Scary, Gory, Original fun

Rating: 9/10 (25 March 2000)

(*=spoiler) Alright, here's the story. We are tortured to see a helicopter of crazy Norwegiens chasing after a cute little husky. They arrive at a base where Kurt Russel is stationed, and continue trying to kill this dog. Well, one thing leads to another, and the Norwegiens are dead. Kurt and crew take the dog into shelter, and go to the Norwegien camp to find out what's wrong. Horribly mutilated (and mutated) bodies are discovered. And then all hell breaks loose. I won't say anything more, except *the dog is not what it seems*. This film is incredibly scary in it's themes of isolation, paranoia, and incredibly disgusting (but entertaining) FX. One of the most tense scenes ever captured on film, where the crew's blood is checked, gives new meaning to this genre. And when the THING attacks, it's never who you think, what you think. It is the strangest damn thing made for the screen, with *opening chest cavities, heads splitting apart to reveal jaws, and heads popping off, growing spider legs*. I'm glad this movie was done before computers were big, because it would have looked crappy with them. If you have a tough stomach, just watch it. You'll see. *** (*=spoiler)