Netflix Streaming Friday: "The Thing"
Many of you probably woke up to the unpleasant sight of snow this morning. While your gut reaction will probably be to curse a bit, contemplate moving to Florida because you're a big old baby and then trudge through the snow to brush off your car and fight traffic to work, I implore you to stop all that. Draw all the curtains and blinds in your house. Make it nice and dark. Now turn off your heat, open your doors and windows and let that cold inside. Break open a bottle of your favorite cheap whiskey (for warmth, naturally), boot up your Netflix account and enjoy this last snow of the year in the best possible fashion, by streaming my personal favorite horror movie, John Carpenter's "The Thing".
"The Thing" is an absolute classic that any self-respecting horror fan has to see at least once. I would argue it's Carpenter's finest achievement, which is really saying something when you look at some of what he's produced over the years ("Halloween", "Big Trouble in Little China", last week's feature "Escape from New York", "They Live", etc.). Taking place in an Antarctic research facility, "The Thing" is an amazingly atmospheric film that invokes such a feeling of dread, isolation and futility that it would be considered a classic even if that's all it did. However, it goes above and beyond by also having some of the most incredible practical effects I've ever seen, that I would argue still trump most of today's CGI creations.
And of course, like any incredible horror film, it starts off with a bang, draws you in and then slowly builds to some of the most crazy and absurd things to come out of '80's horror.
Seriously, screw going to work. Call in sick and boot this up. It's the perfect time.
