Jules Gill's 10 Greatest Films Of All Time
6. John Carpenter's The Thing
For me, John Carpenter's The Thing is the film which has it all. A genuinely terrifying central gimmick of an alien assimilating an isolated group of Arctic researchers, a soundscape provided by the one and only Ennio Morricone, and the tight directing chops of John Carpenter.
This is a match made in heaven, which details the plight of these unlucky souls descending into hell. The visual effects work on show here is phenomenal, with it proving above any shadow of a doubt that practical effects still have a very valid place in films. In fact, the weird prequel/reboot of The Thing proved how unconvincing these types of mutations can be when relying on CGI.
The tactile grossness of the creatures hits hard, almost as much as the beefy doses of paranoia that seep through the film. The fact that there are still arguments to this day about who is assimilated and when proves how brilliantly well executed the final product is. This is my all-time banger of a horror film and in my mind, it hasn't aged a day.