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BFI Film Classics
The Thing
An alien entity that can take any living form invades an isolated scientific research station in the Antarctic. John Carpenter's The Thing is best known for some of the most startling visual effects--surreal, lurid, shocking perversions of the human body --ever committed to celluloid. At London's National Film Theatre in 1995, Quentin Tarantino named The Thing as one of his favorite films. Yet when it was released in 1982, it fared badly against another alien encounter movie, E.T. , and critics panned it. But The Thing has aged well, and its influence can now be detected in everything from Seven to Red Dwarf and The X Files.
In her elegant and trenchant study, Anne Billson argues that The Thing has never been given its due. For Billson, it's a landmark movie that brilliantly refines the conventions of classic horror and science fiction, combining them with humor, Lewis Carroll logic, strong characterizations and prescient insight. The idea of an alien species mutating and inhabiting humans resonates all too chillingly with the mad cow disease crisis and today's new and ever more powerful genetic technology.
In her elegant and trenchant study, Anne Billson argues that The Thing has never been given its due. For Billson, it's a landmark movie that brilliantly refines the conventions of classic horror and science fiction, combining them with humor, Lewis Carroll logic, strong characterizations and prescient insight. The idea of an alien species mutating and inhabiting humans resonates all too chillingly with the mad cow disease crisis and today's new and ever more powerful genetic technology.
- GenresNonfictionFilmHorror
96 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1997
5 people are currently reading
183 people want to read
About the author
Anne Billson
38 books76 followersANNE BILLSON is a film critic, novelist, photographer, style icon, wicked spinster, evil feminist, and international cat-sitter who has lived in London, Tokyo, Paris and Croydon, and now lives in Belgium. She likes frites, beer and chocolate.
Her books include SUCKERS (an upwardly mobile vampire novel), STIFF LIPS (a Notting Hill ghost story), THE EX (a supernatural detective story) and THE COMING THING (Rosemary's Baby meets Bridget Jones) as well as several works of non-fiction, including BILLSON FILM DATABASE, BREAST MAN: A CONVERSATION WITH RUSS MEYER, and monographs on the films THE THING and LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.
Her latest book is CATS ON FILM, the definitive work of feline film scholarship.
She sometimes writes about film for the Guardian, and is currently working on a screenplay and a sequel to her vampire novel, SUCKERS. She has three blogs: multiglom.com (the Billson Blog), catsonfilm.net (a blog about cats in the cinema), and lempiredeslumieres.com (photographs of Belgian beer, bars and sunsets).
Her books include SUCKERS (an upwardly mobile vampire novel), STIFF LIPS (a Notting Hill ghost story), THE EX (a supernatural detective story) and THE COMING THING (Rosemary's Baby meets Bridget Jones) as well as several works of non-fiction, including BILLSON FILM DATABASE, BREAST MAN: A CONVERSATION WITH RUSS MEYER, and monographs on the films THE THING and LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.
Her latest book is CATS ON FILM, the definitive work of feline film scholarship.
She sometimes writes about film for the Guardian, and is currently working on a screenplay and a sequel to her vampire novel, SUCKERS. She has three blogs: multiglom.com (the Billson Blog), catsonfilm.net (a blog about cats in the cinema), and lempiredeslumieres.com (photographs of Belgian beer, bars and sunsets).
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 3, 2024
The 1980s were the heyday of the home video market, and I think it was in 1984 that I hired The Thing on home video. I personally found it one of the most suspenseful films I have ever watched. Mind you, some of my other favourite movies include Invasion of the Body Snatchers (both the 1950s and 1970s versions) and Blade Runner and its sequel. All these films share the theme of aliens or androids that are able to mimic humans, creating a situation where no-one really knows who is human and who isn’t. I surmise that this idea interests me, at least in the sense that I think it makes for a creepy film. That probably says something about my personality, that I would probably rather not know about.
This is the second book I’ve read in this BFI Film Classics series, and the books generally seem to be quick and easy reads. This one starts promisingly but I thought it went a bit awry later on, though I won’t deny that the author’s interpretation of the movie is kind of interesting.
