Review of The Thing (1982) by Anssi V — 29 Dec 2013

The movie opens to a frozen wasteland of Antarctica, as we spot the lonely figure of a dog fleeing from its pursuers. It's a bleak, unforgiving setting and a perfect opener to this movie. The Thing, based on John W. Campbell Jr.'s novella Who Goes There? is one of the finest horror movies ever made. In a way it reminds me a lot of Alien, another masterpiece of horror. They both have an isolated setting where no help will be forthcoming, they both feature an attack by an unknown alien entity and they both have unbelievably good special effects, the sheer brutality, goriness and impossibility of which are the stuff of nightmares.

The Thing adds the fact that its alien is capable of assuming other shapes, and the movie evolves to a tense hide and seek game and as the pressure rises, the group of scientists and researchers starts to crack. It's an intense experience with long scenes of unbearable atmosphere followed by short bursts of soul-chilling terror facilitated by the special effects of one Rob Bottin, a master of his craft.

It's a well-told story, ending on a perfect note that isn't too uplifting, but neither is it a complete downer. Easily one of the best endings to a horror film I've ever seen and the rest of the story is told equally as well. Perhaps my only nitpick is that some of the characters and their actors aren't as strong as, say, in the Alien. There's perhaps one or two too many for all of them to get enough screen time to really shine. On the other hand, some are really good, like Kurt Russell's MacReady or Wilford Brimley's Dr. Blair.

This is a movie that every fan of horror owes to himself or herself to see at least once. Its special effects are so scary that I actually wouldn't recommend this to anyone who's prone to nightmares. They're not nice to look at, they're not pleasant and under no circumstances should any child ever see this film. It's that frightening, that good at what it does.