The Thing 1982

Cast:
Kurt Russell – R.J. MacReady
Wilford Brimley – Dr. Blair (as A. Wilford Brimley)
T.K. Carter – Nauls
David Clennon – Palmer
Keith David – Childs
Richard A. Dysart – Dr. Copper (as Richard Dysart)

The Thing is a film that has developed a sizable cult subsequent to its release. Although the surprise about it is that the film was not at all a success when it came out. The Thing ’s problem was really its timing – it came out three weeks after Spielberg’s E.T– The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). E.T. and its warm-fuzzy view of intergalactic relations was well and truly on its way to becoming the then No. 1 box-office film of all-time and The Thing ended up being forgotten in all the excitement. Moreover it received a surprising number of hostile mainstream reviews that dismissed it as no more than an effects and gore showcase.

The Thing tapped into the burgeoning 1980s fad for remakes of 1950s science-fiction films. It was a remake of The Thing from Another World (1951), the first alien invader film of the classic fear-fraught era of 1950s science-fiction. Although The Thing 82 is less a remake of The Thing 51 than it is film that goes back to The Thing 51 ’s source work, the novella Who Goes There? (1938) by John W. Campbell Jr. John W. Campbell Jr is an interesting figure in science-fiction – he was the editor of Astounding/Analog magazine from 1939 to 1971 and was responsible for bringing out many key science-fiction writers and maturing the nature of science fiction during the 1930s and 40s. The Thing 51 largely abandoned Campbell’s source material, keeping only the basics of an Antarctic base, a group of trapped men and a hostile alien menace, and threw out altogether the notion of a shape-changing alien that could take the likeness of any lifeform.

Remake of the classic 1951 “The Thing From Another World”. 12 men are in a completely isolated station in Antartica. They are invaded by a thing from outer space–it devours and completely duplicates anything it chooses to. It starts off as a dog but gets loose–and has a chance to duplicate any of the men. Soon, nobody trusts anyone else–they’re isolated–the radio is destroyed–their helicopter likewise. What are they going to do?

The 1951 film had the thing just be a big, super human monster. That movie was scary. This one is too–but the story is different and it’s scary in a different way. The movie starts right off with Ennio Morricone’s extremely eerie score setting just the right tone and–when the Thing gets attacked–the amount of gore is astounding. There’s blood and body parts flying all over–arms are bitten off, heads detach and–in the strongest one–one man is devoured face first by the Thing. The gore effects are strong and real nightmare material. I don’t scare easy but I had to sleep with the lights on when I saw this originally back in 1982. Rob Bottin’s effects are just incredible–how this picture got by with an R rating is beyond me!

It also has a very creepy feel–gore aside, it is very suspenseful. You’re not sure who is what and Carpenter’s direction and the score really build up the tension. One complaint–no one is given any distinctive personality traits. They actors just remain straight-faced and say their lines. That’s annoying…but the movie still works.

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