The Thing

1982 'Horror' movie by John Carpenter. One of those cult classic must watch things if one is a supposed horror fan, or something.

Spoilers:


I didn't bother following the plot, hearing 1/3 sentences, and still managed to get pretty much the whole story. It follows the tried and true classic formulas of alien/isolated group of people movies. Some alien thing crash into the frozen tundras and sneak into a nearby scientific base. A convenient snow storm then cuts off the base from the rest of the world. The alien has the ability to shape-shift or take over any body. It takes on the form of a dog first(I totally called it), then proceed to possess various men. The scientists go haywire second-guessing each other. The details are not important, whats important is the glorious flesh horror filling the screens. The Thing has some pretty gratuitous gore: its debut as an inside-out dog with intestinal tendrils, its melted twisted two-headed face, its chomping stomach..the list goes on. All in all, it was lovely to beheld. Bonus points for Kurt Russell's lion's mane.

Lion's Mane

Thoughts:


The Thing just seems like an unapologetic excuse for wacky gore. The whole thing is filled with 80s bad horror campy goodness, and watching it on a dingy hotel room TV really topped it off. One thing I did notice was the lack of any female characters. Maybe some of the dogs were female, but otherwise there was not a lick of feminine touch to this movie. It was refreshing, no contrived romantic subplot, which never has a proper place in horror movies. No low-topped blondes running through the screen screaming their heads off, which begs the question of who were the target audience for this flick? I suppose it could be due to the fact its that 'other' category of horror films, the sci-fi gone wrong sub-genre instead of the slasher-murder sub-genre, which usually have lower requirements of female influence. I honestly enjoyed this one.

So gross and yet, so artistic

Things that struck me:


Stomach-churningly good effects. This Carpenter guy's so awesome, doesn't afraid of anything! For all the cheesiness of the storyline and characters, the acting wasn't over the top. The ending was pretty bomb too, with the philosophical ambiguity, the resigned determination to die with The Thing. It went instantly from thoughtless horror to intriguing sci-fi in my book.

Upside down head spider-thing

TL;DR:
Shape-shifting meat blob vs. scientists with flame throwers. On ice!
Fun! Funny! Ridiculous gore to satisfy all your campy 80s horror needs.

Here's The Thing on youtube!