For much of my life, I had no real urge to see John Carpenter’s The Thing.  Just the name of the film seemed blasé.  I mean, how scary could a so-called “thing” be in a supernatural realm of ghosts, vampires, and demons?  However, my interest piqued, both as I got older and as I started thinking more broadly about the horror genre.  I began to wonder: Okay, so what exactly is “the thing,” and what can it do compared to other dangerous entities?  After all, I’d seen Halloween, so I knew John Carpenter was more than capable of making a compelling horror film. (And, well, I love Lauryn Hill’s 90’s hit, “That Thing.”  That has to matter, right?) A few nights ago, then, with those thoughts in mind, I grabbed The Thing off the rack at our local Family Video (yes, Michael and I still support brick and mortar video lenders) and the two of us settled down for what turned out to be a lengthy, in-depth study of partly-explained infestation and unchecked paranoia.

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