Here's The Thing About "The Thing"

Rating: 5/10 (16 May 2014)

I rate this Sci-Fi/Alien Invasion movie 5 stars solely on the merits of its gooey, fantastically over-the-top monster-effects that were artfully created by brilliant effects-wizard, Rob Bottin.
Man, Bottin really outdid himself this time with some of the most wild and grotesquely imaginative alien assimilation sequences ever seen in a pre-CGI horror picture. The awesome "blood test" scene was the absolute best of all.
This movie only comes to life when Bottin's excellent handiwork is the focus of the action. Without his cool creations The Thing, under John Carpenter's lame direction, just sucked.
It would be an understatement to say that this picture has lost a lot of its initial clout over the past 35 years.
As well, none of the characters were at all likable, especially Kurt Russell's MacReady, who was nothing but a suck, a drunk, and a sore-loser who couldn't stand to be beaten in a game of chess by his computer-opponent.
I thought that this film's opening sequence with the Norwegians (flying in a helicopter) repeatedly attempting to shoot down an escaped husky and missing their target every time (even though the dog was an easy target), was one of the most pathetic "hot pursuit" scenes ever captured in a big-budget horror movie.
Boo! Hiss! to John Carpenter for dishing up this kind of crap.