The Thing

The Thing (1982)

Runtime: 109 minutes

Directed by: John Carpenter

Starring: Kurt Russell (no relation, I swear), Keith David, T.K. Carter, Richard Dysart, Wilford Brimley

From: Universal

Here is a flick that I’ve only seen twice now, but I need to have in my collection one of these days rather than borrowing it from the local library.

If you haven’t seen this classic horror flick yet*, it’s about a research team representing the United States in Antarctica and how they ran into trouble once a crazy Norwegian chases a dog into camp and the Norseman gets killed. The dog isn’t a dog, but actually an alien organism (the title creature) which can assimilate any living organism and once it comes into contact with a human being while they are alone, they’ll kill the person and transform into that person and do a perfect imitation of the person. Explained like that, it may sound goofy, but the film is pretty great. It’s very suspenseful as there’s paranoia all around with people arguing with others over whom is real and who is just an imitation. It’s quite tense and it’s all great, especially the special effects, which still look tremendous 27 years later and in the planned prequel movie to this which is supposed to be made one of these days, it will be computer CGI and you know that it won’t look as good. Also, I have a feeling that they won’t be able to get the quality of actors that you had here and have them deliver as good performances as you had here. I tell you, Wilford Brimley here wasn’t the kind old fellow who shills oatmeal or diabetes medication!

• Which is based on the short-story Who Goes There and was previously made into the 1951 movie The Thing From Another World, although this film is more faithful to the story than TTFAW was.

So, if you haven’t seen this movie yet and you like scary flicks which have some horrifying/strange images, this is a must-see.

I’ll be back in about a week’s time with at least one new review.