Review: The Thing (1982)

This week I decided to go back and revisit one of the classic horror flicks of my childhood, John Carpenter’s The Thing.  This comes from an era of Carpenter’s career when he was a master of storytelling.  Since then, I can’t say much for what the man has put out, but The Thing was a horror movie that well deserves its place as a classic of the genre.

The movie begins with a helicopter flying over the snowy wastes of Antarctica, chasing down a running dog.  They follow the dog to an American research station, but an accident leaves one of the men aboard dead and a gunshot takes out the other one.  In an effort to figure out what the heck is going on, a group from the American station head back to the base of the other men, a Norwegian research station.  What they discover there - twisted dead bodies, mutated and burnt, along with an ice block that looks like it once held something - eventually clues them in to the fact that there is an alien out there somewhere.  They do not figure out that it’s the dog until it’s too late.

From there, they discover that the alien can infect people, its cells rapidly taking over the cells of its victim.  The victim then becomes like it, capable of staying hidden within its human host or mutating into a large, nasty and very dangerous creature.  The movie then turns into a hunting game, with each person trying to figure out who has been infected before they all fall victim.

One of the great things about this film is that the horror starts within the first 20 minutes.  The bulk of the film is the interaction between the paranoid American research team, not the mystery of what’s coming after them.  Much to Carpenter’s credit, he assumes his characters are smart and will come to correct conclusions in a timely fashion.  Thus, the audience is not put through the often-seen pain of watching each person in the film deny the obvious over and over while everyone dies.  We know what our heroes are up against almost immediately.

The special effects are another thing that this movie really excels at, especially given the time period of 1982.  This was back in the golden age of monster make-up and The Thing is one of the best examples of that.  The alien, in all its forms, is just horrific and genuinely creepy.  You would not want to be trapped in a tiny research base with that thing.

And, of course, Kurt Russell once again brings his bad-assery to the screen in all its glory.  At one time, this guy was the king of kicking butt and taking names.  The Thing is one of the movies that made him so awesome in the 80s.  The other actors do a decent enough job as well, bringing terror to the limited development of their characters.  Of course, The Thing is not about character development, aside from the development of their paranoia and fear.  In that it excels once again.

If you haven’t seen this movie, watch it as soon as possible.  It is, in my opinion, one of the best horror films ever made.  Oh John Carpenter, why don’t you make excellent films like this anymore?  I mean seriously, Escape from L.A.?  Vampires?

More recently, some other people not named Carpenter decided to make a prequel to the original film.  It is apparently supposed to follow the tale of the Norwegian researchers before the creature manages to escape and cause havoc at the American base.  While this sounds like an interesting premise, the lack of Carpenter onboard combined with the atrocious rating it received over at the always trustworthy Rotten Tomatoes makes me very wary.  I’ll probably still check it out eventually.  I may even let you know exactly how bad it is, if I’m not permanently damaged at that point.

The Thing poster courtesy of screenrant.com