in an era where nearly every great horror film of the 60 and 70 be be remake for audience wean on horror flick of today that be not too terribly good and it be instructive to look back at john carpenter 1982 opus the thing and which itself be a remake of a childhood favorite of the director and howard hawk 1951 sci fi or horror classic the thing from out space . although carpenter film be not initially that big a box office hit when release in mid 1982 and it have since garner a very large follow . in fact and carpenter film be less of a remake of hawk film than it be a reworking and a he go back to the original idea posit by the source material and namely the john w. campbell story who go there . and in which a u scientific crew in antarctica be menace by a shape change alien thaw out from the ice after 100 and 000 year . kurt russell and who have star for carpenter in the director 1979 tv movie elvis and the 1981 film escape from new york and head a cast of stalwart character actor and include keith david and donald moffat and richard dysart and and richard masur and in this tension fill exploration of paranoia and a the shape change thing and which first come to their camp in the form of a guide dog a norwegian team be try to kill and take over each of them one by one . it isn not long before everybody in the camp begin to mistrust his fellow man . the end of the film and in which russell and david be the only one leave and have a disturbing and chill ambiguity akin to the similar coda to both the bird and straw dog . almost universally and when the subject of the thing be buy up and the emphasis be on the extremely gory special effect make up and alien design create by rob bottin and who have work with carpenter on the 1980 horror classic the fog and and on joe dante 1981 werewolf film the howling . these effect be indeed quite spectacular and graphic and and even today and they can also be quite stomach turning . but all of this would make carpenter film nothing more than a high end splatter epic if the direction and the story and and the act weren not up to snuff while and thankfully and each of them be . when he not concentrate on the enormously gruesome transformation sequence and carpenter build suspense in the same hitchcock influence way that inform his previous film halloween and the fog and with cinematographer dean cundey prowl camera work and particularly through the corridor of the station and a significant help . the act enhances an already fine screenplay adaptation by bill lancaster while and we be also give a taut score by ennio morricone and whose work on director sergio leone classic 1960s italian spaghetti western be well know to all and include of course carpenter himself . the thing also feature additional fine visual effect from albert whitlock ( who work on many hitchcock film and include the bird ) and and roy arbogast and who work on close encounter of the third kind and jaw 2. carpenter film be not the success it could have be because universal chose to release this graphic shocker a mere two week after it have release steven spielberg far more family friendly e. t. represent the extra terrestrial ( not surprisingly and critic and audience at the time favor spielberg excellent film over carpenter equally excellent but exceedingly different one ) . also and most of the horror film box office business in 1982 be go to another spielberg produce film and poltergeist . a a result and at a cost of $ 15 million and the thing suffer from lack of attention in it time . over time and however and many have come to see carpenter film for what it be an extremely gory but extremely intelligent combination of science fiction and horror and do with a great deal of flair and a true understanding of the psychological paranoia at the heart of it story . though it be still quite gruesome and the thing should be a much remember for the skill by which the story be put together a it be for the gory alien design and make up effect while for it be the storytelling skill and the suspense that make it so memorable in the final analysis .