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A group of scientists in Antarctica are infiltrated by an ancient
alien that takes the form of those it kills, they then proceed
to fight amongst themselves over who is real and who is the thing.
I
have to say The Thing is the best of John Carpenter's work.
The alien is just the catalyst, the true horror in the movie is
the alienation and isolation of the men. Such purity of an abstract
feeling like alienation is rarely seen, but here you can actually
feel it. I think it makes a movie that's pretty good come close
to actual greatness. It was a remake that was based on the classic
short story "Who Goes There?" by John W Campbell Jr
which I've read and also enjoyed.
John
Carpenter was really in his stride at this time, it would be nice
if he'd take a long look at The Thing, The Fog,
and Halloween
and remember whatever it is he's forgotten since. I'd love to
see something with this much power come from him again.
The
effects are great, especially considering the lack of CGI. What
makes them so good is they weren't worried about looking real,
they wanted them to look alien and unnatural. Every effect, even
the strange ones like stomachs that bite added to the affect the
movie had. None of the effects were necessary, really, it would
have been good without them, but they brought so much to it.
The
true "special effect" is the way it makes the watcher
feel closed in, CGI can't do that, that takes an artist.
9
out of 10
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