Review of The Thing (1982) by Will E — 29 Apr 2012

A consummate horror film that has aged terrifically. I like to watch it every few years and It's even better today than it was in 1982 (yes, I saw it back then!). We can remove it from the context of ALIEN, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978), and the original 1951 THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD and view it on its own merits.

Its special effects are some of the greatest ever seen on-screen (fuck CGI forever). The crew members are distinct personalities?although Wilford Brimley is probably the best thing going here; listen closely to his dialogue as he explains exactly what the "thing" is.

Ennio Morricone?s masterful score perfectly complements the isolation of Antarctica and the dawning horror of discovering a spaceship and its inhabitant trapped in ice since before the dawn of man. What?s terrific about this movie is its slow creeping descent into an inescapable position, and its insistence that everything be played straight and without winks at the audience.

I don?t think this played well in the early 1980s. Carpenter even states on the excellent audio commentary that once E.T. came out, everybody wanted "nice" aliens (although Cameron would turn this around with ALIENS a few years later).

But this film stands as one of the greatest horror movies ever made, giving lie to the idea that remakes are never a good idea, and cementing Kurt Russell's place as one of the baddest of all bad-ass leading men.