Harry Situation Reviews: The Thing
The Thing is a science fiction horror film that was released in 1982, and directed by the legendary John Carpenter, known for directing cult classics such as Escape from New York and Halloween. It starred Kurt Russell and David Keith with music by the also legendary Ennio Morricone, who, in my opinion, conducted one of the best scores for a horror film. The story takes place in an Antarctic research station where a team come encounters an extraterrestrial that was found frozen in a block of ice. The only problem is this alien being isn't here to make friends. Instead it can assimilate into other organic lifeforms and imitates them perfectly. Paranoia and fear spreads across the station as the survivors try to figure out how to kill this creature and who to trust.
The Thing is one of the scariest movies I'd ever seen. I am a huge fan of this movie. Everything about this movie was fantastic. What could possibly be more scarier than an artificial alien capable of perfectly mimicking you or your friends appearance and you would not even know about it?
Easily the best part of the movie is its special effects. It is amazing what was accomplished here with practical puppetry and gore. It is unlike anything you've ever seen in a horror flick. What made them stand out was how the effects can still hold up even to today's standards. They're pretty amazing!
The cast is great as well. We have Kurt Russell as the lead hero MacCready and David Keith as Childs, and even Wilford Brimley as the team scientist Blair. When the thing is loose inside the research station, all the actors do an amazing job convincing the audience how terrified they are of it and each other.
Here's what made The Thing scary in the first place. It wasn't the monster that made the film scary, it was the atmosphere and the paranoia. These survivors are in the middle of an arctic wasteland with nowhere to go, and they can't trust each other. You rarely see the monster but you know its presence is there somewhere, building up the tension and then striking at the right moment for a perfect scare. This is why I love this movie so much. I honestly don't have anything negative to say about it.
Positives: Negatives:
-Amazing special effects -No negatives
-Great cast
-Suspenseful
-The music
-Plenty of scares
-Haunting atmosphere
Final grade: A+
Here's my review of The Thing. Please be kind, leave a like and comment below, and as always check back for more Harry Situation Reviews here on Prose.com!
Best Quote:
MacCready: "Yeah, fuck you too!"
Lights Out
I like to consider myself a horror film aficionado. Undoubtedly my favorite genre, I enjoy scaring myself to the point where I have to sleep with the lights on and don't go to the bathroom in the middle of the night because of what might be under my bed. I don't necessarily lump gory or torture-porn films under the horror umbrella even though that's how they are classified because those don't necessarily scare me. I love the Saw and Final Destination franchises, but they don't scare me. If I watch horror, I want to be scared (kind of odd for one with PTSD if you think about it).
Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing the best horror film I've seen in a very, very long time. Lights Out(2016), written and directed by David F. Sandberg (and based on his short film of the same name that you can watch on YouTube), was the most thrilling adrenaline ride I've experienced in quite a while. I love jump scares, and they were abundant in this film. I also had to cross my legs so my feet were not on the floor and viewed much of the film through one eye.
