The Thing (1982)
How do you kill a Thing among us?
Presentation:
Ok, a little blasphemous to reference a video game for such a film, but if I said Mafia I unfortunately don’t feel like my audience wouldn’t connect the dots. The Thing would be one of the greatest slashers were it not for the fact it feels derivative of Aliens. It’s also mostly shot in a cabin the woods style location in an Antarctic science lab but it puts the others to shame by being the best in the category. The film starts out with cinematic expanses of snow, helicopters and a husky. There’s not a lot of dialogue explaining what’s going on, so you’ll have to interpret. This is probably why the film hasn’t met critical acclaim, so if you don’t want to use brain power then you’ll quickly miss key clues. But if you do enjoy thinking, the lack of explanation means the audience has to decipher the clever mystery of whoisit, rather than whodunit. This is basically an unwinnable game of Among Us, and it’s a totally awesome. Kurt Russel and Keith Davids are the only memorable and charismatic characters, the other performances are forgettable. The practical effects are hit or miss, the ones in the beginning take you out of the experience in the modern age but when the lights dim down they can be convincingly terrifying. Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack is memorable and the film is paced quite well for one of the best body horrors.
Story:
What the film does wonderfully is not hold our hands. Slashers are naturally dumbed down, but this one keeps you guessing especially when the enemy keeps shifting. It's like an awesome game of Mafia, except the suss Mafioso is always changing. No one is really incompetent even the flamethrower scene - Mac previously dropped the flamethrower, which is why it malfunctioned. It almost becomes winnable because of how competent they work as a group and that's what makes the observation rewarding. The ending of course sparks a lot of debate. It really doesn't matter which one, both or if none of them are the Thing. It's about paranoia in the face of annihilation. But if I were to speculate, the evidence suggests both are uninfected because of the consistent clothing and piercings. However, they have to leave room for a sequel so no matter what the Thing will live on in this universe.
Conclusion:
I love how the universe, deduction and science follow a consistent logic, the fact that the Thing will still rip clothing, react to blood, creates a grounded physics for us to try and suss out the enemy ourselves. This film will always be in the shadow of Alien, but I prefer the script of this one much more. The difference between the two is that in one film, the character’s mistakes and deaths are forced by the script and in the other, the character’s deaths can be attributed to reasonable circumstances. The characters don’t make eye rolling mistakes, their reactions are reasonable and understandable. This is probably exactly what would happen if you faced an overpowered monster with more intelligence than you. But what really separates this from all the other mindless monster/slasher films, is there is a psychological fear to it that leaves a lasting impression in your mind and ultimately on the horror genre.
Recommendations
Let Park Chan Wook cook!