[10]

This movie does two things extraordinarily well. It transports me and it terrifies me. Before anything scary even happens, director John Carpenter (Assault on Precinct 13, Starman) succeeds in creating an atmosphere of mystery and suspense that locks me into the film and chills me to the bone. The story features a group of men holed up in an Antarctic research station who discover a shapeshifting alien has been excavated from the ice and is now amongst them. While The Thing certainly functions as an amazing creature feature, it also operates as a nail-biting mystery. Since the alien can take any shape or form, the characters never know who to trust. This creates a horror double-whammy, with the threat coming both from outside the group in the form of the alien, and from within the group in the form of ever-growing paranoia.

Kurt Russell makes a suitable leading man for the film, surrounded by a solid ensemble of character actors that includes Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur, Richard Dysart, Peter Maloney, and David Moffat. Perhaps the film’s biggest star, however, is make-up effects artist Rob Bottin (Legend, RoboCop), who conjures some of the most dazzling and disturbing special effects you’ll ever see — I’m talking about stuff that would give Francis Bacon and H.R. Giger nightmares. Bottin’s greatest moment in the film is when one character’s head melts off his body and sprouts spider legs to escape immolation.

When I say The Thing transports me, I should also note that it’s a one-way trip. It’s a dire film that offers no glimmer of hope, where the happy ending is that you get to die. It’s serious shit, the crowning achievement in its director’s remarkable oeuvre, and one of the finest horror films ever made.

This film is a remake of 1951’s The Thing from Another World (which is pretty good in its own right), which is in turn based on the short story “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell, Jr. With T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Charles Hallahan, Joel Polis, and Thomas Waites.