Despite now being viewed as a classic of the genre, The Thing was absolutely panned by professional reviewers when it first appeared. Indeed, as the author says, it received “some of the most vehement critical condemnation I remember reading”. She spends some time considering why this was so and why the majority of professional critics misjudged the film so badly (in the opinion of most viewers).
The author also discusses the fact that the film’s 12 (human) characters are all male, something she correctly identifies would not be permitted in a Hollywood movie today. In one sense this made it unusual for a horror film from the early 1980s, since traditionally young women played the victim in such films. The role of males as victims is important for how the author develops her interpretation of the film.
She introduces a suggestion that “One fanciful if rather diverting reading of The Thing is of the monster as the eternal female”. Having initially described this idea as “fanciful”, she then seems to wholeheartedly endorse it, and provides a scene-by-scene description of the film in which everything is reduced to imagery depicting a battle of the sexes. The shape-shifting alien can produce “an unexpected orifice that can swallow a man’s head whole, decapitation as castration…” Meanwhile the film’s hero, MacReady, hits back by throwing a “phallic-shaped” stick of dynamite at the alien. She also includes lots of humour based on sexual innuendo. At one point MacReady tries to use a flamethrower against the creature but it malfunctions, which the author describes as MacReady having “temporary ejaculatory problems” (fnarr! fnarr!). In a scene near the end she describes MacReady as “exhausted from having shot his load.” There’s plenty more text like this, but you get the idea. It was overdone, to be honest.
I couldn’t help thinking the author let all the theorising run away with her a bit, and that the whole thing was taken too far. That said, the idea of what is essentially a B-movie (albeit an unexpectedly good one) as an allegory for the eternal conflict between the masculine and the feminine, is one that hadn’t occurred to me in any way, shape or form. I’ve said in other reviews that I enjoy books that introduce me to new ideas, and this book certainly did that.
The thing (if I can use that noun here) about stories is that we can all draw our own interpretations from them…
This is the second book I’ve read in this BFI Film Classics series, and the books generally seem to be quick and easy reads. This one starts promisingly but I thought it went a bit awry later on, though I won’t deny that the author’s interpretation of the movie is kind of interesting.
Despite now being viewed as a classic of the genre, The Thing was absolutely panned by professional reviewers when it first appeared. Indeed, as the author says, it received “some of the most vehement critical condemnation I remember reading”. She spends some time considering why this was so and why the majority of professional critics misjudged the film so badly (in the opinion of most viewers).
The author also discusses the fact that the film’s 12 (human) characters are all male, something she correctly identifies would not be permitted in a Hollywood movie today. In one sense this made it unusual for a horror film from the early 1980s, since traditionally young women played the victim in such films. The role of males as victims is important for how the author develops her interpretation of the film.
She introduces a suggestion that “One fanciful if rather diverting reading of The Thing is of the monster as the eternal female”. Having initially described this idea as “fanciful”, she then seems to wholeheartedly endorse it, and provides a scene-by-scene description of the film in which everything is reduced to imagery depicting a battle of the sexes. The shape-shifting alien can produce “an unexpected orifice that can swallow a man’s head whole, decapitation as castration…” Meanwhile the film’s hero, MacReady, hits back by throwing a “phallic-shaped” stick of dynamite at the alien. She also includes lots of humour based on sexual innuendo. At one point MacReady tries to use a flamethrower against the creature but it malfunctions, which the author describes as MacReady having “temporary ejaculatory problems” (fnarr! fnarr!). In a scene near the end she describes MacReady as “exhausted from having shot his load.” There’s plenty more text like this, but you get the idea. It was overdone, to be honest.
I couldn’t help thinking the author let all the theorising run away with her a bit, and that the whole thing was taken too far. That said, the idea of what is essentially a B-movie (albeit an unexpectedly good one) as an allegory for the eternal conflict between the masculine and the feminine, is one that hadn’t occurred to me in any way, shape or form. I’ve said in other reviews that I enjoy books that introduce me to new ideas, and this book certainly did that.
