This movie really delivers

Rating: Null/10 (24 March 2004)

I rented this movie around 1984.I was grown at the time and am glad they did not have stuff like this when I was a kid because at that time I had nightmares from The Cosmic Monsters and The Crawling Eye. I now own this on DVD and have watched it many times. My wife recently watched it with me having never before seen it. She absolutely will not watch it again and refuses to let me play it while she is in the oom. --------------POSSIBLE SPOILERS------------ This movie is a masterpiece for its genre. I especially appreciate several of it's "rarities". First, it's seriousness.No lame jokes and sarcasm that is so prevalent today. No super macho junk. Nobody fighting the monster with martial arts. Nobody telling their life's story. Nobody saying "fire in the hole", "he's mine", or any other too cool cliches of today. No woman "dressed to kill" hefting a shotgun or the latest bazooka. No distracting romance or flirting with the opposite sex. Example ,the movie "Speed". Sandra Bullock flirting with, laughing with, being coy with Keanu Reeves while driving a bus with a bomb underneath it. Give me a break!!! " The Thing" is a serious movie. It is believable. It is about 12 men facing a monstrous problem and nothing else. That is enough. Jokes , sarcasm, cliches, and any romance would have ruined it's hard edge. They would have made it infinitely less scary. It is a simple movie without distracting side storylines. This is really a one of a kind movie the likes which will probably never be seen again. I think ole John C. and Rob Bottin really were hell bent to top "Alien" and they did. To me they topped everything else too. Too bad JC did'nt wait a while for ET to go away to release it. Many people do not agree with me about the movie's merits and it does have it's faults but I hope I can one day see a more perfect horror movie than this. This is the movie that every SIFI and horror movie promised to be but this and only this delivered all the goods.And without a rubber suit, computers, and very little stop motion.(One scene with stop motion at the end got deleted before release--it is included on the dvd) Side note- I don't fully agree that it is all that bloody. Most of the red stuff comes from the alien when it "melts".Most of the gore is the alien creature when it changes shapes.Except for the "chest with teeth" scene there really are almost no scenes where humans are shown much bloodshed(Watch it again and you will see what I'm talking about). Even the guy who gets his head roped into the creatures "jawhead" only has creature red stuff on him and his head is melting when he gets lose. The people who have a problem with the dog's head splitting should realize that it is the alien dog, not a regular dog. Get real, people.This alien is SERIOUS and is an equal opportunity advocate. My favorite scene?? The begining, the end, and everything in between. As for the guy who said he did not see any actors he knew except Kirk Russel. How many TV shows and movies has he seen?? Buy the DVD and watch it every 2 years. It gets better with age.By the way, they needed the flame throwers to melt the snow, right?