An isolated and frozen outpost, an armed and cranky crew of scientists and a shape shifting alien that can assume the look of any living being it wants. If that doesn't convince you that The Thing is a "must see" for any sci-fi/horror fan then allow me to also add that it is helmed by legendary director, John Carpenter and stars a young and scared Kurt Russel as the iconic protagonist, R.J. MacReady.
The story opens to an areal shot of a Husky running quickly though the snow and dodging bullets coming from a helicopter flying overhead. The dog quickly makes it to an outpost full of scientists who have been there way too long for their liking. As the story advances we begin to find out that the crew may have found themselves in a bit of a pickle (rather the pickle has found them) when they discover that another outpost miles away has been completely deserted and trashed. As the crew tries to find out what could've happened Something is slowly stalking, and becoming the members of our unsuspecting team. After some intense action, the suspense really hits an all time high when the crew start to realize that the alien can perfectly mimic anyone it wants making it hard to trust anyone. As the alien grows stronger so does the teams paranoia (and the audience, for that matter). Accusations fly as the team realizes that they are no longer safe inside the walls of their own outpost. Can they figure out who's who before the alien consumes all of them? With no one to trust and nowhere to go, the crew has to figure out how to stop this because if this life form makes it out of the frozen wasteland and out in to society, needless to say, Earth is in big trouble.
With no CGI (this was the 80's, after all) the effects are all practical and they are quite stunning to look at albeit, outdated in this day and age. Being able to see the humans transform into the grotesque life form in all it's prosthetic glory are some of the most fun and intense scenes in the film but the suspense that Carpenter was able to build in the time leading up to it is even better. Even when the monster is shown on screen before the big reveal, it's brief and mostly creepy silhouettes leaving plenty to the imagination.
The Thing is the only film where Carpenter did not score his own work but that doesn't mean it's lacking in the least but. He used the work of the legendary Ennio Morricone of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The simple heartbeat synth notes are a perfect fit for this picture and really help heighten the tension without overpowering the story.
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