The thing (if I can use that noun here) about stories is that we can all draw our own interpretations from them…
October 15, 2013
Oh, The Thing. I love it so much. And am so happy to see that other people do too. Billson's appreciation is energetic and endearingly dorky at times, and she spends much of the book offering a blow-by-blow recap of the movie...but I don't even mind. I've seen the movie so many times I know every scene she's talking about. And while I don't feel like there are too many real mind-blowers here (with an all-male cast, the Thing represents the amorphous, gelatinous, absorptive, threatening Female etc.) there's enough genuine fondness to make this a good read for me.
Billson also interviewed Carpenter himself--the kind of interview that always seems to result in the director laughing and saying, yeah, I guess you can see that in that scene...we were just trying to make the movie, though. Critics and creators: the twain shall ne'er really meet.
There's some good movie trivia in here for anyone who really loves this one...if you're not already a fan of The Thing this probably won't be for you. But there are plenty of other BFI Modern Classics out there to pick from, so that's okay.
Side note: Not a single female character. Bechdel Test emphatically NOT passed. But I still love it.
Billson also interviewed Carpenter himself--the kind of interview that always seems to result in the director laughing and saying, yeah, I guess you can see that in that scene...we were just trying to make the movie, though. Critics and creators: the twain shall ne'er really meet.
There's some good movie trivia in here for anyone who really loves this one...if you're not already a fan of The Thing this probably won't be for you. But there are plenty of other BFI Modern Classics out there to pick from, so that's okay.
Side note: Not a single female character. Bechdel Test emphatically NOT passed. But I still love it.
August 14, 2024
Fun breakdown of one of my favorite films. Appreciate the authors interpretation (and love) of the film. Made me want to watch it again and again.
November 9, 2024
I was pretty disappointed with this but still managed to finish it as a massive fan of ‘the thing’. I expected maybe a bit more insight into the production, themes, and just general information about the impact of the film, but the book is basically just a long winded recap of the film. Had some interesting insight about Mcready as a character, and the reading of the thing as ‘female’ was… interesting. Overall, worth the read if you like the film as much as I do. (Does anyone know if all BFI classics are like this?)
September 3, 2011
Anne Billson’s BFI take on Carpenter’s THE THING is solid (particularly compared to BFI's JAWS entry). She does a good job placing the film in its historical context (why it flopped, why most critics originally panned it), and then goes through a plot synopsis and scene by scene breakdown. I found her defense of Carpenter’s miminalist approach to the characters especially effective, as well as the comparison to the original novella, Who Goes There?
June 25, 2022
I learned a lot but didn’t love the format as it followed plot step by step in the last chapters.
March 5, 2018
I share author Anne Billson's opinion that John Carpenter's 1982 movie THE THING is great. Unfortunately, that's about all I got from this disappointing installment in the BFI Modern Classics series. Billson's book is weirdly an excruciatingly detailed plot synopsis with minimal analysis, lots of gushing superlatives, and too many strange assertions. I don't know who the audience is for this approach. If you've seen the movie, you don't need the rehash, and if you haven't seen it, you probably don't want someone telling you everything that happens. The book amounts to little more than, "This happened, and then this happened, and wasn't it cool? And then this thing happened, and that was pretty cool. It reminded me of this one STAR TREK episode." Occasionally, Billson will say something incoherent about phallic symbols as a cursory nod to deeper analysis, but this mostly reads like a teenager's blog post stretched to 91 pages. I do admit to being amused by some of Billson's ridiculous prose, particularly her attempts to create new trends in film terminology. Here are a few examples among many: "What we are about to have here is the classic sealed environment situation, otherwise known as the Old Dark House formula. An American scientific research station in the Antarctic is every bit as effective as the old dark house in THE OLD DARK HOUSE ..." and "The idea of something about to recur gives the story a cyclical, almost mythic quality. ... you might call it the Chinatown Syndrome, since one of the most memorable examples of it is CHINATOWN..." Billson later lays out the seven rules of horror (which she made up) and talks about how THE THING breaks these rules, then tells the reader to ignore rules three, four, and five because they only apply to slasher films, not horror movies like THE THING. What a mess.
