Based on John W. Campbell’s sci-fi novella “Who Goes There?,” which was first adapted to film by director Christian Nyby (with considerable input from producer Howard Hawks), Carpenter’s “The Thing” strands us in an Antarctic research station packed with a surly, bordering-on-stir-crazy group of men who, one-by-one, are assimilated by an alien lifeform. They’re stuck inside this meager edifice until a research team can extract them; alas, given the speed at which they’re being assimilated, this means they’re almost certainly doomed.
The Tsalal station is also an all-dude deal, but, as far as we can tell in the few moments we spend with them, they aren’t at each other’s throats like Carpenter’s crew. It helps that their setup is much cozier than the Antarctic outpost. They’ve got internet access, a gym and shelves loaded with DVDs. This beats playing cards and a cheating chess computer.
The DVDs immediately caught my eye because this is the present day, and who except for cinephiles has that much physical media anymore? The scientists seem to have access to high-speed internet, but maybe it’s not entirely reliable. This doesn’t matter. What does matter is what’s on the shelf. And, wouldn’t you know it, a certain Carpenter title gets placed front and center – albeit in the background – of a shot.