We’re talking about John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic The Thing. When it came out, critics hated it and audiences mostly stayed home but over the following decades it was reappraised as one of the greatest horror movies ever made, and I feel that reputation is well deserved.
It’s the story of a team of researchers at a remote Antarctic station who take in a stray dog, which turns out to be a shape-shifting alien that can imitate any living thing it absorbs. Kurt Russell leads a cast of fantastic character actors who slowly realize that any one of them could be the monster, and that nobody can leave. Mix in Rob Bottin’s astonishingly gross practical effects, a score by the legendary Ennio Morricone, and an ambiguous ending people are still arguing about, and you get a movie that ranks up there with Ridley Scott’s Alien as being among the best sci-fi horror ever made.
To get into all of it, including some of John Carpenter’s other work from around this time, I am thrilled to be joined by returning guest Gary Mitchel, co-host of the horror podcast A Podcask of Amontillado. Gary and his co-host Erin cover all aspects of horror and you should go check that show out after you listen to this one!
Gary's horror podcast A Podcask of Amontillado can be found here: A Podcask of Amontillado
I was recently a guest on The Flopcast to talk about Fairuza Balk's work in 1996's The Craft and 1986's The Worst Witch. Listen here: Flopcast 754 - Fairuzapalooza Part One: Lack of Tootie
Our theme music is by Mister Michael Brousseau
You can email this show at gleamingpod@gmail.com.
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