Forty years ago, John Carpenter teamed up with Kurt Russell, who he’d previously worked with a year before on Escape From New York, in one of the best isolation horror films of all time. The movie was an updated remake of Christian Nyby’s 1951 sci-fi film, The Thing From Another World. Carpenter kept a similar idea, changed up the premise, had the creatures re-designed, and simply shortened the title to The Thing.
The plot of John Carpenter’s The Thing is simple. A research base in Antarctica is infiltrated by a shape-shifting extraterrestrial, and the team within must figure out who is human and who has been taken over by the invasive being. The group must band together, stop the creature before it can reach a more populated area, and mimic the life of anyone it wants.
Although The Thing is most known for its incredible ability to blend the sci-fi and horror genres, it’s easy to forget the film is near the top of the list of isolation horror. The setting of The Thing is almost as terrifying to the creature, offering only limited ways in and out of the area in sub-freezing temperatures.
The only films from the era that even came close to portraying the intensity of this kind of isolation were Alien and The Shining. Every time a heated section of the base explodes or another option for transportation is destroyed, the hope for the characters’ survival dwindles little by little. Even the film ends without the viewer knowing whether or not the creature has been truly destroyed, as our last two characters are left in the freezing cold, not knowing for sure if the other is who he seems.
The likability of the crew compares to that of a classic siege film, something Carpenter already had experience with after releasing Assault on Precinct 13. While Kurt Russell’s MacReady was gruff, cool, and a take-charge hero you love to root for, the supporting cast brought a level of chemistry between them that made them mean more to viewers than just your normal creature-fodder characters. Keith David, Wilford Brimley, and Richard Masur lead a group of supporting cast members who are almost as memorable as Russell.
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It’s kind of crazy how popular The Thing is now, considering the film was a complete flop, both with audiences and critics upon its release. Not only was the film seen as drab, cynical, anti-authoritarian, and filled with gross special effects, but it was also competing with another, light-hearted extraterrestrial film that had released just a couple weeks before and was one of the biggest movies ever at the time; E.T. the Extraterrestrial.
Even the score by Ennio Morricone, one of the only scores that John Carpenter didn’t do himself in his own movies, was nominated for a Razzie for Worst Musical Score at the time. Then, when the score was essentially reused in The Hateful Eight, it won an Oscar.
The Thing’s standout special effects may have been ahead of their time with the general public, but they also lift the film the most in its legacy. Rob Bottin, a protege at the time of one of the best practical special effects creators ever, Rick Baker, was just 21 years old when he created the creature effects for The Thing. The special effects designer was on scene at the filming locations in Alaska and worked so hard that he was hospitalized for double pneumonia, exhaustion, and bleeding ulcers. His work paid off, as The Thing’s special effects are considered some of the best in the horror genre.
Unlike The Fly and Alien, two films it’s generally compared to, The Thing never received the ongoing franchise attention that the others did. In 2002, a video game-based sequel was released, and it was better than it had any right to be for a game that seemed to come from nowhere as a follow-up to a 20-year-old movie. Even though the game was good and well-received, a 2003 sequel was abruptly canceled. In 2011, a prequel starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead detailed the events at a nearby research station that was visited in the 1982 film.
In 2005, Frank Darabont planned a SYFY channel miniseries sequel to The Thing, but the project never got off the ground. In 2020, Blumhouse announced that a remake would be on the way, but two years later, not much has been said outside of John Carpenter confirming that it was a go.
At the end of this film, we’re left with a sense of unknowing what’s in store for The Thing. But one thing is for sure: in the four decades since its release, there hasn’t been anything quite like it, and even with a remake, I doubt there ever will be.
