The Thing
June 1982
4
4
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Synopsis
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4.7
346 total
5 268
4 57
3 12
2 6
1 3
Dave Kehr
Carpenter's direction is slow, dark, and stately; he seems to be aiming for an enveloping, novelistic kind of effect, but all he gets is heaviness.
Variety Staff
If it's the most vividly guesome monster ever to stalk the screen that audiences crave, then The Thing is the thing. On all other levels, however, John Carpenter's remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 sci-fi classic comes as a letdown.
Geoff Andrew
Russell's sub-Eastwood heroics hardly compensate for the absence of all characterisation, while Bill Lancaster's script boasts the most illogical climax any monster movie ever had.
Roger Ebert
Because this material has been done before, and better, especially in the original The Thing and Alien, there's no need to see this version.
Vincent Canby
Mr. Carpenter has demonstrated that he can make good, comparatively plain, old-fashioned scare movies and effective suspense thrillers, but he seems to lose his own head when he combines two or more genres, as he [does here].
James Berardinelli
This is one of those rare remakes that remains faithful to the premise of the original but does something unique with the concept.
Critic reviews
Dave Kehr
Carpenter's direction is slow, dark, and stately; he seems to be aiming for an enveloping, novelistic kind of effect, but all he gets is heaviness.
Variety Staff
If it's the most vividly guesome monster ever to stalk the screen that audiences crave, then The Thing is the thing. On all other levels, however, John Carpenter's remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 sci-fi classic comes as a letdown.
Geoff Andrew
Russell's sub-Eastwood heroics hardly compensate for the absence of all characterisation, while Bill Lancaster's script boasts the most illogical climax any monster movie ever had.
Roger Ebert
Because this material has been done before, and better, especially in the original The Thing and Alien, there's no need to see this version.
Vincent Canby
Mr. Carpenter has demonstrated that he can make good, comparatively plain, old-fashioned scare movies and effective suspense thrillers, but he seems to lose his own head when he combines two or more genres, as he [does here].
James Berardinelli
This is one of those rare remakes that remains faithful to the premise of the original but does something unique with the concept.
User reviews
Carpenter's Best Movie! Classic horror-sci-.fi!!! Though this is 30 years old, it is still so much better than most of the dreck that has followed in it's horrific footsteps. Great cast, perfect score, and amazing special effects. Carpenter and Russell at their best! One of my all-time favourites!

Totally Awesome! Every creature was hand made!! NO cgi in this movie!! John Carpenter is the director of this movie. .. he HAS a sequel to this movie. .. but FOX are a bunch of losers and won't let him make it. WHY? BECAUSE they don't want crowds getting used to week made movies. ... it raises the bar to high for the newbies in Hollywood.

Pure Gold I am a ridiculous fan of The Thing. It's an older flick, parts of it are a little cheesy, but I've watched it 100+ times. The music and sound effects are perfect and eerie, plus the notion of being trapped in frozen wastelands while a transmorphic alien takes over your friends is.. petrifying. Much classic. So scare. Wow.
Frightening... This is the only horror movie that really scared me growing up! I had seen practicly every horror flick as a child, The Omen, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws etc. The Thing scared me so bad that I had to sleep in my mothers bed for over 3 weeks. I drempt of those grissly creachers night after night. It has me questioning myself about weather or not I will see the remake. I will wait for it to come out on blu-ray, and avoid embarassing myself in the theater lol. A must see if you like SCARY.
awesome awesome movie the best movie ever made!! My favorite thing monster is the dog thing..though in the thing 2011 splitface is my second favorite.
Still freaky I've watched this movie three times now since it first came out and it's still one of the freakiest I've ever seen. Make sure you've got someone to cuddle with if you're watching this with the lights out!
HANDS DOWN!!! ALL TIME FAVORITE MOVIE-EVER!!! I have written poetry, drawn pics, and have opened to a philosophy about this petrified piece of gold.Even before ALIEN, these were my 1st nightmares;11 yrs.old.I still believe that after its release, only a small handful of gems stand with it.A most glorious hail to Carpenter-SKOLL!!!
Great It still holds up as one of the great scary movies of the past 30 years. The special effects are showing their age, but still a solid movie. Want a scary movie? You found one.
A true classic This was a very well made film. Great acting which we do not get all that much in todays films.
Classic! A must see for new horror fans. I grew up loving this movie and still love it!
Cast and credits
Actors | Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, Thomas Waites |
Producers | David Foster, Lawrence Turman |
Director | John Carpenter |
Writers | Bill Lancaster |
Additional information
Rotten tomatoes® score
Audio language
Subtitles
English
Rental period
Start within 30 days, finish within 24 hours.
Info cards
Run time
109 minutes
Rating
R
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