John Carpenter’s The Thing is the ideal snow day movie even if you hate horror

John W. Campbell Who Goes There? opened in the middle of winter. The events of this 1938 science fiction horror novel take place in the coldest months of Antarctica, when a group of researchers discovers a spaceship buried deep in the ice. Campbell’s story weaves an atmosphere of deep foreboding. Isolated scientists discover a frozen creature on a spaceship and aptly dub it The Thing, but when they thaw it, they discover it can imitate, devour, and assimilate any human. As the number of scientists dwindles, guilt and paranoia grip the scattered survivors, turning familiar faces into terrifying threats from beyond. The only way they can maintain their sanity is to take a torch and blast the vile thing until it melts into the snow where it was dug.

The coldness that permeated everywhere Who Goes There? is crucial to the sense of terror the story evokes. Howard Hawks’ 1951 film adaptation of Campbell’s novel, Things From Another Worldbrings this secluded atmosphere to life. This version frames the research post against the backdrop of an unforgiving Arctic snowstorm that contributes to the film’s intense claustrophobic nature.

Although Hawks exploits this wintry setting to underscore the correlation between severe weather and increased anxiety, John Carpenter’s 1982 film adaptation The problem making the most of this layered metaphor (Though critics at the time didn’t think so: The film received a frosty reception during its summer release.) Once the researchers at Outpost 31 understand the true nature of the alien monster, Carpenter uses the cold of Antarctica to heighten their collective disbelief and confound their senses.

In Campbell’s story (which also has a long version entitled Frozen Hell), researchers excavated the creature themselves and were unable to comprehend the horrific events that followed. Carpenter’s film version changes things up by having a rogue alien break into Outpost 31 in broad daylight, in the form of an adorable sled dog. Responsibility for thawing The Thing is transferred to members of the Norwegian outpost, who shoot the Dog-Thing while chasing it through the snow.

Neither the audience nor the Americans learn the truth until later, confirming the Americans’ instinct to protect the seemingly innocent creatures in the film’s opening. This balances the audience’s expectations and allows the reveal to finally break up the united group. People who initially seemed capable of surviving the Antarctic cold let their hearts grow cold, as one act of instinctive kindness would drive them to despair.

The events taking place in the Norwegian camp are presented as visually appealing puzzle pieces, which Outpost 31 pilot RJ MacReady (Kurt Russell) pieces together to discover the horrific backstory. Matthijs van Heijningen in 2011 The problema prequel to Carpenter’s film, explores the creature’s unearthing with great clarity, culminating in a CGI-filled confrontation that leads to Carpenter’s brilliant opening.

But this narrative bridge feels wasted, as the prequel doesn’t add anything meaningful to the story or use its cold backdrop to highlight the horror of being hunted by an alien contagion. When paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) burns humans who have assimilated The Thing, her use of this heat source boils down to logic alone, away from the thematic implication that the creature is repulsed by warmth and friendship.

In contrast, look at the impressive series of blood tests in Carpenter’s film, which are used to establish the connection between coldness and fear. In this scene, MacReady concludes that each shapeshifting version of the creature obeys survival instincts, which should make them react to heat at the DNA level. As he ties everyone up, takes samples of their blood, and attaches a piece of hot wire to each blood-filled Petri dish, an unbearable tension builds until one of the samples reacts violently to the heat. That thing wasn’t just weak to fire — it was weak need unrelenting coldness breeds distrust, so that logic and empathy crumble at an alarming rate. At the same time, the cold numbed everyone’s physical senses, making it impossible to track the group at all times.

The 2011 prequel Heijningen incorporates icy glaciers and beautiful winter landscapes to set the mood, but doesn’t use them to influence the characters’ decisions or dictate the creatures’ psychological drives. Even when the creature mutates and grows another head before the bloodshed, the prequel doesn’t exploit the fragility of relationships in the Norwegian camp or address whether these traumatized researchers feel any guilt for their grave actions. Instead, Carpenter uses real fear to reveal a character’s interiority, even when we don’t know much about the character’s moral compass.

Even the ending is much debated The problemin which MacReady and Childs (Keith David) reluctantly share a drink, overcome by the unforgiving cold and how futile it is to fight all-consuming forces. We don’t know whether MacReady or Childs were compromised, or whether they were both simply paralyzed by paranoia, but these emotions no longer matter as they face the possibility that they will freeze to death. Their efforts may have killed The Thing, but they still won, casting a grim shadow over everyone’s fate.

Evidence of the survivors’ cold breath (or lack thereof) gives rise to interesting theories about which of them might be aliens. But at the end of his life, Carpenter not interested in pitting Childs against MacReady. They have experienced the worst loss and betrayal. What better way to surrender to this brutal isolation than to share a last bottle of alcohol in an attempt to find warmth and connection?

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Both 1982 and 2011 The problem available to rent or purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, and other digital platforms.