Review of The Thing (1982) by Daniel J — 10 Aug 2012

John Carpenter's masterpiece has truly made a great impact on both science-fiction and horror.

For starters, John Carpenter is the master of horror themed movies, such as 'Halloween'; so the scares in this film are expected to be rather high. As a result, he succeeds. The main achievement of the film is creating the paranoia amongst the characters; unaware who is infected or not. Visually, the film is incredible but grotesque and can easily put people off with the extreme gore. The film has also, like Alien, left behind several questions that have been left unanswered, such as the Norwegian camp.

The film has also left behind such memorable yet disturbing scenes, from the mutating dog, to the spider head, to the infamous blood test scene.John Carpenter's version is also more faithful to the novel 'Who Goes There?'.

When it comes to a story, the script is rather strong; a group of men working in Antarctica, who witness a helicopter chasing after a dog. Afterwards, the party start to get caught in some truly horrific events, to the ruined Norwegian camp, to the mutant dog attack. Although all actors gave very promising roles, Kurt Russell and Keith David gave possibly something more than that.

Unlike many horror films, every character shares almost the amount of time on the screen, making it more uncertain of who is infected, creating more paranoia.

John Carpenter's masterpiece has not only changed two genres, it has been considered to be one of the best Sci-Fi Horrors films made. Along with being a rather large cult film and one of the finest remakes ever, this is a must watch for all Horror, Suspense and most Sci-Fi fans.