The Thing not as good as Alien

Rating: 7/10 (28 June 2000)

Early Carpenter movies seem to find a particular niche and exploit them to their very best. I'm thinking of Assault on Precinct 13 (drama); The Fog (Ghost/thriller); Halloween (slasher/terror); Escape from New York (Sci Fi/thriller) and of course The Thing (Pure Horror);although ever since then he seems to have lost his magical touch.
For a start, the original Thing from the 50s is a better movie because it relies on tension rather than out & out gore. In addition The Thing has been compared to Alien, but again the latter film has the edge because the gore is limited to our imagination while focusing on what's-around-the-corner scenario.
Having said that, the story & characterisation are both very good. Russell seems to be enjoying himself as the anti-hero, more so than he did in the Escape films.
Rob Bottin's special effects are truly amazing pre-CGI, and all the better for it. Although on the down side, I felt Ennio Morricone was the wrong choice to write the score - far too understated & amateurish. Morricone works better with orchestral scores and not messing around on synthesizers and samplers.
The ending too was poor. Too many loose ends and disappearing characters. Bit of an anti-climax for a Carpenter film then, but is still recommended especially in DVD with widescreen pro-logic.
***/*****