The Thing

Hooptober 12 — 32/35 I’m still questioning everything. This is the perfect embodiment of paranoia in a film. It still feels terrifying over 40 years later, something incredible for a movie that flopped upon its release. The practical effects are phenomenal, and this proves that practical is always better than using CGI. They’re grotesque and disturbingly beautiful in all of the right ways, and they feel so organic and real. The score is also great. It helps to keep you on the edge at every scene, and helps the movie to drive forwards. Kurt Russel as MacReady is also brilliant, and he becomes a character that you feel like you can root for. That said, can you? There’s so much mystery behind the ending, and it really makes you wonder if MacReady was who he seemed to be. There’s plenty of reasons not to believe that he is, and I’ll keep scratching my head over it for ages. If there’s even a flaw in this, it’s that there’s no room for any emotional comfort due to the film’s bleak tone. But that’s how it works. It makes you desensitised to any trauma by the end of it, and makes you question everything that just ensued. It’s Carpenter’s best work, and it’s one that can’t be beat in its own league.