the movie makes you ask yourself ( I always found ) far more disturbing than the visuals. The implications of being assimilated, absorbed and imitated perfectly. Are they dead? The copies of Norris and Palmer blend so perfectly, it has to be assumed that the creature absorbs their memories, because they still act like themselves far to convincingly. Otherwise, it would be noticed right away when they didn’t remember names, mannerisms, etc. When Norris has the heart attack, was that look on his face one of a human in pain, or a creature surprised by it’s new body’s defective anatomy? Why didn’t Palmer change when his blood was taken? We know the creature transforms when it’s attacked or exposed so, when his skin was pieces by the needle, wouldn’t it feel like an attack, or is this and example of the creature learning how to control itself and blend more effectively every time? Note the look of blank resignation on his face just before the wire goes into his blood and he’s exposed. Do they know? Are they still human until cormered and forced to change? Is the creature a conscious being? A hive mind? Or is it just a virus that operates on pure instinct? Are they in there somewhere? Where does the human end and the creature begin? Perhaps I’m talking more about existentialism lol.