The Thing [reviewed by the Drudgeon]

The Thing Directed by John Carpenter, 1982 (109 min.)
My rating:
IMDB

Everyone is a potential alien! Even me!

* * *

The movie starts with a dog running in the snow…and a man shooting at it. They end up in a research station run by the Americans. Garry shoots and kills him. They take the dog in, and we learn that they are in the Antarctic. They go to check about where the shooter is from. Well he’s from a Norwegian research facility, where they find that everyone there is dead, and a chunk of ice where something was cut from. They get back and the dog is put with the other dogs. That’s when the shit hits the fan.

The acting is top notch in this movie. Everyone is great. Kurt Russell plays the part with a pure sense of self-preservation, and a hint of wanting to help everyone else. Brimley is another who goes all out in his role, and when his madness kicks in you really believe he’s gone over the edge, but then he “sobers” up and you believe that he really is okay. Great job on all acting fronts.

The effects are AWESOME! They haven’t aged much at all and still hold all the impact that they had before. It’s hard for a movie to accomplish this, but this one does.

Most movies show the monster in the third reel, but this movie kicks you in the teeth by showing it right away. Usually that tends to take away from most movies, but in this one, it helps in spades. Since it’s a movie about an alien copying almost anything it comes across, the sense of paranoia is key. The movie pulls it off with great affect. It’s hard to believe anyone is who he or she says they are, because no one gives anything away. You even begin to believe that the main character, MacReady, could actually be the alien. It’s that well written and acted. Then toss in the “monster” popping up and killing someone with great gore effects and a completely creepy score, and you have yourself a pretty much perfect horror movie. Watch this immediately.

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About The Drudgeon

I don't remember my real name or where I came from. All I know is that I'm traped in an underground cave with nothing but a TV, DVD player and a notebook and pen. They keep calling me The Drudgeon, I don't even know what that means. Someone keeps dropping horror movies in and yelling at me to watch them and write about what I watch. Then I eat the DVD and case, because they tell me if I consume the horror I will understand the horror. I think there are three of them. So if you are reading this right now, HELP ME!!!!!!! OUCH!!!! Someone just poked me with a sea urchin attacked to a pool cue, what the fuck is going on?

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