September 18, 2012
Too much explication and not enough analysis, essentially. Shame, because what analysis there is is intriguing. Has made me want to go back and watch the film, though.
June 14, 2017
As part of the BFI Modern Classics series, film reviewer and novelist Anne Billson dissects (an apt description considering the source material) John Carpenter's The Thing. As Billson points out early on, The Thing is one of those films that was a financial and critical failure when released, but is now considered a landmark in horror/sci-fi cinema and an unrivaled masterpiece. It's only fitting that it receives the film historian treatment.
In a departure from some of the more academic entries into the BFI series, Billson essentially walks the reader through the film from beginning to end, describing what is happening on the screen as it occurs, and pausing to introduce historical context or critical analysis where appropriate along the way. In a way, this format results in an unintentionally dismissive presentation that feels as if we are watching the movie while someone (Billson) talks over it. Then again, it is a welcome change of pace from some of the more overly clinical BFI books crammed full of frame-by-frame screenshots and charts tallying camera angles. One could argue that treating The Thing in this fashion implies that genre films shouldn't be taken seriously, but one could also argue that this is how genre fans take their films seriously. The important thing is that it works.
Billson is obviously a fan of both the film and the genre, and her insights are both genuine and intriguing. One of her more interesting approaches is the idea of the titular Thing as the sole female character of the films otherwise sausage-fest cast, and while some in the men's rights movement might take offense to Billson's allusions to fragile male egos and castration metaphors, but those secure in their manhood will have no problem with her Freudian analysis. The Thing is a film intentionally designed to invite interpretations, and Billson provides the reader with much to think about.
The Thing is a film with multiple origins, including the original sci-fi film The Thing From Another World and the novella it was based on, Who Goes There?, and Billson discusses not only those influences, but the influences that The Thing has had since it's release, including comic book spin-offs thematic overlaps in future films. I was personally gratified that this resulted in her referencing the British sci-fi series Red Dwarf, not once, but twice.
Overall, this is a great entry into the BFI series, and a worthy tribute to Carpenter's legend that fans of the film (and genre films) will appreciate and enjoy.
In a departure from some of the more academic entries into the BFI series, Billson essentially walks the reader through the film from beginning to end, describing what is happening on the screen as it occurs, and pausing to introduce historical context or critical analysis where appropriate along the way. In a way, this format results in an unintentionally dismissive presentation that feels as if we are watching the movie while someone (Billson) talks over it. Then again, it is a welcome change of pace from some of the more overly clinical BFI books crammed full of frame-by-frame screenshots and charts tallying camera angles. One could argue that treating The Thing in this fashion implies that genre films shouldn't be taken seriously, but one could also argue that this is how genre fans take their films seriously. The important thing is that it works.
Billson is obviously a fan of both the film and the genre, and her insights are both genuine and intriguing. One of her more interesting approaches is the idea of the titular Thing as the sole female character of the films otherwise sausage-fest cast, and while some in the men's rights movement might take offense to Billson's allusions to fragile male egos and castration metaphors, but those secure in their manhood will have no problem with her Freudian analysis. The Thing is a film intentionally designed to invite interpretations, and Billson provides the reader with much to think about.
The Thing is a film with multiple origins, including the original sci-fi film The Thing From Another World and the novella it was based on, Who Goes There?, and Billson discusses not only those influences, but the influences that The Thing has had since it's release, including comic book spin-offs thematic overlaps in future films. I was personally gratified that this resulted in her referencing the British sci-fi series Red Dwarf, not once, but twice.
Overall, this is a great entry into the BFI series, and a worthy tribute to Carpenter's legend that fans of the film (and genre films) will appreciate and enjoy.
September 16, 2023
"The horror movie can be a thing of strange and terrible beauty." Or a Thing, haha! I wouldn't mind a 100+-page deep dive into every piece of media I enjoy. I am getting spoiled with all these books on my cherished, favorite movies and albums!
