The Thing is a 1982 science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter.  The Thing is now 27 years old the film begins with an alien spaceship entering Earth’s atmosphere at the southern pole and crashing.  In Antarctica a 12 man American research crew is getting ready for the upcoming winter when they are alerted by gunfire and explosions, a Alaskan sled dog makes its way towards the camp while being pursued by a Norwegian helicopter whose occupants are trying to kill the dog with rifles and thermal charges.   The dog enters the camp while the helicopter from the Norwegian research base circles the perimeter and lands.  One of its occupants exits the helicopter and pursues the dog on foot he frantically screams at the U.S personnel as the dog approaches them, telling them that it isn’t a dog but a Thing imitating a dog.  The Americans can’t understand him and through careless use of a thermal charge the helicopter is blown up and its pilot is killed. The surviving Norwegian fires at the dog but instead hits Bennings (Peter Maloney) grazing him in the leg, another member of the American research Team Garry (Donald Moffat) smashes a window and kills the Norwegian with his side arm.  The dog is taken in as a stray, wondering why the Norwegians were trying to kill the dog MacReady (Kurt Russell) the team’s helicopter pilot and Dr Copper (Richard Dysart) risk a flight to the Norwegian camp.  Once there they find the Norwegian camp completely destroyed and its personnel missing or dead, they find evidence that the Norwegians had dug something out of the ice and took it back to their base for study.  Along with the human bodies Mac and Doc find the remnants of a frozen corpse of a twisted creature not man but not beast and take it back to their own base for an autopsy.  An autopsy by Blair (Wilford Brimley) finds what appears to be a normal set of human organs but the Thing’s external appearance is anything but a bloody jumble of limbs, torsos and faces melded together as one.   Later that night Clark (Richard Masur) kennels the stray dog with the rest of the station’s sled dogs, they react with fear to the new addition growling and snarling at it. Noises from the kennel causes Clark to return where he finds almost the entire sled team in the process of being assimilated by the stray dog, which has transformed into a monster.  The alarm is pulled and the others arrive, firing multiple shots at the monster which have no effect until Childs (Keith David) arrives with a flame thrower and incinerates it.   Blair does an autopsy on the smoldering remains that reveals that the Thing is an alien organism that imitates other life forms by attacking and dissolving them and reshaping it’s image to appear in the animal or person it kills.   Bennings and Windows (Thomas G Waites) take all the dead remains and put them in the camp storage room but moments after leaving Windows returns to discover Bennings in the process of being replicated.  Bennings runs outside only to be surrounded, MacReady sets him on fire before the Thing can finish it’s transformation.  Blair a biologist realizes the implications if the creature were to reach another continent and suffers a nervous breakdown, destroying the helicopter and radio equipment and kills the remaining dogs in an attempt to prevent further contamination. The other team members overpower him and confine him to the tool shed outside. The crew intend to attempt a test using uncontaminated blood but when Copper and Nauls (T K Carter) go to the locked refrigerator only to find the blood samples have been destroyed.  Fuchs goes missing and while the others are searching for him, MacReady comes under suspicion and is locked outside in a severe blizzard by Childs.  MacReady manages to break into a storage room and threatens the rest of the crew with dynamite.    When Childs and the others rebel against MacReady, Norris (Charles Hallahan) appears to have a heart attack after being thrown off MacReady.  Dr Copper attempts to revive him using defibrillator paddles but Norriss chest opens up and bits off Coppers arms, with everyone stood there in shock MacReady burns the Norris Thing with the flame thrower but as the body burns the head detaches and  sprouts legs and then attempts to escape but it is spotted by Palmer (David Clennon) the head is then incinerated by MacReady.   At this point MacReady has everyone tied down to chairs so he can perform the test to determine who is infected and who is not he theorizes that every piece of the alien is an individual organism with its own survival instinct.  He proposes to test each person’s blood reaction to a hot wire, Palmer is discovered to be a Thing and manages to kill Windows before being incinerated by MacReady.  MacReady, Garry and Nauls go to the tool shed to give Blair the test only to find the tool shed empty and Blair gone, except for a space craft Blair has been building under the shed.  Then the generator goes down, they all go to the generator only to find that the generator has been completely destroyed.  Realizing that the creature just wants to freeze again so it can be found later and thawed by a rescue team the remaining crew acknowledge that they will not survive and set about blowing up and burning the facility in the hope of killing the creature.  Child’s runs off while MacReady, Nauls and Garry set the explosives in the underground generator room, Nauls and Garry are killed by the Blair imitation.  MacReady is preparing to detonate the charges when the creature now an enormous monster emerges from beneath the floor, MacReady hurls a lit stick of dynamite which then sets off the rest of the charges which totally destroys the building. Wandering among the flaming rubble, MacReady encounters Child’s who claims to have seen Blair and became lost while chasing him in the snow. With the temperature dropping they acknowledge the futility of their distrust and suspiciously share a drink together as the camp burns.  Both men exhausted and wary of each other sit among the burning wreckage waiting for the fires to go out and the winter weather to consume them.

