The Thing

I've often found it hard to think of THE THING as a remake. John Carpenter simply took an old idea and made it his own and the result was perhaps his strongest film work ever. This is one tight, high tension, paranoid piece of work and twenty five years later it still manages to scare the crap out of people. The Rob Bottin effects sadly look dated in todays CGI laden world but for my money they maintain an organic quality integral to the atmosphere so pervasive here. Kurt Russell is his usual solid self and seeing Wilford Brimley as Dr. Blair is a special treat. One odd thing about THE THING is the score by Ennio Morricone. I found it odd because Carpenter likes to do his own work and though Morricone is credited I'd swear Carpenter composed it. Still a modern classic in my books, don;t bother watching it on regular television as all the tasty bits will be missing.