This quote from John Carpenter made me laugh: "It was a very bleak and hopeless film. There were no women in the movie and people thought I went too far."
It's unfortuate that I just learned from this book that there are graphic novel sequels to The Thing (exciting!), but I also learned they are underwhelming (sad!). However, there is a recently published young adult book that is a take on The Thing, "It Looks Like Us," and I'll be reading that soon (it includes women this time!).
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
This quote from John Carpenter made me laugh: "It was a very bleak and hopeless film. There were no women in the movie and people thought I went too far."
It's unfortuate that I just learned from this book that there are graphic novel sequels to The Thing (exciting!), but I also learned they are underwhelming (sad!). However, there is a recently published young adult book that is a take on The Thing, "It Looks Like Us," and I'll be reading that soon (it includes women this time!).
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
January 16, 2025
En su contexto, un libro fundamental para el reconocimiento crítico de la película (es de 1996). Después de una introducci��n muy acertada en sus planteamientos, Billson avanza en línea argumental por la pelicula, en muchos casos verbalizando las ideas que recorren la cabeza del espectador y apuntalando la teoría de guerra de sexos del film, que después de la lectura de este libro a mí se me hace totalmente evidente, así como la magistral sensación de extrañeza que consigue la película, creo que nunca igualada, y que es uno de los factores que contribuyeron a su fracaso comercial inicial.
Un libro muy cortito, que se lee con interés. Perfecto si eres fan de la peli y quieres profundizar.
Un libro muy cortito, que se lee con interés. Perfecto si eres fan de la peli y quieres profundizar.
January 15, 2024
*Kindle Edition*
Although this offers a pretty broad overview of the film, it's also just really fun to read a perspective from the late-90s where "The Thing" hadn't been broadly reclaimed as the masterpiece it's considered today. A fun, brisk read with a handful of dated references, including an interesting comment made at one point about how the late-90s were "so politically correct" that Carpenter's cast would have needed to include someone from every race if it were "made today." So I guess this has just always been something people have complained about.
Although this offers a pretty broad overview of the film, it's also just really fun to read a perspective from the late-90s where "The Thing" hadn't been broadly reclaimed as the masterpiece it's considered today. A fun, brisk read with a handful of dated references, including an interesting comment made at one point about how the late-90s were "so politically correct" that Carpenter's cast would have needed to include someone from every race if it were "made today." So I guess this has just always been something people have complained about.
June 9, 2025
Writing about John Carpenter’s once-panned-now-praised horror masterpiece, Anne Billson recounts the plot with plenty of digressions along the way. Most of the added obsessions are interesting and pertinent, though some of it’s a bit of a dead end. Die hard fans will also notice minor inaccuracies here and there, though overall the author’s evident affection for the movie renders the occasional goofs irrelevant. I’m actually sorry this wasn’t longer.
December 10, 2019
Not as insightful as other books in this BFI series. Felt like it gave me little more than a slightly enhanced plot summary.
October 9, 2023
Billson's step by step exegesis runs out of steam, but I tore through it
September 20, 2024
An awesome companion piece to one of my favorite movies ever!!!
October 25, 2025
A woman's perspective on a very male centric, male made film was quite enlightening.
July 9, 2012
A very thorough criticism of John Carpenter's horror/sci-fi masterpiece. I love the way Billson dissects this film and explains some of the symbolism and thematic elements. The idea of the Thing/alien in the movie representing female intrusion on a man's world is very intriguing.
May 11, 2015
Well-written and engaging reading of John Carpenter's Classic film; unforutnately, it offers an inordinate amount of summary in relation to the amount of analysis.
December 7, 2012
Man, this series just gets better and better. Billson digs beautifully into a modern sci-fi / horror classic. Rob Bottin's makeup effects STILL might be the all-time best.
May 10, 2016
A great blow by blow on the greatest sci-fi/horror film of all time. If you love the film you'll love this thoughtful analysis.
December 30, 2024
One of my favourite Carpenter movies.
“Is that man next to me an inhuman monster?” (Pg 16).
“Is that man next to me an inhuman monster?” (Pg 16).
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews