All right, I’m a huge John Carpenter fan, so when I saw I could review one of his films, then I jumped at the chance.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad John Carpenter flick. However, the only kicker is the fact that technically I’m a review on this particular film, and there have been 3 versions of it over time.

The Summary

A US research station, Antarctica, early-winter 1982. The base is suddenly buzzed by a helicopter from the nearby Norwegian research station. They are trying to kill a dog that has escaped from their base.

After the destruction of the Norwegian chopper the members of the US team fly to the Norwegian base, only to discover them all dead or missing. They do find the remains of a strange creature the Norwegians burned.

The Americans take it to their base and deduce that it is an alien life form. After a while it is apparent that the alien can take over and assimilate into other life forms, including humans, and can spread like a virus. This means that anyone at the base could be inhabited by The Thing, and tensions escalate. — Written by Grantss, IMDb

Three Things

The first movie was released back in 1951, a black and white film that, for its time, blew people away and scared the pants off them.

The next version directed by John Carpenter and came out in 1982 and is arguably the best of the 3 versions of the story. The final version of the story came out in 2011.

Instead of doing a mashup review of all three movies, I decided to focus on my favorite, the 1982 John Carpenter version of this film.

John Carpenter’s Win

When The Thing came out, I was super young, so it was a while before I sat down to watch it with my dad.

We had been on a kick of watching horror films with heavy special effects makeup, before the age of CG animation, and this was the one, the standard to which all the others had to reach in quality after its viewing.

With a fantastic cast, Kurt Russell, Keith David, and Wilford Brimley to name a few and even better monster effects, this was the monster flick of my childhood. It was fantastic watching as this monster morphed on screen, changing every time we saw it, and leaving unheard of carnage in its wake.

Perfect Ending

Then the end, such a quiet moment, one that you wouldn’t find in any other moment of the film, it was such a perfect way to cap off this film and still stands today as one of the better horror films of the eighties.

A+

Edward