The Thing

Quick Review

An incredible display of practical effects, musical score, setting and atmosphere. John Carpenter’s The Thing excels at being a murder mystery-esque sci-fi thriller, with great scares, iconic lines and delightfully grotesque imagery. 

Perhaps the most iconic line in the film

Constant Ambiguity

The main reason why The Thing truly shines is its insistence on ambiguity. Right from the opening scene, everything is intentionally kept ambiguous, which leaves us in a constant state of confusion as we struggle to connect the dots. This perfectly allows us to think like the characters in the film, as they are also kept in a similar state of confusion. Who are these Norwegians? Why are they trying so hard to kill a dog? These are the questions that we share with the characters in the film’s opening scene, and the confusion lingers, never fading away even after the film’s final moments.

The film's wonderfully ambiguous opening scene

Carpenter's Direction

John Carpenter knows that the constant ambiguity is a must for this film’s success, and it shows. The actors’ performances are constantly just on the fine line between being a suspicious human and the thing trying to blend in. These wonderful performances are in part due to Carpenter and the actors themselves being completely unaware if a character is human or thing, until the thing shows itself. Hence, we get such genuine confusion from the actors and we constantly second guess them, because they are actually second guessing themselves and the other characters as well while filming. If not for Carpenter’s solid direction, this would have never played out as well as it did. 

No one knows for sure who The Thing is

Setting and Atmosphere

The setting and atmosphere is also integral to this film’s greatness. The cold, harsh setting of Antarctica almost becomes a character in itself, with its presence dominating every single scene. The snow, the visible breath that escapes from our characters’ lips, the expansive amount of white space. This setting not only makes sure that our characters are helplessly isolated from the outside world, but also makes the entire situation seem incredibly realistic. Speaking of realism, the set design is immaculate too. The shooting sets were chilled to a temperature similar to that of the Antarctic, which is the reason why our characters actually look genuinely cold and uncomfortable. The setting of the research facility is also very well done.  The halls are narrow and cramped, the rooms are small. Our characters never have much space to themselves, and this claustrophobia also adds to the film’s constant tension. 

The vast, isolated setting of the film

Practical Effects

And of course, one cannot discuss this film without touching on its insanely good practical effects. All the prosthetics in the film are so well made, and it is extremely evident that lots of time and effort went into perfecting these for the set. The best part about the practical effects is that they still hold up till this day. This film was released in 1982, exactly 40 years ago, and the stuff that is put to screen still looks amazing and realistically monstrous. 

The film's practical effects still hold up today

Score and The Ending

This film also stays iconic because of its score. Composed by Ennio Morricone, the film’s score is ever-present and never fails to inject a feeling of dread into a scene. The iconic theme of the thing, Humanity - Pt. 2, is legendary for a reason. I want to use this to segue into my next point - the final scene. The choice to play that track during the final scene of the movie is genius. Carpenter leaves the ending wide open for interpretation, and the score playing over the scene is sure to be one of the main pushing points for discussions about the ending. For a film that is so focused on ambiguity, the ending could not have been more perfectly ambiguous. 

The film's amazing final scene

Conclusion

All in all, The Thing is an excellent, timeless sci-fi mystery film that can still be appreciated greatly today. Although characterization is not at the forefront of the film, I do wish that our characters got a little more exploration. MacReady’s characterization is amazing, but the other characters feel somewhat disposable and I don't really care if they live or die. Besides this small nitpick of mine, though, I absolutely loved the film and had a great experience watching it on a television in a cold, dark room. A perfect film to celebrate Halloween (even though I am 3 weeks late).