Force Fed Films: "The Thing" (1982)

Jim got me to watch “The Thing” from 1982, a remake of the 1951 classic “The Thing from Another World”. And if you were wondering, “The Thing” out in theatres right now is the prequel to the 1982 one, Jim saw it and wrote up on it here.

Now that we got that out of the way. I know Jim loved this movie and really wanted me to see it. I was hopeful, from what he told me it sounded like a great movie. I love the premise that they are stuck at a desolate Antarctic base and a horrible creature comes and attacks them. I love these types of survival horror movies. Fingers cross that I like this one too.

During the winter of 1982 in the Antarctic, a group of Americans during their scientific expedition are woken up by two Norwegians trying to kill a dog. After detaining the Norwegians, they take in the dog. But in the middle of the night the same dog mutates into a weird alien creature and proceeds to attack the crew. The crew later finds out that this alien creature imitates its surrounding organisms, this leads to mass suspicion as everyone suspects everyone else is the alien. Will the hysteria get to the crew that’ll lead them to their final hour? Or can they work together and find the creature and save themselves?

Kurt Russel is complete oblivious about the creatures around him.

This movie took me for shock, because I was expecting more of a suspenseful thriller and what I got was a real straightforward action movie. This was apparent when I saw The Thing early on in the movie and knew what the crew was dealing with. This threw the suspense out of the window. Though in hindsight it didn’t seem like the movie tried to be all suspenseful. But as an action movie, this movie is fulfilling; lots of explosions, blood spewing everywhere and some of the tensest moments.

Special attention should be brought to The Thing’s art design. The Thing is creepy and ugly yet it was mesmerizing to look at. But this was good, because it almost makes the movie scary. If there was going to be a lack of suspense then at least the monster should freak me out a bit. The neat thing was because The Thing had the ability of taking over its host’s body, there were multiple Things out there. All looking different as they mutilated the host’s body.

The plot had blips of action sequences tied together with an average story. While the premise of the movie is captivating, the overall story is sort of lacking. Besides the movie being a survival horror movie, there isn’t much more.

Super ugly, but super freaky!

What really holds this movie together is the acting. The movie does feel tense when everything goes haywire. The entire cast performs great with one another and the chemistry between them is really felt in the movie. Because of this, the characters felt believable and this makes the movie stand out from your ordinary explosion filled action movie.

I came into this movie thinking I will see something similar to Aliens but instead I was treated to a survivor horror movie like Event Horizon. But unlike Event Horizon, I enjoyed this movie. Even with the shallow story, and one sighted goal of the movie. The action and characters really tie this movie well. I loved seeing everything blow up, the monsters were exceptionally scary.