glorious gorious masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (14 August 2009)

For many people, John Carpenters swansong will always be Halloween, a taut brilliantly directed movie that continues to generate new fans over 30 years since its release. But for those who know carpenters work, he directed at least 3 other gems, one of those being the 1982 movie, the thing. ostensibly a remake of the 1951 movie the 'thing from another world', the movie begins with a helicopter chasing a dog, whom the occupants are trying to shoot, for which we have no idea why at this point. Carpenter is an expert when it comes to tension and suspense in his movies, right up there with Hitchcock in my opinion. the use of such tension in this movie is where carpenter excels,the master directors vision of a dark cold world perfectly instills the sense of dread and(later) paranoia all of the scientists at this research station feel. So they let this dog into the facility...and then the real terror begins. all the tension and great directing you like wouldn't work though if it were not for the absolutely astounding effects that to be honest are probably the best I've ever seen in cinema, horrifyingly gut wrenching spine ripping head tearingly real and convincing of an alien force that will absorb its host... all credit must go to rob bottin for these effects which with carpenter knowing exactly what to do (and when to do it) added together and we have an absolute corker of a movie which should be in the top 30 movies if all time and top 10 horrors. and yet it has never received the credit it deserves. why? no pun intended but perhaps the violence alienated some people? it is fantastically gory and anyone easily offended and under 16 should avoid at all costs, for the rest well, turn the lights off, get rid of any yakkers and ENJOY. 10/10 David Ford