Review of The Thing (1982) by Abraham S — 20 Nov 2012

Having seen the first 45 minutes of the film prior to seeing it in its entirety, I began this film with a feeling of dread. From what I had seen, the build-up was very slow and I found it extremely boring (not quite as boring as the Howard Hawks original though). Now, I understand that the build-up has to be slow in order to create the film's intended atmosphere, and yes it does this very well, but that familiar sense of boredom struck me again and what is an estimated 109 minute film agonisingly feels like 180.

I will merit its achievement in sustaining a tense and paranoid atmosphere quite similar to Ridley Scott's Alien (1979), and some of the special effects are quite impressive; the spider-like crawling head springs to mind, or the initial unveiling of the 'Thing's' true identity. Yet they never seem to carry the same impact nor grosse-out factor as the 'chest-burster' scene in Alien, nor Videodrome's (1982) 'flesh hand-gun' or 'object-devouring vaginal-slit stomach'.

I will also praise its larger sense of fidelity towards the original source material (John W. Campbell Jr.'s 'Who Goes There?') than Hawks' original. It also attempts to do something different to the 'original' film instead of just replicating the same film with better effects, monsters and gore. Its influence also cannot be denied, it's clearly an important piece of cinema as far as impacting the body-horror subgenre goes (Carpenter already being a hugely influential filmmaker in the neighbouring 'slasher' subgenre).

But despite all this, it seems the only parts of the film worth watching are the special effects-oriented scenes. The characters are difficult to connect with because the paranoia factor encourages us not to trust them (even Kurt Russell's protagonist, MacReady), considering that any one of them could be the 'Thing' in human guise. This makes the film feel extremely impersonal, making it hard for us to care for the lives at stake. The only character (if any) we care for is the poor dog(s) at the beginning, who just so happens to deliver the best performance in the film.