The Thing 1982 Film Starring Kurt Russell
John Carpenter Directs a Visually Shocking Sci-fi Classic
Sep 10, 2009
In 1982 an all-male team are assigned to a United States Antarctic research station. The isolation and risk of going stir crazy on the lonely continent are soon the least of their problems as they come to grips with the fact that a shape-shifting alien capable of absorbing any one of them is in their midst. The men struggle to fight their own paranoia as the terrifying Thing lurks within the flesh of those around them.
The Thing is a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks-Christian Nyby film The Thing from Another World and is a truer version of the novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr. which served as the inspiration to the 1951 film.
The Thing's Plot and Key Characters
The Thing opens with a dog running through the snow, the camera pans back to show that the dog is being chased by a Norewegian helicopter. Two armed men are attempting to kill the animal. The dog runs to the U.S. research station as the men in the helicopter land and shout something to the American researchers before opening fire, missing the dog and wounding Bennings (Peter Maloney). Garry (Donald Moffat) returns fire and kills one of the armed men, whilst the other is trapped in their helicopter as he attempts to light a grenade and accidentally destroys the helicopter.
The Americans are left stunned and the dog approaches them. MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Dr Copper (Richard Dysart) head to the base the Norwegian men came from to investigate what they were doing shooting at a dog. They find a burnt base and something inhuman smouldering in the snow. Taking the remains back to their base for examination they are unaware that the stray dog is an alien and has already assimilated one of their number.
Later the dog attempts to assimilate the other dogs and is discovered to be something other than a simple dog. Childs (Keith David) promptly uses a flame-thrower to incinerate the creature. Blair realises that the animal is an alien capable of absorbing and perfectly imitating other life forms, and comes to the conclusion that one or more of the people on the base has already been taken by the alien. Blair destroys their vehicles and communications to prevent anyone else from joining the researchers and to prevent any of them from escaping.
The researchers struggle with growing paranoia as they face the prospect that one of them is not who they appear to be, and the alien works to assimilate them all.
No One Can be Trusted
John Carpenter directs the story of alien infestation and the growing paranoia brilliantly. The tension comes from never knowing if anyone is who they seem to be. The alien also works to take the focus away from itself by leaving evidence which points to someone else. It takes only moments for the alien to absorb one of them, so each time a character disappears, the audience doesn’t know if they are still human.
Trust is so important and when someone doesn’t know if they can trust those around them, then the tension is set at breaking point. Carpenter shows the growing suspicions on each one of the men as the full extent of the alien’s shape-shifting abilities are realised. Being trapped in the middle of Antarctica is probably the most isolated place in the world, and being there with people that may or may not be human is a living nightmare.
Whenever the alien is revealed it looks like anything other than a person. It distorts itself with tentacles and approximations of human features. What makes the creature so chilling is because as an alien it looks so inhuman that it makes it even more terrifying to think that it can perfectly imitate a person when it absorbs them. The special effects are a little dated, but they do not rely on bad CGI and do not take anything away from this sci-fi horror. However, be warned the gore is not for the faint hearted.
4/5
The Thing is a great sci-fi chillier and cult classic.
Any self-respecting sci-fi and/or horror fan needs to track down a copy of this film.
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