The Thing

Greetings and happy Halloween! Today’s blog update is in keeping with the spirit of the holiday by being a science fiction horror film from 1982 as I’m reviewing John Carpenter’s The Thing. It is based off of the 1938 novel ‘Who goes there?’ by John W. Campbell Jr. The cast includes Kurt Russell as the protagonist known as MacReady, Donald Moffat, Wilfred Brimley and Keith David. Out of the entire main cast the one I am most familiar with is Keith David who I know as the voice of David Anderson in the Mass Effect series as well as him having performed in the Call of Duty series. The music was composed by Ennio Morricone, who is best known for creating the score for Italian Westerns including the Dollars trilogy and the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The plot is set in the Antarctic and begins with a Norwegian helicopter chasing a dog that is heading towards an American research station. The American crew are confused by the actions of those in the helicopter as they are shooting at the dog but they don’t manage to hit it and are killed in the process. With the pursuers dead, one shot by an American as the Norwegian would not stop firing and the pilot did not survive an explosion in the helicopter, the researchers take the dog into the kennels alongside the other dogs. MacReady, in search for answers as to why the attackers were trying to kill a dog, is sent to explore the nearby Norwegian station. When he lands his helicopter at the research facility MacReady discovers that the building has been destroyed with fire and finds a charred humanoid corpse with two faces. MacReady decides to take the corpse back to base to be examined by another character called Blair in which the autopsy revealed that the mutated body had normal human organs.

The story turns its attention towards the rescued dog and reveals that it in reality it is a shape shifting monster that had managed to escape its death at the hands of the Norwegians. The Americans become aware of its presence when they hear the dogs howling as the creature kills the other animals that had been locked inside with it. MacReady and the research team couldn’t prevent the monster from fleeing the kennels which means that it is stalking the protagonists in their own base and is able to take anyone of their forms. As such the team begin to violently turn on each other under the psychological pressure as they suspect and fear that one of them could be the monster in disguise. It is up to MacReady and the others to identify the monster and kill it or suffer the same fate as members of the Norwegian research team.

The film relies on stop-motion animation, due to a lack of advancement in CGI technology at the time, which gives the movie a unique feel that is genuinely creepy and memorable. There was also a prequel made in 2011 that focuses and elaborates on the Norwegian’s experiences with the monster but it isn’t regarded as a particularly good movie. Despite the criticisms of the prequel I still might watch it at some stage in the near future as even the original Thing wasn’t regarded as a particularly good movie at the time and is now considered a cult classic. I can say for certain however that the 1982 version of the Thing was an enjoyable experience and is worth watching.

Plot=8/10

Characters=8/10

Special Effects=9/10

Overall=9/10

Quote of the Day

Vampires, gargoyles, warlocks, they're all the same — best when cooked well.

Gabriel Van Helsing

Van Helsing