The Thing (1982)

It's the end of Spooktober... nobody trusts anybody now and we're all very tired, as we chill out with the original prince of podcasting RJ MacReady and John Carpenter's frozen freakfest takes its rightful place in the pod pantheon. It's 1982's The Thing, directed by John Carpenter, written by Bill Lancaster, and starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David and Donald Moffat. An absolute masterclass in the art of practical make-up and on-camera special effects, it's a movie that still looks outstanding to this day, now 42 years after it hit the screen. Critics hated the film upon its release, accusing Carpenter of only being interested in pushing the limits of technical achievement, and slacking on character and story. While I'd take issue with the latter critique, the former is exactly what has made the movie an enduring favourite. As for its story, this is a scenario so rife with paranoia that it has since gone on to become a successful board game. Sadly, The Thing is not available to stream in Canada at the time of publication, but you can nab it on Blu-ray for $5 most places and it's well worth owning on physical media. Other works discussed in this episode include the Venom franchise, Invaders From Mars, Poltergeist, Transformers, Lover, Stalker, Killer, Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare, Paranormal Activity 2, Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Poltergeist III, Truth or Dare (2017), Death Becomes Her, Gladiator II, The X-Files, Lost, Severance, Clear and Present Danger, and Escape From New York. We'll be back next week to kick off No-Theme-ber, a lawless month where anything goes, as Roxy Fever's Jackson McDonald returns to the show with a redemption pick from his own collection, and to promote the new King Bob album Rookie available now wherever you get your music. He's making us circle back to Hitchcock with a classic mistaken identity thriller, 1959's North by Northwest, with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!