THE THING (1982)
***1/2 OF **** grade is B+
Don't want to see John Waters' Pecker rather than check out John Carpenter's Thing. That must be the ultimate control issue for directors, making others ask to see your joystick. If I ever make a film I'm sure I'll title it Jason Overbeck's Third Leg. Keeping with this train of thought did you know Roger Ebert said of John Carpenter's Thing, that "Teenagers can dare one another to watch." I'll leave that one alone.
The Thing is a very effective movie, with scenes of shear suspense and moments of terror and disgust. It opened in 1982 with mixed reviews and now seems to be a minor classic. People will always remember the dogs and the open-up chest and that blood-test scene. They are perfectly set-up and delivered, you can smile at the nifty special effects and remember the good ole days before computer effects made lazy imaginations. Would any studio get away with a film like The Thing now? Hell no! Not with that ending, those violent scenes with animals and the general yuck feeling.
The story has a group of scientists in isolated Antarctica being attacked by an alien that kills and replaces with a perfect clone. Who is and isn't infected? Who can tell, the isolation has drawn strange emotional states for all of these characters. Leading the pack is pilot (and antihero) MacReady (Kurt Russell) in a wacky-cool hat and a full beard. He is not unaffected by the isolation, he drinks too much and plays long games of chess on his computer, but when duty calls he takes command of the questionable group.
Guessing who is and isn't The Thing is almost impossible, everyone seems to separate from each other and then look spooky. The result leaves you on the edge of your seat as they try to unmask the alien. The final answer leads you to feel that the screenwriter could have just picked a name from a hat. That doesn't matter much because this film is all execution and the execution is slick, sick and a little gross. It recalls John Carpenter's much better classic Halloween.
Movie Reviews by Jason Overbeck