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The Thing

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United States, Canada · 1982
1h 49m
Director John Carpenter
Starring Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter
Genre Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction

A team of American scientists investigate the empty, destroyed base of their Norwegian counterparts in Antarctica, only to discover a terrifying life force that can take the form of its prey.

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40

Variety by

If it’s the most vividly gruesome 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.

100

Empire by Adam Smith

The Thing is a peerless masterpiece of relentless suspense, retina-wrecking visual excess and outright, nihilistic terror, placing 12 men at an Antarctic station while a shapeshifter takes them over one by one.

30

Chicago Reader by Dave Kehr

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.

75

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

A paranoia-choked atmosphere is the primary reason why The Thing works as well as it does. The setup is standard stuff, establishing that the characters are isolated and can expect no help from the outside. The realization there could be an alien among them, and any one of them might not be human, is what launches The Thing into a spiral of escalating tension.

63

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

The Thing is basically just a geek show, a gross-out movie in which teenagers can dare one another to watch the screen. There's nothing wrong with that; I like being scared and I was scared by many scenes in The Thing. But it seems clear that Carpenter made his choice early on to concentrate on the special effects and the technology and to allow the story and people to become secondary.

100

Time Out by Tom Huddleston

The Thing has emerged as one of our most potent modern terrors, combining the icy-cold chill of suspicion and uncertainty with those magnificently imaginative effects blowouts.

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