Im Praise of The Thing (1982)

Picture it. Albury, NSW, Australia. Middle of 1982.

And Year 8 boys from Aquinas College are doing an English module about science-fiction. Teachers have heard that there is a sci-fi movie called The Thing playing locally at the cinema and so it is decided toget the students to watch it, giving themselves a respite from the classroom; a welcome change. I know because I was once a teacher.

Perhaps they should have had someone scout it out at first because this was not your regular sci-fi fest like Star Wars or E.T. which, coincidentally came out the same year. More of that later.

Allow me to copy and paste the general synopsis from the good people of IMDB for the better people yet to see the

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

Maybe, by today’s standards, this seems tame and pedestrian and a good plot for Netflix in 2026. But back then, this was an isolated movie that was very original in its features: nihilistic story, a cast of everymen but all with his own personality, stalking music full of dread, amazing practical special effects, a few well timed jump scares and an overwhelming atmosphere of horror and suspicion.

I will not expand further on the movie itself.

It bombed big time and was given some very awful reviews. E.T. was a lot  friendlier and family oriented and bought on a hell of a lot of money. The Thing was its deformed, murderous twin, locked away and forgotten in the basement. And like all monster twins was the dark secret.

This dark secret was kept alive by VHS tapes and word of mouth, enthusiastically driven I suspect by its gory reputation and a slower cultural realisation that this is not just a monster movie. That realisation would have grown as we got online and started sharing movie suggestions with strangers on the other side of the world and by YouTube’s establishment, sharing the movie in parts and, illegally, as a whole.

I am guessing it would have been the 2000s when a new respect of The Thing became worldwide even these seeds of respect were long sown with that tiny minority who saw it in the theatres, including this Year 8 student.

Today, on Instagram, YouTube and podcasts, it is lauded for being cinematically unique and one of the best horror/ science fiction movies, consistently making individuals’ best of, personal favourites and critic’s lists. It has found new generations eagerly watching the assimilations and ultimate destructions and murders fuelled by suspicion.

And the ending is still subject to speculation and online arguments: Childs? MacReady? Childs AND MacReady? Neither?

Current rumour has it that a sequel is being made for an end of year release and is inducing a flurry of excitement and dread (that it will somehow tarnish the original). But like MacReady doing a blood test, we will only know when it happens.