THE THING

I had encountered this film as a pop culture reference and from fellow film students in college who were not credible sources. My impression was, it was just a hokey John Carpenter horror film. Boy was I wrong. I loved it, and found out my perception of this film was partly based on the original horror poster that John Carpenter hated. The distributor made it without seeing the film. I went into the film wondering what the main story was, I wanted to show that in the poster. By the end it was obvious; trust. MacReady never trusts anyone the whole film. He's a loner throughout, until the end. He shares a drink with Childs while they both question if the other is the thing. Inspired by this and the grotesque, distorted and horrifically beautiful look created for the thing changing form. I joined the faces of the Arctic station crew, because to trust is really to see yourself in the other person.