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Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David ...( see more  see more... ) , Richard A. Dysart , Thomas G. Waites , Peter Maloney , Richard Masur , Charles Hallahan , Joel Polis

An American scientific expedition to the frozen wastes of the Antarctic is interrupted by a group of seemingly mad Norwegians pursuing and shooting a dog. The helicopter pursuing the dog crashes leavi...( read more  read more... )ng no explanation for the chase. During the night, the dog mutates and attacks other dogs in the cage and members of the team that investigate. The team soon realises that an alien life-form with the ability to take over other bodies is on the loose and they don't know who may already have been taken over.

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87% liked it

103,818 ratings

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80% liked it

40 critics

R, 1 hr. 49 min.

Directed by: John Carpenter

Release Date: July 1, 1982

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DVD Release Date: August 28, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (7,972)

  • henriksedin
    December 20, 2009
    henriksedin
    one word Fucked. anally
  • RiderOfTheStorms
    December 18, 2009
    RiderOfTheStorms
    this movie is fuckin incredible, the cast really makes it work and John Carpenter Created his Masterpiece with this film. Good story, good Humor and Amazing and terrifying effects. Usually Carpenter's films start strong and then fuck up sumwhere, which usually upsets me cuz his f...( read more)ilm have great potential, but this movie is his only one dat i've seen, datz perfect.
    They don't make movies like this anymore and they really need 2.
  • 76Majikat
    December 4, 2009
    76Majikat
    I?m not great at these type of films and so my rating reflects that, yet I can at least see a glimmer of what fans of Alien films would see here. Effects of course are dated, but good for their time.

    Haven?t seen the original, so am unable to compare.
  • SirPant
    September 8, 2009
    SirPant
    One of the best horror films ever made, tons better than the original! Full of unlikely characters and old school special effects that have yet to be bettered. The head/spider scene and the tied to a bench scene are two of the best in the genres. 'You gotta be fucking kidding' - ...( read more)Love it!
  • mrpopcorn
    July 29, 2009
    mrpopcorn
    "Man is The Warmest Place to Hide."

    Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people that it kills.

    REVIEW

    This isn't a slavis...( read more)h remake of the black and white original or an anal adaptation of Campbell's "Who Goes There?" short story. It's John Carpenter stamping his own brand of balls-to-the-wall film-making on a fascinating premise and it works beautifully. Carpenter doesn't compromise the material by sticking a love story in there and he doesn't sanitize the shock scenes. Ably assisted by the brilliant master of special make-up Rob Bottin, he creates one of the very best Hollywood-financed sci-fi movies ever. Ennio Morricone's brooding, minimalist score keeps the tension pumped and the all-male cast keeps the expected thespian histrionics under control.

    This is not a pacey film. Carpenter allows it to seep into our psyches and fill us with dread before he pulls some jaw-dropping rabbits from his hat. The film flopped upon its theatrical release while the friendly alien, ET: The Extra Terrestrial in the theatre next door took box office line honors. Both films have stood the test of time for their own reasons. Lensing by Dean Cundey is stand-out and lead Kurt Russell carries the film well.
  • mirabella1996
    February 4, 2010
    mirabella1996
    THE THING (1982)
    Dir. by John Carpenter.
    Written by Bill Lancaster.
    Based on the 1938 sci-fi short story by John W.Campbell : Who Goes There? (in Astounding Sci-Fi Magazine). Believed to be the first time a 'shape-shifting' type of alien creature was described in literature.
    The ...( read more)story was initially filmed by Howard Hawks in 1951 as The Thing From Another World & left a lasting impression on Carpenter as a child. He even pays homage to it by showing it on TV in a background scene in his ground-breaking film, Halloween (1978).
    I had high hopes for The Thing, his 1st 'proper' studio release. Somehow, I had never seen it before (nor the original)& was really looking forward to a rare treat.
    Unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed.
    Mr Carpenter has a penchant for a type of monster sci-fi that I am simply not a fan of. And here, he clearly had the budget to realise his dream flick which, although apocalyptic (in general terms) is really little more than a creaky "creature feature".
    In fact, I found myself struggling to tell most of the actors apart &, so, had difficulty following the plot development (such as it was). However, I waited eagerly for the ultimate unveiling of the beast (in all of its technicolour glory) as the film reached its climax.....only to find myself in HYSTERICS!!!
    Surely they could not be serious?!
    Surely this was supposed to be a joke?!? I was almost incontinent with laughter....the puppetry was ridiculously amateurish, nothing was remotely real, credible or scary, & as for the yellow & purple goop(!)....well, WHAT can I say?!!!!
    I laughed.
    It was funny.
    I thought it was supposed to be.
    No wonder it bombed at the box-office & has become a big favourite of the home entertainment market (yeah, right....with all the pre-teen boys & stoners!)
    I find myself wondering whether my reaction to the film might be different (& more positive) if I had seen it for the first time as a child.
    So, in summary, the 4 things that spoilt it for me were :
    1. The lack of development & exploration/expansion on the possible apocalyptic aspects to the story.
    BTW, I loved the scene where the computer flashes up the projected statement that : "If intruder organism reaches civilised areas....entire world population infected 27.00 hours from first contact."
    The metaphors for disease on a global scale (that highlight just how vulnerable we are as a species) are a rich field crying out for harvesting. Carpenter himself says : "The Thing has a lot of truth in it, kind of dressed up as a monster movie." Alas, it is far too over-dressed & I believe this really minimalises the impact that he clearly wishes to have achieved.
    2. The confusion of having a too-large cast of mostly unknowns who were all virtually indistinguishable from one another, made the plot super-hard to follow. Couldn't they have tried different coloured parkas??!
    Carpenter himself admits that this "was a problem" & that he "would do it differently now."
    3. Failure to adequately explore the vast array of possible behaviours & experiences that people in such a life-threatening & isolated situation would actually go through. The emerging paranoia in the group (which was supposed to be a central theme of the film)was constructed in a lazy, simplistic, pedestrian, repetitive & unoriginal manner. As it escalated, instead of becoming more threatening & all-encompassing, became increasingly shrill & hysterical, with the writer relying entirely on endless 'finger-pointing' (?I'm not going alone with HIM!?). The lack of any intelligent psychological insight was disappointing.
    The film was simply WAY too long, with a focus on uninteresting dialogue & never-ending landscape that was mind-numbingly, uninspired & dull, & failed utterly in its stated objective of providing the viewer with a more intimate impression of the struggles facing these men.
    4. The deliberate omission of any overt humour (explained by Carpenter as a device to help focus
    understanding of the gravity of the men's plight) was, I believe, a mistake. A viewer who has not responded to the devices already used, may still be engaged (at least, partially)by some lighter moments or wry asides here & there. Having said that, there were one or two intended moments of humour, one of which I loved. It was the immortal lines uttered by one of the suspected infected who had been locked outside in a service shed : "I am all better now....& I want to come back inside. I won't hurt anyone, I promise!"....I adored this gem.
    On a final, more positive note, I would like to say that Mr Carpenter's Director Commentaries are some of the most consistently entertaining (& informative) that I have come across. It is always such a pleasure & a privilege to listen to them.
    In fact, this one was so good that it bumped my rating up from 1 & a half to 2 out of 5 stars.

