The Thing (1982)
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79% of critics liked it
(47 reviews) -
88% of users liked it
(113,449 ratings)
John Carpenter's The Thing is both a remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 film of the same name and a re-adaptation of the John W. Campbell Jr. story "Who Goes There?" on which it was based. Carpenter's film is more faithful to Campbell's story than Hawks' version and also… More John Carpenter's The Thing is both a remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 film of the same name and a re-adaptation of the John W. Campbell Jr. story "Who Goes There?" on which it was based. Carpenter's film is more faithful to Campbell's story than Hawks' version and also substantially more reliant on special effects, provided in abundance by a team of over 40 technicians, including veteran creature-effects artists Rob Bottin and Stan Winston. The film opens enigmatically with a Siberian Husky running through the Antarctic tundra, chased by two men in a helicopter firing at it from above. Even after the dog finds shelter at an American research outpost, the men in the helicopter (Norwegians from an outpost nearby) land and keep shooting. One of the Norwegians drops a grenade and blows himself and the helicopter to pieces; the other is shot dead in the snow by Garry (Donald Moffat), the American outpost captain. American helicopter pilot MacReady (Kurt Russell, fresh from Carpenter's Escape From New York) and camp doctor Copper (Richard Dysart) fly off to find the Norwegian base and discover some pretty strange goings-on. The base is in ruins, and the only occupants are a man frozen to a chair (having cut his own throat) and the burned remains of what could be one man or several men. In a side room, Copper and MacReady find a coffin-like block of ice from which something has been recently cut. That night at the American base, the Husky changes into the Thing, and the Americans learn first-hand that the creature has the ability to mutate into anything it kills. For the rest of the film the men fight a losing (and very gory) battle against it, never knowing if one of their own dwindling number is the Thing in disguise. Though resurrected as a cult favorite, The Thing failed at the box office during its initial run, possibly because of its release just two weeks after Steven Spielberg's warmly received E.T.The Extra-Terrestrial. Along with Ridley Scott's futuristic Alien, The Thing helped stimulate a new wave of sci-fi horror films in which action and special effects wizardry were often seen as ends in themselves. ~ Anthony Reed, Rovi
- Directed By
- John Carpenter
- Written By
- Bill Lancaster
- Genres
- Science Fiction & Fantasy, Horror
- In Theaters
- Jul 1, 1982 Wide
- Studio
- Universal Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Carpenter's direction is slow, dark, and stately; he seems to be aiming for an enveloping, novelistic kind of effect, but all he gets is heaviness.
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Variety Staff, Variety
If it's the most vividly guesome monster ever to stalk the screen that audiences crave, then The Thing is the thing. On all other levels, however, John Carpenter's remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 sci-fi classic comes as a letdown.
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Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Russell's sub-Eastwood heroics hardly compensate for the absence of all characterisation, while Bill Lancaster's script boasts the most illogical climax any monster movie ever had.
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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.
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Vincent Canby, New York Times
Mr. Carpenter has demonstrated that he can make good, comparatively plain, old-fashioned scare movies and effective suspense thrillers, but he seems to lose his own head when he combines two or more genres, as he [does here].
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Cast
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Kurt Russell
as MacReady
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Wilford Brimley
as Blair
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T.K. Carter
as Nauls
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David Clennon
as Palmer
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Keith David
as Childs
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Richard Dysart
as Dr. Copper
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Charles Hallahan
as Norris
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Peter Maloney
as Bennings
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Richard Masur
as Clark
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Joel Polis
as Fuchs
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Norbert Weisser
as Norwegian
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Larry Franco
as Norwegian Passenger with Rifle
- Kent Hays
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Nate Irwin
as Helicopter Pilot
- Denver Mattson
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Donald Moffat
as Garry
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Thomas G. Waites
as Windows
- Jerry Wills
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William Zeman
as Pilot
- Tony Cecere
- Larry Holt
- Melvin Jones
- Eric Mansker
- Clint Rowe
- Rock Walker
- Richard A. Dysart



