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Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Yoooooooooo!! I recently watched The Thing, which was directed by the legendary John Carpenter. I honestly forgot how good and terrifying it is. It might not be the blood and guts terror that is normal today, but damn, the intensity and paranoia of not knowing who has been taken over by the alien monster. I heard that this film was a flop when it was first released, but I am happy that it has gotten its shine as the years have passed. Let’s dive in and hopefully not look sided eye at people thinking they are an alien creature.
Let me give you some background information before we start. The Thing is first based on the 1938 John W. Campbell Jr. novella Who Goes There? The film is also a remake of the 1951 black and white film The Thing from Another World. In both versions, it tells the story of a group of American researchers in cold ass Antarctica where they encounter an extraterrestrial life form that imitates other organisms, causing paranoia among the group.
Carpenter starts the first five minutes of The Thing with a literal bang. The film begins with an alien ship flying through space and entering the Earth’s atmosphere near Antarctica. The film takes place in Antarctica in the winter of 1982. I’m going to say this right now. First, it’s always winter in Antarctica, and two, who the fuck wants to be in Antarctica. Excuse my language, but damnit, it’s cold there. Shit gets real during the opening scene when a flies frantically after a husky. The man riding next to the pilot is shooting his rifle and dropping grenades, trying to kill the dog. The dog manages to find and run towards an American research base. The Americans see the helicopter and notice it is from a Norwegian research base. The Norwegian helicopter lands, and he tries to say something while the other takes his rifle. One tries to kill the dog with a grenade, and that goes horribly wrong. The one with the rifle starts yelling, and at this moment, as in the film Cool Hand Luke, what we’ve got here is a failure to communicate. The Norwegian man yells, spoiler alert, “Get the hell away! That’s not a dog, it’s some sort of Thing! It’s imitating a dog, it isn’t real! GET AWAY, YOU IDIOTS!” Before he can shoot, he is shot down dead. Honestly, who wants to kill a little old husky. They are cute and yappy.
Cool, after the shitshow, the American group is puzzled about what the hell just happened and why they tried to kill a dog. MacReady (Russell), the team’s helicopter pilot, and Copper (Dysart), the team’s doctor, decided to investigate the Norwegian base. When they arrive, the place is on fire and in ruins. This is the moment you should roll out, but the pair venture into the compound and find EVERYONE dead. Usually, you would bounce, but these two keep going down where they find a frozen corpse that doesn’t look like anything known to man and decide to bring it back to base for autopsy.
This is where Carpenter shows the viewers that shit got real because he is keeping the anticipation high. The dog is put in the kennel with the other downs who are like, “hell naw! That ain’t no dog.” Carpenter unleashes his monster when the new dog suddenly transforms into a WTF creature and starts attacking the other dogs. When the incident is discovered by dog handler Clark (Masur), homeboy legs be shakin with fear. Mac hears what is going on, and he alerts the base, but things get out of hand when they burn the “thing,” but some of it escapes.
I don’t know about you, but that would tell me to get my shit and go. Blair does an autopsy on the Thing’s remains, and the group learns that the “thing” is an alien organism that imitates other life forms by attacking or eating it and making it into its own. The next day, MacReady flies with Palmer and Norris to the Norwegian campsite. They find an alien spaceship, and Norris thinks it’s been in the ice for 100,000 years. Mac soon realizes that Norwegians awakened the creature after thawing its ice block. Once again, if you find any spacecraft in Antarctica, leave that shit alone.
The film goes into full drive when Blair runs a report on the cells from the Thing. The computer states that the possibility of one or more team members being affected is at 75%, and if the alien reaches civilization, the world would be infected in three years. This is where all hell breaks loose. The doctor loses his mind and starts shooting at everyone. Teams are formed, and Childs, played by the great Keith David, runs around with a flamethrower. You start seeing the cracks come up.
That is what makes this film so freakin good, and I still don’t know why this movie failed and took so long for people to realize that it’s incredible. Carpenter made sure you didn’t know who was an alien or not. Everyone seemed normal, and you try to keep track of how someone could possibly be the Thing. It was a shock when Benning was one, and the sound he made would make your skin crawl. How about the autopsy scene when dude’s arms got bit off and his head became that spider looking creature. That was freaky and nasty.
The one scene that perfectly sums up the entire feel and emotions of this film is the blood sample scene. That scene is pure horror but paranoia movie perfection. You have no idea who is human and who is the Thing. Mac is full on, I’m not trusting anyone and I’ll burn everyone. He ties people up and, one by one, takes a hot coil to the blood. All you can do is sit and watch because the person you think is it might not be the Thing. When Mac touches one blood sample, and it screams, you will jump. When dude starts turning, you want to run. BRAVO, MR. CARPENTER!
The ending is one of the best endings around. After Mac pretty much blows up the station, Mac sits by the burning station alone until Childs comes out of nowhere. Childs went missing during a span of time during the film. Childs states he got lost in the storm while pursuing Blair. Both men, freezing and alone, know they will freeze to death. They both know either one of them could be the Thing and decided to sit and drink whiskey. The question is, who is the Thing?
This film is excellent because of all the actors in it. The way they showed distrust in each other is phenomenal. They thoroughly let the viewers feel and question what they felt. Kurt Russell ran with this film and kept you on your toes as he tried to figure out what was happening. Kieth David, in his first-ever role, was the shit. This was his first film in his illustrious career. Everyone else was excellent.
I want to take a moment to discuss the special effects, animatronics, or whatever they are called. All of it was amazing as they scared the shit out of you. Whoever imagined what the Thing should look like with all its assimilation needs to be applauded and given many awards.
The Thing is an alien film that gets better with each viewing. As I said, it has been a few years since I’ve seen it. I’m glad I sat down and watched it because it was pretty scary, but I was drawn in by the story and the distrust everyone showed. All the actors were great and did a fantastic job. For review, don’t go to Antarctica, and if you find a spaceship, leave that shit alone.
BONUS CLIP!!!
