John Carpenter's Sci-Fi/Horror Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (1 June 2012)

When I first saw this movie at the ripe old age of 9, I was beyond terrified. John Carpenter's sci-fi horror masterpiece about a shapeshifting alien gave me nightmares for years. After another 30 years and about 50 more viewings, it isn't frightening to me anymore, but that hasn't diminished the value of this tense and suspenseful classic. The critics liked Starman more, and Halloween was more influential, but The Thing is John Carpenter's best movie – no frigging contest. Considering how many great movies Carpenter made in the '70s and '80s, that's saying a lot.
In the late '70s and early '80s, the horror genre hit its peak. Ideas were still fresh, but the taboos that kept the truly horrifying movies like The Shining and The Exorcist off the screen were gone. Young directors like John Carpenter brought inspiration and energy to the medium. Without $100 Million CG animation budgets, directors were free to focus on storytelling and script. This is the stage in which the film industry found itself when Carpenter made The Thing. The script is almost air tight, leaving virtually no plot holes or loose threads, other than a couple of mysteries that are better left unanswered. The cast was perfect, and the direction was excellent. Most of the actors were no-namer types who didn't do much after The Thing, but there are no weak performances in this film. The soundtrack is also a huge asset to the film. I still get chills whenever I hear it during the introduction and over the closing credits.
Best of all is Rob Bottin's absolutely incredible work on the film's visual and special effects. The monsters don't get a ton of screen time, but when they do, they are gruesome and horrifying. The practical effects in the movie still trump any computer generated garbage that has been made in the past 15 years. Although they are a product of a wild imagination, the monsters in the movie seem incredibly real, and because they seem so real, they are also threatening. In the recent 2011 prequel, the monsters simply weren't as scary, in large part because you couldn't shake the idea that you were watching a high-tech cartoon.
The movie begins with two crazy-looking guys hunting a dog from a helicopter, shooting at it as it flees across the Antarctic. It is one of the best opening scenes of all time, drawing you in immediately. There is a whole rich backstory at work, and at the start of The Thing, you get to see the aftermath. After the dog incident, the story unfolds almost like a Lovecraftian version of "Ten Little Indians". Once The Thing is first truly revealed, the rest of the movie is filled with tense paranoia and fear. Adding to the tension is the extreme isolation of Antarctica, and the knowledge that nobody can come to rescue the scientists. All the while, we realize that these men are not the only ones in danger. If the Thing kills them all and escapes the continent, the world is doomed. At one point, The Thing also gives you the best jump scare in the history of film. I have introduced this movie to about a half dozen people, and the "test" scene has made somebody jump out of his or her chair every time.
Another of the great qualities of this film is the memorable cast of characters. Even though there are lots of them, they all look, sound, and behave differently enough for you to get to know them almost immediately. After only one viewing, you can probably remember that there was the cowboy-ish MacReady, the cook on roller skates, the guy who loved dogs more than people, Wilford Brimley going crazy, the doctor, the weak-willed radio operator, the crazy guy, and the big tough looking black guy. Unlike almost every other horror movie with a body count, every death feels significant, because even minor characters are well developed.
In my humble opinion, The Thing is one of the Top 10 greatest movies ever made, and the #1 movie of its genre. This is why the movie has such a strong cult following despite its lukewarm reception on release, and why if you see it for the first time, you will probably still enjoy it even though it is 30 years old. If you want to see the best of the true horror genre (i.e. not the idiotic slasher genre misclassified as "horror"), The Thing is absolutely essential viewing.