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“The Thing,” released in 1982 and directed by John Carpenter stars Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady, a helicopter pilot for an Antarctica research site. MacReady and the research crew get stranded at their post with an imposter, forcing trust among them to dwindle quickly. This created suspense throughout the movie no matter where the crew members were.
When a Norwegian research team finds an organism in the Antarctic ice, it quickly morphs into a husky. The researchers attempt to kill the organism, but in trying they accidently lead it to MacReady and crew’s post. After the Norwegian’s die in a helicopter crash, MacReady’s team believes the organism is a husky and lets it inside, which gives the organism space to kill off the crew.
A large difference between “The Thing” and other horror movies is how many people acted in the film. The research crew consists of 12 members, which is a strong contrast to other films in the horror genre that have one to four characters. Movies like “Wolf Man” (three characters) or “It” (seven characters) are very different compared to “The Thing.”
Horror films with fewer characters can often build more suspense. Usually by making the watcher feel as if the protagonist is alone in their endeavors. Instead, “The Thing” uses the enemy to make all 12 characters feel alone, even in large groups. When all the characters were together, they would constantly pull guns on each other in fear of their safety, due to mistrust.
“The Thing” also felt more reasonable as most horror films go to unrealistic lengths to separate characters into small “pick-off-able” groups. On the other hand, the research crew is composed of medics, scientists, a pilot, a cook, and a radio operator. Since the team was more realistic, the film’s scenarios feel more reasonable and commonsensical.
Long shots and few camera cuts also made the film more suspenseful as if everything is a build up to the jump scare. Surprisingly, these rarely occurred, as Carpenter didn’t want to use common tropes. Early on it becomes easy to see the lack of jump scares, making the film less scary, but also not taking away from the general story.
Without jump scares, the film becomes more of a “splatter film” (a subsection of horror with copious amounts of gore). The film’s antagonist, called The Thing, consumes organisms and mimics their look and personality. When shifting, it’s gorily portrayed as a pile of blood, alien goop, bones, and sharp protruding limbs.
“The Thing” uses almost all practical effects, making little use of visual editing. Since the creature in “The Thing” is such a gory display that can only be described as guts piled on alien goo, the physical effects make the creature feel uncannily real. This also produces better reactions from the characters, like how terrified MacReady looks when The Thing’s head falls off, then sprouts spider-like legs.
The way the characters acted also helped make “The Thing” feel more plausible. There was never a moment when a person would freeze in fear long enough to let the creature kill them or separate themselves to let the creature pick them off. It’s hard to create a horrific experience without making it easier for the enemy, but “The Thing” did it very well, by giving the protagonist victories over time.
While “The Thing” received poor reviews upon release due to its drastic difference to other movies in the horror genre, there are few horror films that feel as fresh and “human.” Thanks to its practical effects and gory nature, it has earned the title as one of the best splatter films of all time. I would rate “The Thing” a 4📼 out of 5📼 and strongly recommend it to anybody looking for a not too scary, definitely gory, plausible, and suspenseful horror film.