Kurt Russell

Kurt Russell is an American actor his films include Guns of Diablo (1964), Follow Me, Boys! (1966), The One and Only Genuine, Original Family Band (1968), Guns in the Heather (1969), The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Fools’ Parade (1971), Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (1972), Charley and the Angel (1973), The Strongest Man in the World (1975), Used Cars (1980), Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982), Silkwood (1983), Swing Shift (1984), The Mean Season (1985), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Overboard (1987), Tequila Sunrise (1988), Tango & Cash (1989), Backdraft (1991), Unlawful Entry (1992), Captain Ron (1992), Tombstone (1993), Stargate (1994), Executive Decision (1996), Escape from L.A. (1996), Breakdown (1997), Soldier (1998), 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001), Vanilla Sky (2001), Dark Blue (2002), Poseidon (2006) and Death Proof (2007).   He has appeared in TV series such as The Eleventh Hour, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, The Virginian, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke and Hawaii Five O.

Wilford Brimley

Wilford Brimley is an American actor his films include True Grit (1969), Lawman (1971), The China Syndrome (1979), The Electric Horseman (1979), Brubaker (1980), Borderline (1980), Absence of Malice (1981), Death Valley (1982), The Thing (1982), 10 to Midnight (1983), High Road to China (1983), Tough Enough (1983), The Natural (1984), Cocoon (1985), Remo Williams The Adventure Begins (1985), Jackals (1986), End of the Line (1987), Cocoon The Return (1988), Eternity (1989), The Firm (1993), Hard Target (1993), Heaven Sent (1994), Mutant Species (1995), My Fellow Americans (1996), Lunker Lake (1997), All My Friends Are Cowboys (1998), Comanche (2000), Brigham City (2001), The Round and Round (2002), Resurrection Mary (2002) and The Road Home (2003).   He has appeared in TV series such as Gunsmoke, Kung Fu, The Waltons, Homicide Life on the Street and Walker Texas Ranger.

Keith David

Keith David is an American actor his films include The Thing (1982), Platoon (1986), Braddock Missing in Action III (1988), Bird (1988), Road House (1989), Always (1989), Men at Work (1990), Marked for Death (1990), Final Analysis (1992), Reality Bites (1994), The Quick and the Dead (1995), Clockers (1995), Dead Presidents (1995), Larger Than Life (1996, Volcano (1997), Executive Target (1997), Armageddon (1998), Pitch Black (2000), The Replacements (2000), Home Invaders (2001), Agent Cody Banks (2003), Hollywood Homicide (2003), Agent Cody Banks 2 Destination London (2004), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Transporter 2 (2005), The Last Sentinel (2007) and Superhero Movie (2008).   He has appeared in TV series such as The Equalizer, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Law & Order, CSI Crime Scene Investigation, Grey’s Anatomy and ER.  Over the years he has done extensive voice acting work on many animated series such as Aladdin, Fantastic Four, Gargoyles, Hercules, Spawn, The Legend of Tarzan and Justice League.

