The Thing - cinema review

(USA 1982)
directed by John Carpenter, starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David
colour, 108', 35mm, Italian dubbed version
Antarctica. A group of American scientists is threatened by a horrible alien creature that absorbs every living being and takes their shape. Director Carpenter based his film on the The thing from another world, a 1951 sci-fi production by Howard Hawks, reshaping it in one of his most accomplished and unsettling films, with considerable thanks to Rob Bottin's top-notch special effects. A box-office flop on its release, in time the film has developed a huge international cult following. A prequel was also released in 2011, but we proudly present here the original on its 30th anniversary.