The Thing

In her elegant and trenchant study of John Carpenter's 1982 cult horror movie The Thing,. in which an alien lifeform attacks an isolated scientific research station in the Antarctic,. Anne Billson argues that the film brilliantly refines the conventions of classic horror and science fiction, combining them with humour, Lewis Carroll logic, strong characterisation and prescient insight. The idea of an alien species mutating and inhabiting humans resonates all too chillingly with the Covid-19 pandemic and other zoonotic diseases caused by human encroachment on natural habitats.