The Thing (1982) – Episode 147 – Decades of Horror 1980s

“Trust is a tough thing to come by these days.” To paraphrase Bo Diddley, “Who do you trust?”  You don’t have to walk 47 miles of barbed wire or wear a cobra-snake for a necktie to know that the answer to the question is, “Nobody!” Join your faithful Grue Crew - Chad Hunt, Crystal Cleveland, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr - as they, arguably, consort with Lovecraftian horrors for the third straight episode, this time in Antarctica with John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982).

Decades of Horror 1980s
Episode 147 – The Thing (1982)

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

- IMDb

 

• Director: John Carpenter
• Writers: Bill Lancaster (screenplay), John W. Campbell Jr. (story)
• Cinematography: Dean Cundey
• Music: Ennio Morricone
• Special Makeup Effects Creator and Designer: Rob Bottin
• Cast
  • Kurt Russell as R. J. MacReady
  • A. Wilford Brimley as Blair
  • T. K. Carter as Nauls
  • David Clennon as Palmer
  • Keith David as Childs
  • Richard Dysart as Dr. Copper
  • Charles Hallahan as Vance Norris
  • Peter Maloney as George Bennings
  • Richard Masur as Clark
  • Donald Moffat as Garry
  • Joel Polis as Fuchs
  • Thomas Waites as Windows
  • Adrienne Barbeau as Chess Wizard (Voice)
  • Jed as Dog Thing (uncredited)

If you’re a loyal fan of Decades of Horror 1980s, you’ll remember that Doc Rotten, Christopher G. Moore, and Thomas Mariani already covered John Carpenter’s The Thing on episode 93. So why another episode on the same film? Maybe it’s because The Thing is Chad’s favorite horror movie of all time and he got to pick the film for this episode and maybe it’s because the rest of the Grue-Crew was just as excited about covering The Thing as Chad was. At any rate, here you go.

Chad talks about his love for The Thing and the effect it had on his artistic work. The toll that working on the film had on Rob Bottin as Special Makeup Effects Creator and Designer is described by Bill while Crystal opines that The Thing is Carpenter's best film. Jeff, inspired by Peter Watts’ short story “The Things,” starts a discussion around the Thing’s point-of-view and motivation as depicted in the film. Your 1980s Grue-Crew love talking The Thing and are impressed with how a 37-year-old film is able to spark such discussions. They could probably spend a couple more episodes discussing the merits of this landmark film.

If you’re thirsty for more, you might want to check out episode 7 of Decades of Horror: The Classic Era on The Thing from Another World (1951). For print or audio versions of “The Things” by Peter Watts, go to http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1980s is part of the Decades of Horror 3-week rotation with The Classic Era and the 1970s. In three weeks, the 80s Grue-Crew’s next film will be Humanoids from the Deep (1980), starring Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, and Vic Morrow.

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