The Thing

1982 • 109 minutes

About this movie

John Carpenter delivers the ultimate in alien terror in this chilling story about an Antarctic research team that discovers a form-changing alien buried in the snow for over 100,000 years.

Ratings and reviews

Movies today complete lack the claustrophobia, suspense and artistry on display here. The Thing was a very dark movie in the neon-lit '80s pop culture landscape, and the threat posed by the alien parasite is wonderfully shown in the paranoia of the Antarctica research crew. The ending is a metaphor for all existence. But imagine if we are "Things"...maybe something like this happened to our ancestors. All we could do is just accept it (if we ever found it out). Somehow, John Carpenter turns a classic horror tale into something that eats at your imagination and identity long after the credits roll. This movie stands proudly beside two immortal cinematic excursions into legitimate existential dread, the original Dawn of the Dead and Ridley Scott's Alien. The gore is substantial but not gratuitous. I love the Species movies but the premise here somehow feels darker...more overwhelming. Of all the great movies that have ever depicted a battle for survival, JC's The Thing is one of the best and most disturbing. A natural precursor to the more socially allegorical They Live.

Outright classic that I can watch over and over. From the early '80s to now, The Thing doesn't get old to me. The atmosphere, the suspense of wondering who's actually human and who's the Thing, as well as the creepy monster parts all blend well into a story that holds up after many decades. If you're an old school horror fan, The Thing is a must have flick in your collection.

I am a ridiculous fan of The Thing. It's an older flick, parts of it are a little cheesy, but I've watched it 100+ times. The music and sound effects are perfect and eerie, plus the notion of being trapped in frozen wastelands while a transmorphic alien takes over your friends is.. petrifying. Much classic. So scare. Wow.