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The Thing

The Thing

Horror · Mystery · Science Fiction · 1982

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

Movie details

The Thing

“Anytime. Anywhere. Anyone.”

1982 Horror · Mystery · Science Fiction 1h 49m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

8.1 / 10

Community rating

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Thing?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

The Fly

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

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The residents of San Francisco are becoming drone-like shadows of their former selves, and as the phenomenon spreads, two Department of Health workers uncover the horrifying truth.

Alien: Romulus

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While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.

Event Horizon

Event Horizon

Horror · 1997

In 2047, a group of astronauts are sent to investigate and salvage the starship Event Horizon which disappeared mysteriously seven years before on its maiden voyage. However, it soon becomes evident that something sinister resides in its corridors.

No One Will Save You

No One Will Save You

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A lonely woman battles extraterrestrials who threaten her future while forcing her to face her past.

The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man

Thriller · 2020

When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

The Mist

The Mist

Horror · 2007

After a violent storm, a dense cloud of mist envelops a small Maine town, trapping David Drayton and his five-year-old son in a local grocery store with other local residents. They soon discover that the mist conceals deadly horrors that threaten their lives, and worse, their sanity.

Color Out of Space

Color Out of Space

Horror · 2020

The Gardner family moves to a remote farmstead in rural New England to escape the hustle of the 21st century. They are busy adapting to their new life when a meteorite crashes into their front yard, melts into the earth, and infects both the land and the properties of space-time with a strange, otherworldly colour. To their horror, the family discovers this alien force is gradually mutating every life form that it touches—including them.

The Void

The Void

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In the middle of a routine patrol, officer Daniel Carter happens upon a blood-soaked figure limping down a deserted stretch of road. He rushes the young man to a nearby rural hospital staffed by a skeleton crew, only to discover that patients and personnel are transforming into something inhuman. As the horror intensifies, Carter leads the other survivors on a hellish voyage into the subterranean depths of the hospital in a desperate bid to end the nightmare before it's too late.

Books of Blood

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Horror · 2020

A journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three tales tangled in space and time.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

John Carpenter

Written by

Bill Lancaster

Kurt Russell

Kurt Russell

MacReady

Wilford Brimley

Wilford Brimley

Blair

T.K. Carter

T.K. Carter

Nauls

David Clennon

David Clennon

Palmer

Keith David

Keith David

Childs

Richard Dysart

Richard Dysart

Dr. Copper

Charles Hallahan

Charles Hallahan

Norris

Court is in session

Put The Thing on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.