John
Carpenter's remake of The Thing is a great take on the "who can you
trust" angle, as the monster can take many forms, including hiding
inside the bodies of the poor jerks stuck in the artic science.
After learning of a test that can be performed on blood to see if the
"Thing Virus" is present, the likely subjects are tied up and their
blood put into separate Petri dishes for checking. Slowly the test
is performed on each dish full of blood, until the last one, which
comes up positive. But instead of turning a special color like a
pregnancy test, the results are far more shocking. The fluid erupts
upward like a bloody jack in the box, scaring the hell out of anyone
watching. And it gets worse from there.
I hear
a lot of horror fans badmouth remaking classic horror films like
Texas Chainsaw Massacre and their ilk with a sort of "How Dare They?"
attitude, but Carpenter's Thing shows that with the right amount of
skill and creativity, it can work incredibly well.
