The Story Archive

The Thing

John Carpenter · 1982 CE · Film · Modern / American · Contemporary

An Antarctic research station takes in a sled dog being shot at from a Norwegian helicopter, then flies over to find that camp burnt out and a block of ice cut open on the floor. Whatever came out of it can copy a man exactly, and twelve people with a blood test and a flamethrower have to decide who is still himself. Bottin's practical effects were dismissed on release and are now the benchmark for physical horror.

Open The Thing in the archive — filters, lineage graph and full facet browsing.

Attributes

Genre
Theme
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Plot structure
Symbol / motif
Conflict
Mode / tone
Culture / tradition

Closest analogues