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Film: The Thing
Director: John Carpenter
Country: USA
Released: June 1982
Runtime: 109 minutes
Genre: Horror
Studio: Turman-Foster / Universal
Influenced: Mary Lambert, Guillermo del Toro, Neill Blomkamp, Edgar Wright, Jordan Peele
John Carpenter has had one of the most singular and successful careers in Hollywood, starting with the short western film The Resurrection of Broncho Billy (1970) – which won an Oscar – and then progressing via stoner sci-fi (1974's Dark Star), intense action (1976's Assault On Precinct 13) and creepy horror (1978's Halloween) before making what is widely considered his finest work, The Thing (1981). Carpenter's version is a remake of 1950s horror B-movie The Thing from Another World, based on the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell Jr, and starring his long-time collaborator Kurt Russell, who had just worked with Carpenter on cult classic, Escape From New York (1981). My introduction to Carpenter's films as a kid was Big Trouble In Little China (1986), another Kurt Russell vehicle and the director's first experiment in the martial arts genre. Another favourite Carpenter movie of mine is the surreal sci-fi thriller, They Live (1988).
With The Thing, Carpenter sought to create a more faithful and terrifying adaptation of Campbell Jr's novella, focusing on the theme of paranoia and mistrust among a group of isolated individuals facing an extraterrestrial threat. The story begins in Antarctica, where a group of American researchers stationed at an isolated research outpost comes across a Norwegian helicopter pursuing and shooting at a dog. The Norwegians are killed in the encounter, leaving the Americans confused and concerned. Taking in the dog, they soon discover that it is not what it seems – it is, in fact, an extraterrestrial life form capable of absorbing and imitating other living beings. As the crew tries to understand what they are up against, they become increasingly suspicious of one another.
Of special interest in the film is the alien entity's ability to replicate perfectly any living organism it comes into contact with, making it virtually impossible to know who is human and who is the Thing. Dr Blair (Wilford Brimley) is first to realise that the Thing's assimilation isn't limited to animals; it can also take over humans. Marvel would take inspiration from this superpower to create their own breed of Skrulls, who have a similar replication ability. To identify the alien impostor among them, MacReady (Kurt Russell) devises a test where each person's blood is heated. The Thing's reaction to the test is one of the most memorable and horrifying scene. Perhaps the film's greatest innovations is its groundbreaking special effects, masterminded by Rob Bottin, who used practical effects such as animatronics and prosthetics that were ahead of their time and astonishingly realistic and disturbing.
Near the end of the film, the researchers must find a way to identify and eliminate the alien threat before it escapes the outpost and potentially reaches the rest of humanity. This sets up a tense finale; as the outpost burns down, only MacReady and Childs (Keith David) are left alive, neither trusting the other. The fate of humanity remains uncertain as the film ends on an ambiguous note. The Thing initially received mixed reviews and was a box office disappointment. However, over time, it has gained a cult following and is now regarded as a classic in the horror genre. In 2011, a prequel of the same name was released, exploring the events leading up to the 1982 film. Although it had a mixed reception, it kept the legacy of The Thing alive and introduced the story to a new generation.
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