"MacReady wants the flamethrower!"

Rating: 9/10 (24 June 2011)

IMDb Top 250: 174 In the year 1982, while all the other films were having a nice party, The Thing was at home, cutting itself up. You've probably heard how gross this film is, but I'll say it again: The Thing is arguably the most visceral film I've ever seen and deserves all of the praise it gets.
Praise? What praise? No one liked this movie in '82. But the special effects/ make-up are so disgustingly real, you will feel sick. The creatures are so vile and spectacular it's unsettling. They are real: unlike today's CG monsters, these actors were in the same room with those monsters. It adds to the effect. The Thing was way ahead of it's time; people could be scared of the 30-year-old movie today if they saw it in theatres. (If you like Dead Space, you'll like this.) None of the acting is particularly special, but it doesn't need to be. In fact, a little fleshing out could've helped, maybe during the first half hour. I confused the characters during the film.
The plot is very simple, yet very complex. Sure, you can boil the summary into one sentence, but there's much more than that. Where is it from? How did it crash? One could spend a lot of time thinking about the film. The plot moves quickly, and is always interesting. And gross.
It's easy to see why The Thing is so well liked today. Ahead of it's time content and a timeless theme of paranoia and uncertainty. Ample gore and tension. Just look at the FAQ page; people are serious about this movie. And it can add me to its fan base. 8.6/10