USA | 1982 | Directed by John Carpenter
Logline: A scientific research station in the Antarctic is infiltrated by a xenomorphic alien life-form that steadily consumes and imitates each member.
John Carpenter’s brilliant re-imagining of Howard Hawk’s The Thing from Another World (1951) is without a doubt one of the greatest modern horrors ever made. It is a masterpiece of escalating dread, atmospheric density, and a visceral intensity that is truly spectacular.
Although it performed poorly on its initial theatrical run it went on to garner an extraordinary cult following, and these days it is considered by many as a classic of its kind, especially in the science-fiction/horror camp, and, like another masterful example, Alien, little of it has dated. The uncompromising elements that made it difficult for audiences to deal with back in 1982 are now considered its strengths. It is with few peers, certainly in its practical effects, with Bill Lancaster’s terrific screenplay following the original source material much more closely than Hawks original B-movie (which is why, technically, it’s not a remake).
Based on the novella Who Goes There? by John Campbell, it’s a gripping and increasingly disturbing account of a highly intelligent alien life-form trapped in an inhospitable environment, attempting to ensure its own survival. As the movie’s tagline described, “Man is the warmest place to hide.” To the humans trying to deal with the incomprehensible the creature is seemingly a parasite, with astonishing capabilities. It absorbs its “prey” completely, then swiftly changes to mimic exactly the life-form it just consumed. When the movie opens the alien is mimicking a husky (unbeknownst to the audience), and has escaped from the ruins of a Norwegian research station with two surviving members in hot and desperate pursuit. The Americans rescue the dog with no idea of the horror they’ve brought into their fold.
Interestingly there are no female characters in the movie, there is no sexual tension, heterosexual or homosexual, there is none of the distractions that are often found in other horror movies. The closest thing to a female is the computer voice that is playing opposite MacReady - Kurt Russell in a career performance - at movie’s beginning. “Checkmate,” she tells him rather coolly. MacReady responds by pouring the remainder of his Scotch into her air vent causing her to short circuit. Ironically, it’s this aggressive, cold attitude that keeps MacReady alive in the latter stages of the movie. But only just.
The rest of the cast are all excellent, especially Donald Moffat as Garry and Wilford Brimley as Blair. Ennio Morricone composed an unusual, highly-evocative electronic score, providing further ominous edge to the atmosphere of distrust that permeates the ice station and its hapless team. But special attention goes to Rob Bottin (only 23-years-old at the time) who created the ingenious special effects make-up designs. These horrific, outlandish depictions of the alien in various states of being and change are arguably the best prosthetic and animatronic effects of the 80s (alongside Tom Savini’s work on Day of the Dead). Carpenter had the savvy to put a significant amount of the budget aside for the special effects. It may have alienated a large part of the movie’s unsuspecting audience at the time (apart from us horrorphiles who were squealing with delight in the cinema), but over the next decade Bottin’s work wasn’t just being singled out for being authentically repulsive, but for being genuinely astonishing.
The Thing is claustrophobic and nerve-wracking, a masterfully suspenseful study of paranoia, steeped in cosmic dread, and its ending is suitably - and bravely - saturated in dilemma and dark speculation. The alien was trying to escape, but has it? Will it? Has it infiltrated either of the two survivors? Both men are wary of each other, as they pass the bottle of whisky between their frozen fingers; “If we’ve got any surprises for each other, I don’t think either one of us is in much shape to do anything about it.”
