The Thing

Building suspense through his masterly use of the unseen, Hawks brings an added chill to this tale of terror at the North Pole...

what's most remarkable about The Thing [...] is its continued ability to function as both a taut science-fiction thriller and a telling snapshot of the Cold War paranoia beginning to sweep the country in post-WWII America.

In a genre often dependent upon elaborate special effects, THE THING is relatively stark and restrained. The monster is only glimpsed in shadows and darkness, thus allowing the imagination of the audience fill in the terrifying details.