"Trust is a tough thing to come by these days."--- MacReady

"The Thing" surprisingly didn’t catch a break upon its initial theatrical release. You see, the flick came out 3 weeks or so after Spielberg’s smash hit “E.T: The Extraterrestrial" and people were too busy wanting to “phone home” to pay attention to a movie about a killer, shape-shifting alien. Over the years though, "The Thing" has deservedly gained a very strong cult following and for me, re-watching it today for the umpteenth time, I was again taken aback at just how gracefully the film has beat out the test of time.

More of a direct take on John W. Campbell Jr's story “Who Goes There?” than a remake of the 1951 film “The Thing From Another World”, Carpenter’s film works on all counts with the first notch on its belt being the involving setting in which its mad tale takes place. The desolate, icy and snowy surroundings wondrously amplified the film’s overall bleak and claustrophobic tone. I could really feel the aura of isolation while watching this movie and that helped me sympathize with the characters and their predicament on a deeper level. The actors in this ever-glowing gem also brought in their fair share of positive weight with Kurt “The Man" Russell and Keith David, in particular, owning the screen every time they popped up. I’d let these two tough hombres have my back any day!

It must be said that since the action in this twisted adventure started at frame one, the narrative never really had the breather to go into its characters’ backgrounds. We don’t get to know much about these fine gents and that is one of the reasons, in my opinion, that this loony foray into horror works so well. Not knowing much about them definitely jacked the paranoia factor to “HIGH” when it came to the guessing game game that this flick was playing on us. Speaking of paranoia, Carpenter must be high-fived and lent Paris Hilton for a night for managing to evoke the emotion of “mistrust” so strongly here. Who can forget the tension-filled “blood testing” scene? Even with the knowledge of how it turns out on my side, it still whooped my skull to ashes. To this day, I have yet to see a movie that played that angle with such efficiency. Shite, I was only a spectator watching a screen and I was getting freaking paranoid! Let’s just say that I didn’t look at my dogs the same way while viewing this sucka.

Scare-wise, if it wasn’t the constant sense of imminent doom crawling snuggly under my skin, it was the “surprise” beast attack that got to me. I was bouncing off my couch like a tweaked grass hopper. FUN STUFF! Which brings me to the film’s revolutionary special effects. Rob Bottin (who was 21 years old at the time) really outdid himself here. I heard that he worked every day of the shoot and that he actually didn’t go home at night-- he slept on set. I RESPECT THAT! Well my man, your efforts were not in vein. Not only do Bottin’s effects easily bury any visual tricks put out today in terms of impact, but the creativity and the daringness behind them, made the "out there" creature scenarios some of the most memorable latex jamborees to ever grace the blood-stained screen. This Bud’s for you Bottin! You earned it and then some!

The flick was shot in British Columbia, Canada. 

An uncredited Adrienne Barbeau was the female voice of MacReady's computer chess game.  

Stan Winston did the Dog-Thing effects. He didn’t want screen credit because he didn’t want to take away from Rob Bottin's accomplishment (class act). He does get "A Special Thanks to Stan Winston" in the film's end credits though.

Screenwriter Bill Lancaster is the son of actor Burt Lancaster.

The X-Files episode “Ice” was an homage to this film.