John Carpenter's gory science-fiction/horror is brutally terrifying and not for the faint of heart

Rating: 9/10 (23 April 2017)

John Carpenter, the filmmaker who sprung to success with his 1978 slasher flick 'Halloween', has taken on a new challenge. And the challenge is re-imagining terrifying John W. Campbell Jr.'s novella 'Who Goes There?'. Decades after the first film adaptation in the 50s, Carpenter has spawned a terrifying science-fiction/horror hybrid that blends a heavy amount of gruesome special effects with hair-raising tension and paranoia. The main antagonist of this freak show is an alien, but it's no ordinary alien like the ones from Ridley Scott's 'Alien'. It is an alien that can only be described as an abstract being that possesses the bodies of subconscious individuals, and the scariest part is you have no idea who the victim is. Carpenter brings a hefty hand at this nightmare-inducing ride, and results amount to one of the scariest cinematic endeavors of both of the horror and science- fiction genre. This film stars Kurt Russell as R.J MacReady, an American scientist who leads an expedition team including biologist Blair (played by A. Wilford Brimley), Nauls (played by T.K Carter), Palmer (played by David Clennon), Childs (played by Keith David), and Dr. Cooper (played by Richard Dysart) among other members on a research mission to a remote shelter in Antarctica. There, they witness the shooting a fluffy canine. When they take to dog to the shelter, it subsequently mutates into a grotesque parasitic monster that not only begins killing members of the team, but is secretly assimilating the bodies of other people in the shelter. So the mission becomes a battle for survival as the team grows paranoid of who's human.....and who's not.
If you have a weak stomach to over-the-top blood and gore and aliens tearing through bodies in an aberrant fashion, this film is most certainly not for you. This bleak alien horror show eschews the conventional alien invasion concept in favor of a more grotesque mystery-type plot that owes elements to Jack Finney's classic novel 'Body Snatchers'. Carpenters sets the action in a dark, tension- fueled atmosphere where paranoia lurks around every corner as an alien parasite runs amok in a confined setting, and the character are trapped in a life-threatening guessing game of who's human and who's an alien life-form. This all accounts to an alarming struggle for survival with unpredictable twists and turns, and almost no moments of levity is spared. To add icing to the cake, the suspense is greatly toned up by an eerie music score by Ennio Mariconnie. Carpenter plants plenty of nightmare-inducing imagery to the screen, most of which carry inspiration from Ridley Scott's 'Alien'. Animals are mutated into grotesque looking monsters, limbs are torn off, and and stomachs open up in thoroughly unnatural manners. The cast which is greatly lead by Kurt Russell exhibits some fine performances, though the underdevelopment of their characters do not give them too much to work with. Nonetheless, Carpenter's masterful direction superbly makes for the minor flaws that ensue.
The Thing is a frightening science-fiction horror piece that strikes at the heart with spine-chilling thrills and an excess amount of gore - - all of which amount to a thoroughly scary experience. While this film certainly shows its age, it still manages hold up to today's standards. This John Carpenter flick is worth your time, but only if you can digest the sheer gruesomeness of its material.