In a remote research station in Antarctica in 1982, the members of its team unexpectedly encounter the inhabitants of a neighboring Norwegian research station, who are trying to kill a dog that has escaped from their base. After killing the crazed Norwegians, the shaken research crew flies out to their base only to find all of them are either dead or missing. All they find are the remains of an unknown creature that the Norwegians had attempted to burn. It soon becomes clear to them all that what they have found is an alien life form. However, before long it becomes terrifyingly apparent that the creature can take over and copy other life forms, and that it spreads from one person to another like a virus. Before long paranoia takes hold of the team, whose trust in one another swiftly deteriorates, and terror descends upon them.
An adaptation of John W. Campbell Jr., novella Who Goes There? The Thing had been originally loosely adapted into the 1951 science fiction-horror film The Thing from Another World. Several directors would be considered before cult movie director John Carpenter who had gained critical acclaim for his low-budget 1978 horror movie Halloween. Starring Kurt Russell who had only just previously worked with Carpenter on the science fiction action film Escape From New York, the movie features what was at the time a relatively unknown cast of actors. It, like Halloween, has a basic premise, which relies heavily on an ever-pervasive sense of dread, and a sense of cloying paranoia. It probably comes as no coincidence that the movie was released just a few short years after Ridley Scott's 1979 Science-Fiction Horror classic Alien. Indeed, it may be said that Carpenter may have taken some inspirational cues from Scott's masterpiece. Both have remote secluded settings which add a degree of claustrophobic tension into the mix. Quentin Tarantino himself has cited The Thing as having inspired his debut masterpiece Reservoir Dogs, with its themes of paranoia and the use of a small backdrop.
Similar to 1956's Invasion of the Body Snatchers directed by Don Siegel, the movie relies on a growing sense of inevitability and dread, as each of the movie's 12 protagonists succumb to the paranoia that begins to swallow them. Its intense, somber atmosphere is echoed by Ennio Morricones' intense and eerie synth score. As with Halloween, Carpenter knows how to pull his audience's strings so before long they're looking over their shoulder, or looking around every corner long after the movie has ended. He makes excellent use of the minimalistic aspect of the movie's setting, with its closed-in environment adding to the ever-increasing anxiety of his characters. It's to the movie's testament that its amazing, eye-popping practical effects from Rob Bottin still hold up to this very day. When the Thing reveals itself under its human guise, the scenes of it contorting and twisting or detaching itself from the rest of its physiognomy are a true work of art. Carpenter also allows for subtle touches of subtle, dark humor while never undermining the movie's grueling intensity.
In the role of R. J. MacReady, Russell is in typically dry and sardonic territory and brings just the right touch of wry bravado to proceedings. Essentially becoming the alpha male of a group of men, who have begun to turn in on themselves. He's given fine support from a cast that includes Wilford Brimley, Richard Masur, Keith David, and Donald Moffat.
Both a commercial and critical flop on its release, and it perhaps wasn't helped that it had to contend with a certain Extra-Terrestrial, it has eventually been evaluated and given more of the kudos it deserves. The Thing is something of a seminal piece of film-making and a solid lesson in evoking atmosphere and a palpable sense of paranoia and dread. It along with Aliens stands as one of the cult iconic Science-Fiction Horror movies of the 80's.
An adaptation of John W. Campbell Jr., novella Who Goes There? The Thing had been originally loosely adapted into the 1951 science fiction-horror film The Thing from Another World. Several directors would be considered before cult movie director John Carpenter who had gained critical acclaim for his low-budget 1978 horror movie Halloween. Starring Kurt Russell who had only just previously worked with Carpenter on the science fiction action film Escape From New York, the movie features what was at the time a relatively unknown cast of actors. It, like Halloween, has a basic premise, which relies heavily on an ever-pervasive sense of dread, and a sense of cloying paranoia. It probably comes as no coincidence that the movie was released just a few short years after Ridley Scott's 1979 Science-Fiction Horror classic Alien. Indeed, it may be said that Carpenter may have taken some inspirational cues from Scott's masterpiece. Both have remote secluded settings which add a degree of claustrophobic tension into the mix. Quentin Tarantino himself has cited The Thing as having inspired his debut masterpiece Reservoir Dogs, with its themes of paranoia and the use of a small backdrop.
Similar to 1956's Invasion of the Body Snatchers directed by Don Siegel, the movie relies on a growing sense of inevitability and dread, as each of the movie's 12 protagonists succumb to the paranoia that begins to swallow them. Its intense, somber atmosphere is echoed by Ennio Morricones' intense and eerie synth score. As with Halloween, Carpenter knows how to pull his audience's strings so before long they're looking over their shoulder, or looking around every corner long after the movie has ended. He makes excellent use of the minimalistic aspect of the movie's setting, with its closed-in environment adding to the ever-increasing anxiety of his characters. It's to the movie's testament that its amazing, eye-popping practical effects from Rob Bottin still hold up to this very day. When the Thing reveals itself under its human guise, the scenes of it contorting and twisting or detaching itself from the rest of its physiognomy are a true work of art. Carpenter also allows for subtle touches of subtle, dark humor while never undermining the movie's grueling intensity.
In the role of R. J. MacReady, Russell is in typically dry and sardonic territory and brings just the right touch of wry bravado to proceedings. Essentially becoming the alpha male of a group of men, who have begun to turn in on themselves. He's given fine support from a cast that includes Wilford Brimley, Richard Masur, Keith David, and Donald Moffat.
Both a commercial and critical flop on its release, and it perhaps wasn't helped that it had to contend with a certain Extra-Terrestrial, it has eventually been evaluated and given more of the kudos it deserves. The Thing is something of a seminal piece of film-making and a solid lesson in evoking atmosphere and a palpable sense of paranoia and dread. It along with Aliens stands as one of the cult iconic Science-Fiction Horror movies of the 80's.