An under looked horror classic that puts contemporary horror movies to shame

Rating: 9/10 (25 April 2009)

Denounced as a forgettable Alien ripoff by most critics upon release, (A frankly unfair claim considering the only thing the two films share in common are isolated settings and a murderous alien that infects people) , The Thing, is a remarkably well made sci-fi horror film, that is nether too thoughtless and gratuitous or too pretentious and inaccessible the twin pits of cinematic failure that all too many horror movies fall victim to. The effects while aged by today's standards hold up well and in some cases remind us all that sometimes good oldfashioned conventional effects, plus good editing and directing can surpass all the computer generated effects in the world, but the real meat and potatoes here is the story telling and the suspense. John Carpenter superbly crafts a story that keeps the audience as off balance as the characters are, by not laying all cards on the table at once and dropping the trump cards in an unassuming timely manner.
The setup is well calculated and executed, the all male cast(another point of contention upon many critics at the time of its release used to condemn the film despite the fact that: 1. given the setting it makes perfect sense and 2. It serves a storytelling purpose as it helps to set the mood of the piece), their stark characterizations (we are really only introduced to the characters within the confines of their daily grind and the increasing dire circumstances they find themselves in),and the Antarctic setting all serve to establish a very bleak tone from the get go and as the insidious, amorphous Thing, rears its fearsome shifting forms(quite unexpectedly at times)its gets all the bleaker. But its the Thing's very nature really drives this home. As the Thing can infect and perfectly imitate any organism it comes into contact with, effectively destroying and undermining the ability of the research stations remaining humans to fight and survive as they can neither afford to remain too close to their fellow man nor allow let them out of sight lest they really be a thing. Trust is a commodity they can't afford to have but they cannot hope to survive without it.