    PS : See my Fun Facts for trivia.

    **2 out of 5 stars**
  • SkywalkerJones
    January 31, 2010
    SkywalkerJones
    "You guys think I'M crazy! Well, that's fine! Most of you don't know what's going on around here, but I'm damn well sure SOME of you do! You think that thing wanted to be an animal? No dogs make it a thousand miles through the cold! No, you don't understand! That thing wanted to ...( read more)be US"! -Dr.Blair

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    Director:John Carpenter
    Cast:Kurt Russell,Keith David,David Clennon,Peter Maloney
    Genre:Horror,Thriller
    Year of Release:1982
    Running Time:110 minutes

    Plot:
    In the midst of the Antartican snowfield, the scientists and workers of a small American research base are shocked when a helicopter begins to circle their camp, chasing and shooting at a dog. When the helicopter is destroyed and the passenger's are killed by accident, the dog is let into the base and the American's begin to wonder what has actually happened. The helicopter is discovered to be of Norweigan make, and probably linked to the Norweigan base not too far from their own. Helicopter pilot J.R MacReady offers to travel to the Norweigan base and find out what has happened. On arrival, he finds that the place has been totally destroyed. He also discovers a mangled body that looks as though it was once that of a person, which he brings back with him to study. It is only then that the clues begin to add up; the dog morphs horribly into a strange creature that attacks the researchers. They manage to fight it off, but the base's doctor has come to a conclusion: an alien with the power to transform and take the appearance of anybody else is amongst them. Who is infected already, and who can be trusted? J.R MacReady sets out to find the answers to exactly that.

    Review:soon...
  • dfduncan
    January 29, 2010
    dfduncan
    Great special effects and beautiful cinematography. The story and acting are also superb though they take second place to the look of the film.
  • calum18mcdonald
    January 25, 2010
    calum18mcdonald
    i got to have this to my blu ray collection .
  • windypr
    January 24, 2010
    windypr
    Esta pelicula siempre que la veo me mantiene en suspenso.

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Critic Reviews

October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Because this material has been done before, and better, especially in the original The Thing and Alien, there's no need to see this version. full review

View more The Thing reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • MorpheusOne
    November 12, 2008
    MorpheusOne
    AN AWESOME horror movie!! One of the best ever made in my opinion. The only reason that I didn't give it 5 stars is bc what is pretty much the 2nd to the last scene, right near/at the end of the movie the character Nauls just disappears!

    You don't see him die, you don't see him get buried in anything; ...tho this does heavily imply that his character does die at the end, ... he just disappears! He could have gotten away, but bc they didn't show that we assume that he died.
  • madcat612
    July 25, 2008
    madcat612
    Wilford Brimley goes ape schitt!
  • QueenCityFilms
    March 27, 2008
    QueenCityFilms
    Wes Craven is John Carpenter's bitch.

  • Aritosgold
    November 7, 2007
    Aritosgold
    ----LOVE--IT;;
  • tene79
    July 21, 2007
    tene79
    Love this film. Used to scare me to death when I was younger but as I've grown up I started to apreciate the psychological element. Still think those effects (especially the arm munching stomach and dogs scene) are great and puts some of our more recent CGI monsters in the shade.
  • supermariofj
    July 13, 2007
    supermariofj
    I'm just curious, wouldn't the blood from Palmer's Petri dish have splashed onto McReady's arm or face since it splattered everywhere?
  • supermariofj
    July 13, 2007
    supermariofj
    Fo SHO! It was an awesome movie, especially for it's time.
  • thedlb
    July 9, 2007
    thedlb
    This is a masterpiece that will remain my favourite movie of all time.
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Facts

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  • Fun Fact:
    Screenplay was written by Bill Lancaster (the son of famous actor, Burt Lancaster).
  • Tagline:
    Man is the Warmest Place to Hide.
  • Tagline:
    The Ultimate in Alien Terror.
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