Greetings, and welcome back to October Horror Fest! Today, I wanted to change up my selection for movies a bit, and I am so glad I did. Tonight, we will discuss the work of a horror mastermind. Talk about some of the best acting and effects I’ve seen in film. And to discuss how tonight’s Horror Fest movie might be one of my new favorite horror films, but one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen. One last thing before I begin. This. Movie. Scared. Me. Without further ado, sit back, relax, turn off the lights, grab some Candy and Popcorn, and let’s review…
John Carpenter’s The Thing
Tonight’s spooky tale is dedicated to Andrew Parisi. For the love of the film, the love of the process, and for being an amazing friend.
We start our tale in freezing Antarctica, right in the middle of the Winter of ‘82. We see the barren wasteland around us, filled with nothing but snow and ice. This is until we see a helicopter. This helicopter is flying through the sky, shooting bullets at an innocent dog on the ground. This dog is able to run from the raining hellfire, and take refuge inside of a United States research camp. The helicopter lands on the ground, and a man jumps out. This man follows the dog in hot pursuit, firing bullets the whole way. The team of American researchers jump out, protecting the dog. The man starts speaking Norwegian, a language that none of the researchers understand. Then, like a madman, he shoots. He shoots one of the researchers in the leg, but fails to kill the dog. He is then gunned down by the team. After quite the scare, the team checks out his helicopter to find many gallons of Kerosene.
We then transition to Mac, also known as Macready, trying to get drunk in his watchtower. Mac is our protagonist for the film, and we follow his choices. We then pan to inside the base, where Mac and his fellow team members are inside. The dog from earlier is making a ruckus, and is asked to be put where the team keeps all the other stray dogs they find, in a large cage. The husky sits very cautiously, and waits for the team member to leave. The Husky then transforms, going through one of the most horrific and best practical effects scenes of all time. The Husky transforms into a mass of flesh and blood called the Thing. The Thing immediately starts to kill and take over the other dogs in the cage, until the team comes back into the corridor. Mac, thinking quickly, remembers the Kerosene, and begins to use a flamethrower to kill the thing. This should be the end, right?
We later learn from Doc (one of the team’s leaders) that the Thing assimilates and takes over every single cell in an organism’s body, becoming a perfect replica. It was assimilating the Dog from the beginning, and somehow the Norwegian knew about it. Mac and Doc take this as a sign, and go to find the Norwegian base. Once they arrive, they are met by disturbing sights of death and destruction, with Kerosene littered as far as the eye could see. Doc and Mac then leave to reunite with the rest of the team, to tell them about what they’ve discovered. From recordings at the Norwegian base, Mac and the team learn that the Thing landed in a spaceship over 100,000 years ago in Antarctica. It’s been frozen ever since, until the Norwegians landed and thawed it out.
The team then separates to lock the body of the Thing in a cellar, until it comes alive. It shoots out a tendril, assimilating two of the team. As the team member mutates, he runs. The rest of the team chase him out, and eventually catch him half-assimilated in the snow. In a gruesome scene, the team burns the Thing alive, but they don’t know which other members have been assimilated.
For ease of information, and to help me write a bit, I refer to most characters as “Team Members.” These are the most important members of that team, and I’ll list them now so we have them going forward. Mac, Childs, Dr. Blair, Nauls, and Gary.
After the confrontation with the Thing once again, the remaining members of the team venture back into the Base. This is where Blair goes crazy. Blair started destroying the team’s equipment, shooting at Mac, and even breaking down doors with an Axe. The team members eventually are able to subdue him, and place him in a large shed outdoors. As the team gets ready to settle in, a blizzard hits. Mac knows this is the end, and hints at the Thing finally showing its true colors. Throughout the night, the thing sneakily kills many team members, one even burning themselves before total assimilation. The pandemonium all comes to a head when Mac and Nauls notice that Mac’s cabin lights are on, when he specifically turned them off the previous night, and hasn’t been back. We then pan back to the team, learning that it’s been 45 minutes since Mac and Nauls ventured into the cabin. Nauls finally returns, and breaks down the door into the base. While freezing, he tells the team what happened. When he and Mac ventured out there, he found Mac’s torn up clothes in the oven.
