Review of The Thing (1982) by Brett H — 18 Feb 2016

John Carpenter's remake of The Thing From Another World is one of the finest examples of how to update a previous work and do something new, and this is without a doubt, my favourite horror film of all time due to the brilliantly, paranoid script, fantastic all-male cast, and amazing practical effects that have never been topped! The Thing is quite honestly, a perfect film, the story follows a group of researchers in Alaska who discover a shape-shifting alien that can also imitate humans and it becomes a suspenseful, Whodunnit-type mystery as each man wonders who's the latest to become overtaken by the thing.

Right off the bat, this cold, isolated plot is the perfect backdrop for the scares and tension amongst the men, with Kurt Russell leading the pack as the grizzled, but intelligent, R.J. Macready who's instantly likable and one of Russell's finest performances.

Once the Thing reveals itself, it is one of the most disgusting, yet impressive, use of practical special effects I've ever seen and it truly blew my mind the first time I saw it; every sequence involving the Thing transformations is stunning including, but not limited to the blood test and autopsy scenes! Also great is the haunting score by famed composer, Ennio Morricone that sets an uneasy mood that permeates through the base whenever those two bass notes kick in.

This film is scary, intelligent, disgusting, engrossing and just a straight-up masterpiece of horror and science fiction cinema, and its ending is still being debated to this day; talk about memorable!