The Thing: Critic Reviews

Mr. Carpenter has demonstrated that he can make good, comparatively plain, old-fashioned scare movies and effective suspense thrillers, but he seems to lose his own head when he combines two or more genres, as he [does here].

It's pretty scary and entertaining stuff, though I always get the feeling that nothing in it lives up to the tremendous opening section.

Because this material has been done before, and better, especially in the original The Thing and Alien, there's no need to see this version.

If it's the most vividly guesome monster ever to stalk the screen that audiences crave, then The Thing is the thing. On all other levels, however, John Carpenter's remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 sci-fi classic comes as a letdown.

This is one of those rare remakes that remains faithful to the premise of the original but does something unique with the concept.

It's a paranoid masterpiece, and that rare remake that improves upon the original.

Not just an excellent remake, it's an excellent movie, and an almost perfect horror movie...

An accomplished horror movie.

The Thing is one of [Carpenter's] greatest moments, creating a terrifying atmosphere of claustrophobia, suspense and paranoia. And Kurt Russell is as good as he's ever been, wearing one of the best beards in movie history.

The Thing is a masterpiece: a black comedy, monster movie, conspiracy thriller and whodunit.

Shows more originality, wit and invention than possibly any other film you might call a remake... as influential as Alien for its blend of action, sci-fi and chilling horror.

The special effects can't hope to be as creepy to our seen-it-all eyes as they were to the film's first viewers, but we can still enjoy the monster's unique weirdness, and the story is a rock-solid yarn.

Carpenter's rethinking of producer Howard Hawks' classic is an honorable attempt to hew closer to the original story.

Contains everything you could want to know about horror filmmaking.

The strong cast brings the somewhat underwritten characters to vivid life, and the elaborate special effects (designed by then 22-year-old Rob Bottin) set a high standard for films that followed.

Great entertainment. Just try not to take it too seriously.

Russell's sub-Eastwood heroics hardly compensate for the absence of all characterisation, while Bill Lancaster's script boasts the most illogical climax any monster movie ever had.

John Carpenter equaled the unrelenting suspense of Halloween with this nerve-racking remake. Carpenter's The Thing is one of the all-time great horror films.

The original has been built up to classic scale, but Carpenter's remake is actually far scarier and equally thoughtful.

crackling!

The Thing may be a tad too careful and schematic to stand shoulder with Carpenter's very best films.