Quick recap: The movie follows a groups of scientists stationed in Antarctica. They come across an alien life form who has the ability to imitate other life forms. Paranoia sets in to the camp and people begin to die in horrible ways. Very horrible ways.

Fun(?) Fact: Members of the South pole Station regularly view this movie as well as The Shining. How motivational?

My Thoughts: As noted in my previous post, I had planned on watching another movie but after a bad couple of days and one rainy night, I chose this. I’m not a ‘horror movie’ kind of girl and was a little apprehensive about seeing this film in a theater. I can be quite jumpy at times, over the dumbest things.

I may or may not have cried upon discovering that this book glowed in the dark one late night.

So with drink in hand, I attempted to watch The Thing as calmly and rationally as I could. I had a sense of dread throughout most of the beginning, waiting for everything bad to happen. It wasn’t long before horrible things started to happen. I was pleased to discover what The Thing looked like early on so that my mind wouldn’t keep building it up for me. Kudos to John Carpenter for creating the most disgusting creature EVER. Disgusting, but not terrifying. In a twisted way, I was more scared during the parts of the film when the scientists accused each other of The Thing. I won’t spoil it ,although this movie 31 years old, but there is a great scene where each person must prove he is not an alien. Very scary stuff. Reflecting on the movie as I left the theater at midnight, I realized that the idea of people not being who they seem is the most terrifying idea of all. The alien had assimilated itself so well that no one could trust anyone. One thing I have heard mentioned about the horror genre is that movies are more terrifying when they have a moral or bigger idea. My brain was able to connect recent tragic events to this movie. I don’t know how many times someone does something awful and without fail, some news station has found a neighbor or family member who can only describe the suspect as kind and never in a million years would they have thought this person was capable of such damage. I’m not lobbying for more paranoia, but the idea of not knowing who someone really is gives me pause.

Final review: 4/5. My score is close to 3 out of 5, but I went ahead and rounded up to 4 since the movie had a lasting effect on me. I was put off by all the goriness but at least it was creative.

Where I watched it: Alamo Drafthouse

Up Next: The Red Shoes. I’ll watch it one of these days, I promise.