John Carpenter is distinguished from
almost every other great horror director in one respect: his
rejection of the idea that ‘Nothing Is Scarier.’ He doesn’t
seem to reject in principle the idea that the human imagination can
create a horrifying monster through the power of suggestion, but he’s
been very clear in interviews that he thinks it’s a technique
that’s overused in Hollywood. He’s even said he believes Val
Lewton, a man praised for pioneering this technique, is overrated.
And The Thing was his conscious attempt to avert this by
actually showing the audience something truly terrifying.
Because of this, it may seem bizarre
that he drew inspiration from Lovecraft; a man known for writing
stories in which the monsters were so indescribable that they’re
left primarily to the reader’s imagination. However, this does
make sense. At the Mountains of Madness, the story that was
very obviously a major inspiration, was written later in Lovecraft’s
career when he was shifting towards a more descriptive style, and
does give the reader enough information to form a mental image of the
horrors being described.
Furthermore, one thing that unites both
Carpenter and Lovecraft is fear of the ‘Other.’ Neither of them
is ever eager to make evil out to be the nature of humanity.
Instead, evil is either a corruption or perversion of humanity, or
even something entirely outside of the human world. Even in
Halloween, a movie about a theoretically human killer,
Carpenter emphasizes that he has “the blackest eyes, the Devil’s
eyes,” to show us that Michael Myers is not a human in the sense
that we recognize the term.
The premise of the movie is that an
alien organism in the Antarctic, having destroyed a Norwegian
research station, infiltrates an American station in the guise of a
dog and begins infecting and assimilating the inhabitants. They
become aware of the invader very quickly when they find a dog in the
process of being assimilated. The effects should satisfy any lover
of body horror. However, this still leaves them unable to tell who
is or isn’t the enemy.
The movie does an extremely good job of
mixing mystery with explanation. Certain rules are clearly
established, such a when the Thing infects you, it replaces your
cells with copies; identical under a microscope, but alien
none-the-less. When you’re infected you will briefly take on an
inhuman appearance, then return to your normal form unless it’s
necessary to take on another form to defend yourself. And finally,
we learn that each part can live and react independent of the
original body.
At the same time, however, the Thing is
a black box. John Carpenter has said that he had discussions on set
of whether or not characters knew when they had become the Thing,
only to realize there was no way of knowing. Every viewer can form
their own opinion on whether the Thing is malicious or innocent, but
ultimately there is no way to provide any real evidence either way on
the thought process of a being which is so inherently alien.
If there’s ever been a movie which
gave you a real sense of paranoia, then this is it. The characters
all know that if they don’t maintain civility, then they’re
doomed. But they also know that some of those among them are
inhuman. So they each make their best guesses, along with the
audience, regarding who is the Thing and hope for the best. However,
it’s clear that they all know that the odds of them misidentifying
at least one of their contemporaries as human or the Thing are high.
While pretty much the whole cast is
good, the stars (and longest-survivors, of course) are clearly Mac
(Kurt Russell) and Childs (Keith David). While both of them have
strong, commanding personalities, they maintain a demeanor of
exasperated professionalism throughout the film. These are people
who were clearly on edge from being stuck in the Antarctic with the
same people for months at a time, even before the infectious alien
monster showed up. But they’re still people who you could see
being given these jobs.
The effects are absolutely spectacular.
As mentioned above, John Carpenter’s stated goal was to actually
show you the monster for a change, and it worked. Whenever the Thing
comes out we’re treated to a horrifying, amorphous organism, with
just enough residual human appearance to draw us into the Uncanny
Valley. It’s as if the human appearance is a costume, and the
Thing simply forgot that it was wearing it.
The Thing is not simply a horror
movie, it is one of the greatest cinematic experiences ever put on
film. Watching it alone in the dark is likely to leave you curled up
in a fetal position, sobbing. Or maybe you’ll just be smiling with
a chill running down your spine. Or you could take to the internet
to continue the ongoing debates about the exact moment when each
individual character was turned.…The possibilities are endless.
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