The Thing is a splendid presentation of horror at its best.

Rating: 9/10 (23 September 2015)

John Carpenter has always been a director of many talents, bringing forth some of the most creative and scary films ever to grace the screen, like Halloween, In The Mouth Of Madness, The Fog, and Christine. But he broke the mold when he made The Thing, and the result is probably the greatest monster movie in history. Sure Jaws was great, and so was Alien, but The Thing blows them all away. It's about a twelve-man research team that unwittingly takes in an alien organism that has been frozen in the ice for over 100,000 years. As if things couldn't be worse, this alien can shape-shift and "absorbs" its victims, so no one in the camp quite knows who is real and who is "the thing." Rob Bottin's special effects for the film are probably its ground-breaking achievement, for it was the first movie with a really gross-looking monster, and the monster effects still look great even today. Ennio Morricone's chilling score, Dean Cundey's beautiful photography, and John Llyod's incredible sets all help contribute to the eerie mood of the picture. Not only that, but the cast does a great job, and as far as I'm concerned, Carpenter was at the peak of his skills when he made this film. It was rather disappointing to find out that it didn't do that well at the box office, but at least it can have a nice long afterlife on DVD market now. So, I don't know what else I can say except run out and buy this wonderful film!