COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 1 “JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING”

YEAH, F*** YOU TOO!!

Article by Adam Mast

In honor of Halloween, we’ll profile a new horror film every day throughout the month of October.

JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING (R) 1982

For my money, John Carpenter is the greatest horror filmmaker of all time. Beyond that, he’s just a great filmmaker, period! In short, like all of the greats, he has a voice. Translation: whenever I watch a Carpenter film, there’s always something unmistakably John Carpenter about it.

This has never been more true then it is with his brilliant reimagining of  1951’s THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. This redo is so great, that calling it THE THING wasn’t good enough. So, they decided to call it JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING. True, the majority of Carpenter’s films begin with JOHN CARPENTER’S but I think you get my point.

The truth is, my favorite Carpenter movie varies from day to day, but if you held a Michael Myers-sized knife to my throat and forced me to pick my very favorite, I’d go with this one. Sorry Michael.

Why is THE THING my favorite? You mean aside from the fact that it features Rob Bottin creations that are far more terrifying than anything I could conjure up in my demented mind?

Carpenter is a master of tone, and THE THING is all about atmosphere. This masterpiece weaves it’s unforgettable tale around  a team of Antarctic-based scientists who unearth a shape shifting creature buried in the ice. Once unleashed, this otherworldly baddie assimilates whoever it comes into contact with and it isn’t long before these scientists are plunged into a paranoia filled horror show.

Kurt Russell’s rugged R.J. MacCready sums up this tension filled roller coaster ride by way of one prophetic line of dialogue: “We’re going to find out who’s the thing.”

The stellar cast includes Keith David, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Richard Dysart, David Clennon, Thomas G. Waits, Punky Brewster’s teacher (T.K. Carter), and the Quaker Oates dude (Wilford Brimley), and all are in top form.

Miraculously, Carpenter gives each member of his large ensemble a chance to shine and he has the innate ability to make us feel just as confused and paranoid as each of his expertly drawn characters.

What’s more, Carpenter infuses THE THING with an ominous sense of dread. It’s sci-fi horror, yes, but there’s something apocalyptic about the whole thing. And he tops it all off with a undeniable feeling of isolation. There is simply no place for these men to hide. They’re stuck in their ice cold surroundings and it’s kill or be killed.

Carpenter follows a series of gruesome assimilations (the spider head is one for the ages), a sweat inducing blood testing sequence, and a man against alien finale with a perfectly executed moment of ambiguity that serves as the icing on this terrifying, stone cold cake.

It’s crazy to think that JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING bombed when it opened way back in 1982. Part of the blame for it’s underperforming was put upon another masterwork, a little Steven Spielberg film called E.T. Why it underperformed is irrelevant. What’s important is that it now receives the respect it rightfully deserves.  THE THING sits alongside David Cronenberg’s THE FLY as one of the greatest remakes of all time and simply put, it’s one of the greats!