All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
The Thing

Although it did criminally low business at the box-office, this John Carpenter-directed horror classic has since gone on to attain immortal status on home video. KURT RUSSEL plays the same effective type of moody, soft spoken action hero role here as that of his Snake Plissken character from Carpenter's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and ESCAPE FROM L.A. movies. Story revolves around a group of researchers in an Antartic outpost who unwittingly allow a terrifying alien parasite onto their premises; where it proceeds to infect the entire crew by taking over their bodies and turning them against one another. John Carpenter creates some genuinely effective scares as he uses the movie's subdued music score and claustrophobic confines to instill a sense of true dread and paranoia in the viewer. You'll find yourself speculating in horrifying suspense as to who among the crew is still human and who has already been infected. Also, unlike most other John Carpenter thrillers, the special effects here (done by F/X maestro Rob Bottin, no less) are nothing short of spectacular; even state-of-the-art for its time. Not to be missed.