The Thing

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2004)

John Carpenter's The Thing is an intelligent and well made horror/thriller with Kurt Russel leading an absolutely fantastic ensemble cast. The characterization in this movie is critical because of all the paranoia and suspense between the actors. For anyone who thinks that special effects could not be done well before the advent of CGI I beg you to watch this movie. Rob Bottin really outdid himself on the designs for the Thing, which in essence could really look like anything that he could imagine since it has no "true" form, at least not in the movie. The pacing of the movie is absolutely perfect and really causes the viewer to question who is who. This is one of the most suspenseful, claustrophobic and thrilling movies of all time. It's a shame that it didn't perform well at the box office (in part because it was released during the "summer of E.T.") since I would really like to see more the alien's backstory and origins in a possible sequel or prequel.