The Thing

 

Dir. John Carpenter USA 1982 108 mins (18)
Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Donald Moffat, Richard Dysart, Richard Masur, Charles Hallahan
 

 

 

 

 

 

John Carpenter’s spectacular ‘80s remake of Christian Nyby’s ‘50s tale of Cold War paranoia is a masterpiece of gore and the macabre. Gone is the plant creature of the original, replaced by an unforgettable shape-shifting extra-terrestrial that assumes the appearance of its victims. Kurt Russell, in the third of his collaborations with Carpenter, is superb as the hero at the centre of this chilling, nerve-shredding tale of terror, while the icy locale adds to the climate of fear. A genuine classic.