The pinnacle of sci-fi horror that still gives ‘The Exorcist’ stiff competition gets celebrated 41 years later

Whenever the conversation is about the scariest horror movies, 1973’s The Exorcist almost always comes out as the winner. But as I said, almost always. 

In years since the film, there have been many that have tried to edge it out of the top rank but only a few have managed to be deemed horrifying enough to contend for The Exorcist’s crown, and one such scary wonder is John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi horror flick, The Thing. 

Starring Kurt Russell, The Thing, saw a group of American researchers in Antarctica facing off against the terrifying extraterrestrial “Thing” that gobbles up other life forms with ease and imitates them with equal smoothness, leaving the team unable to trust each other as the beast picked them off one by one. 

Though it went appreciated when it was released in 1982, it eventually gained a cult following, peaking on every “best horror movies ever” charts and influencing other films in the genre that followed (or at least tried to) its legacy as a spine-chilling slice of nightmares. 

So, today, on June 25, exactly 41 years after its release, it is getting celebrated yet again for continuing to scare the living daylights out of everyone who dares to watch Russell’s R.J. MacReady (or was it the Thing?) and his team trying to win a losing battle. 

It wasn’t just the storytelling that became a timeless example in the horror genre — it was the 80s people and it was a creature-based film! Imagine the quality of its visual effects that still manage to terrify its audience.

And come on, how can we forget the real star of the film?

Well, seeing that Evil Dead Rise left me laughing my guts out, it is time to turn to The Thing and reminiscence what good quality, leave-me-terrified-of-my-own-breath, horror feels like. Old is gold for a reason.