A Flawed Classic

Rating: 8/10 (11 October 2017)

John Carpenter's The Thing is rightfully called a classic horror film. The scares and tension hold up, the ambiguity associated with the film begs interpretation, the acting is solid, the setting unique, the pacing excellent, and the cinematography good. Hats off to this movie, at a time when it was popular to use horror movies to punish promiscuous, mean, or stupid teenagers and adults, the Thing threatened a group of grown, intelligent, good men. Despite making all the correct choices, these brave men were still killed one by one by the creature.
Of course, the film is probably most famous for its ahead-of-its-time practical effects. I would agree, they were good for the time, despite a lot of the effects being outclassed today. Need I remind you that a lot of the effects were slow or slow-moving and accompanied by long, horrified reaction shots of the men. How much scarier would the spider- legged head been if it went scampering quickly away?
Also, the movie feels a little inconsistent. When the blood test is taken, one guy looks nervous, even though he obviously knows he's not infected. When Bennings is killed, somebody, i think it was Garry, says "I knew Bennings all my life" despite the inhuman scream that Bennings uttered as he died, his warped hands. Also, is the Thing an organism or virus? It's referred to as an imitation at times. How does it replicate the host's memory? Why did the Thing reveal itself as the dog?
But hey, these are just nitpicks. It's a really good film, if a little old.