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movie review - The Thing

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

I can't believe it took me 20 years to see this flick. It's a sci-fi thriller set in Antarctica and featuring Kurt Russell, and it's about an alien life-form that causes all kinds of grief after it gets dug out of the ice by some Norwegians.

This movie scores its points almost entirely on its depiction of the break-down in the staff of the research station once The Thing gets loose. I won't give any of the plot away (for those other eight people out there who haven't seen it) but not even Alien does the fox-in-the-human-henhouse thing this well.

Since it's directed by John Carpenter, there is plenty of gore and fireworks and trauma, naturally. And while some of it would have been nightmare stuff for me for sure if I'd seen it at the age of 11 when it came out, it's all pretty secondary to the actual plot, which is a nice change. All round, the best of its class by far.

And I have to say that one of the most important clips is actually in the very first frames; pay attention to the way that the alien ship is piloted. Does it strike you that something's amiss?

Recommended.