Some creepy-ass shit

I forgot how goddamn scary John Carpenter's "The Thing" is. Watching it in a darkened room will fairly frighten your shit, each time some guy's head explodes into a corona of teeth and slime. The palpable feeling of paranoia and suspicion that Carpenter propitiates is nothing short of amazing, considering the man is a genre filmmaker -- and that genre is B-schlock.

I understand people are more or less in lockstep about "The Thing" being his best (or at least one of his best) efforts, and it falls within that Carpenterian Golden Age that spans from "Halloween" to "They Live" (with some obvious stinkers in that run for good measure). For certain, there was never a greater synthesis of his genre-movie suspense skills, the psychological efforts of his talented cast, and the estimable inventiveness of maestro Rob Bottin, who broke much imaginative ground with his creature designs.