The Thing 1982

Made in 1982, “The Thing” is one of the many adaptations of “Who Goes There?”, a science fiction novel written by John W. Campbell Jr., including “The Thing From Another World (1951), “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers” (1956), “Alien” (1978), and a modern remake of the object of this review, “The Thing” (2011).

The Thing adds many steps further on special effects for the time it was conceived.  To the knowledge of this reviewer, the movie still has the most graphic and impressive horror effects to be made, even if it dates some thirty years back. This is due mostly to the care for realism the production sought. For instance,  the studio temperature was lowered and the actors had to drink hot beverages before shooting, so the their breath should be seen on screen.  Its director, John Carpenter on his debut with Universal Pictures, has been able to stamp his particular view on the subjects of his movies.  Being a lawless, earthquake thorn, Los Angeles (Escape From L.A.) or a chinese neighborhood unraveling secrets and ancient hocus pocus (Big Trouble In Little China), most of his films display his own and inimitable signature.  

With The Thing there is no difference. The viewer is presented with a dark, sober and realistic recreation of an Antarctic American research base. Right from the very beginning the ominous story begins to unfold, as a Swedish colleague lands at the American site and starts shooting its personnel.  The threat is revealed as an alien creature that mimics life forms, including humans. From this point onwards what was meant (or imagined by the audience) to be only a horror movie turns out to be also a psychological thriller, very well explored by Carpenter, as the characters don’t know who is the alien disguised as a human.  This dual feature heightens  “The Thing” apart from other horror movies, and, thus, the cult status it is often credited nowadays.

Kurt Russell, as the helicopter pilot Mc Ready, displays possibly the best acting of the many partnerships he has made with John Carpenter. The hammy, macho-man, performance seen on “Escape From L.A.” is mostly gone, so the audience remains with a character that is still always master of its actions but not immune to the neurotic suspicion the base crew is plagued with. For the rest of the crew, Carpenter casted many unknown actors, so their roles resembles no other previous acting, in a way that provides more authenticity. For instance, Tom Hanks on “The Terminal” and on “Forrest Gump” looks remarkably the same naïve guy, being difficult not think you’re seeing different people who are alike.

“The Thing” attained a deserved cult status, on the other hand, it endured an undeserved weak theater reception. This is often explained as an E.T. effect, as the homonymous  movie was released almost simultaneously, and the audiences went on cherishing gentle, good doers, extraterrestrials, in spite of those evil, insidious, alien creatures John Carpenter presented us.

 @jpvbm