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There are a lot of classic films that I just haven't had the opportunity to see (there are so many movies to watch and so little time, after all), but that's part of the reason for doing this column - to push myself to watch more films, especially ones from the past that I've been meaning to catch up on. The Thing, John Carpenter's horror/action/suspense film from 1982, is the most recent one I've checked off my list.

The Thing tells the story of a team of United States scientists and crew members who are stationed in Antarctica in the winter of 1982. One day, a dog is chased into their camp by a man shooting at it from a circling Norwegian helicopter. The dog survives, but the two men aboard the helicopter do not. After a short time, it's learned that a Norwegian expedition based nearby had discovered an alien ship frozen in the ice and had unwittingly let loose a dangerous creature capable of assimilating other life forms. This alien, the titular thing, begins to wreak havoc on the US base and its inhabitants.

Frequent Carpenter collaborator Kurt Russell plays the lead role, a gruff and macho helicopter pilot named R.J. MacReady. Russell almost always delivers a solid performance and is no different here. MacReady is a cool guy (despite wearing possibly the stupidest looking hat in movie history) who is quick with a witty retort and likes his whiskey straight, often straight from the bottle. Russell seems to have been born to play these types of characters and performs quite well, but doesn't do much of anything unexpected or overly impressive.

The rest of the cast consists of lesser actors playing less interesting characters. There's the guy in charge (Donald Moffat, with a face begging to be punched), the doctor (Richard Dysart), the loose cannon (Keith David), the dog lover (Richard Masur), the coward (Thomas Waites), the cook (T.K. Carter) and various, and mostly nondescript scientists played by David Clennon, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, and Joel Polis.

The only standout in the cast, besides Russell, is Wilfred Brimley as Doctor Blair. Blair is the smartest man in camp and discovers what the alien is capable of, but also suffers a mental breakdown because of it. Brimley is an actor mostly known now for playing crotchety old characters, and Blair is more of the same. It's a testament to his charisma that Brimley is able to transcend his type-casting and deliver an interesting and layered performance.

The Thing handles a lot of aspects very well, despite letting me down on the acting side of things. One high point is the score from cinema icon Ennio Morricone. It's a perfect combination of notes for a horror film and greatly adds to the overall tension and suspense, but does so without being heavy-handed or overpowering.

The special effects and makeup effects might be the most famous part of The Thing and while they don't appear as realistic as similar effects would today, they still hold up nicely. There's no shortage of body transformations or gore, and all of these moments are quite effective. One of my favorite examples of the great effects work is when one character is being examined after seemingly suffering a heart attack. As CPR is being performed on the unresponsive body, the man's chest burst opens and chomps off the doctor's arms at the elbows. It was a truly shocking moment and it jolted me upright.

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