Film: The Thing (1982)

Kurt Russell is hot, pass it on

(spoiler-ish)

"You gotta be fuckin´ kidding." Tense and surprisingly real - The Thing really caught me by surprise in terms of pacing, though with John Carpenter being in the director's chair I shouldn't have been shocked by the sheer elegance, briefly seen in Halloween. A team of American scientists out on Antarctica live quietly enough, until one day a bunch of Norwegians appear in a helicopter shooting after some dog, shouting "It's not really a dog, we have to kill it - don't invite the thing in!" Apparently back in 1982 Norwegians didn't know English, so the poor unsuspecting Americans put a bullet into the one guy who seems to be bearing a pretty sensible warning. 

This is of course where our story begins. 

It's clear that this time round Carpenter has more cash to spend in terms of special effects and scenery, which is much more convincing and gore-filled compared to Halloween (I'm bound to compare the two in terms of effects). The cast itself is convincing, each character with a distinct personality and that certainly creates a problem in terms of the plot (but in a good way). 

When the Norwegians have been shot down it becomes obvious that the Americans have to figure out why they suddenly went stir-crazy, quickly dragging themselves off to the Norwegians camp. They find little left of the camp, and 'something' that only looks slightly human, but dead. Being the curious scientists that they are, they bring back whatever it is, while letting the seemingly harmless dog wander around on the camp. 

Norwegians know how to party obviously

And soon enough they learn that they're not dealing with anything ordinary and the dog is also not an asset to their team. Basically it's some very memorable effect scenes that are both grotesque and just - excuse my language - fucked up. The more they learn about the thing, the more they understand that it can become one of them and it's a premise that is awfully clever. Everyone doubts one another and the once seemingly close group of people begin to attack each other. All before anyone's certain whether or not the other is human or some thing. Speculation and paranoia drives the characters forward and it's not as much the thing that is scary, but the people. 

The filming itself is actually quite interesting, slow-paced and distanced in a very sci-fi kind of way, but it's all underlined beautifully with the soundtrack crafted by my favourite cinematic composer Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad And The Ugly). It's also got one of my favourite actors from my childhood - Kurt Russell (Escape from New York) playing a character call Mac, and he certainly adds to the whole of the film. He understandably becomes the leader, though it's with some resistance and confusion of course, but the film would certainly not be the same without his - "Yeah, fuck you too!" This is absolutely a gem worthy of seeing, it's perhaps not a typical scare, but there's something more personal in its construction, revealing to be more about man than any kind of foul creature.  

9/10