I've seen this movie so many times. I own it twice on DVD, I own it on 4K, Blu-Ray and I even have a copy on the now defunct HD-DVD format. I regret not seeing it in the theaters back in 1982. I don't know why I didn't go. I was certainly old enough to appreciate it. Instead, I saw "E.T.". I got swept up in happy little alien fever. I went with the crowd. All I had to do was wander over to a different screen and watch Carpenter's creation in all its paranoid glory. Sigh... As with all good movies, music, or books, I experience something new every time I view it. I keep trying to piece together how the Thing spread throughout the camp. I keep looking for clues. Like when Blair performs an autopsy on the recently roasted Thing. While he's presenting his thoughts on what the Thing is, he absent-mindedly taps his pencil eraser on the steaming carcass, crosses his arms and brings the pencil eraser perilously close to his mouth. Then he makes a talking point by waving the pencil in the air and ever so briefly...it touches his lip! Did he infect himself? Is it too late?!?!? Has the Thing spread itself to Blair?!?! These kinds of moments fill the movie. It so suspenseful and so paranoid. And the isolation is torture. You know they all have nowhere to go. All those nameless men. Well, they aren't nameless, it's just that it's hard to remember them all. And the strange thing about it is, we still seem to care about them. I think that's because Carpenter has done such a masterful job of building the suspense through threat and isolation that we can't help but subconsciously put ourselves into their places. There are so many great scenes. The opening helicopter-chases-dog scene. The horror of finding the Thing in the dog pen. The death and subsequent transformation of Norris. Wow! Is it gory! And in this particular case, I think the gore is absolutely necessary. That's kind of the knock on this film. The gore has been classified as extreme. And it is. But this is a story about such a faceless, out-of-this-world beast that it all seems so appropriate. And those effects. I don't think I need to say any more than others have already posited about the very special practical effects by Rob Bottin. They have to be the best I've ever seen. Then there's the "blood test" scene. All of the men at the Antarctic station volunteer to give a blood sample and then have it tested, while tied to chairs, to see if it reveals which of them are actually the "Thing". One by one, a heated copper wire is placed into a petri dish of blood from each one of the men. Seeing the smoke rise from the wire when it's touched to the dish of blood brings some relief. Will the next dish be Thing-free? You'll have to watch it and see for yourself. The setup and execution of this scene is one of the most intense and frightening things I've ever watched. I am very happy that this film has found its place thanks to Home Video. It's now considered a Horror/Sci-Fi classic. It is without a doubt my favorite Horror movie, perhaps my favorite monster flick and quite possibly my top Sci-Fi feature. It's that good.

The Thing is a claustrophobic, paranoia-driven horror film that follows a crew of American scientists trying to fend off an extraterrestrial monster before it picks them all off, one by one. The film is incredibly grounded, in a way that increases the horror and tension surrounding our main cast. In the beginning, the story takes its time, building on the threat and fear of the creature. But this slowly transitions into a paranoia-stricken thriller that has everyone painted as a potential threat. This worked really well, keeping the audience constantly on their toes not knowing who to trust. Throughout the course of the film, there is not an incredible amount of action. The movie thrives on the tension that slowly builds through the characters distrust, but this lends itself to making the more action-packed scenes that much more effective. The prosthetic and prop department did such an incredible job on the effects. There are some really twisted scenes combining body gore and genuine horror that was ahead of its time. Technically, this film is superb. The acting is great all around, but Kurt Russell shines in this role, taking over every scene he is in. The score is subtle but adds a sense of ominousness to the film that I really appreciated. Cinematography is top notch, with some impressive set designs and creative shots that create a great amount of immersion. Overall, this film is amazing. Although it does impact me as much as Halloween did, it is still an instant classic that should go down as John Carpenter's 1B to his Halloween masterpiece. Score: 90% | Verdict: Excellent

Told by way of a cycle of interconnected stories, this works well as a portmanteau of crimes and misdemeanours affecting a small town as it celebrates (or not!) Halloween. We start with a young couple returning from a party; the lady less enamoured with the occasion than her boyfriend. Suffice to say that there was no nookie for them that night (or ever again) as the series moves through a virgin, a group of glamorous vampires, a school principal with a penchant for the macabre and poor old Brian Cox's "Kreeg" who certainly has the most entertaining encounter with our tiny, pumpkin-headed, menace. The stories play well to our own fears and apprehensions, but there is also a soupçon of humour and a bit of a moral to it - suggesting, very strongly, that nay-sayers and folks who don't have treats are, quite literally, taking their lives in their own hands. There is no great reliance on visual effects. The presentation of the stories is characterful and genuinely scary a times without us looking for strings or CGI - and that makes this a more genuinely scary film that brings together many things evil and malevolent from the spiritual and fantasy worlds and couples them with some good old human vanity and nastiness. There is a sensible paucity of script - though some of Mr. Cox's one liners are potent, and Michael Dougherty allows the dark and eerie scenarios to evolve and facilitate the story with as few gimmicks as possible. Great fun, this.