The Thing (1982)

 

Genre: Horror/Mystery

Time: 1h 50mins

Director: John Carpenter

Quick Summary: A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

This manages to be clever from start to finish and be ever so entertaining. 

Something I feel like a lot of people might not like is that "the Thing"'s background was incredibly simple. For this film it didn't need to be overcomplicated, I quite like that we were in the shoes of the characters knowing absolutely nothing about this creature and what it could do. 

The tension in this is incredible, a general distrust of everyone and everything, paranoia and hysteria are high all in fear of their colleges are actually a perfect replica made by the thing waiting to pounce on them when they were alone. I found it interesting that given enough time it could replicate everything that makes up a person down to their bones, but the crew still managed to figure out ways to find out who was actually the imposter. (Pun intended) The scene in which they do figure out which ones are actually the thing I found so incredible and actually a really good jumpscare in my eyes as it was purely unexpected and added with a strong handful of tension.

I have to talk about the practical effects because they were just so goddamn good. It could have easily been a mess of "gross goop" but they actually managed to make something look so horrifying and pure nightmare fuel at the same time without making it an absolute mess. What makes it so good is that to me it looks realistic, and back then the amount of time that it would have taken to achieve that is insane which is why I praise it so much. They have not aged a day. 

The ending is one of the most talked about endings from what I can see. It literally leaves everything to the viewers, but I wouldn't say that it's bad. I liked it a lot actually. This film likes to be unconventional and wants the viewer to think and constantly be guessing and that is what it did all the way to the end. Without spoiling, I felt like the ending captured the whole theme of paranoia and fear. 

Kurt Russell was amazing in this, playing a character who is equally as afraid as his colleagues and knows nobody trusts anybody they take the main role of leader. Sadly, almost as he swapped this for more scare factor, the characters have barely no personality and are more archetypes. We have the hot head of the group that gets angry at every point, the drunk, and our hero Kurt Russell.  Any time we get possibly a scene to develop them, it's immediately taken over by some sort of attack. I don't think these characters needed a lot of development, but it needed a bit more just to add to the tension and actually make the viewer shocked as they either die or are the thing.

Now the plot does get a bit repetitive. They decide to stick together so the thing can't attack, and then something happens then they need to split up, someone dies and their body is found. Repeat. It gets samey and predictable, I was glad it only happened a few times and they were all exactly the same. 

Despite its flop at cinema release, I am so glad this became a cult classic as It 100% deserves it. This is entertaining from start to finish. Amazing practical effects and is an easy watch. 

9/10

 "They could be anybody. Nobody... nobody trusts anybody now, and we're all very tired."

"Garry: The generator's gone.

MacReady: Anyway we can fix it?

Garry: It's "gone", MacReady."