The Thing

The Thing is a classic '80s horror flick.  We have average acting combined with bizarre special effects trending closer to grotesque then scary, and, to cap it all off, a climax that doesn't make much sense but has plenty of action and explosions.  And yet, somehow within all of this we find a sort of guilty pleasure enjoyment.

The idea of the monster in The Thing is definitely frightening.  An alien that can kill and then imitate anything.  You never know who or what it could be.  So you have to be suspicious of everyone.  This idea works great as long as you don't scrutinize it too closely.  (like how does it get all the memories of the person it imitates?)  And of course the movie has a lot of fun in the '80s playground of communist suspicion.

The actual reveals of the monster, however, just don't stand up to time and the movie doesn't have the atmosphere of Alien to fall back on.  When we do see the Thing, which is fairly early in the movie, we are treated to something truly bizarre, but not really frightening.  I would much rather have had a longer lead up to the reveal, with people disappearing one by one and us trying to guess what was going on and who was responsible.  But then, that would have been a different movie.

 And then there's the climax.  An explosion fest that would make Michael Bay happy, but that provides little in logic.  So you think the alien wants to just freeze and wait for a rescue mission, so your plan is to blow everything up and die?  Cause that prevents the alien from freezing and waiting for a rescue mission how?  The shining light to this is the final scene, where MacReady and Childs are left freezing in the snow, neither sure the other isn't going to kill him.  I have to say, that is a great ending.