The Thing (1982)

Genre: Science-fiction / Horror

Directed by: John Carpenter

Starring: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Donald Moffat

Running time: 109 minutes

In this 1982 cult classic by famed director John Carpenter, employees of a research station in Antarctica get infiltrated by a parasitic ET lifeform that assimilates other organisms and then imitates them.  

The main star in the cast is a much younger and bearded Kurt Russell, as helicopter pilot MacCready. He does a good job here, along with the rest of the cast.

Carpenter was great at building the mood slowly at the beginning of the film. When the first scene opens, you are wondering why this helicopter is pursuing a dog and trying to shoot it. You feel bad at first, but you soon come to realize that this canine is not man’s best friend. We see these isolated men get put in a position where they don’t know who to trust, since they have no idea who has been infiltrated by The Thing. It makes the isolation even worse, and the filmmakers did a great job creating that kind of atmosphere. You cannot help but feel the paranoia set in as you wonder where the enemy will come from next.

The original The Thing is a classic among sci-fi and horror movies, and it should be seen at least once by any fan of those particular genres. It was a great delight seeing it again, and it even managed to gross out my wife when she walked in on one scene.

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