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Since we are close to Halloween, I wanted to do a review of an horror classic and one of my favorite movies of the genre 😊.

Plot

1982 in Antarctica. A group of researchers at an American science base, including R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell), save a husky that was escaping from two Norwegians who were also members of a base nearby. Due to a mental attack, the two men who were preparing to shoot the dog are fatally wounded.

The Americans are unaware that the dog the Norwegians were ready to shoot was actually an alien monster that had attacked, assimilated, and replicated the likeness of a significant portion of the scanning group due to its parasitic nature. The dog is saved and brought into the base where he starts infecting some of the crew. As soon as MacReady realizes what is happening, he will take control of the situation. One leader, however, is not enough. As a result, panic breaks out among the team members, and a pervasive sense of distrust, mistrust, and terror toward their closest friend predominates.

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Why you should watch it?

The director, who loved "The Thing from Another World," remade the movie. The monster, or the "thing", is the primary difference from the latter. The threat that terrorized the group of researchers in Carpenter's film can mimic the appearance of any organism it comes into contact with, be it human or animal, as opposed to the creature that frightened the group of scientists in '51, which had a clearly defined appearance, its own identity, and its own physicality. This leads to the underlying emotion of suspicion and distrust, which is also at the heart of the social and political allusions that, as we shall see, are made in the work: if the Thing can assume the appearance of anyone, then anyone can be the Thing, making everyone a suspect.

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This is a movie that may fascinate and captivate the viewer by creating unsettling atmospheres Carpenter is successful in illustrating his vision of a divided society, in which the breakdown of humanity and suspicion of others reigns, and in getting the audience to reflect on it through paranoia and horror.

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Carpenter avoids giving the horror element more prominence than is necessary and focuses instead on the relationships between the characters and the mistrust that inexorably begins to creep between them. Since the team members are more concerned with preserving their own reputations and identifying the enemy than coming up with a cohesive plan of attack, the alien thing that gives the movie its title, whose appearances are wisely kept to a minimum by the director, becomes a disintegrating element that highlights the character and social rifts between them. A collective game of massacre is started by the protagonists as they become complicit in the hostile and isolated environment that already underlies films like Alien. This massacre is driven by a growing hysteria that causes the protagonists to admit their complete selfishness and lack of empathy for others.
In the absence of a set of social and occupational norms and under the mounting pressure of an invisible but not entirely incomprehensible threat, the base's inhabitants exhibit their most primitive instincts and disregard for reason in an atmosphere of complete mistrust for both cooperation and their fellow human beings.

The few but effective monster appearances, as well as the extremely well-known blood analysis sequence, where the tension and sense of claustrophobia reach their peak, should be mentioned among the many unforgettable scenes of "The Thing".

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This serves as the foundation for the director's depressing and hopeless production, in which the most ancient terror blends with the harshness and desolation of the Antarctic landscape, bringing to life a true nightmare in the ice that is still capable of startling and terrifying viewers of all types. A piece that can combine science fiction, horror, the suspense of a thriller, and the character contrasts that are the foundation of a western.

Lastly, a note on the soundtrack. John Carpenter picked the talented composer Ennio Morricone to bring to life a distinctive fusion of the Maestro's customary orchestral compositions and the synth sounds that the director himself is used to producing for his films. "The Thing" pulls specifically from the history of westerns.
The ultimate effect is a very frightening soundtrack that, despite Morricone's ridiculous Razzie Awards nomination, nevertheless serves as a wonderful example of how sound and vision should be combined.

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Conclusion

One of Carpenter's finest pieces, The Thing is a great movie, an absolute must-watch.
Although, like many masterpieces, it received a muted response when it was first released, earning slightly under $20 million on an estimated $15 million budget. Although Blade Runner's simultaneous theatrical release did not help, Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which made almost 360 million dollars worldwide, had the greatest negative impact on John Carpenter's work. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial forced the idea of a good alien, a symbol of peace and cooperation between different peoples, into the public imagination while relegating the US government and the adult world to the position of antagonists.

Rating

My personal vote is:

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9.0/10

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