An unrivaled masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (27 October 2008)

This 1982 remake of THE THING gets my top rating, and few films do. I was awestruck by it from my very first viewing and continue to watch it at least once a year for good measure. An ambitious rehash of Howard Hawks' 1952 THE THING and clearly inspired by Ridley Scott's 1979 ALIEN, JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING roughly follows the plot of the original: An alien life form that can imitate anything it desires kills and absorbs humans and other animals left and right. If let loose on the world, it will soon be the only living thing on the planet. A bunch of American scientists and their support team working at an Antarctioc base try to contain the beast, with little success. Hawks made his creature a close copy of Universal's Frankenstein monster, while Carpenter opts to have his Thing morph into all sorts of things, including a sled dog, various people and occasionally a snarling pile of absolutely disgusting ooze and flesh. There's even a funny if stomach-turning moment when the creature is an upside-down head running around on tiny feet. I wouldn't have been surprised if one of the men had said, "Now there's something you don't see everyday." It's a fight to the finish, with a very ambiguous ending. The incredible special effects have never been surpassed. The cast is superb, and includes a very hairy Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Keith David and Richard Dysart. Plus some wonderfully trained dogs, with an astounding opening sequence involving a suspenseful chase across a snowy landscape. The film was shot in Canada, for the record. While each character is nicely defined, Russell is definitely the tie that binds, the John Wayne-type hero facing down the black-hat villain. Several sequences pay fond tribute to Hawks' original. I like that as well. See it. But definitely not at meal time.