The penultimate film about terror and fear through paranoia

Rating: 9/10 (25 November 2018)

The easiest kind of horror these days are obviously cliché fests overloaden with cheap jump scares. All of which require little in the way of intelligent writing or cohesive storytelling. The Thing (1982) however, takes us back to a time when psychological and intelligent horror films were in abundance, and this is definitely one of the best in that regard.
The Thing is undoubtedly one of the scariest movies ever made. There are very little cheap jumpscares, since The Thing focuses on the most difficult kind of horror to create; The psychological. The scare-factor in The Thing is simply because of the combination of excellent framing, eeriness in atmosphere and ofcourse the haunting soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. The extremely disturbing roar for 'The Thing' also contributes to the terrifying feel of it. All of these factors give the audience an uneasy and on-edge feeling that both enhances the tension significantly and creates a haunting atmospheric feeling. Ofcourse the practical effects ( Possibly the most discussed and praised aspect of The Thing ) are also a significant factor in the creation of actual fear and disgust throughout this film. When comparing these special effects to those of a later prequel, The Thing (2011), a painstakingly obvious verdict is that the latter's overuse of CGI really looks phony, ridiculous and not at all scary in any way. You could call the practical effects of The Thing (1982) absurd, and that is exactly what it was going for. The practical effects look disgusting, haunting and menacing. Besides which, the 'Thing' was shown far too often in said prequel, as opposed to the little screen time in this particular film, which significantly drains the tension as the psychological side of a largely unseen 'thing' is about the most intelligent feeling of unease one could get. That is why this is more than just a mere 'monster' flick, as the emphasis is on the tension and paranoia instead of the actual gore.
As stated before, the original soundtrack by Ennio Morricone is an absolutely haunting piece that breathes fear ridden atmosphere like no other. A sense of hopelessness, paranoia, and a literal mimic of a human heartbeat are all present in the score. The opening scene of a helicopter attempting to shoot down a dog/wolf while Morricone's score is playing is quite possibly one of the most absorbing, haunting & beautiful opening scenes ever made.
The acting is excellent, which is ofcourse a pretty rare thing in a horror film. There isn't a single weak performance visible, and a unique stand-out has to be the half dog, half wolf actor Jed. Never looking at the camera or crew, while maintaining this sense of alienism in him ( Especially the scene where he is first lead to the kennel, followed by his haunting wall-stare ), truly make it seem like this is the actual Dog-thing. Characterization is not as thorough and in depth as for example Alien (1979), but none of the characters are forgettable and each acts according to their personalities. Most of the characters are shown to be resourceful and intelligent, since they quickly figure out the Thing's intentions and origin, as opposed to the usual stereotypical horror dumb characters. There might not be much interesting in terms of the narrative itself, but The Thing's strength comes from the way that the situations themselves are filmed, and director John Carpenter purposely left a lot of key events off-screen, to feed the eager anticipation of the audience even more, and leaves us wondering, just like the characters, who to trust.
With very little over the top exposition and a superb flow of visual storytelling ( Like the scene in which 'twoface' revives and assimilates someone, which is shown with a slight movement beforehand while blood starts dripping down, as opposed to ham fisted dialogue ), The Thing is indeed an intellectual piece of horror filmmaking, and Carpenter was ofcourse one of the best in the business at this regard. There is a lot of purposeful ambiguity ( Especially in the much discussed final scene ) which only enhances the paranoid and unknowing feel the audience receives.
The Thing is one of the most frightening films ever created, and does this through superb direction and tension building, extremely disturbing and terrifying practical effects, but above all, the creation of paranoia and inner fear and mistrust. When you analyze the situation our characters are in, there are very little films that have a more terrifying premise, since this alien organism is disguising itself as a normal human being, and could be anybody next to you at any time. Thus it is definitely one of the greatest horror flicks ever created.