John Carpenters The Thing is a cult horror film with a gory charm I had forgotten until recently. I found it particularly interesting for its wild special effects shots with gruesome images of dogs and humans and other creatures being imitated by the Thing, sometimes rather inaccurately.
I was interested to learn that the special effects were mostly handled by a young guy named Rob Bottin, who lived at the studio for the year or so it took to complete the film, subsequently being admitted to hospital... He really loves his job! Stan Winston also helped out with some shots of the dog monster in the kennel, which I felt were less wild and exaggerated (and more spooky) than some of the other parts Bottin handled.
However, without picking each shot apart, it all sums up to a wild ride. You should watch it (again?), unless you're a little squiemish about.. well.. revolting images.
Oh, and word has it that a prequel is in the pipes, involving the events suffered by the Norwegian crew after discovering the alien ship. I suppose it could have some kind of surprise ending involving more aliens... Either way the bar has been set pretty high!
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