Not a good thing.

Rating: 1/10 (5 May 2017)

John Carpenter's The Thing is a movie that's mostly remembered for its disgusting special effects. Remove them, and the movie isn't all that special. It has some scary parts, but most of the time it just relies on lots of gore and cheap jump scares.
The Thing is also a very boring movie. I had the same problem with Alien, nothing very interesting happens in between the monster scenes. I didn't care about the potty-mouthed characters in either movies. None of them are likable.
***Warning, spoilers for the original Thing!***
The original The Thing didn't need any gory effects to frighten people. It is one of those meaningful sci-fi/horror movies you rarely see these days. It has a message. Scientists shouldn't mess around with dangerous things (heh). Unlike the remake, the old version had a more optimistic ending. I miss stuff like that in modern horror movies. That a movie can be scary and still have a happy ending.
Carpenter's movie is just meaningless and depressing. The Thing shows up, slaughters a lot of dogs and people, and in the end everyone (eventually) dies. Hooray! Just like in real life, right? Except for the part with the scary alien monster, of course.
I don't think nihilistic crap like that is necessary in movies like this. I'm not saying that the movie should have ended with the monster turning out to be old man this or that, and with Kurt Russell winking and saying "Rooby Rooby Roo". But there should always be some glimmer of hope at the end of a movie. There's enough horrific stuff in the real world, can't we at least let the good guys win in the movies?