Mac figured out previously that when assimilated, the Thing bursts through clothes. Nauls takes this as a sign, and leaves Mac in the snow. Mac is then found hiding inside of a back room in the base. He holds a flare and dynamite to his chest, threatening anyone that comes close. Mac, being totally paranoid, comes up with a test. Mac theorizes, and is proven correct, that the Thing’s cells work together, but also fight for survival. Mac thinks that if blood is taken from all of the remaining group, and then heat is applied, if the blood jumps off of the petri-dish and begins to transform, the member who gave the blood is a Thing.
Mac begins the test in an incredibly tense scene. Mac is proven right that his clothing framed him, as his blood says that he is human. As they go down the line, more blood is hit by the flame, and the Thing springs into action, killing three of the remaining team members in an incredibly gruesome scene. After Mac is barely able to use his trusty flamethrower, only five members remain. Mac, Childs, Nauls, and Gary have all been proven to be human from the blood test. Mac, Gary, and Nauls set out to give Dr. Blair the test, while Childs waits in the base.
As the three set out, our climax of this amazing film commences. When the trio arrives at the shed, they notice that the door is open, having previously been locked from the outside. Mac decides to investigate, and finds crooked floor boards. Opening up these floorboards reveals a cave that the Thing, now being revealed as Blair, has dug out. The cave is filled with parts from the sabotaged helicopter, and were used to make a spaceship. The spaceship would’ve been able to transport the Thing to civilization, where it would end the world. Mac, staring at the ship, makes a decision. He knows none of the team are getting out alive, and he needs to stop the Thing from returning to sleep in the ice until the U.S. rescue team arrives. Mac grabs Gary and Nauls, and tells them to start planting explosives.
In the meantime, we see the generator is taken and broken by the Thing, and Childs runs out of the base. The trio, however, runs in to light the explosives. Mac, Nauls, and Gary all begin to place explosives underground, until the Thing pops out and kills Gary. Nauls, seeing the commotion, decides to investigate alone, which as you should all know, is the #1 don’t do horror films. Mac finally notices that he is alone, and begins to panic. He grabs a stick of Dynamite. The Thing, now the combination of Nauls, Blair, and Gary, jumps out of the ground in a disgusting but absolutely amazing use of practical effects. Mac, having placed all the explosives, throws a stick of Dynamite at the Thing, and runs. We watch as the entire compound goes up in flames. Mac eventually comes out on the other side, dazed, cold, and without a generator. The temperature is rapidly dropping. Mac decides to sit, realizing his fight is over. This is when Childs appears from the cold, sitting down next to Mac. Mac of course questions him, and Childs says he ran after what he thought was Blair. Mac is suspicious, but knows he wouldn’t be able to fight even if he wanted to. Mac and Childs share one last drink, as the base burns behind them. Mac knows he’ll die, and isn’t even sure if he should get out. He sits, hoping that the Thing is no more.
That’s the ending of our film! Even though this October Horror Fest ran longer than usual, I didn’t even scratch the surface of this movie, and this article would never do it justice. PLEASE watch this movie! John Carpenter is the director of this movie, the same man who 4 years earlier directed Halloween. Carpenter creates an amazing film, filled with all practical effects and true fear. The Thing is the perfect example of paranoia. Not knowing who to trust can turn you mad, and for this group of researchers in Antarctica, it did. I hope you all enjoyed it! John Carpenter, years after the film came out, confirmed that Childs or Mac was a Thing at the ending of the movie. Let that sink in. Before I go, just remember, anyone you love, anyone you trust, could be a Thing, waiting for the perfect moment to strike…