The Thing

Just so incredible, a stand out of the genre. Great to rewatch it in the cinema as well. Practical effects are, of course, the bit everyone raves about but the film as a whole looks great in terms of set design and the whole (ant)artic aesthetic. Bleak as hell though, not just for its ending, but for what it says about late-1970s/early-1980s American society coming out of its economic malaise, reeling from failure in Vietnam, and just as the Cold War began to heat back up again… which is part of what makes this film so bloody interesting. I’ve knocked off half a star because at points the acting is a bit more clunky than I remember, but then the overall tone of the film is far more restrained than most other horror/thriller films.