The Thing

Flips the scenario round from the original to great effect.

John Carpenter shows how much he loves the 1951 original by giving it the utmost respect that he possibly could, the only difference here is that Carpenter chooses to stick to the paranoiac core of John W Campbell Jr's short story.

The secret to this version's success is the unbearable tension that builds up as the group of men become suspicious of each other, the strain of literally waiting to be taken over takes a fearful hold. Carpenter then manages to deliver the shocks as well as the mystery that's needed to keep the film heading in the right direction.

Be it an horrific scene or a "what is in the shadow" sequence, the film is the perfect fusion of horror and sci-fi. ...

It was a good and original movie but some parts were still too boring, am i the only one who thinks like this?

Stuck on a remote station in Antarctica with The Thing

RELEASED IN 1982 and directed by John Carter, The Thing stars Kurt Russell as the helicopter pilot of an eleven-man crew at a research station in Antarctica who encounter a ghastly shape-shifting alien that perfectly replicates the appearance of its victims.

This is basically a sequel to the 1956 film and even includes footage from that classic sci-fi/horror. The creature is unconventional to say the least and this adds an eerie component to an already otherworldly and confined Antarctic setting.

There are no females and therefore no romantic complications. The characters are thin so the story focuses on the thing and how the crew tries to track it down and eliminate it, if the...

1982 was a good year for alien movies. The people were not really ready for it, but it was. Not only did Spielbergs friendly and warm-hearted E.T. - The Extraterrestrial debut at Cannes, and went on to become the worlds highest grossing film, but Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan made justice with a really good motion picture to the Star Trek TV series, and Liquid Sky shook up the indie cinema scene. And, of course, the release of John Carpenters gruesome, thrilling and tense take on John W. Campbell Jr.s novella Who Goes There: The Thing, probably named because of the other adaptation of Campbell Jr.s story, The Thing from Another World (1951). But not only did Carpenters The Thing do poorly at the box office, it was also heavily criticized ...

The Thing is a bloody disgusting groundbreaking masterpiece that reinvented cinema and reminded everyone that true fear lies in what can't be seen.

The Thing might be the greatest horror creature film ever made. In an age where aliens were cute and friendly like E.T., John Carpenter's The Thing depicted a disturbing, grotesque creature of nightmare responsible for some of film's most terrifying body horror. The Thing was so far ahead of its time in horror and effects that it brought the terror into reality. Carpenter's brilliant decision to set the film in the frozen wilderness of Antarctica deepens the isolation and paranoia of every second. The practical effects are unbelievable and so impressive, allowing the actors to interact wi...

As remakes go, this is one of the better ones that I have seen - though I still prefer the degree of menace generated by the 1951 iteration. A man in an helicopter is shooting at a lonely mutt amidst the antarctic wilderness when it arrives at an American scientific base. An accident ensures the inhabitants cannot interrogate the pursuing Norwegians and a quick visit to their nearby camp shows that disaster has struck. A large block of hollowed out ice suggests, though, that they may well have made an unique discovery - especially when they find some smouldering skeletal remains. Back at their own camp - along with their new charcoaled find - things get back to normal until the mysterious dog is put into the cage with the others and all hel...

Told by way of a cycle of interconnected stories, this works well as a portmanteau of crimes and misdemeanours affecting a small town as it celebrates (or not!) Halloween. We start with a young couple returning from a party; the lady less enamoured with the occasion than her boyfriend. Suffice to say that there was no nookie for them that night (or ever again) as the series moves through a virgin, a group of glamorous vampires, a school principal with a penchant for the macabre and poor old Brian Cox's "Kreeg" who certainly has the most entertaining encounter with our tiny, pumpkin-headed, menace. The stories play well to our own fears and apprehensions, but there is also a soupçon of humour and a bit of a moral to it - suggesting, very str...

The Thing is a claustrophobic, paranoia-driven horror film that follows a crew of American scientists trying to fend off an extraterrestrial monster before it picks them all off, one by one.

The film is incredibly grounded, in a way that increases the horror and tension surrounding our main cast. In the beginning, the story takes its time, building on the threat and fear of the creature. But this slowly transitions into a paranoia-stricken thriller that has everyone painted as a potential threat. This worked really well, keeping the audience constantly on their toes not knowing who to trust. Throughout the course of the film, there is not an incredible amount of action. The movie thrives on the tension that slowly builds through the char...

I've seen this movie so many times. I own it twice on DVD, I own it on 4K, Blu-Ray and I even have a copy on the now defunct HD-DVD format. I regret not seeing it in the theaters back in 1982. I don't know why I didn't go. I was certainly old enough to appreciate it. Instead, I saw "E.T.". I got swept up in happy little alien fever. I went with the crowd. All I had to do was wander over to a different screen and watch Carpenter's creation in all its paranoid glory. Sigh...

As with all good movies, music, or books, I experience something new every time I view it. I keep trying to piece together how the Thing spread throughout the camp. I keep looking for clues. Like when Blair performs an autopsy on the recently roasted Thing. While he's ...