Top 250 Challenge: 226

The Thing (1982)
Number 228 on IMDb's Top 250

In the midst of the Antarctic snowfield, the scientists and workers of a small American research base are shocked when a helicopter begins to circle their camp, chasing and shooting at a dog. When the helicopter is destroyed and the passenger's are killed by accident, the dog is let into the base and the American's begin to wonder what has actually happened. The helicopter is discovered to be of Norwegian make, and probably linked to the Norwegian base not too far from their own. Helicopter pilot J.R MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Dr. Copper (Richard Dysart) offers to travel to the Norwegian base and find out what has happened. On arrival, they find that the place has been totally destroyed. They also discover a mangled body that looks as though it was once that of a person, which they bring back with them to study. It is only then that the clues begin to add up; the dog morphs horribly into a strange creature that attacks the researchers. They manage to fight it off, but the base's doctor has come to a conclusion: an alien with the power to transform and take the appearance of anybody else is amongst them. Who is infected already, who can be trusted, and will anybody make it out alive? Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: The Norwegian dog in the film was named Jed. He was a half wolf/half husky breed. Jed was an excellent animal actor, never looking at the camera, the dolly or the crew members. Jed, however, is NOT the dog seen in the beginning chase scene, where the Norwegian is trying shoot him. Per Carpenter's commentary, this was another dog painted to look like Jed. To give the illusion of icy Antarctic conditions, interior sets on the Los Angeles sound stages were refrigerated down to 40 F while it hovered around 90 F outside. There are no female characters in the film. The only female presence in the movie is in the voice of MacReady's chess computer and the contestants seen on the game show that Palmer watches. A scene containing a blow-up doll was filmed and then left on the cutting room floor. According to John Carpenter, only one crew member was female but she was pregnant and this forced her to leave the shoot; she was replaced by a male. The female voice on MacReady's computer was performed (uncredited) by the wife of director John Carpenter, actress Adrienne Barbeau. John Carpenter and Kurt Russell both admit that after all of these years they still do not know who has been replaced by the creature and when.

This was a very good psychological thriller. The men of the base are isolated from the world and there is no way to tell who is human and who has been replaced by the alien. Not even the audience knows until something happens. The way Carpenter filmed it, the audience starts to suspect some of the people that end up being human and the ones who aren't you don't suspect. The creature effects are also very good, as Carpenter says in the making of documentary, he didn't want a guy in a rubber suit. Well, this ain't no guy in a rubber suit to be sure.

Next Up: The Straight Story, a story about an old man who makes a long journey by riding lawnmower to mend his relationship with an ill brother, gee, another 180 degree turn