A Flawless Horror Classic. Carpenter's Greatest Film.

Rating: 10/10 (27 May 2012)

John Carpenter's The Thing is in my opinion the Greatest horror film ever made. A brilliant mixture of great direction,acting,special effects,score and screenplay making this a all time classic horror film. This is Carpenter's greatest film and It's not only my all time favorite Horror film it's one of my favorite films of all time period.
The Thing tells the story of 12 researchers in a u.s outpost in Antarctica with nothing really happening until the researchers discover that an alien that came to earth years before is stalking them and killing them and imitating them. Which raises the question:Who can you trust?
Released in the Summer of 1982,John Carpenter's The Thing came out at a bad time having been released three weeks after Director Steven Spielberg's Blockbuster E.T. The Extra Terrestrial a much lighter take on Alien life and The Thing was ignored by audiences and hated by critics. Thankfully,The Thing has become a Cult Film and is now considered a classic and one of the best Horror films of all-time and the praise is rightfully deserved. The Thing is a film I love for many reasons because it brilliantly works as Horror film and Remake. One of the reasons I love the film besides the direction and special effects is the paranoia aspect of the film and when the characters stop trusting each other and start wondering who's human and who's not and Carpenter creates a dark end of the world feeling where the end will come from either aliens or man's own disturbing self destruction. The film is scary and frightening not just because of the effects and atmosphere but because of the characters and how they react when the alien invasion happens. It's very believable,scary and gives the film it's edge. This film was released before AIDS and HIV was more known around the world and Carpenter's film could be a metaphor. Even though The Thing is a Horror film,the issues and themes of fear,paranoia and distrust is still relevant in today's world.The screenplay by Bill Lancaster is superb and well-written giving the film and characters great lines and dialog. We don't know much about the characters and who they are but,we know them well enough to feel sorry for them and don't paint the characters as faceless victims. The snow and cold adds to the dark and frightening claustrophobic feel of the film and you feel isolated like the films characters where you feel that there's no where to go and no salvation for the men. The only film that can match the chilling and dark atmosphere is Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Both films in my opinion are the two of the most terrifying films ever set in the winter and make me never,ever want to stay in a house or a hotel by myself in the snow. The Thing also succeeds as a remake and one of the rare occasions where the remake was different and better than the original.Where in Howard Hawks The Thing From Another World the alien was a big and large Frankenstein-like creature,The Thing in this film looks different every time it transforms so the alien can look and different and sound different each time and it's very inventive and terrifying. The Thing was the first in Carpenter's great apocalypse trilogy which also includes other Carpenter classics Prince Of Darkness and In The Mouth Of Madness. While none of these three films have nothing in common in terms of story lines or characters the thing they all have in common is the concept about the end of the world. The Thing is my favorite and the best of the trilogy because of the storyline themes,characters and great ending which has been discussed for many years. The Thing also moves at a fast pace and never slows down until the very end. The violence and gore in the film are intense and brutal truly match the horrifying tone of the film and the violence happens you as the viewer will feel it and will be disturbed. The ending of The Thing is uncompromising,dark and will have viewers talking about the ending for years,leaving you with many unanswered questions than easy answers and wouldn't fly in today's Hollywood and it's one of my all time favorite movie endings and one of the reasons the film is truly brilliant and why I love The Thing.
The whole cast does a great job in their roles. Kurt Russell is excellent as R.J MacReady,the man who becomes the leader when things fall apart. A.Wilford Brimley is great as Dr Blair the doctor who goes crazy. Keith David is wonderful as Childs and is tough as nails. Donald Moffat is effective as Garry bringing depth and sympathy to the role. T.K Carter is great as Nauls and brings some humor to the film. Richard Dysart(Dr.Copper),David Clennon(Palmer),Richard Masur(Clark),Charles Hallahan(Norris),Thomas Waites(Windows),Joel Polis(Fuchs)and Peter Maloney(Bennings)give great performances as well.
The direction by John Carpenter is brilliant because Carpenter is always moving the camera giving the film a since of dread,eeriness and doom of not knowing what's going to happen or where. Great direction by Carpenter.
The score by Ennio Morricone is frightening and scary and matches the dark,grim tone of the film. One of Morricone's best scores.
The special effects by Rob Bottin are excellent some of the most ingenious,bloody,gory imaginative effects in film history. Shocking,surprising and unexpected,Bottin's effects set the standard for make-up effects still hold up years later.
In final word,John Carpenter's The Thing is a flawless Horror classic that is amazing from beginning to end and is a film that belongs in every Horror fan and movie buffs collection and is John Carpenter's greatest film. Highly Recommended. 10/10.