Truly mind-harrowing

Rating: 9/10 (13 October 2015)

Carpenter is an outstanding horror-suspense director, but he simply outdid himself with "The Thing," crafting a horror film rarely touched by any other in intelligence or quality of the ensemble cast. The film truly captures the horror of Campbell's short story, light years ahead of the 50s version, while maintaining the same fearsome idea: that there could be things out there that will take us over, absorb us, and we would not even really know. It's a hysteria that drove many 50s science fiction flicks, but by the 1980s it could be reduced to its pure essence, without that heavy-handed "US vs. the Soviets" thing.
When I saw this in the theater in 1982, I felt queasy several times during the film. Yes, as in "about to throw up." It was the uncanny realism of the special effects. It has been remarked that The Thing, and the special effects that embody it, are truly a living character in this film, and it is true. Rob Bottin, Stan Winston, Bill Sturgeon, and the makeup/creature crew did things that could never be done as realistically with CGI effect. And director Carpenter uncompromisingly selected only the best of it for the final cut, as anyone who has seen the "deleted scenes" can attest. Gone are any stop-motion animation or slightly imperfect scenes. The artistic triumvirate and its perfectionist director created the ultimate thing.
The ensemble cast of characters, trapped in an Antarctic science station where a creature that absorbs all life forms in their own image gets them one by one, is amazingly good. Yes, Kurt Russell gets first billing and survives to the last, but every character, down to the Norwegian rifleman who tries to warn the Americans of their impending doom when a seemingly harmless husky trots their way, is perfectly cast and plays his perfect role in the grand scheme of things.
The film scares, amuses, excites, spellbinds, disgusts, simply everything you could ask of a horror film. Every time I see it, I like it better despite knowing how every character will end, and how the web of dread, hopelessness and helplessness is cast to the bitter end by The Thing.