37 Days to Halloween- 1982 The Thing

Over the next 100 days, I will present one movie of significances in horror, suspense or thrillers for each year from 1919 to 2018. The next film presented here is 1982 science fiction horror movie "The Thing" starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, TK Carter, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Donald Moffat and directed by John Carpenter

The Thing (1982)

Dir- John Carpenter

Many recall the classic movie "The Thing From Another World", a great Sci-Fi film of the cold war era. John Carpenter does it better this time, following the original story of William Campbell, "Who Goes There" more closely. We have what may be the goriest and most FX ridden film of the early 1980's. An Antarctic Expedition finds a frozen package in the burned out remains of a Norwegian Station. Thawing it out, they discover a creepy looking body that looks kind of human. The creature is still alive and pissed off, taking the form of first the dogs and then members of the crew. In the classic friend or foe scenario, we find these men fighting each other trying to determine who is or is not human. The creature is the real star, an indescribable mass that is closer to an HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu monster than anything ever attempted. The ending is left to the viewer to decide as we may or may not have seen the last of the creepy crawly. The film is an homage to the classic movie and contains some somewhat funny scenes involving the creature. A real scary film that outdoes its protégé. Beware, there are many prints available including a crappy cut up version that has an annoying voice over which is very much unnecessary.