Another John Carpenter classic

Rating: 9/10 (10 November 2006)

John Carpenter is one of the most influential directors in the horror/thriller genres. He has at least four classic films to his credit in my personal order of preference - Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Thing and Escape from New York. I liked Assault and Halloween better than The Thing largely because of their low-budget feel. The Thing, although probably better directed, is a big-budget movie from an established and successful director who was all of 33. It doesn't have that gritty, low-budget feel that made Assault so stunning - although its certainly more testosterone fueled and there is NO female involved in the making of this film. This is the second adaptation of the John Campbell sci-fi short "Who Goes There?" which was first filmed in 1951 as The Thing from Another World. The original was reputedly directed by Howard Hawks but I find that hard to believe. The original was a drag, there was no atmosphere or any of that B-Movie feel that films of the period like Them! or Invasion of the Body Snatchers give fans of those films. There was also a ridiculous love interest angle which added nothing to the film. The John Carpenter remake is actually more faithful to the original sci-fi short story apart from being eminently more entertaining.
The basic premise of both films is a group of scientists based at an Antarctic station come across an alien - a "Thing" from another world which starts attacking and killing them. A very similar theme was tackled in Ridley Scott's Alien. Alien, which is actually better than The Thing, was set in outer space and even more scary than The Thing. Its release a few years before The Thing may have been one of the reasons for The Thing's originally dismal box office returns. However, rest assured that the usual elements that make for a good John Carpenter film are all present in The Thing. Namely, great atmosphere, a good ensemble cast, thrills aplenty, a unique musical score (Ennio Morricone this time) and at least one classic scene of nerve biting tension. The classic scene in The Thing is obviously the blood testing scene which just doesn't let up on the tension - it keeps building and building.