I don’t know how The Thing slipped through cracks of my childhood, but it is a very good horror movie. Maybe it was the uninspired and generic title that didn’t appeal to me. Maybe it was John Carpenter’s run of Escape from L.A., Vampires, and The Ghosts of Mars from ’96 to ’01 that kept me from exploring more of his earlier work. Whatever it was, I was missing out.

Everything from the practical effects of the creatures to the simple (but often hard to pull off) theme of “anyone could be the enemy” were done so perfectly. My expectations were low, but I was impressed. The Thing has solidified its place in my October annual horror-movie-month-marathon.