Rotten
Carpenter's direction is slow, dark, and stately; he seems to be aiming for an enveloping, novelistic kind of effect, but all he gets is heaviness.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
The Thing
Anytime. Anywhere. Anyone.
1982 · 1h 49m · R
Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction
Directed by
John Carpenter
Overview
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
85%
Tomatometer
Rotten
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.
Variety Staff, Variety
Rotten
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.
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Rotten
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.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Rotten
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].
Vincent Canby, New York Times
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