It's been a while since I've typed this line in a review: an old horror movie without cheese.

Rating: 9/10 (18 October 2008)

Let me get this out of the way: I am not a biased fan of this movie. I did not grow up with it, I did not see it once, get scared, and then love it when I was older, and I did not watch it with any hype or weighted opinion whatsoever. I'm not really a John Carpenter fan. I am a hardcore horror fan who has seen the majority of what the genre has to offer. I am an adult, and I watched this last night, 9/17/08. I'm not sure it's possible to find an opinion that is more unbiased than mine when I say: The Thing rocked.
First and foremost, the reason The Thing works is because it does not bash your over the head with a block of cheese, unlike most "classic" horror movies. Some of the effects are a bit outdated, despite what the lifetime fans would have you believe, but not so much as to look cheesy. At all. There is very little gorenothing that the average parent wouldn't let a 8-year-old seeand the gore effects are also outdated, but it doesn't take away from the movie. I just found it downright refreshing to watch a movie that didn't try to kick me in the balls. I've watched so many ultra-gory movies lately, The Thing made me remember what it was like when movies didn't use gore to make the viewer feel like crap, but instead used gore as part of the actual story. It's the perfect movie to watch on a snowy night with your girlfriend/wife or your kids.
The reason The Thing isn't cheesy is because it submerges you in atmosphere and suspense and mystery, then it punches you. The creatures are not generic whatsoever, and some of them are downright weirdly awesome. (Spider-head, anyone?) The plot is pretty generic, if you can even call it a plot at all. Here is one of the greatest movies of all time, and it does something that you wouldn't expect: it doesn't really have a plot. No, The Thing is true survival horror. There is nothing here except the desire to survive, and that is the only plot. The opening scene hints that the creatures are aliens, but, really, the movie never says much about their origins other than that. Watching this movie is almost like watching people in an arena try to surviveyou don't watch it for the story. What makes The Thing original and different from the other movies like it is the small details, like setting, the creature designs, the characters, the ending, and so on.
People who get bored with this movie don't understand suspense. I can understand that, because in the generation that we live in, suspense is dead and buried. Suspense has been replaced with either (1) lame action, or (2) lame dialogue scenes that "build characters", even though the characters are pure clichés. Suspense is the feeling of "I know everyone is going to die . . ." that you get before anything happens. I can count the amount of movies that get suspense right on one hand, but The Thing honestly pulls it off. If you're a fan of suspense moviesand no, I don't mean Wolf Creek, I mean like AlienI do not know why you haven't seen this movie already.
Then there is one more thing I need to mention: The Thing isn't Alien. It never will be Alien. It is not quite as good as Alien, though it has more action. It is, however, the only movie I would ever mention in the same breath as Alien, because it does come very, very close.
Overall: This is by far the best Carpenter movie I've seen, and one of the few movies I've ever seen that understands suspense. It's easily one of the best horror movies of all time, and I'm saying that as someone who find most "classic" horror movies pure cheese. Watch this movie. Watch it now.
9/10