David Clennon

David Clennon is an American actor his films include The Paper Chase (1973), Bound for Glory (1976), The Greatest (1977), Coming Home (1978), Being There (1979), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), Ladies and Gentlemen the Fabulous Stains (1981), The Thing (1982), The Right Stuff (1983), Falling in Love (1984), Sweet Dreams (1985), Legal Eagles (1986), The Trouble with Dick (1987), The Couch Trip (1988), Betrayed (1988), Man Trouble (1992), Matinee (1993), Tecumseh (1994), Mad City (1997), The Visit (2000), Silver City (2004), Constellation (2005), Syriana (2005), Rocketboy (2006), With God on Our Side (2007) and Convention (2008).   He has appeared in TV series such as Kojak, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Sledge Hammer, Beauty and the Beast, Murder, She Wrote, thirtysomething, Star Trek: Voyager, The West Wing, Scrubs, ER, Grey’s Anatomy, Boston Legal and Prison Break.

Thomas G Waites

Thomas G Waites is an American actor his films include On the Yard (1978), The Warriors (1979), And Justice for All (1979), The Thing (1982), The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986), Light of Day (1987), The Verne Miller Story (1987), Blue Jean Cop (1988), State of Grace (1990), McBain (1991), Money Train (1995), Timelock (1996), An American Affair (1997), Most Wanted (1997), Rites of Passage (1999), American Virgin (2000) and Nailed (2001).  He has appeared in TV series such as Miami Vice, The Equalizer, Sliders, NYPD Blue, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Oz, Law & Order Criminal Intent and Law & Order.

T K Carter

T K Carter is an American actor his films include Youngblood (1978), Corvette Summer (1978), The Hollywood Knights (1980), Seed of Innocence (1980), Underground Aces (1981), Southern Comfort (1981), The Thing (1982), Doctor Detroit (1983), Runaway Train (1985), He’s My Girl (1987), Ski Patrol (1990), A Rage in Harlem (1991), Space Jam (1996), My Favorite Martian (1999), How to Get the Man’s Foot Outta Your Ass (2003), The LA Riot Spectacular (2005) and Domino (2005).  He has appeared in TV series such as The Waltons, Quincy M.E, Punky Brewster, NYPD Blue, In Justice and Everybody Hates Chris.

Richard Dysart

Richard Dysart is an American actor perhaps best known for his role as Leland McKenzie on the legal drama L.A Law.  His films include Petulia (1968), The Lost Man (1969), The Sporting Club (1971), The Hospital (1971), The Terminal Man (1974), The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder (1974), The Day of the Locust (1975), The Hindenburg (1975), An Enemy of the People (1978), Meteor (1979), The Thing (1982), The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), Mask (1985), Pale Rider (1985), Wall Street (1987), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Panther (1995) and Hard Rain (1998).  He has appeared in TV series such as Columbo, War and Remembrance and L.A Law.

Richard Masur

Richard Masur is an American actor his films include Hanover Street (1979), Heaven’s Gate (1980), The Thing (1982), Risky Business (1983), Nightmares (1983), Under Fire (1983), The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), The Mean Season (1985), Heartburn (1986), Rent a Cop (1987), License to Drive (1988), Far from Home (1989), Going Under (1990), Flashback (1990), My Girl (1991), The Man Without a Face (1993), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), My Girl 2 (1994), Forget Paris (1995), Multiplicity (1996), Fire Down Below (1997), Play It to the Bone (1999), Palindromes (2004) and Lovely by Surprise (2007).  He has appeared in TV series such as The Waltons, M*A*S*H, Hawaii Five O, Happy Days, Cagney & Lacey, L.A Law, Law & Order and Law & Order Special Victims Unit.

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